dannyd_
Active Member
Hello all! I have been working on this tank for the past 2 months, taking pictures all the while, and I decided to finally sit down and type it all out. My inspiration came from the Mr. Aqua 12 gallon long. I really like the look of a tank that was very long and didn't have too much depth, however I didn't want to have a sump underneath. I also really like the idea of an AIO, so I decided to make my own. I decided that I would make the tank 36 inches long, 15.75 inches wide, and 10.25 inches tall. I split the tank and had 36" by 10" by 10" of display area, and 36" by 5" by 10" for equipment.
The far right and left chambers are dry, and the middle three are the parts of the filter. The far right area is where the ATO container goes, which I got from amazon. The far left is where the dosing container and doser goes. The red box is the return pump, the black box to the right is the protein skimmer, and the next box over is where the media basket goes.
Some of the things that changed from design to practice was the holes were larger as I didn't realize I was reading the hole size for the inside of the bulkheads, and not the outside. I also had the middle part changed to a single 1 inch hole where I put the overflow strainer instead.
Once I got all the products lined up, found their dimensions and made sure they would fit in their respective compartments, I went ahead and ordered the glass from a local store.
Once I got all the glass I cleaned it with acetone, taped it, and used silicone to put it all together.
I was fairly nervous about doing this even after all of my research, however the research paid off and it went very smoothly (this was my first time making a tank). When gluing it I did three separate layers of silicone. The edges turned out very clean, and I had no issues with lining everything up. I let it dry for two days then water tested it outside.
I let it sit for two days and then felt satisfied, as even carrying it around it felt extremely solid. I am impressed that all it takes is that glue to hold it together, even though I know that is what it is made to do. After I was sure it was good to hold water, I drained it and started taping it off, prepping to glue in the dividers.
Another thing that I didn't think of was that the glue caused the edges to rise up, not allowing the glass divider to sit flush. I used a glass razor, which is shown on the right side of the picture above, to cut slots into the glue. The glass razor works very well for the silicone, as you don't even need to worry if you get glue in places you don't want because it will scrape off very easily.
After getting everything glued and taped I once again let it sit for two days. The only issue I had was with the first compartment of the filter, as there was a small leak. I fixed it and let it sit for two more days then tested again. I am glad I filled up the filter area first to see, as I would have had to empty a lot more water out.
These pictures kind of shows a jump ahead, as at this point I started putting some of the equipment in. Before I filled it I put the bulkheads in, the elbow joints, and the plumbing to the pump in the final compartment to have water circulating. The plumbing portion worked great, however the pump didn't have the movement I wanted. I want to try to avoid having extra wavemakers, and this pump puts out very little movement. I ordered the Mighty Jet 356 to replace it, and will see if this will be enough to use without extra wavemakers. The next area was the ATO.
I bought this container from amazon, and is used for backpacking (liquid storage). The ATO I bought was the JBJ Nano, and so far it looks very nice. The pump is extremely small, as I was able to fit it into the container through the cap, which was a 2 inch hole! The tricky part was pushing the tubing onto the pump nozzle while it was in the container. I had to buy a couple 1/4" inch elbows so it would be able to smoothly get into the tank with the limited room. The other picture also shows how I put on a 1/4 inch bulkhead onto the cap, and cut a slot for the wire. This whole ATO setup works out perfectly and I am happy with how it turned out.
The other "DIY" thing that I did was the dosing containers, as I didn't want to spend 25 dollars on the containers. For this build I haven't been going the cheaper route to make sure to get longevity, however I felt like using non-dosing specific container was not going to be a cheapskate. If there is any issues in the future I will just buy dosing containers. For these I bought three different colored water bottles, and then put 1/4 inch bulkheads into each of the caps. I will be able to connect the tubing once I get a doser.
The power bar in this picture was returned and exchanged for two different ones. There was nothing wrong with that power bar, however I didn't correctly anticipate how many smart outlets I would need. You can see in the previous where the tank is filled the two white power bars on the left of the tank, which are really nice. They each have six controllable outlets, and four usb outlets each. You can control it from an app on your phone, and everything was great quality.
The most recent thing that I did was get a matt for underneath the tank. I wasn't planning on getting a leveling matt because I wasn't worried about it not being balanced, however I compromised and bought a cushiony yoga matt. It's three millimeters thick, and it was easy to cut.
The next steps is waiting to purchase the light that I am getting, which is a dual T5 with led fixture. After that I will get dry live rock and live sand and then fill it up, and start to cycle. I still am waiting for the protein skimmer that I want to go back into stock, and once that happens I will order the doser at the same time.
Here are some random photos.
The other things that I have in the back compartments is a media basket that I made out of black egg crate, which you can see in the first chamber, and the IM refugium light. It is mounted on the glass in-between the first stage of the filter area and ATO compartment. I also have a 100 watt Finnex titanium heater. I have been testing it out recently and I don't think it works honestly. I need to get a thermometer to see if it is actually changing the temperature. However there isn't a huge rush to get that because it already got refunded due to the quality of the box it came in, and livestock won't be in it for another three weeks at least. My main goal now is wiring control, as I'm trying to figure out a way to keep the two power bars in some sort of box mounted on the back of the tank.
I will keep updating this as things progress. I appreciate any constructive criticism or things you guys can point out. Fingers crossed everything keeps going smoothly.
The far right and left chambers are dry, and the middle three are the parts of the filter. The far right area is where the ATO container goes, which I got from amazon. The far left is where the dosing container and doser goes. The red box is the return pump, the black box to the right is the protein skimmer, and the next box over is where the media basket goes.
Some of the things that changed from design to practice was the holes were larger as I didn't realize I was reading the hole size for the inside of the bulkheads, and not the outside. I also had the middle part changed to a single 1 inch hole where I put the overflow strainer instead.
Once I got all the products lined up, found their dimensions and made sure they would fit in their respective compartments, I went ahead and ordered the glass from a local store.
Once I got all the glass I cleaned it with acetone, taped it, and used silicone to put it all together.
I was fairly nervous about doing this even after all of my research, however the research paid off and it went very smoothly (this was my first time making a tank). When gluing it I did three separate layers of silicone. The edges turned out very clean, and I had no issues with lining everything up. I let it dry for two days then water tested it outside.
I let it sit for two days and then felt satisfied, as even carrying it around it felt extremely solid. I am impressed that all it takes is that glue to hold it together, even though I know that is what it is made to do. After I was sure it was good to hold water, I drained it and started taping it off, prepping to glue in the dividers.
Another thing that I didn't think of was that the glue caused the edges to rise up, not allowing the glass divider to sit flush. I used a glass razor, which is shown on the right side of the picture above, to cut slots into the glue. The glass razor works very well for the silicone, as you don't even need to worry if you get glue in places you don't want because it will scrape off very easily.
After getting everything glued and taped I once again let it sit for two days. The only issue I had was with the first compartment of the filter, as there was a small leak. I fixed it and let it sit for two more days then tested again. I am glad I filled up the filter area first to see, as I would have had to empty a lot more water out.
These pictures kind of shows a jump ahead, as at this point I started putting some of the equipment in. Before I filled it I put the bulkheads in, the elbow joints, and the plumbing to the pump in the final compartment to have water circulating. The plumbing portion worked great, however the pump didn't have the movement I wanted. I want to try to avoid having extra wavemakers, and this pump puts out very little movement. I ordered the Mighty Jet 356 to replace it, and will see if this will be enough to use without extra wavemakers. The next area was the ATO.
I bought this container from amazon, and is used for backpacking (liquid storage). The ATO I bought was the JBJ Nano, and so far it looks very nice. The pump is extremely small, as I was able to fit it into the container through the cap, which was a 2 inch hole! The tricky part was pushing the tubing onto the pump nozzle while it was in the container. I had to buy a couple 1/4" inch elbows so it would be able to smoothly get into the tank with the limited room. The other picture also shows how I put on a 1/4 inch bulkhead onto the cap, and cut a slot for the wire. This whole ATO setup works out perfectly and I am happy with how it turned out.
The other "DIY" thing that I did was the dosing containers, as I didn't want to spend 25 dollars on the containers. For this build I haven't been going the cheaper route to make sure to get longevity, however I felt like using non-dosing specific container was not going to be a cheapskate. If there is any issues in the future I will just buy dosing containers. For these I bought three different colored water bottles, and then put 1/4 inch bulkheads into each of the caps. I will be able to connect the tubing once I get a doser.
The power bar in this picture was returned and exchanged for two different ones. There was nothing wrong with that power bar, however I didn't correctly anticipate how many smart outlets I would need. You can see in the previous where the tank is filled the two white power bars on the left of the tank, which are really nice. They each have six controllable outlets, and four usb outlets each. You can control it from an app on your phone, and everything was great quality.
The most recent thing that I did was get a matt for underneath the tank. I wasn't planning on getting a leveling matt because I wasn't worried about it not being balanced, however I compromised and bought a cushiony yoga matt. It's three millimeters thick, and it was easy to cut.
The next steps is waiting to purchase the light that I am getting, which is a dual T5 with led fixture. After that I will get dry live rock and live sand and then fill it up, and start to cycle. I still am waiting for the protein skimmer that I want to go back into stock, and once that happens I will order the doser at the same time.
Here are some random photos.
The other things that I have in the back compartments is a media basket that I made out of black egg crate, which you can see in the first chamber, and the IM refugium light. It is mounted on the glass in-between the first stage of the filter area and ATO compartment. I also have a 100 watt Finnex titanium heater. I have been testing it out recently and I don't think it works honestly. I need to get a thermometer to see if it is actually changing the temperature. However there isn't a huge rush to get that because it already got refunded due to the quality of the box it came in, and livestock won't be in it for another three weeks at least. My main goal now is wiring control, as I'm trying to figure out a way to keep the two power bars in some sort of box mounted on the back of the tank.
I will keep updating this as things progress. I appreciate any constructive criticism or things you guys can point out. Fingers crossed everything keeps going smoothly.
