ENDUexe
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2025
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 19
- Location
- Durban, South Africa
- What state or country do you live in
- Other International
Hi Everyone,
After much deliberation, planning and a bit of arm-twisting, I finally got the ball rolling with my first reef tank.
I had originally planned to start a build log. However, given that the project is pretty much complete*TM* and the tank is officially cycling, this is going to be more of a retrospective than anything else.
For a bit of background, I run a small machine shop in South Africa. Hardware this side can be very expensive and, in a lot of cases, hard to come by. All of these factors pushed me to DIY most of the build, and here’s what we landed on.
Display: 75x45x30 cm, made from 8 mm low-iron glass with a 10 mm regular glass bottom.
This was an absolute nightmare, and I ended up redoing the silicone job four times before landing on something I was happy with. I wish there was more information out there about building tanks but it seems like it’s more art than science, and definitely something where experience is everything.
Cabinet: I tried to keep it fairly simple here and ended up making an ADA clone out of 18 mm birch ply, finished with a light oak tint and Woodoc Marine.
Overall, I’m very happy with how it turned out, even if I did have to strip the whole thing back to bare wood after putting down a bright orange stain without testing it first. Another lesson learned.
Sump: 50x40x40 cm custom PVC contraption, heavily inspired by the Fiji Cube offerings.
Initially, I planned to pick up a 2ft tank on Marketplace and simply glue some baffles into it, but that quickly turned into another fully custom build.
The sump was modeled after the Fiji Cube Advanced 20, with the major difference being that I went with PVC over acrylic. This was primarily due to cost, but it should also withstand a bit more abuse without the risk of cracking.
I definitely could have done a neater job with the glue-up, but other than that, no complaints.
Overflow: Custom slim overflow with a 3/4” Bean Animal drain layout. Similar story here… I really wanted to pick up a Ghost or Stealth overflow, but with local pricing, I had to make one instead.
The external box was made from the same 6 mm PVC stock I purchased for the sump, and the internal portion is 5 mm black acrylic.
I’m super stoked with how it’s been running over the past week or two. It’s dead silent at around 1,000 LPH and comfortably handles my return pump running at full tilt without flooding (even if it does get unbearably loud).
The rest of the hardware is as follow.
Light: 1x Noopsyche K7 Pro IV
Return Pump: Jebao GDP 3500
Heater: Compact SOBO 200W, running off an Inkbird
Roller Filter: Aipai F10
ATO: Jebao 150
Wavemaker: Jebao GLW 15
Battery Backup: EcoFlow River 2 Max
Planned Upgrades / To-Do List (Most of these will only come when or if livestock demands it):
1. Another K7 Pro for more even coverage.
2. Another Jebao GLW 15 for more flow and/or better coverage. Maybe a third for some flow in the sump?
3. Skimmer: Currently hunting for a used Bubble Magus Curve 3 or equivalent, and I'll add one as soon as I find something.
4. Dosing pump for All-For-Reef.
5. Custom PVC ATO reservoir to match the sump.
6. Cooling fans over the display. (Currently, I’m using a smart thermometer and an IR blaster to cycle the room's AC whenever the ambient temperature hits 26°C, but I want fans that can run off the battery backup if the power goes out on a hot day).
It was a ton of work (that ONLY took me 2 months!!!) but I’m glad I took the DIY route. I feel that building it all myself gave me a fundamental understanding of how my system works and I’m really hoping this carries forward as we turn the glass box of water into a (hopefully) thriving reef.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I’m super excited for what’s to come and can't wait to start adding some livestock! If you have any questions or advice please shoot as I’d love to hear it.
Cheers!
After much deliberation, planning and a bit of arm-twisting, I finally got the ball rolling with my first reef tank.
I had originally planned to start a build log. However, given that the project is pretty much complete*TM* and the tank is officially cycling, this is going to be more of a retrospective than anything else.
For a bit of background, I run a small machine shop in South Africa. Hardware this side can be very expensive and, in a lot of cases, hard to come by. All of these factors pushed me to DIY most of the build, and here’s what we landed on.
Display: 75x45x30 cm, made from 8 mm low-iron glass with a 10 mm regular glass bottom.
This was an absolute nightmare, and I ended up redoing the silicone job four times before landing on something I was happy with. I wish there was more information out there about building tanks but it seems like it’s more art than science, and definitely something where experience is everything.
Cabinet: I tried to keep it fairly simple here and ended up making an ADA clone out of 18 mm birch ply, finished with a light oak tint and Woodoc Marine.
Overall, I’m very happy with how it turned out, even if I did have to strip the whole thing back to bare wood after putting down a bright orange stain without testing it first. Another lesson learned.
Sump: 50x40x40 cm custom PVC contraption, heavily inspired by the Fiji Cube offerings.
Initially, I planned to pick up a 2ft tank on Marketplace and simply glue some baffles into it, but that quickly turned into another fully custom build.
The sump was modeled after the Fiji Cube Advanced 20, with the major difference being that I went with PVC over acrylic. This was primarily due to cost, but it should also withstand a bit more abuse without the risk of cracking.
I definitely could have done a neater job with the glue-up, but other than that, no complaints.
Overflow: Custom slim overflow with a 3/4” Bean Animal drain layout. Similar story here… I really wanted to pick up a Ghost or Stealth overflow, but with local pricing, I had to make one instead.
The external box was made from the same 6 mm PVC stock I purchased for the sump, and the internal portion is 5 mm black acrylic.
I’m super stoked with how it’s been running over the past week or two. It’s dead silent at around 1,000 LPH and comfortably handles my return pump running at full tilt without flooding (even if it does get unbearably loud).
The rest of the hardware is as follow.
Light: 1x Noopsyche K7 Pro IV
Return Pump: Jebao GDP 3500
Heater: Compact SOBO 200W, running off an Inkbird
Roller Filter: Aipai F10
ATO: Jebao 150
Wavemaker: Jebao GLW 15
Battery Backup: EcoFlow River 2 Max
Planned Upgrades / To-Do List (Most of these will only come when or if livestock demands it):
1. Another K7 Pro for more even coverage.
2. Another Jebao GLW 15 for more flow and/or better coverage. Maybe a third for some flow in the sump?
3. Skimmer: Currently hunting for a used Bubble Magus Curve 3 or equivalent, and I'll add one as soon as I find something.
4. Dosing pump for All-For-Reef.
5. Custom PVC ATO reservoir to match the sump.
6. Cooling fans over the display. (Currently, I’m using a smart thermometer and an IR blaster to cycle the room's AC whenever the ambient temperature hits 26°C, but I want fans that can run off the battery backup if the power goes out on a hot day).
It was a ton of work (that ONLY took me 2 months!!!) but I’m glad I took the DIY route. I feel that building it all myself gave me a fundamental understanding of how my system works and I’m really hoping this carries forward as we turn the glass box of water into a (hopefully) thriving reef.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I’m super excited for what’s to come and can't wait to start adding some livestock! If you have any questions or advice please shoot as I’d love to hear it.
Cheers!
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