AIO 20L DIY Build

YankeePate

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So after much consideration I have decided on a 20L verses the 10G AIO. I figured for not a whole lot more effort on the build I could double the tank size. I drew up the AIO fuge' wall at work and machined it out yesterday afternoon. I made it 3 chambers after a couple other members thought that it would work better. I am going to make up a drop in media basket for the overflow chamber for filter floss. And the center chamber for growing Chaeto. Pump will be a MJ900 to start with. On order is an AquaStyles 24 LED dimmable DIY kit. My plan is to make a custom splash shield and cover for it.


20LFuge2.jpg

20LFuge1.jpg

20LTop.jpg
 

Boogie

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Nice work. You should make another one of those and sell it to me. :)

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YankeePate

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With a little luck and some spare time I hope to have it up and cycling within a week. I got the fuge wall siliconed into the tank over the weekend. Today I made up a one piece end wrap to go around the end of the tank to cover the fuge and it's inner workings. I also filled it with water for a leak test/flow test. All seems like a go so far.


Water_Flow_Full.jpg

Water_flow.jpg

End_Wrap.jpg
 

revhtree

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Very nice!
 
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YankeePate

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My package from AquaStyles showed up on Friday. I bought the 24 LED dimmable kit. I was able to get the LED's mounted and the 10K whites powered last night. I spent more time figuring out spacing than I did cutting the wire and soldering them up. I mocked the driver and pot up so I could at least power them up. All I can say is they seem to do the trick!!!! I am thinking about options to be able to unplug the completed fixture from the power cords if needed. I was playing with the idea of putting the two drivers, pots and a cooling fan in an enclosure and running the 2 power cables via USB cables up to the fixture. I don't know if it really makes any sense to be able to unplug them from the fixture though. Maybe I am just over thinking this thing. I would like to have this tank filled and cycling by Thursday.


LED_Openbox.jpg

LED_Star.jpg

LED_Heatsink.jpg

With_Cover.jpg

Covers_Off.jpg
 
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YankeePate

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mcgoo1977,

Thanks I am glad you like it.

Kate and I gathered up sand and a couple pieces of rock yesterday and last night filled the tank. She is so excited over it it's not even funny. She's only 10 yrs old and wants to know all of the proper names for the corals and what we need to feed them etc. It's awesome!


Wired_LEDS.jpg

Filled_20L3.jpg
 
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YankeePate

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I am trying to get a couple other projects finished while I work on this tank. I took at few minutes yesterday at lunch made these up in SolidWorks and machined them out of 3mm acrylic. I have magnets for them and hope to get them resin cast and on these frag racks this weekend.


Frag_rack3plugs.jpg
 

revhtree

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Love a clean tank build!
 
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YankeePate

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Here are a couple of new pictures. One of the little frag rack with it's magnets bonded on. I am going to look up and order a couple different sizes of magnets to handle thicker glass as I feel the current ones are only good for 1/4".
The other picture is of a little refugium light I put together quickly last night. It's just one of the extra LED stars I had left over from my tank light. I wired it up to a simple spare power adapter I had laying around and potted it along with a magnet into polyester resin. It looks ok and is crazy bright so it should work well.


FragRack_Magnets.jpg

Fuge_Light.jpg


I am starting to think I may want to do a couple fish in this one. I want something different but the choices are endless!
 

bige

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Looks awesome. Well done. Looks better than the big companies that make aio tanks.
 
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YankeePate

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Here is a quick update. I added a Court Jester Goby to the tank two weeks ago and he is doing great. It's a little shy but he is coming around more as the time passes. I made a drop in media basket for the first chamber for now it has filter floss and a small bag of carbon. I also made a larger frag rack as a bunch of people liked my mini rack.

MediaBasket.jpg

Not_so_mini_rack.jpg
 
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YankeePate

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Just a little up date. I made a mount for the LED's back a while ago. It was long overdue and makes things look a lot cleaner. Also added a pair of baby clownfish. They are offspring of snowflake parents but do not have the snowflake pattern. They do have "helmets" and that makes them cool enough. Sadly the female went carpet surfing or the cat was able to fish it out so we only have the one clown left. Once it gets a little larger I will find another clown to go with it.

LightStand_zps4de4ab6a.jpg

LightStand2_zpsf3aa670c.jpg
 

Veganbrian

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Cool, I wish i better understood how to work with acrylic because i have so many ideas like you lol.
 
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YankeePate

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I spent the better part of the weekend drawing up in CAD a small wooden airstone powered skimmer. The end result is a semi counter current skimmer that is about 12"x1.5"x1.25". It is powered by the inflow from the overflow . Adjustments are possible on the air pressure, airstone height and the skimmate collection cup height. It went online in the tank at 6pm last night.....

Skimmer1.jpg

SkimmerCup.jpg

First_Night.jpg
 
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YankeePate

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I spent the better part of the weekend drawing up in CAD a small wooden airstone powered skimmer. The end result is a semi counter current skimmer that is about 12"x1.5"x1.25". It is powered by the inflow from the overflow . Adjustments are possible on the air pressure, airstone height and the skimmate collection cup height. It went online in the tank at 6pm last night.....<br><br>
Skimmer1.jpg
<br>
SkimmerCup.jpg
<br>
First_Night.jpg
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 66 51.6%
  • Gate valves.

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  • None.

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  • Other.

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