- Joined
- Dec 5, 2019
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Thought I would put together a little build log and show off my recent build.
Unfortunately my business has basically ground to a halt due to covid. This has left me with 2 things... 1. Too much time. 2. Lots of acrylic a 3D printing time.
Thankfully I actually had a need for a second tank and now I have time! I needed a place to store and grow out frags, and I wanted a spot to put potentially badly behaving fish away from my 30 gallon in our living room.
The idea was actually my wife's, to find a way to have a frag tank but also a pretty tank and stand next to our bed.
The challenge was to work out a plumbing system that could allow me to circulate the system water through everything and still have functional emergency drains. This wasn't the easiest thing to do but also had the added challenge of having a limited space that EVERYTHING can fit in. I've never built a sump, or used one... so I got to work in CAD which I feel much better about.
I put together some basic ideas for what size of plumbing I could fit, how big the sump and frag tank could be, and if this would even work...
I then got to work on the cabinet, for this I used a sheet of 18mm hardwood ply. I managed to fit the entire build into a single 4x8 sheet.
Some hinges, some holes and a lot of screws later and I had a very solid build! The middle shelf is supported by screws in from the back and that front support post, as well as an angled 2x2 pine support underneath. Its more than strong enough for those curious.
The tank its self is our old 10g shrimp tank. Its a petco special that I de-rimmed on the top and drilled out.
I then hung the light, a completely rewired and new LED freshwater light I had laying around that I've converted, I'll go more into that in the future. The light for the frag and fuge are the same sort of thing too. I also drilled a tank for the first time ever which was terrifying.
A coat of paint (or 7 to meet the wife's requirements) later and its starting to look like something!
Started adding wires, the sump, and frag tank. I was also amazingly lucky and recently won a Sicce powerhead so I got to use that in this system.
Dosing containers are also custom out of spare acrylic.
I skipped taking photos for a while and before I knew the system was up and running.
I took a couple of stabs at the plumbing but in the end its working great! Emergencies work exactly as intended and there is plenty of room in the sump for water to drain back down to.
I also spent a few hours breaking up and gluing together 20 bits of rock until i had something that I enjoyed and would look good from all sides of the room.
Here is the system currently. Next I need to clean a few little things up, wash off the marks off of the plumbing, add media and start a cycle, and add a heater, skimmer (maybe) and media reactors. and YES I need to replace some of the orange 3D printed parts with black, Unfortunately I can't get my hands on any black ABS right now, but no big rush.
I hope this inspires some more people to do crazy things! I can't wait to have a bunch of nice softies in this tank and enjoy it for its mechanical design and function!
Unfortunately my business has basically ground to a halt due to covid. This has left me with 2 things... 1. Too much time. 2. Lots of acrylic a 3D printing time.
Thankfully I actually had a need for a second tank and now I have time! I needed a place to store and grow out frags, and I wanted a spot to put potentially badly behaving fish away from my 30 gallon in our living room.
The idea was actually my wife's, to find a way to have a frag tank but also a pretty tank and stand next to our bed.
The challenge was to work out a plumbing system that could allow me to circulate the system water through everything and still have functional emergency drains. This wasn't the easiest thing to do but also had the added challenge of having a limited space that EVERYTHING can fit in. I've never built a sump, or used one... so I got to work in CAD which I feel much better about.
I put together some basic ideas for what size of plumbing I could fit, how big the sump and frag tank could be, and if this would even work...
I then got to work on the cabinet, for this I used a sheet of 18mm hardwood ply. I managed to fit the entire build into a single 4x8 sheet.
Some hinges, some holes and a lot of screws later and I had a very solid build! The middle shelf is supported by screws in from the back and that front support post, as well as an angled 2x2 pine support underneath. Its more than strong enough for those curious.
The tank its self is our old 10g shrimp tank. Its a petco special that I de-rimmed on the top and drilled out.
I then hung the light, a completely rewired and new LED freshwater light I had laying around that I've converted, I'll go more into that in the future. The light for the frag and fuge are the same sort of thing too. I also drilled a tank for the first time ever which was terrifying.
A coat of paint (or 7 to meet the wife's requirements) later and its starting to look like something!
Started adding wires, the sump, and frag tank. I was also amazingly lucky and recently won a Sicce powerhead so I got to use that in this system.
Dosing containers are also custom out of spare acrylic.
I skipped taking photos for a while and before I knew the system was up and running.
I took a couple of stabs at the plumbing but in the end its working great! Emergencies work exactly as intended and there is plenty of room in the sump for water to drain back down to.
I also spent a few hours breaking up and gluing together 20 bits of rock until i had something that I enjoyed and would look good from all sides of the room.
Here is the system currently. Next I need to clean a few little things up, wash off the marks off of the plumbing, add media and start a cycle, and add a heater, skimmer (maybe) and media reactors. and YES I need to replace some of the orange 3D printed parts with black, Unfortunately I can't get my hands on any black ABS right now, but no big rush.
I hope this inspires some more people to do crazy things! I can't wait to have a bunch of nice softies in this tank and enjoy it for its mechanical design and function!