Greetings! New to MAAST and Love the Site

[MarvinDaManiac]

Been in the hobby for bout 6 months to a year and decided to add a 150g Tank. I am currently building my own sump after weeks of online searches finally found a schematic of sorts to make my it out of 40 breeder. Question I have to you guys is if any one in A Town has done this where i can get the glass cut to put tank.

Thanks in advance and have a good day.

[tony]

welcome to maast!!! sorry im of no help but hopefully one of the austinites will chime in. you have some great stores up there!

[justahobby]

Welcome to MAAST! Glad to have you aboard.

Are set on using glass baffles? Wet Acrylic (part of mrcobscorals.com) does custom acrylic work. They also have pick ups in Austin once a week.

[Mike]

Welcome to MAAST, sorry I also have no idea on glass cutters for Austin. I do think some companies do it in SA. any reason why glass and not acrylic? Hope you work it out.

Anyway, just wanted to say welcome and hope you can make it to Saturday's MAAST frag and equipment swap. It is $5 for web members, but that includes an excellent BBQ lunch. Hope you can make the drive down and join us. Details in the announcement section.

[MarvinDaManiac]

No reason between glass or Acrylic. just went with what i could get local.. anyone know the cost between them.. i found some plastic companies in austin might give them a shout

[rrasco]

If you use acrylic, go with 1/4" or thicker. IIRC, Home Depot and Lowes both cut glass.

[Big_Pun]

yup im building a sump out of 20g long and had lowes cut the glass, if your using a glass tank use glass baffles. and the best silicone use is silicone by GE http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/GENERAL-ELECTRIC-Clear-Silicone-4UH12

[MarvinDaManiac]

why 1/4 inch in acrylic? just curious

[MarvinDaManiac]

which is it Acrylic or glass i was going to go today to get whatever

[rrasco]

Thin acrylic baffles will bend. I've used 3/16 with success, but it was in a smaller sump. I presume a 40g would have more force exerted on the baffles due to a higher volume of water and deeper tank. Acrylic is stronger than glass, but I think mainly b/c it can flex, whereas glass typically just breaks. I've always heard silicone doesn't bond well to acrylic, but IME it does good enough. I have two sumps, one 10g and one 20g, with acrylic baffles and both work great.

I like acrylic b/c I can cut it myself. I can never decide how I want to build my sumps until I am building them. Glass requires a plan and sticking to that plan, something I am not good at doing. Either will work, but thick acrylic gets pricy, so glass may be the cheaper alternative, and realistically just as effective. I only use acrylic cuz I buy lots of scrap from Regal making it cost friendly.

[MarvinDaManiac]

ok found this on another site.. opinions?12794

[rrasco]

You should really just take concepts from designs you have seen and build the sump to suit your needs. For example, the sump on my 29g was stupid simple. It's nothing more than an intake chamber with LR and a skimmer, one baffle that forces the water to flow over at about 8 inches, pours over that baffle onto a foam filter and under another baffle 1 1/2" from the bottom. I didn't have room or want to cut 3 baffles for a bubble trap. I don't have bubble problems either. Mine is basically a DIY one of these, sorry, I didn't take pictures of mine. I can though.

http://cdn.nexternal.com/petjet/images/Eshopps_RS200_Reef_Sump_%20689076891448.jpg

[Louis]

I actually have a few tubes of GE SCS1201 and SCS1203 (clear and black), this is some of the strongest silicone on the market and used by many tank manufacturers.

[MarvinDaManiac]

How much you want for the clear?