The ultimate DIY reef tank

[Deep_Six Corals]

Hey there reef2reef! New to these forums, hoping to become a regular with this HUGE build I've undertaken. Where do I start? Lol well I got into saltwater tanks from keeping freshwater tanks. When I started looking into the price of getting one, I pumped the brakes real quick. Thousands of dollars was pretty unappealing. I work at a place where I have access to an unlimited range and number of tools and I also consider myself handy (though I've never worked with glass or wood lol) so I went about researching a DIY build, became obsessed and embarked on this journey. At this point a month after starting, I'm only about 500$ in the hole for a custom 55 gal tank, stand, and sump. I'm posting this here for the build of all this then will start a thread in members tanks when it's wet this week. Hope you enjoy this ride!



First I started looking into tank builds. I settled and a smaller** tank #1 because this is my first endevour in reef keeping and #2 I needed it to fit in a certain spot in my apartment. The dimensions are 48x16x16 rimless it's made of 3/8" thick glass and sealed with GE silicone 1. After applying silicone I put 4 corner braces and and tied own strap to hold it together for drying. After 72 hrs dry time, I water tested for 72 hrs and it passed.

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

After cleaning up some silicone with a razor (pain in the a**) it was time to think about drilling this thing for drain and return. I ordered an overflow from gl*******s.com. I went with a 700gph model that has a single 1 1/2" drain. This is more than sufficient for this 53 gal tank I think. I also drove around to some LFS and found some 3/4" bulkheads for my returns. I decided to put the overflow dead smack in the middle and 2 returns on either side. I was nervous as hell drilling this thing but it ended up being cake. Glass holes is awesome by the way. Kit comes with everything and also got the hole saw for the return holes. I saw a tank somewhere with a frosted back and found it ultra sexy do I found some etched glass window film at Home Depot and put that on the back after drilling, before installing bulkheads. I really couldn't be happier with this.

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Next it was time for a proper sump. I researched once againg and found out what type I needed, and saw some designs. I decided to go with a Refugium sump in a 20 long I had laying around from my freshwater planted tank keeping days. I took a heat gun to the plastic rim and it came right off like butter. I went to Home Depot and found some 11x14 3/32" thick glass and got a glass cutter. I figured "hey, I've watched this on YouTube, I'm an expert now".... I must have smashed 10 of those lil glass panels trying to cut and fit them LOL. But eventually I got it down. I made a bible trap after the return section, then a 10 gal Refugium section and a decent sized return section.

Sometime during this time a friend of a friend decided he didn't want a huge 120 gal sitting in his living room unused and half empty. He told me if I haul it I can have it. I jumped at the opportunity and went over the next day and tore it down. I now have a large skimmer (coralife), return pump, power heads, 100 lbs of dry rock(had to blast it with a pressure cleaner with hot water), a uv filter, 48 inch t5 fixture ,120gal tank, wet dry sump. It was perfect. I'm gonna use what I want (skimmer and pumps) and everything else is for sale.

Here's pictures of the sump

 

[Kalen]

Very impressive. Your off to a good start.

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Next part is the stand. I needed to make this custom as well to fit where I wanted and also for the dimensions of my tank. I picked up on woodworking pretty quick, this was probably the easiest part, but most time consuming. The dimensions are 49x18x38. I used regular 2x4 for a standard frame, it's covered in cabinet grade ply wood and added crown molding and floorboard for looks. As for the door i decided to just do a pull off type thing that slips into place and is held flush with cabinet magnets. It's finished with trim so it all looks seamless. I used a rustic grey stain and finish to pretty it up and that's it. Looks nice and all my equipment fits like a glove inside.


This has all been a HUGE mission lol. But I feel satisfied knowing I hand built everything. It was also very cheap and allowed me to get into this hobby on my own terms. Like I said I will be posting in the members tank section when I get it wet this week, I hope you enjoyed all this!

 

[Kalen]

The stand looks sturdy and smooth good job

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Very impressive. Your off to a good start.

Thank you! I'm excited to get it wet. Gotta wait for some help from my brother to load and unload it at the house.

 

[Kalen]

I know what your mean I'm in the process of upgrading my 30 rimless to a 90 w/ 40 breeder sump.

 

[Kalen]

Here is my build https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175604

 

[Rjramos]

Following along fellow miamian! It looks good! One thing that I can point out is the tank could use some bracing at 3/8" glass and rimless. These types of tanks have glass bracing reinforcing the bottom and side pane joints. Not saying your gonna have a problem but as a safety feature it would be better. All tanks are built with some type of bracing either on top, bottom(rimless), or the plastic frames you took off the 20 gal tank. Just trying to help cause I've seen my share of disasters! What a deal you picked up from the friend of a friend! Are you gonna do something with the 120gal? Is this gonna be your next tank? If not, I'd be interested in it. Let me know?

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Thanks dood! I thought The same about the bracing. But here what I learned. At 16" tall, the tank won't need bracing, consider a frag tank basically. Here's some specifics. www.garf.org/tank/buildtank.asp For the dimensions of my tank it recommends 1/4" glass with euro and center bracing. At 1/4" with no bracing I get a safety factor of 2.05. Being that a standard safety factor of 3.8 is required to be "safe", even with bracing it takes the factor up to 3.4. When doing the calculations at 3/8 thick I get a safety factor of 4.61 with no bracing at all. Bracing is to eliminate bowing of the glass in tanks above 14 inches tall. I filled my tank to the very top (overflowing) and left for 72 hours at which point I used a perfectly straight tool to measure for any bowing and the was none. Not even a fraction of a MM. If there wasn't any bowing with the tank at 100% capacity of water there will defiantly be no bowing when you consider ther will be 50 lbs of live rock, 2 inch and sand bed and about and inch below the rim water line. The actual water volume will be much less. I also too extra safety measures by using tempered glass for the the front and side panels and applying extra silicone on all seams in case it does flex somewhat for what ever reason.

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

As for the extra tank I'm waiting on a reply from my youngest brother to see if he's gonna come get it. If he bails I'm letting it go for a cool 175$ my friend

 

[Rjramos]

Impressive! You did your research beforehand. I had no idea on those specs and safety factors. Let me know on the tank if he doesn't want it. Also, I'm local and have a lot of knowledge and experience building reef aquariums. Let me know if you need advice or help?

 

[Kalen]

I was just about to say he did his research, you beat me to it Rjramos, but anyways I hope it holds up under the constant pressure which will be the real test if the tank holds up. But good luck wish you the best

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

I almost went blind researching different things on this dam iPad :neutral: the last thing I want if to have 60 gal of water on my floor lol, youre right tho Kalen, the real test will be holding all that in over time. Time will tell. I'll let you know for sure about the tank. Its being stored in broward tho, just letting you know.

 

[Rjramos]

It's me that is interested in the 120 Miami reefer. Hey I have a nice 65gal build at work in West Miami you can check out. Been running for about a year and doing great! Here's a picture.

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

Looks great man. I like the dimensions of a 65. It's gonna be softies? What lights are u running? I'm going with the reef breeders photon 48. I'm gonna bend my own pipe for hanging it. I have been so torn on my lighting options. One day I want MH but then I don't want a chiller , then I want t5s but then I want some dimming and lighting effects , so I settled on led even though a lot of ppl still swear LEDs are Sub par. Where in west miami are you I lived on bird and 92 for like 10 years

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

While at Coral Con in Orlando, Fl last month I ended up winning a raffle for a 5 gal custom acrylic ATO reservoir and 2 gal 2 part dosing reservoir from evolution aquatics.so ****** and a perfect addition for my set up and it fits like a glove in my stand. They can be considered DIY, right? Lol

 

[Rjramos]

Nice win! And it does fit! You got pumps and everything with that, I'd love to see how it works? I currently manual dose and top off straight from R/O. I won a 29 biocube I have running at reefapalooza in Orlando last year, from R2R! I'll PM you where I'm at.

 

[Kalen]

Congrats on the win look nice.