Show off your DIY projects

[firechild]

I love DIY projects for my aquariums and I'd love to see what everyone else is doing. I wanted to start this thread as a place for everyone to drop their photos and maybe a bit of detail as inspiration for others. I go digging for ideas all the time so it would be nice to have a repository of sorts to just scroll through. Add a link too if you already have a build thread for your project.

I'll start with a few of mine.

DIY fluidised filter/reactor

DIY LED 1

DIY LED2

DIY LED 3

Heater controller (was running schego heaters which have no internal thermostat)

Reservoir ATO. The solenoid controlled the RO/DI to refill the reservoir. The middle (unconnected) socket was for the float switch.

ATO. I don't have any photos of this, just some concept images. I will be making a couple more of these for current tank and my upcoming frag tank so I will update with photos when possible.

 

[SPR1968]

Very nice, and great ideas!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I bent this conduit pipe for my light hanger and I DIYd this algae turf scrubber too.

Reef on!
D

 

[Borat]

LEFT: DIY Calcium Reactor with 2 chambers and 2 PH probes (https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...-diy-peristaltic-pump-diy-alk-monitor.892067/)

RIGHT: DIY Alkalinity Monitor (https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...kalinity-monitor-diy-magnetic-stirrer.896310/)



DIY Peristaltic Pump (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...f-glorious-nation-of-kazakistan.856269/page-4)





DIY ATS (https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/diy-ats-build-complete-guide.889304/):



DIY Light Bar 100W (https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...ng-temperature-control-active-cooling.890640/)


DIY 4 channel Powerhead Controller (https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/diy-hob-powerhead-controller.899697/):



DIY Aquarium Controller (https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...ristaltic-pump-diy-alk-monitor.892067/page-22):

 

[Projects with Sam]

DIY Kalk Stirrer:

Build Thread - Sam's Oceanic 120 - DIY solutions

2022-08-30 10:04 PM Alkalinity 10.5 2022-08-30 10:08 PM Calcium 465 2022-08-30 10:11 PM Magnesium 1335 Odd; I was expecting a little alkalinity drop since I water changed 9 gallons for my baby cardinal water change water. Made DIY frozen fish food cubes! - I also added garlic juice...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Joe81]

I love DIY projects for my aquariums and I'd love to see what everyone else is doing. I wanted to start this thread as a place for everyone to drop their photos and maybe a bit of detail as inspiration for others. I go digging for ideas all the time so it would be nice to have a repository of sorts to just scroll through. Add a link too if you already have a build thread for your project.

I'll start with a few of mine.

DIY fluidised filter/reactor

DIY LED 1

DIY LED2

DIY LED 3

Heater controller (was running schego heaters which have no internal thermostat)

Reservoir ATO. The solenoid controlled the RO/DI to refill the reservoir. The middle (unconnected) socket was for the float switch.

ATO. I don't have any photos of this, just some concept images. I will be making a couple more of these for current tank and my upcoming frag tank so I will update with photos when possible.

Nice work, can you share any info on the leds?

 

[Borat]

DIY Kalk Stirrer:

Build Thread - Sam's Oceanic 120 - DIY solutions

2022-08-30 10:04 PM Alkalinity 10.5 2022-08-30 10:08 PM Calcium 465 2022-08-30 10:11 PM Magnesium 1335 Odd; I was expecting a little alkalinity drop since I water changed 9 gallons for my baby cardinal water change water. Made DIY frozen fish food cubes! - I also added garlic juice...

www.reef2reef.com

Is that a DIY nuclear reactor?

 

[Projects with Sam]

Is that a DIY nuclear reactor?

haha! Isotope decay for those pesky power outages...
I'm ready for a Kalk explosion! May be a bit overkill; that is how tedious I find setting up kalk. - my own fault... I am doing 1 gallon jugs. I should have specified a shorter motor. I may still print the complete top cover. I agree its um... form follows function at the moment.

 

[Dreminon]

DIY Kalk Stirrer:

Build Thread - Sam's Oceanic 120 - DIY solutions

2022-08-30 10:04 PM Alkalinity 10.5 2022-08-30 10:08 PM Calcium 465 2022-08-30 10:11 PM Magnesium 1335 Odd; I was expecting a little alkalinity drop since I water changed 9 gallons for my baby cardinal water change water. Made DIY frozen fish food cubes! - I also added garlic juice...

www.reef2reef.com

Love the look of this when I start needing to use kalk may have to look into doing this nice and sleek

 

[Borat]

Love the look of this when I start needing to use kalk may have to look into doing this nice and sleek

Kalk stirrers (and Kalk dosing) are a thing of the past... I got so much instability from using Kalk reactor that I ditched it all after all..

 

[Dreminon]

Kalk stirrers (and Kalk dosing) are a thing of the past... I got so much instability from using Kalk reactor that I ditched it all after all..

doh good to know lol. just getting my feet wet and learning.Thanks

 

[Borat]

Look at this thread - I went into great lengths into building it, but had no hesitation of scrapping it after trying it for 3 months or so..

DIY Pressurised Kalk Reactor/Stirrer

Jagshemash! Warm greetings from the best country in the world (Kazakistan)! In this threead I am going to show you some more advanced Kazakistan technologies: Kalk reactor! To be very honest I have very little understanding of how a kalk reactor works, other than reading about it and hearing...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Projects with Sam]

Kalk stirrers (and Kalk dosing) are a thing of the past... I got so much instability from using Kalk reactor that I ditched it all after all..

I looked at a lot of coral farms and noted their primary source of alkalinity and calcium is kalkwasser so that is why I decided to go that route.
That's an impressive build from my quick skim (picture looking) I'm sorry you were unable to get it to work. I hope I don't have the same experience.
I plan to stir the Kalk for 20 seconds every 5 minutes to keep it in solution. I am hoping the size of my chamber (6" wide) is enough to allow the slurry to stay at the bottom as the solution drips into my sump from the top.
Will be updating my build thread.
I wanted to do a clear chamber but for an experiment, I saved a ton of $$ going with drain pipe. So far I am in about $40USD, paint, and some PETG.
I have no problem scrapping it; I just hope it'll work well enough to get me to my next flawed solution

I want to emphasize that the size may save me and simplicity works. Or, as Elon puts it: “The best part is no part. The best process is no process.

 

[Borat]

I looked at a lot of coral farms and noted their primary source of alkalinity and calcium is kalkwasser so that is why I decided to go that route. That's an impressive build from my quick skim (picture looking) I'm sorry you were unable to get it to work. I hope I don't have the same experience.
I plan to stir the Kalk for 20 seconds every 5 minutes to keep it in solution. I am hoping the size of my chamber (6" wide) is enough to allow the slurry to stay at the bottom as the solution drips into my sump from the top.
Will be updating my build thread.
I wanted to do a clear chamber but for an experiment, I saved a ton of $$ going with drain pipe. So far I am in about $40USD, paint, and some PETG.
I want to emphasize that the size may save me and simplicity works. Or, as Elon puts it: “The best part is no part. The best process is no process.

..and the best thing is no Kalk reactor thing..

 

[Projects with Sam]

my testing setup. hehe

 

[Tavero]

Diy dosing pump

Diy cooling.

Diy light. Ignore the salt stains please

Diy kelp/nori clamp

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I have more of a DIY observational experiment going on with starfish...not sure if that counts

 

[firechild]

Nice work, can you share any info on the leds?

Sure. The first was fairly simple, using only a combination of Cree XP-E royal blue and XP-G neutral white emitters on 6 custom PCBs with 12x RB and 6x NW per board. I ran these on 2 Inventronics 0-10V dimmable drivers connected to a Floramate controller (these no longer exist and there's hardly any references for them on the internet), which was designed for dimmable T5 ballasts and programmable through a Windows GUI. The enclosure was a custom enclosure from Takachi in Japan.

The next 2 were built in the bodies of some old LED units that I've been holding onto for years, I stripped out the old PCBs and electronics and in the case of LED 2, designed my own PCBs with 12 separate channels, running UV, RB, blue, red, green, warm white and neutral white emitters and had the boards manufactured and assembled locally. For LED 3, I just got these customized: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32911128947.html
Both units run Meanwell ldd drivers and connect to an arduino for PWM dimming.

I use 60 degree to allow me to raise the lights to an aesthetically pleasing height above the tanks.

Overall, LED 2, which runs on my main tank, is giving me the best overall colour and growth. LED 3 is running on a tank that is mostly zoanthids, a couple of LPS and a few anemones.