I have had the skimmer for a while, one of http://www.elite-aquatics.net/ - Elite Aquatic 's (tcfab's) CS-150 cone skimmers. I just barely ordered the tank from The Aquarium and picked up the lumber for the stand. Tomorrow I will start on the frame for the stand. It will be built using the guidelines form http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1567110 - this reefcentral thread .

Wish me luck!

I tend to be slightly obsessive and I have read so many different threads on Bean style overflows. I've already got everything completely planned out even though I don't even have the tank yet.  I originally wanted to get a custom tank with an external overflow box but in the end, I couldn't justify the cost since DSA had a stock tank that was the dimensions I was wanting. Consequently I'll have an internal c2c (or near c2c) overflow and it will be drilled from the back with three schedule 80 bulkheads.

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sunflashx wrote:   I'm not sure what your plan is there, but if I were me, I'd buy LVLs from Home Depot or wherever. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202074262/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 - Home Depot LVL 9.5" seems to be a common height, run those through a table saw and halve them.  I built my sump stand out of off the shelf dimensional lumber and I wouldn't ever do it again for a tank stand. I did the math for a standard size 180 I'd liek to move to, and unless I screwed something up, the frame is roughly $150 or less to build from engineered wood.

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions!

Ahhhh I see what you're saying. That is something I hadn't even considered. I'll be sure to check that after I complete the frame and I may make other plans if it is too out of whack. Thanks for the heads up!

Everything turned out square and it is extremely sturdy but I don't have the tank yet to see if the top frame is flush with the tank.

 

 

The tank came with black trim and a huge center brace. I decided to remove these and replace them with a eurobrace:

I still have some cleanup to do to get rid of the last of the silicone and I still need to get the glass for the brace. Tyler recommended Kelly Stained Glass in Odgen. If anyone else has a glass supplier recommendation, please let me know.

lol. didn't mean to scare you. i didn't remove the brace from the bottom. only the one on the top. the bottom brace will be covered by the stand trim

After hours and hours of scrubbing with steel wool, I got all of the leftover silicone off. Then I ordered my glass from Kelly Stained Glass. I went with 3" wide 1/2" thick starphire glass and RTV 108 silicone from Momentive.

Finally, I got a hammerhead from Dion for a smoking deal. I took it apart to clean it and noticed the seals were looking near the end of their life. After looking online and only finding them for $60 plus shipping, I tried contacting reeflo directly and they sent me a new set for $30 shipped!

The glass for the side panels of the eurobrace was cut too short so I had to have the glass supplier re-cut them (Thank you again Tyler for picking those up for me and saving me a trip to Ogden!).< ="utf-8">

http://www.flickr.com/photos/godcore/5923412853/">

I picked up my overflow box from Elite Aquatics (tcfab) and got that drilled and installed. The overflow turned out so awesome. It is only as deep as the eurobracing and 5.5 inches tall so it doesn't take up a ton of real estate. It does extend across 41" of the available 47" though so I should be getting excellent surface skimming.

Ha ha seriously. It is like my tank is sponsored by Elite Aquatics!

First my bulkheads were leaking... No matter what I did, I continued to have leaks from my primary and secondary bulkheads. I finally realized that I needed an additional gasket between the inside wall of the overflow box and the bulkhead. Without this second bulkhead, water would wick along the threads of the bulkhead and create a slow leak.

Second, I realized that my return wasn't going to work so I switched to a Reeflo Dart (thank you Brad@ The Aquarium for hooking me up). While I am very happy with the Dart, this means I had to redo all of my plumbing other than my return lines.

Finally, I had slow leaks from almost all of the threaded joints in my return lines. I tried redoing my teflon tape and tightening the fittings as much as possible. However, I still had leaks! After researching this online, it looks like teflon tape works well for with smaller pvc pipes but you can have issues with teflon tape and pvc of 1.5" and larger. Today I switched to teflon paste and didn't have a single leak! (Additionally, teflon tape doesn't work well between the pvc fittings and the fiberglass of the Reeflo Dart)

So I've now got everything running without any issues. The bean animal overflow is completely silent and is handling an insane amount of flow. You seriously can't even hear the overflows. I'll post a video tomorrow and try to capture how silent the system is.

Let me know what you think of the aquascape!

I also ordered my lights and they should be here on Wednesday! I can't wait!

Thanks! I took me forever to come up with a design that I liked but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

lol. Once the lights are over it, I'll update my sig 

I've moved my controller and all the equipment over to the new tank and everything seems to be doing well.

The outlet near the tank is just a normal outlet and rather than replace it with a gfci I did something a little different. I made a power box that has two gfci's wired in parallel. That way if one trips, the other will still have power. I also used a water resistant housing and added a cover to prevent any spraying water from hitting the outlets. I'm really happy with how this turned out.

It is so nice to have life in this tank after all this hard work! Thanks everyone for following along :-).

I also added a few fish (hippo tang, sailfin tang, unknown bristle tooth tang and a hellfrichi firefish)

Here are a couple of shots:

Here is a shot of our newest residents.  They were actually added almost a week apart but they seem to be getting along well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/godcore/6125431269/">

Thanks! After having it stocked for a couple of months, I'm really glad that I left the sand open and uncovered. It makes working on the tank really easy.