DIY All Glass Tank, ADA style rimless, frameless, and finished!!! - 56K Warning

[New 2 fish]

Those pictures are great! Thanks for taking the time to put them up!!

[scolley]

Hey Marc, those are awesome! When you PM'd me about having those, well... I expected them to be good, but not that good!
It is inspirational. Really. That is SO MUCH the look that I'm dying to achieve.

Lot's to be learned, or wondered about in these pics too...

1. It looks like he's using 1 MH lamp for every 2 feet of tank length.
2. It doesn't look like he's got CO2 injection going on in all of the tanks
3. I'm glad to finally see that he does use bulkhead overflows in some of his freshwater tanks. I've been suspecting that for a while, but couldn't prove it.
4. Your comment about "welding" is a bit disconcerting. What does he know that we don't about constructing these things?
5. It looks like he uses the width of the glass as the width of the gap between the top of the water, and the upper edge of the tank. Evenly thick visual on all 4 sides.
6. It also looks like that on most of his tanks, they are assembled with the glass of the sides being attached to the sides of the bottom piece, while in the larger tanks he sometimes has the sides resting on top of the bottom.
7. And for anyone that has been involved in the "rock cutting" discussions. One of the pics has a rock, cut to lay flush against the back wall, to make the whole scene appear larger.

Thanks for putting those up. These pics are so good, they deserve their own thread, with your name by it, and all the "stars" it gets. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them to stay here. but they are so awesome, burying them in this thread seems like a waste. They deserve top billing somewhere - because like my 3 Amano books, and my CD of AGA entries, a link to these pics is going to be a permanent part of my inspirational reading.


PS - Marc did you know that you were wearing dark sneakers, with white laces, with either a stripe or maybe a "swoosh" down the side the day you took those pics?

[John P.]

GREAT pictures! I've seen many of ADA's HQ, but these are the best I've seen. Thanks for posting them.

[csfish]

Not only are Amano's tanks works of art, so are all the ADA's line of products! The glass intake and outflow pipes and CO2 diffusers are so discrete, you hardly notice them in each tank.

http://www.adaeurope.com/frami.html

[Marc]

Originally Posted by scolley

Thanks for putting those up. These pics are so good, they deserve their own thread, with your name by it, and all the "stars" it gets. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them to stay here. but they are so awesome, burying them in this thread seems like a waste. They deserve top billing somewhere - because like my 3 Amano books, and my CD of AGA entries, a link to these pics is going to be a permanent part of my inspirational reading.


PS - Marc did you know that you were wearing dark sneakers, with white laces, with either a stripe or maybe a "swoosh" down the side the day you took those pics?

HAHHA your are so funny- yes i was wearing dark sneakers! I didnt notice my reflection until you pointed that out. GREAT EYE!

Where do you think a good place on the forum i should post these pictures?

To reply to some of your comments-

2) It may not look like there is CO2 in some tanks, but all are actually being fed. Only the tanks with sumps have the CO2 fed out of sight.

4) The tanks you see here are not welded! So that shouldnt discourage you from the project. I think his older tanks were... The tank builders did a great job, you could barely see any adhesive.

BTW Steve- Amano has a 4th book out. i just picked one up last week. I saw it on Amazon.com. Title is "Aquarium Plant Paradise" ISBN 0-7938-0518-X

A LFS guy told me why Amano puts the intake and return on the side-I wish i could have thought about it myself, the idea is so simple i almost pulled my hair out. He said that due to the reflection of the lights going into the tank and bouncing off the inner walls of the tank, it blocks light from the outside. For example-when you have an all clear glass tank, which you see above, If you were to put your intake or return on the back, which most of us do. You will very easily see the hoses and wires etc. If you stick the hoses on the side, when you look from the front of the tank, you would not see them. I dont know if i explained that well.... but its all due to light reflection and making the tanks look clean. (less clutter)

[Marc]

Originally Posted by Hop

Bored? Are you kidding these are greast pics. Thank goodness I finally got rid of dial up this week, I'd be loading this page for hours.

hehe maybe Scolley should put up a warning for the 56kers

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Marc

hehe maybe Scolley should put up a warning for the 56kers

Done.

Marc, I would like to go on-and-on about these tank pics, but I don't want to hijack my own thread. I'd put these in "General Planted Tank Discussion". Maybe a PM to a mod might help. I think Buck can do that kind of stuff.

I saw the shoes because I spent some quality time staring at your awesome pics.

Good news about the welding. Thanks.

Love to know more about those sumps though...

Will get the 4th Amano book! Thanks for the tip. And BTW I don't understand your relflected light explanation at all. Sorry.

[BlueRam]

scolley:

If you have'nt yet, read this:

http://www.wizardscave.com/aquarium.html

[Marc]

Originally Posted by scolley

Done.

Marc, I would like to go on-and-on about these tank pics, but I don't want to hijack my own thread. I'd put these in "General Planted Tank Discussion". Maybe a PM to a mod might help. I think Buck can do that kind of stuff.

I saw the shoes because I spent some quality time staring at your awesome pics.

Good news about the welding. Thanks.

Love to know more about those sumps though...

Will get the 4th Amano book! Thanks for the tip. And BTW I don't understand your relflected light explanation at all. Sorry.

Steve pictures have been moved to General Planted Tank Discussion
Thank you for the complements on the pictures...

Try this- while looking into your tank from the front, wave your hand on either sides of the tank. See if you can try to see them. You cant right? because the light bounces of the glass and prevents you from seeing through.
Amano uses this idea on his tanks.

[m.lemay]

Maybe the photo album would be a better place. I could make them stickys.

Marcel

[Betowess]

Marc, What is the approximate size of one of those tanks... from the group that is all in a row - first picture after the shrimp macro. Thanks for sharing them too.

[scolley]

FYI - anyone following this thread, and getting confused over discussions of pictures that aren't here, Marc posted some AWESOME pics of his trip to ADA HQ in Japan. The pics have moved here.

Go take a look! You won't be sorry.

Me... I'm just flat out inspired, not to mention some of the great dialog this is going to promote. Way to go Marc!

And yeah Marc, I understand what you are talking about now, not seeing the equipment on the sides. Good idea! If you have a tank that isn't going to be seen from straight on most of the time (as mine is) that would be an excellent way to minimize the equipment that is visible (a topic near and dear to my heart!).

BlueRam - thanks! Great site. Will take a while to read it though. I suppose that is the kind of thing one does you you get REALLY serious about a tank.

[RoseHawke]

Thank you! And yes I was getting really confused! (Like I'm not already? )

[Marc]

Steve- Getting back to your topic, besides silicone are there any other types off adhesive people in the industry use to build glass tanks?

[scolley]

Marc, while my knowledge is limited to what I've found on the Internet, your mention of "welding" is the only evidence I've ever seen of that. Though significantly different techniques and materials are apparently used in wood and glass tanks, and also obviously acrylic. But I assume that does not apply here.

If there are different sealants/adhesives, I hope someone in the know speaks up. If I don't hear anything, I'm going to assume "no", while I sit back and wait for the glass to be delivered.