"Border Reef" DIY Heavy build SPS build

[Txdragonslayer]

Hello,
I have a had a couple builds on here before, but they were cut short due to life circumstances. I am taking my time on this build and I know it is still a ways away from being filled with water, simply because of the gear I want is pricey and I am willing to wait for it.

This is the first time I have tried something like this. I have decided to build my own tank. I bought the glass from @glasscages and they were very professional and airshipped the glass to me. I was very impressed.

I will post little by little. I did have some hick ups right when i got the glass. I am planning on using the @reef Synergy overflow with this tank, however, when i started to drill my new glass the bit got caught and blew out one of the holes.

So I received some good advice from some people here on R2R and I decided to have the local glass shop cut and drill a piece of glass the same size as the Synergy overflow template. I siliconed this 1/4" glass on top of the "blow out" and siliconed the crap out of it. I think it came out nice in the end. I put some black out tint on the back panel so that I could begin building the tank.

I really like the Phantom bottom from @reefsavvy so I wanted to try something similar. This was the first time attempting to build a tank and i wanted it to look nice. I decided to purchase some acrylic, ABS (for the inside) and foam PVC from Tapplastics that would be cut to size of the bottom of the tank.

I will post more pics to follow, but for now here is a teaser.

Still unpolished and and unassembled but this was the look i was going for.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

You have more pictures then that , come on now ! But the progress looks nice keep up the great work;)

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Following along !

 

[Txdragonslayer]

I completely forgot to mention why I called it "Border reef" I live in El Paso, TX and it is right on the border of Mexico and Texas.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Glass before I put the tint. The many layers that make up the bottom. Glass, acrylic, black 1/4" pvc, red 1/8" pvc

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Glass.

I purchased my glass from Glass cages, I had great advice and customer service, but I had asked for all 4 sides of each piece of glass to get polished, in the moment he said, "you only see the top anyway." So in the moment I told them to only polish the tops of the glass, but I should have asked for all four sides, so if you decide to go this route, polish all 4 sides of your glass at least of the front and back panel.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

This was the polish I wanted on all 4 sides, oh well. For the next build I'll know.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

1.5" T-Slot I love this stuff because i can purchase it off of amazon and buy it little by little, instead of paying for it all at once. So I have the stand for the aquarium build and I am debating on if I should make it a L shape stand to take up the whole corner.

Also made another tslot stand for a nano ADA 60p tank.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

To dose, or to Calcium Reactor that is the question

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Use the Crax reactor ... looks very nice and is making me consider building a Tslot Stand for my tank ;)

 

[Reefer Deez]

Looks great so far :) sorry to hear about you other builds but I'm excited to see this one turns out!

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Looks great so far :) sorry to hear about you other builds but I'm excited to see this one turns out!

@referdeez thank you. The beauty is with every build long term or not you always learn about your self as a reefer. I am taking my time with the build process and enjoying this part too, because once its wet it is so much harder to make changes.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Looking good!

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Looking good!

Thanks Rev, little by little right!

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Creating an external over flow for my nano tank

 

[Txdragonslayer]

I know its hard to see, but the Tslot stand looks so much better with the red plastic strip. I'll have to take some better pics later

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Just need to cut a glass back panel and the nano overflow is done

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Well Nano tank overflow is almost done I just need to get the back part professionally cut, so that will be a little while. I need to figure out how I am gonna "skin" this stand (under the nano) for my tank.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

I am no where near the amazing craftsmanship of @reefsavvy but for my first time building an aquarium I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I had to add Felix's final touch. My upgrade will be a Reef Savvy:) I will take some better pictures of the tank later but wanted to post some real quick.

 

[declanisadog]

Very nice!! What are the dimensions?