So I finally pulled the trigger and drilled my 25g Fusion tank.
A bit about the tank...
I set up this tank almost two years ago after tearing down my 75g SPS dominant tank that was running for about 7 years. I moved to a small apt during med school but still needed to continue the addiction, so I figured I'd try my hand at a nano tank. The fusion tanks caught my eye given their ease of set up and size (this was before the EXT tanks came out) and 25g is the biggest I could go for the room i had at the time. Almost two year later the tank is still running but been having a much harder time keeping sps with the small water volume. (I still had equipment from old tank; doser, apex, radion G3, ATO which made it easier). So over this winter break with the addition of my second son, I decided to move the tank in a diff part of my living room to make a bit more room. With the move I also decided to drill the tank and add sump and give myself a bit more water volume.
Tank set up:
25G Lagoon Fusion
Overflow: Eschpps Eclipse overflow
Drain: 1" drain w/ 1" emergency
Return Pump: Sicce syncra 2.0 with 3/4" line
Sump: Eshopps Nano Refugium
Skimmer: Eshopps S120
Light: Radion G3
Flow: MP10 QD x2
ATO: tunze osmolator
Controller: Apex classic
Heater: Cobalt Neotherm 75W x2
Drilling process:
I had about 2 1/2 weeks off from work so I figured this would be a good time to do it. I moved all the coral and livestock to a Rubbermaid bin and began taking things apart. The most difficult process was removing all the glass baffles from the back of the tank. The silicone on the big glass/acrylic panel on the back of the tank was easy to cut through, however the smaller baffles were more difficult. Even with a razor blade it was difficult as the space between the baffles was very small and difficult to get the right angle to run the blade all the way down. With lots of struggle they all came off. I feel like the tank is much bigger now. The overall depth of the tank increased from 17” to 20”in.
The drilling wasn’t too bad especially with the template provided by Eshopps. Did have some small chips around the hole but bulkheads are holding water. (I did have to mess with the install of the overflow to stop it from leaking as Eshopps recommends two rubber seals between the outside of the tank and the external overflow. Once I did that no leak). I wish I had used a drill guide for the return side. I did make a fairly decent scratch trying to get the hole started as the drill would slip off the glass. No big deal because it is on the back of the tank and the bulkhead covers it.
In terms of the stand, I did remove the center brace. The tank is meant to hold the 40G Fusion tank as well and figured w/out the brace it would be ok. I did place a pieace of 1x2 in the front center as a brace which also allowed me to mount the door stops/brackets to open and close the doors.
Overall, I’m much happier with the look of the tank. Hopefully I can get more stability out of this change. I wish i had documented the whole process better however this was all done with a newborn a 19 month old running around.
Here are some pics of the finished product.
All comments/ideas/improvements are welcome. While this hobby relies heavily on stability and least amount of change I feel like it's "impossible" not to tweak thing and try and make them better.
A bit about the tank...
I set up this tank almost two years ago after tearing down my 75g SPS dominant tank that was running for about 7 years. I moved to a small apt during med school but still needed to continue the addiction, so I figured I'd try my hand at a nano tank. The fusion tanks caught my eye given their ease of set up and size (this was before the EXT tanks came out) and 25g is the biggest I could go for the room i had at the time. Almost two year later the tank is still running but been having a much harder time keeping sps with the small water volume. (I still had equipment from old tank; doser, apex, radion G3, ATO which made it easier). So over this winter break with the addition of my second son, I decided to move the tank in a diff part of my living room to make a bit more room. With the move I also decided to drill the tank and add sump and give myself a bit more water volume.
Tank set up:
25G Lagoon Fusion
Overflow: Eschpps Eclipse overflow
Drain: 1" drain w/ 1" emergency
Return Pump: Sicce syncra 2.0 with 3/4" line
Sump: Eshopps Nano Refugium
Skimmer: Eshopps S120
Light: Radion G3
Flow: MP10 QD x2
ATO: tunze osmolator
Controller: Apex classic
Heater: Cobalt Neotherm 75W x2
Drilling process:
I had about 2 1/2 weeks off from work so I figured this would be a good time to do it. I moved all the coral and livestock to a Rubbermaid bin and began taking things apart. The most difficult process was removing all the glass baffles from the back of the tank. The silicone on the big glass/acrylic panel on the back of the tank was easy to cut through, however the smaller baffles were more difficult. Even with a razor blade it was difficult as the space between the baffles was very small and difficult to get the right angle to run the blade all the way down. With lots of struggle they all came off. I feel like the tank is much bigger now. The overall depth of the tank increased from 17” to 20”in.
The drilling wasn’t too bad especially with the template provided by Eshopps. Did have some small chips around the hole but bulkheads are holding water. (I did have to mess with the install of the overflow to stop it from leaking as Eshopps recommends two rubber seals between the outside of the tank and the external overflow. Once I did that no leak). I wish I had used a drill guide for the return side. I did make a fairly decent scratch trying to get the hole started as the drill would slip off the glass. No big deal because it is on the back of the tank and the bulkhead covers it.
In terms of the stand, I did remove the center brace. The tank is meant to hold the 40G Fusion tank as well and figured w/out the brace it would be ok. I did place a pieace of 1x2 in the front center as a brace which also allowed me to mount the door stops/brackets to open and close the doors.
Overall, I’m much happier with the look of the tank. Hopefully I can get more stability out of this change. I wish i had documented the whole process better however this was all done with a newborn a 19 month old running around.
Here are some pics of the finished product.
All comments/ideas/improvements are welcome. While this hobby relies heavily on stability and least amount of change I feel like it's "impossible" not to tweak thing and try and make them better.
