40B Peninsula with 20g sump and custom cabinet

[William Robinson]

Building solid cabinets is not as easy as it looks. Especially when you want it tall because the DT is going to be a short 40B. I wanted the tank high enough to be able to look inside without hunching over. I ended up using a 5000L per hour DC pump to combat the head height with required flow. Easy to go bigger and dial back for sure.

In the first picture is the water proofer that will be painted over

Second picture, Paint completed and motion sensor for lighting installed.

Motion sensing under cabinet lighting.... It should be a bigger thing.... lol

 

[William Robinson]

In this picture you can see the down pipe and emergency drain. I accidentally glued these in a bit too early being over excited and then had to do some "creative" plumbing once inside the cabinet but all ends up well.

 

[William Robinson]

Really neat sump kit I picked up from JaxRacks. 20l aqueon tank and 5000L DC pump ready to go in.

 

[William Robinson]

Roughly setup in the living room getting ready to transfer it to my daughters room for setup and filling. Not bad for a one and a half day build and under $600 goal. The back glass of the tank is something my daughter wanted to do. She simply pours acrylic paints across the back of the tank.

 

[William Robinson]

Got water from another tank during a water change (50%), sand and live rock. Not expecting much of a cycle on this one. Installed doors a week later one I wasnt in the cabinet so much. I also put motion sensing LED lighting inside so that when the doors opened the lights under the cabinet turned on.

 

[William Robinson]

About a month in, I decided to add a manifold just for kicks. Put in a reactor chamber that Is ready when needed and took and old light from her old 13.5 gallon Fluval. That thing can grow some chaeto....lol
Put the eshopps nano skimmer on there just to monitor nutrients but no issue thus far

 

[William Robinson]

Doors installed and everything running well in about 2 months. Total build cost was sub $600. Daughter loves it which is all that mattered.

 

[nickkohrn]

You’re off to a great start! It looks like a system that’s been running for longer than it has.

 

[William Robinson]

You’re off to a great start! It looks like a system that’s been running for longer than it has.

I did this build in October but never got around to putting anything up here about it. My daughter wanted her own tank so I didnt want to spend a fortune on something she may only enjoy a year or so. All of the inhabitant came from my other two tanks just trying to clean up and consolidate.