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Hello everyone! Time for a new build thread!
As some of you may have seen, in early 2020 I built a 10 gallon tank, with an 8 gallon frag tank and 12 gallon sump. Link here!
Well, pretty quickly what was intended to be a nice display, with a little room for frags to sit.... became a full work tank. I ended up having over 150 frags in there!
So, as always I just HAVE to upgrade... right? Being a fabricator and having a depressingly large amount of time on my hands this year, I got to work planning a new system.
Thankfully having sold 20-30 frags in the last week, I've managed to convince the wife that she should let me use some of the walk in closet (space is at a premium in an apartment) to install a new system... Still can't believe she said yes!
So, here it is! The new frag system. This should do me well for the next year or two until things level out and we can begin house hunting.
NOW before anyone asks, yes I am confident with putting that much weight there, we're on the second floor but this spot shares a wall with the concrete staircase outside, a bathtub next to it, and we've actually had about 600lb of junk sitting there for the last 2 years anyway. I've done the math and I feel safe. I wouldn't go any bigger, but this works.
So, obviously this is just a 3D render...
I am waiting on my LFS (hopefully this week) to start their annual tank sale so I can pickup a lowboy! The lowboy is going to make up the top section.
I've also order all the plumbing, and some special parts from my first and possibly only sponsor, SendCutSend!
SendCutSend are awesome, they're honestly my favorite company to work with. I use them a LOT in my day job (fabricator/design engineer) and my other hobbies including robot combat... So I reached out and they were thrilled to help support the build and help me introduce them to the reefing world. I really think there is a lot of space for them in this hobby!
SendCutSend basically allow you to draw something in a 2D or 3D program, upload a file of it to their site, select from a crazy range of materials, and then within HONESTLY a couple of days you'll have your parts at your door. I am always blown away by the quality and speed. Their team is awesome. Here is some other stuff I've used them for...
Some knives I had cut for gifts, and my 1lb combat robot "Entirely Harmless"
Anyway, I will be using aluminum extrusion for the stand. This material is awesome and I am so glad its becoming more common in our hobby. I am going to be using
2020 series (20mm x 20mm) for this build to allow me as much size/space and weight savings as possible. Having worked with it before I am confident in the weight holding too.
But as you'll notice, I have added a series of brackets to each corner, these are being cut from stainless steel and should add massive strength and good durability in even a salty environment.
I've also designed some special brackets to show off some of the things you can do with laser cut metal. These will be aluminum as they'll be wet a lot, and won't rust. A towel rack built right where I'll always want a towel, and then a handy little rack to hold tweezers, glue, and a cup for grabbing frags that need to be bagged. Coming soon will be some interesting ideas I have for making the bagging and shipping of coral way faster, easier and better!
So, here we are... the start of a very cool build. I am excited to share it as it comes together! I'll rapid fire some key points below...
- Top is a 50 gallon lowboy with a corner overflow, super simple. This tank will be high light and high flow for SPS.
- Lowboy will drain into the approx. 25 gallon frag tank below which will be just for softies and LPS. Low light, low flow.
- YES I KNOW THE PLUMBING ISN'T PERFECT. This is purely a visualization. Lots more work to come.
- The sump is totally unknown at this point... I am playing with an idea for a chaeto tumbler, or maybe a bucket fuge... we'll see!
- ALL the equipment is up in the air right now too. This is still very much a side business, so I'll be saving money however I can.
Lastly I just want to explain that this project will go in stages, as I sell frags to fund it... I plan on drilling and plumbing the lowboy, but running it as an AIO for a couple of months, then I will buy the acrylic and build the middle tank and run that as a loop, and then finally I will add the sump and connect it all.
Stage 1: Lowboy AIO
Stage 2: Lowboy with frag loop
Stage 3: Full build with sump
Well, with that I have some work to do, and some Christmas ham to eat! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holidays and I look forward to sharing this build!
As some of you may have seen, in early 2020 I built a 10 gallon tank, with an 8 gallon frag tank and 12 gallon sump. Link here!
Well, pretty quickly what was intended to be a nice display, with a little room for frags to sit.... became a full work tank. I ended up having over 150 frags in there!
So, as always I just HAVE to upgrade... right? Being a fabricator and having a depressingly large amount of time on my hands this year, I got to work planning a new system.
Thankfully having sold 20-30 frags in the last week, I've managed to convince the wife that she should let me use some of the walk in closet (space is at a premium in an apartment) to install a new system... Still can't believe she said yes!
So, here it is! The new frag system. This should do me well for the next year or two until things level out and we can begin house hunting.
NOW before anyone asks, yes I am confident with putting that much weight there, we're on the second floor but this spot shares a wall with the concrete staircase outside, a bathtub next to it, and we've actually had about 600lb of junk sitting there for the last 2 years anyway. I've done the math and I feel safe. I wouldn't go any bigger, but this works.
So, obviously this is just a 3D render...
I am waiting on my LFS (hopefully this week) to start their annual tank sale so I can pickup a lowboy! The lowboy is going to make up the top section.
I've also order all the plumbing, and some special parts from my first and possibly only sponsor, SendCutSend!
SendCutSend are awesome, they're honestly my favorite company to work with. I use them a LOT in my day job (fabricator/design engineer) and my other hobbies including robot combat... So I reached out and they were thrilled to help support the build and help me introduce them to the reefing world. I really think there is a lot of space for them in this hobby!
SendCutSend basically allow you to draw something in a 2D or 3D program, upload a file of it to their site, select from a crazy range of materials, and then within HONESTLY a couple of days you'll have your parts at your door. I am always blown away by the quality and speed. Their team is awesome. Here is some other stuff I've used them for...
Some knives I had cut for gifts, and my 1lb combat robot "Entirely Harmless"
Anyway, I will be using aluminum extrusion for the stand. This material is awesome and I am so glad its becoming more common in our hobby. I am going to be using
2020 series (20mm x 20mm) for this build to allow me as much size/space and weight savings as possible. Having worked with it before I am confident in the weight holding too.
But as you'll notice, I have added a series of brackets to each corner, these are being cut from stainless steel and should add massive strength and good durability in even a salty environment.
I've also designed some special brackets to show off some of the things you can do with laser cut metal. These will be aluminum as they'll be wet a lot, and won't rust. A towel rack built right where I'll always want a towel, and then a handy little rack to hold tweezers, glue, and a cup for grabbing frags that need to be bagged. Coming soon will be some interesting ideas I have for making the bagging and shipping of coral way faster, easier and better!
So, here we are... the start of a very cool build. I am excited to share it as it comes together! I'll rapid fire some key points below...
- Top is a 50 gallon lowboy with a corner overflow, super simple. This tank will be high light and high flow for SPS.
- Lowboy will drain into the approx. 25 gallon frag tank below which will be just for softies and LPS. Low light, low flow.
- YES I KNOW THE PLUMBING ISN'T PERFECT. This is purely a visualization. Lots more work to come.
- The sump is totally unknown at this point... I am playing with an idea for a chaeto tumbler, or maybe a bucket fuge... we'll see!
- ALL the equipment is up in the air right now too. This is still very much a side business, so I'll be saving money however I can.
Lastly I just want to explain that this project will go in stages, as I sell frags to fund it... I plan on drilling and plumbing the lowboy, but running it as an AIO for a couple of months, then I will buy the acrylic and build the middle tank and run that as a loop, and then finally I will add the sump and connect it all.
Stage 1: Lowboy AIO
Stage 2: Lowboy with frag loop
Stage 3: Full build with sump
Well, with that I have some work to do, and some Christmas ham to eat! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holidays and I look forward to sharing this build!