DIY custom 12 gallon coral/invert tank

Cjud7982 · Apr 13, 2018

Hey guys, I thought I would share a little tank that I have been working on over the last day or so. I am in need of a coral/invert qt tank, so I looked online at tanks. Yeah a cheap 10 gallon would work, but then hob filters, power heads and just no fun, its been done before lol. I really like some of the all in one style tanks that are made now, but I really didnt feel like droping 10 bux a gallon for a qt tank. So.... I fairly regularly get old tanks, broken tanks or what not for free, just so I have glass to play with. I looked around and had a bottom and side pane from a 120 gallon 1/2" this glass. Bottom pane was scratched to heck so I used it for the bottom and back 2 pieces and painted them black. The side pane was acceptable so those got to stay clear. I knew I wanted something with a small footprint, could be tucked tightly into a corner and obviously no sump. I always loved coast to coast over flows, but also want the return pump inside the tank as well. So I came up with a bit of a twist on the all in one tanks with a coast to coast and a corner overflow. I will be building a couple media baskets that slide into the filter areas. I have a little 500gph ehiem pump to throw in the return chamber, and plan to run ai prime hd for light. I think this should work well for a frag tank and invert qt. foot print is 18"by 22" and 8 1/2" tall using all 1/2" glass with the exception of the 1/8" glass for the coast 2 coast and the baffles in the filter section. Let me know what you think so far

p.s. I know she isnt the prettiest, but the price is right, FREE. I am still developing my skills with silicone too btw, haha. Tried spoons, the little tool the box store sells, and my finger. So hard to make it clean looking. I dont like taping because if it gets tacky, the tape will tear the edge of the silicone. I will be cleaning the silicone up a bit once its all nice and dry.

Dr. Dendrostein · Apr 13, 2018

Very nice

George Lopez · Apr 13, 2018

Next time try dipping you're finger in alcohol when you wipe it. Ado how does that overflow work? Looks interesting

Cjud7982 · Apr 14, 2018

@George Lopez , I will try the alcohol trick next time I do some silicone work. And the overflow is set up exactly how most all in one tanks are. It has an overflow on each side of the back wall. However I took the one on the one side and extended it out as a coast to coast. Hoping that no matter what the flow characteristics are in the tank, there will never be stagnant surface water anywhere and all of the surface water will quickly go to the filter boxes. Not sure how well it will work yet.
I just filled the tank tonight to leak test it and see how the water flow is. I decided on going with my cobalt mj1200 because it uses standard quick disconnect lines and runs around 300 gph, plus I had a valve for it too.

So far, it looks like I may need to add an adjustable wier to the one overflow because it is ever so slightly lower than the coast to coast and i would like to see more water through that overflow instead. I can see this being a little bit of a trick to get dialed in. I snapped a couple pics, but the lighting was bad and they're a little fuzzy. The piece of wood is to hold down the outlet on the pump for now, I still need to figure out the best way to hold it still. The height of the pump and valve wont let me go through the glass, so I need to go over the rim. I plan on using 1/2" loc line for the return nozzle.

Cjud7982 · Jun 27, 2018

Well I finished building the stand for it a month or so ago and the other day finally cleared a spot out in the bedroom for a nice little bedside tank. Tonight I added the "live" sand and new water. So far I am pretty happy with it. Price was right, free stuff laying around

. So prime light, osmolator top off and 100 watt heater. Any recommendations on a little power head for nano shallow tanks? This is all new to me, I'm used to my 6105s in my 180 lol.