Blukraken
Community Member
I recently started a Fluval 13.5 EVO which has done pretty well and have it in my room, however the family wanted something they could look at whenever they wanted. So here we are with a bigger 40 breeder DT.
First I need to list out the equipment I have, then of course pictures and struggles I had along the way, most had to do with the stand to be honest
.
Equipment:
Stand: Wood, stain, poly, screws, etc.
Plumbing: PVC, connections, valves, etc.
Tanks: 40B & 20g Long
ESHOPPS Eclipse L Overflow
Sump baffle kit
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 110-INT Skimmer
Power: 9 Outlet PDU power strip with front switches
Powerheads: Jebao OW-25 wavemakers
Temperature: Inkbird temp controller / x2 EHEIM Jager heater 100W
Lighting: x2 AI Prime 16HD
Return Pump: Hygger 1060GPH w/ controller
LED grow light for refug
AutoAqua Smart ATO Lite
40lbs live sand special grade
~30-35lbs of marco dry rock
DIY screen kit from Lowes for a mesh lid
So finding a stand that each reefer likes, looks nice, hides things, etc. is pretty hard to find for a decent non-exorbitant price and can hold a 400lb tank on top. So I opted to make my own, but with that came some Googling. I am pretty good with DIY, but am awful at coming up with plans myself. So credit where credit is due. I found and followed the instructions from this guy https://www.instructables.com/Fish-Aquarium-Stand-40-breeder-tank-with-hidden-s/. I bought all the wood, stain, plywood and set out.
Cutting the wood was a pain at first. I used to old wood chairs to hold both ends of each 8ft long 2x2. I ended up buying some actual stands to help with this since I needed to cut plywood anyways.
Fast forward until all my struggles were over (about 2-3 weeks building this every day) and it's complete-ish. No more in progress pictures because my stress and frustration distracted me!
Staining this was a pain since I initially started with too thick of a layer and after 24 hours was pretty tacky. Most likely due to being in a garage, with it closed and high humidity in Houston not allowing it to dry properly. So I wiped the excess off (which was miserable). However, I like how the staining came out with it rubbed off. It looks older? Worn? Anyways... after the staining was done I put a couple layers of poly on there and then attached the doors!
The bottom trim is actually "secret door" which is pretty neat the guy came up with to allow the 20g Long sump to slide in due to the frame in the center of the front doors.
Next I had to drill my tank...It didn't crack, but I did have to go out and buy another tank and do it over. The ESHOPPS overflow does not make it easy on rimmed tanks and took a failed attempt and crossing my fingers for the second that it would fit properly. Once drilled I put it on the stand with the overflow "attached" to mark out where I need to drill holes in the backside of the stand for my plumbing without having it look nasty and all over the place with PVC. While doing this I also drilled out the hole for the PDU power cord.
I had an issue with a leak and the overflow as well. On the inside and outside. Getting the nuts on properly was a pain and I cut my knuckles up pretty bad holding the inside weir bolt and tightening the nut on the other side. I ended up tightening the outside nut too tight which led to a leak (hoping I didn't crack the glass). I redid it, and now only the inside leaked. I took off the entire box and found that the rubber gasket it came with had 2 pronounced rings on one side and flat on the other. After flipping these around there were no more leaks!
HOWEVER! the way the overflow template worked and the rim of the tank caused the water level to be too low. So with some more DIY I took the cover for the outside overflow box and went to Lowes and bought plastic wing nut screws. I drilled a couple holes on either end of the overflow lid and screwed them onto the weir to allow a water level just over the bottom of the trim. The water still flows well enough and I don't have to see a water line. With the bean animal style overflow I can't hear it drain anyways.
This was the finished look inside the stand with plumbing, skimmer, power, lights all hooked up. I ended up labeling the switches later that night. Bought some outside industrial strength velcro and zip ties and tidied up the wiring, so now you can't see much. The return pipe has a manifold coming off in case of future upgrades as well. The center wood piece is blocking the refug area. I also bought some egg crate and lifted the skimmer about .5 inches out the sump level too.
On to the fun part! I took the extra cardboard from the first failed 40B and the second 40B and created a cardboard tank to test out some rockscapes and settled on the below. Oddly enough, when putting the scape in the tank with epoxy and glue the right side took me about an hour to get situated without me feeling like a goby or snail would knock it over at some point.
As I finish typing this, the tank has cycled and have 2 clowns from my Fluval 13.5 in here now and have chosen the left powerhead to host for now and have ignored the rest of my tank that I worked hard on so I wanted to share with some people who may care lol.
Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk, I will try to keep this updated with all upgrades, fish, corals, etc. And of course problems and resolutions to things I come across. As a preview, I have a media reactor coming Tuesday to be used as a carbon reactor to be the first to hook up to the manifold, and some chaeto and pods for the refug.
First I need to list out the equipment I have, then of course pictures and struggles I had along the way, most had to do with the stand to be honest
.Equipment:
Stand: Wood, stain, poly, screws, etc.
Plumbing: PVC, connections, valves, etc.
Tanks: 40B & 20g Long
ESHOPPS Eclipse L Overflow
Sump baffle kit
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 110-INT Skimmer
Power: 9 Outlet PDU power strip with front switches
Powerheads: Jebao OW-25 wavemakers
Temperature: Inkbird temp controller / x2 EHEIM Jager heater 100W
Lighting: x2 AI Prime 16HD
Return Pump: Hygger 1060GPH w/ controller
LED grow light for refug
AutoAqua Smart ATO Lite
40lbs live sand special grade
~30-35lbs of marco dry rock
DIY screen kit from Lowes for a mesh lid
So finding a stand that each reefer likes, looks nice, hides things, etc. is pretty hard to find for a decent non-exorbitant price and can hold a 400lb tank on top. So I opted to make my own, but with that came some Googling. I am pretty good with DIY, but am awful at coming up with plans myself. So credit where credit is due. I found and followed the instructions from this guy https://www.instructables.com/Fish-Aquarium-Stand-40-breeder-tank-with-hidden-s/. I bought all the wood, stain, plywood and set out.
Cutting the wood was a pain at first. I used to old wood chairs to hold both ends of each 8ft long 2x2. I ended up buying some actual stands to help with this since I needed to cut plywood anyways.
Fast forward until all my struggles were over (about 2-3 weeks building this every day) and it's complete-ish. No more in progress pictures because my stress and frustration distracted me!
Staining this was a pain since I initially started with too thick of a layer and after 24 hours was pretty tacky. Most likely due to being in a garage, with it closed and high humidity in Houston not allowing it to dry properly. So I wiped the excess off (which was miserable). However, I like how the staining came out with it rubbed off. It looks older? Worn? Anyways... after the staining was done I put a couple layers of poly on there and then attached the doors!
The bottom trim is actually "secret door" which is pretty neat the guy came up with to allow the 20g Long sump to slide in due to the frame in the center of the front doors.
Next I had to drill my tank...It didn't crack, but I did have to go out and buy another tank and do it over. The ESHOPPS overflow does not make it easy on rimmed tanks and took a failed attempt and crossing my fingers for the second that it would fit properly. Once drilled I put it on the stand with the overflow "attached" to mark out where I need to drill holes in the backside of the stand for my plumbing without having it look nasty and all over the place with PVC. While doing this I also drilled out the hole for the PDU power cord.
I had an issue with a leak and the overflow as well. On the inside and outside. Getting the nuts on properly was a pain and I cut my knuckles up pretty bad holding the inside weir bolt and tightening the nut on the other side. I ended up tightening the outside nut too tight which led to a leak (hoping I didn't crack the glass). I redid it, and now only the inside leaked. I took off the entire box and found that the rubber gasket it came with had 2 pronounced rings on one side and flat on the other. After flipping these around there were no more leaks!
HOWEVER! the way the overflow template worked and the rim of the tank caused the water level to be too low. So with some more DIY I took the cover for the outside overflow box and went to Lowes and bought plastic wing nut screws. I drilled a couple holes on either end of the overflow lid and screwed them onto the weir to allow a water level just over the bottom of the trim. The water still flows well enough and I don't have to see a water line. With the bean animal style overflow I can't hear it drain anyways.
This was the finished look inside the stand with plumbing, skimmer, power, lights all hooked up. I ended up labeling the switches later that night. Bought some outside industrial strength velcro and zip ties and tidied up the wiring, so now you can't see much. The return pipe has a manifold coming off in case of future upgrades as well. The center wood piece is blocking the refug area. I also bought some egg crate and lifted the skimmer about .5 inches out the sump level too.
On to the fun part! I took the extra cardboard from the first failed 40B and the second 40B and created a cardboard tank to test out some rockscapes and settled on the below. Oddly enough, when putting the scape in the tank with epoxy and glue the right side took me about an hour to get situated without me feeling like a goby or snail would knock it over at some point.
As I finish typing this, the tank has cycled and have 2 clowns from my Fluval 13.5 in here now and have chosen the left powerhead to host for now and have ignored the rest of my tank that I worked hard on so I wanted to share with some people who may care lol.
Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk, I will try to keep this updated with all upgrades, fish, corals, etc. And of course problems and resolutions to things I come across. As a preview, I have a media reactor coming Tuesday to be used as a carbon reactor to be the first to hook up to the manifold, and some chaeto and pods for the refug.
