I got me a 40

[mikez104]

Sooo, before I drill this, how close to the side is safe to drill?? Will this work? I never drilled a tank before.

 

[Philly Reefer]

Sooo, before I drill this, how close to the side is safe to drill?? Will this work? I never drilled a tank before.

You should be good. Just go slow

 

[mikez104]

Productive day. I noticed when I sat the tank on the stand, there was a gap under the mid points of the tank and the ends were touching the wood. It was like a 1/16" but it bothered me. I would think that would stress the tank. I tore off the top of the stand and the trim.

I was using 1/2" plywood for the top and it looks to have flexed and conformed to the 2x4s below it. I replace it with 3/4" plywood and cut some slivers of wood and filled the little gaps between where the plywood met the 2x4s. I then place the tank on top and put about 20 gallons of water in it. It seems to sit nice and flat now.

Not sure if I even needed to do that. I never paid much attention to other stands I've built and they were probably the same way. I imagine the plastic around the tank flexes and would have probably taken care of the little gap. Anyway, I nailed and screwed everything back together then re-stained and lacquered the wood.

 

[mikez104]

Then I decided to take on drilling the tank. I never drilled a tank before so I was a bit worried. At least it was only a 40 breeder and not a 240 or something... Made a quick video. It was really quite a painless process.


The runout on my crappy drill is amazing...
It turned out well I think.

 

[mikez104]

And a test fit of the overflow.

 

[mikez104]

And now to build a sump....

 

[FishGeist]

I remember when I first tried to drill a 20 gallon Aqueon, used the wrong bit (center indent) and as soon as I punched through, CRACK!

 

[mikez104]

I remember when I first tried to drill a 20 gallon Aqueon, used the wrong bit (center indent) and as soon as I punched through, CRACK!

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. At least it was a lesson learned. I was amazed how much runout my drill has. That bit was wobbling all over. Time to go Makita I guess.

 

[jk_s124]

Looks great so far! Love the stand!

 

[xlayedoutx]

Any updates

 

[mikez104]

Any updates

Funny you ask...

Well I had a 20 long I was going to make a sump out of but when it came time to build the sump I found that it did not fit in the stand. It seems that I miscalculated the sump area. I forgot to take into consideration the pieces of wood that support the top.

Soooo, I had a 20 high full of freshwater fish that I wanted to move out of my bedroom so I figured that I'd downsize to a 10 gallon rimless for the freshwater fish and use that to build a sump because that fit the area. So here is the downsized freshwater. I think it turned out well. The fish are spooked because the lights were out and I just flicked them on. I have some white cloud minnows, 3 celestial pearl danios, a hillstream loach, corry cat and some rummy nose tetras. Love the danios and loach.

 

[mikez104]

So then I started to build the sump from the 20 high. I cut out some baffles and started to place them and realized that I really didn't want to go that route. The silicone not sticking to the acrylic and trying to get the water level right and everything... I then said to myself, "self, just buy a sump" so I did. I guess I'm getting lazy in my older age...

 

[mikez104]

So here is the sump. I bought a figicube figi-20 sump. Seemed to fit the size well and also the wallet. And of course a few hours after I ordered it, it went on sale. I emailed them and the credited me the difference to my account which was nice. May never use it but you never know. Here are some pictures...

Build quality seems pretty good. There are a lot of really sharp edges... I'm sure I'll be nursing wounds soon. Will start plumbing soon. Maybe have water in it this weekend.

 

[mikez104]

A few updates. Yes, the sump has really sharp edges alright and I have the cuts to prove it. The sump looks well made but dang it's dangerous to work on lol. All in all it seems to have some nice features but you have to figure it all out on your own because the instructions are AWOL.

 

[mikez104]

Made some progress over the weekend. I had a goal to get water in the darn thing and that I did. Here we go. Still have to build a door but that will be low on the list until I get everything installed. My scaping is... Lacking lol.

 

[mikez104]

I put in the sand. and moved the rocks a little. I've had to gather up every heater I have to get the temp up in this thing. The rock and water has been in the basement for two? months. I just realized that all my heaters are either 50 or 75 watts. So I have 4 of these things trying to raise the temp. My house is 90 years old and tends to be drafty in the winter. I ordered a 150w and I'll pair that with a 75w when it gets in and move them to the sump.

 

[mikez104]

Also waiting on the second light. That's why we be lopsided.

 

[mikez104]

As for the Modular Marine overflow, I'm not thrilled. I bought the 800GPH model and there is no way that thing can flow that much unless I totally screwed it up. My bad I guess as I didn't really look close enough at the specs when I bought it. It uses 1/2" bulkheads for the drain down to the sump. I bought the gate valve for the primary of a Bean Animal style drain and I don't even use it. The primary drain is at full siphon and the secondary is right at the top of the elbow right up to the little hole I drained . Maybe 200GPH? Not sure but I'll make it work for now.

The unit is very beautifully built and ultra compact but I just am not seeing the throughput they are advertising. Took a few weeks to show up also. Not sure of a way to make it work better. I think I'm limited by the pipe inner diameter.

 

[mikez104]

But I did get my critters moved in and they are doing well. I bought a pair of clowns and a cleaner shrimp back when I started this quest. They are in and are much happier than they were in the 10 gallon they have been hanging in for the last 2 months.

 

[Johnboy3886]

Stand looks good. Nice job. And welcome back