My Saltwater Quest!

[mextlican]

The time was right for me to re-adventure into saltwater reef keeping. I was racking my brain on which direction to go...Waterbox, Innovative Marine, Red Sea??.... How large of a tank should I get? Would I be able to convince the wife?..

Let's rewind back to 2010, in the Reef Central days, I remember seeing custom tanks being built by a gentleman in Canada, who went by the name of Dave.

Fast forward to today, I now live in Canada and sure enough he's still building aquariums. That solidified my answer and I reached out to Concept Aquariums for a custom build.

Tank dimensions: 36" L x 24" W x 18" H (EXT overflow: 16" L x 3.5" W x 6" H)
Total volume: 62g (working volume: 57-58g)

3/8" glass on walls and 1/2" on the bottom.
Starphire on front, sides, and euro bracing.
Black tooled silicone.
Dual 3/4" returns.
Triple drain lines ( Left: Refugium, Center: Emergency, Right: Main/ Skimmer)

I also knew i wanted to run a sump/ proper fuge ( in preparation for my favorite fish: Mandarin Dragonette). I based my design on Melvees Reef Model F sump.

Sump dimensions: 30" L x 16" W x 17" H
Total volume: 34g (working volume: 22g)

Design:

Finished product:

I opted out of a bubble trap in my design due to size limitations and will just add some coarse Aquamesh filter, leading to the return section.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

First, Welcome to R2R !!!

Thats a nice size tank and looks like well made. My sugestion is getting the biggest tank you can afford so you dont be like me upgading already 3 times.

Happy reefing..

 

[mextlican]

First, Welcome to R2R !!!

Thats a nice size tank and looks like well made. My sugestion is getting the biggest tank you can afford so you dont be like me upgading already 3 times.

Happy reefing..

Haha I know, it hasn't been delivered yet and im already thinking of a larger tank. I made it the largest for the available space that I had. If I ever move into a larger house I want to get a 5ft L x 3ft W x 2ft H peninsula tank.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Haha I know, it hasn't been delivered yet and im already thinking of a larger tank. I made it the largest for the available space that I had. If I ever move into a larger house I want to get a 5ft L x 3ft W x 2ft H peninsula tank.

Yeah, I started with a 40 gallons breeder, then a 75g in-wall and now a Watrerbox 145.5. Already thinking about something bigger but no room for...Never ending...LOL

 

[Monad]

This is already looking like an amazing build. I can’t wait to see your progress!

 

[mextlican]

The next phase of the build I needed to solve was the stand. My first thought was to have a steel stand made, but I figured it would be difficult to add shelving and outer panels. I really liked the idea of having a stand made from extruded aluminum and the ones from AlufabInc. seemed to fit my needs. The only issues with that were, they don't ship to Canada and they are really expensive.

After some more research, I learned that I could order one from China, via Alibaba. I took the risk and got in touch with these builders. I opted for 4040 extrusion and gave them the length of each piece that I would need. They figured out the required hardware needed for the build.

Aluminum stand

It took 2 months to arrive, but this is what finally showed up.

After cleaning up the metal shavings.

There were 0 instructions, but i figured it wouldn't be too difficult to construct.

It took around 2 hours to build. The next morning I realized I messed up and had to swap a few hardware pieces around. I knew it would be a lot more structurally sound if I did.

How I solved the panel mounting and floor and shelving, was with these mounts ordered from the manufacturer.

brackets

I decided to go with 15mm Hydrotek marine grade plywood for all the panels and shelving.

I wanted the front and left panel to be fully removable, while right and rear be attached.

I came across these reinforced nylon brackets and thought it would work.

nylon brackets

I made these runners to support all of the weight of each panel.

The inspiration for the stand was my PC case.

I needed to figure out the boarders for the panels and came up with this.

 

[mextlican]

Stand Part 2:

Added a chamfer to all inside edges.

Glued up and pre sanding.

After some sanding.

Now for the fluted inserts.
This was the closest one I could find.

I stumbled across this particular brand of mineral paint used for furniture. I liked the colors and we will see how it works out.

Looks cool under my lighting too.

The front panel is the heaviest and lets hope my idea work for mounting.

Success!!!

 

[mextlican]

Stand part 3:

I need to do a final pass of sanding, but this is the current state of the aquarium stand.

Testing the fitment of the fluted panels.

.
Decided to darken the negative space to add more dimension.

The black wash worked well.

Glued into place.

Painted the internal side panels.

Last time this side will really be seen.

Pretty happy with the results.

 

[mextlican]

As for lighting, I decided to go with Dalua Illumagic Pixels. I purchased 3 Reefers and 3 Fraggers for the display tank.

I also picked up the refugium light.

To keep the custom theme going. I knew i had to make my own light rig. I ordered some more extrusion from alibaba. I have them mounted in an alternated patern.

Ordered some end caps as well.

https://www.alibaba.com/x/B0kHnL?ck=pdp

Testing them out, but they will be suspended with a wired mounting kit.

The one gripe I have with this system, is the cost of power supplies and dimmer controller.

I wanted to see if i could find a cheaper option. I purchased the quad power supply from Dalua and learned its 36V / 3.0 Amps. The daisy chain connectors are 18awg with 5.5 x 2.1mm barrel connectors.

I wanted a cleaner look so I bought two of the 1 to 3 splitter from Aliexpress. (Works perfectly)

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EzCA8IS

Their branded dimmer controller is the same old one from Nicrew. I wanted to test out a similar controller that was rated for 36V.

Works perfectly and you get 2 extra programing points.

I plan on adding some nylon braided tubing to clean up the look.

 

[mextlican]

This is already looking like an amazing build. I can’t wait to see your progress!

Thanks.

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here and I look forward to following your build.

 

[mextlican]

I know I could of went a cheaper route, but i had a custom QT tank built as well. I plan on using the Serious Reefs QT protocol for every fish. I will have it all set up in my home office, that way I can keep an eye on them during the process.

Dimensions: 20.75" L x 12.75" W x 14.5" H
Total volume: 14.5g (working volume: 10g)

Simple and Solid!
( will swap out the pink foam for some closed cell neoprene black foam.)

 

[mextlican]

4 months of waiting and it was all worth it!


Top portion had the QT tank and Sump.

Main display tank. ( heavier that it looked).

I was able to bring the sump in by myself. (Will also swap out the pink foam for black foam.)
(Refugium: Left, Return: Center, Skimmer: Right)

She's a beauty!!! (both my sons help me bring her in when they got home from work).

I will scoot it back an inch once the photos are relocated.

A little test fit before I finish painting the removeable panels.

 

[mextlican]

Small update:

After work I had to make a little progress... So, I hung up my lights. I need to clean up the wires with some nylon mesh and shrink tubing. I can't wait to get this plumbed and wet.

The stand is finally finished!

 

[Monad]

I can’t wait to see it filled! When are you running the fill test to check for leaks?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Small update:

After work I had to make a little progress... So, I hung up my lights. I need to clean up the wires with some nylon mesh and shrink tubing. I can't wait to get this plumbed and wet.

The stand is finally finished!

I love the way the stand looks!

 

[BryanM]

You have talent, and are quite a patient man!

With regards to moving the tank nearer the wall, it is good to have some room, I found out the hard way with my first tank. When I upgraded I used my fist, sideways, as the depth gauge for how far off the wall I wanted it to be.

 

[mextlican]

I can’t wait to see it filled! When are you running the fill test to check for leaks?

Hopefully soon. I'm currently in the process of figuring out which plumbing fittings i will need. I decided to go with metric plumbing and use the Chinese brand Flowcolour. Im pretty sure UNS and IM use that brand for their systems.

 

[mextlican]

You have talent, and are quite a patient man!

With regards to moving the tank nearer the wall, it is good to have some room, I found out the hard way with my first tank. When I upgraded I used my fist, sideways, as the depth gauge for how far off the wall I wanted it to be.

Its about 5" from the wall and i think im fine with it.

 

[mextlican]

Small update:

After work I had to make a little progress... So, I hung up my lights. I need to clean up the wires with some nylon mesh and shrink tubing. I can't wait to get this plumbed and wet.

The stand is finally finished!

I love the way the stand looks!

Thanks man, i'm pretty happy with how it turned out.