Mateo’s Seapora 50 build

19Mateo83

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I am planning on upgrading my 14g AIO cube to a Seapora 50g (36x18x18) This will be a 100% diy stand, sump and canopy system. I plan to reuse as much of the old components and rock I have in storage and as many of the new ones i can from the 14g. I made some to scale rough drawings to figure out where stuff will fit.
Here’s the general overview. It want the overflows and return on the right side, similar to a peninsula build.
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The structure for this one is going to be welded steel coated in automotive bed liner with the wood front held on by magnets.
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The sump will be a 20 long with water level adjusting baffles and an area to run floss as needed. Im planning on using a oversized DC return pump (700-1000gph) so I can up the flow periodically to clear detritus when needed and a reef octopus 120 skimmer that’s been sitting in my closet for almost 12 years. I also plan to upgrade its pump to a DC.
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There is also room beside the sump for dosing reservoirs with pumps above and a ATO reservoir. All the electronics will either be tucked into the end or along the top left as pictured.

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The plumbing is pretty straight forward, Im going with a coast to coast style overflow running a 3 pipe durso configuration. One full siphon, one a trickle and one emergency. The overflow will be as small and as narrow as I can possibly make it. The full siphon will get a ball valve and everything will get true unions just above stand level. The return line will have an inline uv sterilizer for use as needed and loc-line fittings with a random flow nozzle.
The lighting will be 2 a360x (already have 1) on the spectral controller. If you see anything I’ve overlooked or see anything I could do more efficiently please comment, I appreciate any and all suggestions.
 
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Best of luck with the tank!
 
The Seapora distributor, Royal Aquatics, confirmed today via phone call that this particular tank is plate glass on all sides except the bottom. So it IS OK to drill the sides for overflows. I had the LFS hold off on ordering the tank until this question could be answered. It will be added back on to their order first thing in the AM and I *should* come in mid week next week. Interestingly enough, in the conversation with the Royal Aquatics rep, he also explained that not all of the tanks in Seapora “standard” series have plate glass sides. It varies by tank. He also mentioned that Aquarium Masters, the manufacturer of Seapora tanks, keeps this information on the hush to keep people from DIYing their own reef ready systems instead of purchasing their factory built systems.
SO….moral of the story is…. If you have a Seapora tank and want to drill it, or are thinking about buying a Seapora tank to DIY your own system…FIND OUT if the specific model you want has tempered glass sides before you buy it and try to drill it. A couple phone calls can save you a lot of heartache.
 
I dug out some old marco rock from storage and got it in the bleach. A whole 12 gallon tote full. Im using 10% sodium hypochlorite pool chlorinator. I added 1/2 gallon to the tote and filled it to cover the rock. It will sit like this for a week or so then rinsed and dryed.
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I settled on a coast to coast style overflow box with the bean animal setup. The tank is 18” wide and the overflow is 12” wide x 4” tall x 3” Deep. I may on add a adjustable weir in the future but I got the main body of the box built. My 75 had this same style overflow without a weir and I never had any issues with it. The pipes will have screens on them to keep the critters out.
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I decided to go with a rocket engineer stand. I have built countless stands this way over the years and it gets easier and faster every time.
Pieces pre cut and labeled.
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Top and bottom bands assembled and checked for square.
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Legs assembled and installed on bands.
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3/4” plywood installed in the bottom
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Tanks sitting in stand to add weight while the glue drys.
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I love these stands, you can literally park a tank on them. The skin will be held on with magnets allowing full access. Once everything is fully dry I will move on to adding a shelf for dosing equipment and containers. I’m thinking a drawer for controllers and power management may work but I haven’t quite made up my mind yet.
 
I decided to go with a stealth overflow. I still want a bean animal style and the only ones set up for that are the 1200gph eshopps and Fiji cube. I ended up going with the eshopps eclipse large. Having the emergency drain just makes me sleep better.
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This build is looking great so far!
 
This build is looking great so far!
Thank you! It’s a process for sure but I want this to be the last build for a while. I’m still waiting ona few components to arrive before I start getting into plumbing.

baffle kit from Marine Bio Systems on eBay
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My ehopps eclipse overflow from Amazon
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And my skimmer that @IOAOI was kind enough to sponsor
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I ended up having to modify the internal side of the eshopps overflow. If I had mounted it like it came the rim of the tank would have blocked access to clean. My solution was to add 1/2” of acrylic around the edges of the back and reinforce behind the bulkheads. Now it fits flush under the rim and I have full access. The skimmer is in along with the sump kit from marine bio systems. Now I’m just waiting on some true unions from Amazon and it’s assembly time.
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This sump kit is AWESOME! I couldn’t have bought the acrylic sheeting for the price of it and it fits perfect.
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