3 gal pico frag tank DIY build

dansyr · Jan 22, 2023

Hi! This is journaling progress of a new pico build playing with one of @Tenecor Aquariums new pico frag tanks. Thread where the idea came up (not mine, another R2R member) that got pitched to Tenecor who generously made a test batch of these being EXTREMELY accommodating of feedback throughout the process. All acrylic pieces to be joined with solvent. I've had some experience building with acrylic making baffles, patching sumps, and ATO systems but not yet a display tank so this is a fun challenge to see if i can keep it somewhat aesthetic.

Dimensions are 11 x 11 x 6", so just over 3 gallons. It's drilled for a sump, I'm planning a similar dimension display refugium but currently just working with a little 1 gal container to hold rocks and equipment.

dansyr · Jan 22, 2023

While waiting on the tank to send out, I started on the stand. Stand dimensions are 14 x 14 x 12" high. It's a variation of the "common" DIY, with a box on top, sitting on legs, but the legs on the bottom are only tied together on 3 sides, with a drawer in the middle. all 1 x 2's skinned with underlayment.

Top box:

Frame put together, basically from the back:

Partially skinned:

And right after staining (drawer not yet attached as currently on 4th coat of marine spar varnish):

dansyr · Jan 22, 2023

The tank itself got in Saturday and is still curing, with a couple photos. Using a speed square and torpedo level really helped. I used weldon 16 which is A VERY BAD IDEA THAT I REGRET. I didn't have any 3 or 4 lying around but I did have 16 from a project with thicker acrylic so I tried using the needle-wicking approach and that turned out to be a bad idea. more viscous = less wicking, and with the 1/4" acrylic it's less forgiving to use the wood glue-style application you can get away with on large pieces. Well, now I know just how specific each is, and if anyone wanders across this looking for info - don't be lazy like I was and get the right solvent for the job. Joints are very solid though, we'll see how water tight they are.

I used a 3ml luerlok syringe I recycled from the lab along with a similarly obtained 23 gauge sharp. This worked great (consistency of weldon16 aside), just sucked up solvent directly from tip of the tube, attached needle, and went for it. A 24 or 25 gauge needle would have been better, but 23 was fine, and the bevel of the sharp is nice (I hate flats for acrylic).

Setting up the overflow box:

Taped things glass-style:

dlsorensen · Jan 22, 2023

Thank you! I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered. I ordered some Weldon 4 from Amazon and waiting for that too. Love the stand! I need to figure out that and a sump and light.

Lochekey · Jan 22, 2023

Nice, can't wait for mine to show up (tracking says Tue.). Nice tip on the weld-on. I think I have some #3 lying around so plan to use that.

How do the slots in the weir look? I was hesitant about the small size but only time and actual testing will tell.

I'm still playing with some sump designs and it looks like you will have yours going well before me so any feedback on actual flow rates through the weir would be great.

Otherwise looks great and I'll be following to see how it goes.

dansyr · Jan 23, 2023

Lochekey said:
How do the slots in the weir look? I was hesitant about the small size but only time and actual testing will tell.

They look pretty good, aesthetically, and seem to be enough total area wise but idk about individual width. Definitely skinnier than in my AIO nano but time will tell. There are a lot of them though so there's that. I also plan to keep this relatively low flow so I'm not concerned personally.

dansyr · Jan 23, 2023

Lochekey said:
Nice, can't wait for mine to show up (tracking says Tue.).

dlsorensen said:
Thank you! I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered. I ordered some Weldon 4 from Amazon and waiting for that too. Love the stand! I need to figure out that and a sump and light.

Also will you be making build threads? very curious to see how you all set yours up. It'll probably be a little while before mine gets actually running beyond fit and tested.

dlsorensen · Jan 23, 2023

dansyr said:
Also will you be making build threads? very curious to see how you all set yours up. It'll probably be a little while before mine gets actually running beyond fit and tested.

I plan on it. It actually just arrived. Took pictures of my unboxing and now just waiting for my Weldon to get started.

Gumbies R Us · Jan 23, 2023

Love the stand you have!!! the color of it looks really good

TrevorHenryTDH · Jan 24, 2023

I always regret never staining the stands I build lol, keep us updated!

dansyr · Jan 24, 2023

It's more together!

Front door still needs to be made. But it's level and mostly together! Tonight or tomorrow will be some ad hoc plumbing to rig up a test sump out of an ice cream bucket to test flow

dansyr · Jan 24, 2023

TrevorHenryTDH said:
I always regret never staining the stands I build lol, keep us updated!

agreed. I'm usually a fan of getting the wood that's naturally the color desired. But with wood prices what they are and for a $30 DIY pico tank (no disrespect) it felt weird to pay many times more than the tank for the wood.

Fapman · Jan 25, 2023

dansyr said:
Hi! This is journaling progress of a new pico build playing with one of @Tenecor Aquariums new pico frag tanks. Thread where the idea came up (not mine, another R2R member) that got pitched to Tenecor who generously made a test batch of these being EXTREMELY accommodating of feedback throughout the process. All acrylic pieces to be joined with solvent. I've had some experience building with acrylic making baffles, patching sumps, and ATO systems but not yet a display tank so this is a fun challenge to see if i can keep it somewhat aesthetic.

Dimensions are 11 x 11 x 6", so just over 3 gallons. It's drilled for a sump, I'm planning a similar dimension display refugium but currently just working with a little 1 gal container to hold rocks and equipment.

Nice! I'm the member who kind of started the idea with my thread in the nano tank forums. I will doing a build thread also but may use my 3 gal as a reef instead of a frag tank

dlsorensen · Jan 25, 2023

Question for anyone knowledgeable. While using the Weldon 4 a little of it dripped/ran under my square. The square is orange plastic. Some of it is now on the front panel with some minor blurring. Is there an easy way to buff/sand that spot out?

dansyr · Jan 25, 2023

Fapman said:
Nice! I'm the member who kind of started the idea with my thread in the nano tank forums. I will doing a build thread also but may use my 3 gal as a reef instead of a frag tank

Thank you for starting this! This has been so fun. Can’t wait to see your build!

Same on turning this into a reef, I’m thinking a relatively low flow pico with some zoas and alveo/gonioporas. Not farming frags over here

Fapman · Jan 26, 2023

dansyr said:
Thank you for starting this! This has been so fun. Can’t wait to see your build!

Same on turning this into a reef, I’m thinking a relatively low flow pico with some zoas and alveo/gonioporas. Not farming frags over here

That is a fantastic idea. Have you made a lighting decision yet? I was considering buying the Fluval Nano Marine 20W when I saw it being sold on Walmart and eBay for $40. I noticed threads about keeping SPS successfully alive with the Fluval light.

dansyr · Jan 26, 2023

dlsorensen said:
Question for anyone knowledgeable. While using the Weldon 4 a little of it dripped/ran under my square. The square is orange plastic. Some of it is now on the front panel with some minor blurring. Is there an easy way to buff/sand that spot out?

sorry, no good ideas here. Maybe post on the main tenecor 3g drop page? That still seems super active with lots of pro acrylic folks. Acrylic polishing kits exist and work well from what I've heard but I've never had the reason to go there as I've never had an acrylic DT before

dlsorensen · Jan 26, 2023

dansyr said:
sorry, no good ideas here. Maybe post on the main tenecor 3g drop page? That still seems super active with lots of pro acrylic folks. Acrylic polishing kits exist and work well from what I've heard but I've never had the reason to go there as I've never had an acrylic DT before

No worries. I sharpen knives to a mirror polish and I used some Rouge, 50,000 grit diamond polish, and my Dremel. All good now!

dansyr · Jan 26, 2023

Fapman said:
That is a fantastic idea. Have you made a lighting decision yet? I was considering buying the Fluval Nano Marine 20W when I saw it being sold on Walmart and eBay for $40. I noticed threads about keeping SPS successfully alive with the Fluval light.

I'm probably going to go full DIY just for fun. I'm personally not a fan of the super heavy blue look that most commercial lights go with too so the 10-12000k look. Steve's LEDs has Seoul deep blues for .99/3w chip right now which is basically ebay prices but good quality so I'm planning 8 of those, 4x 5000k samsung COBs for the backbone, and 4 accent 3w LEDs for spectral depth or whatever. For my 20 long AIO build I got heatsinks from them and I'm a huge fan. Recessed just enough to not have see the surface of the LEDs, don't need fans, etc. For sure the light build will run more than fluval/nicrew budget prices but i'm aiming for about $60 and hoping to keep it <$100 all told.