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I been planning for a while now how I'd like my next tank to be like and finally came up with something I thought would be pretty cool. I'm planning it to be 48"X24"X20" (100 GALLON) Rimless or eurobraced, 1/2" or 3/4". Got a quick quote from a local builder last week and I want to finalize it soon. Heres some drawings I did.
At first, I wanted to do an external overflow but I really dont want the tank to stick out too far in my tank room so i decided to make it internal stretching the length of the tank like a false wall. each corner will be sectioned off, sand or rock rubble will be added halfway or 3/4" up to the top to grow mangroves. I love the way tanks look with the mangroves growing out of the overflows!
Sorry this pic is very deceiving. it looks like smaller boxes in the corner mangrove sections but in actuality should be the same exact depth as the overflow section in the middle.
So the concept is water will drain from the display simultaniously into overflow and mangrove sections, then the mangrove section flows into the overflow section. The cutouts from the mangrove section to the overflow section will be lower than the teeth from the main wall. The mangrove corners will have fewer teeth so the water will come in at a slower rate (or atleast thats what i want to happen).
Over flow section will house dual 1" drains on each corner and the return in the center. Left one will be main drain and the right one will be slightly taller and act as a emergency drain in the event the main one plugs up for some reason. Not sure what size return should be. Can anyone make a suggestion? I want a slow turnover rate to get maximum filtration in the sump. Still not sure either how i want to configure the return and would like for a really clean look but figure loclines going over the center baffles will work.
This is what i have so far. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on anything i should change out, what may not work, etc etc. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Is it going to be glass or acrylic? I don't think you can go trimless using 3/4" acrylic. Eurobrace could be a problem for the back. How are you going to put the brace on the back with that configuration?
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Phong
Phong, still going over the finer details. I will most likely go with 1" acrylic if i go rimless. I haven't really thought out how the eurobrace would be configured since I'm leaning more towards a rimless look.
even at 1", I don't think it's thick enough for tank that size. 48" is pretty long. You might want to check with Gen for his opinion. 1" acrylic is quite expensive too.
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Phong
looks cool, but it seems like you would lose a lot of space going top to bottom with that false wall, why not just do a coast to coast and keep some more room in the tank
so the outer two wells are for the mangroves?
IMO/IME...I would think twice about doing so a deep sand bed or gravel/rubble pile in there. You won't get enough flow to keep the sand bed cool and the others will become a nasty detritus sink hole. You don't need substrate for them, they can grow with no media 
to keep them in place you could glue a Key Largo rock to the side (they have tons of holes).
Good point Imus. I would be losing alot of real estate in the tank with the false wall. My original plan was a coast to coast but wanted to get feed back on this design. Thanks for the input.
IMO/IME...I would think twice about doing so a deep sand bed or gravel/rubble pile in there. You won't get enough flow to keep the sand bed cool and the others will become a nasty detritus sink hole. You don't need substrate for them, they can grow with no media to keep them in place you could glue a Key Largo rock to the side (they have tons of holes).
Yes there for the mangroves. I was under the impression they needed some type of substrate. Since they don't then I will most likely go with your suggestion and stick a piece of rock in the overflow with my other design.
Just curios, how much flow would be needed to keep the sand bed cool? And what do you mean by that? 
I just figured adding sand in there would work like having a remote dsb. in other words this type of application will lead to more problems later on down the road?
By cool I meant OK. With no real major flow across it and being so deep I would suspect you'd have a problem with the sand bed going foul. If you want a DSB run it remotely in a bucket so you can get more flow across it and be able to get to it if you need to change it.
Is there enough room to actually get the bulkhead hardware down in the back and tightened?
-Tony
"Are you out of your mind Tony, you know better than to mix Blood Sport and reefing."-Tuberider
"I need a Vanilla Ice to English translator 
"-Gresham
Thanks Gresham for the help on exporting!
My name is Rommel...not the one your thinking of.