[sponsored] Project Reef by Elder1945 200g

[Fudsey]

@revhtree that will look so sweet in your frag tank

 

[Elder1945]

Basic RGB by Elder1945, on Flickr
www.miraclesaquariums.com

Went to pick up my stand today! I also had the chance to check out Miracles 16,000 sq ft facility.

As a owner and worker in a shop environment I find it fascinating walking threw and checking out other peoples work and setups.

Miracles did not let me down.. From welding, woodworking, tank building and CNC capability's I was quite impressed. I also had a chance to sit down with the team of employees that build these wonderful tanks and was not disappointed in there ability's and commitment to quality and customer service.

The shear amount of tanks Miracles make a year is quite astounding also the size of aquariums. They showed me a 3,000+ gallon tank they just finished installing with a crane over someones house....

Walking around there shop I saw the beginning of a few other massive tanks.
DSC_0095 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0100 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0102 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0104 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0106 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0011 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0012 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0016 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0020 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0031 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0038 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0050 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0076 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0079 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0081 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0084 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0087 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0090 by Elder1945, on Flickr
DSC_0092 by Elder1945, on Flickr




I can not wait to pick up my tank now.. I am already thinking about ordering another one

 

[Elder1945]

Dude are you freagin kidding me.....AGAIN!?!? Oh my lawd! It looked awesome before the black was added and that just set it off.

You know I wouldn't ask for this but WOW I am in love! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!

I thought you would like it

@revhtree that will look so sweet in your frag tank

I hope so lol.

 

[Drakonis]

So random comment but have you seen the youtube video of the tank that had built in coast to coast? the back glass was cut lower except where it met the sides to be the wier, had the glass external box that housed bean animal plumbing, and the top frame went around all that like it was an off the shelf tank. i not long ago just built my old 75 into a coast to coast with bean animal drains in an external overflow. i have a wier 5 " tall that protrudes only 1" into the tank that flows out two 60mm holes to the overflow box. tanks like the one i mentioned inspired my design, id tweak a couple things when i repeat the idea but i love the setup.

 

[tj w]

Miracles shop and equipment definitely seem impressive. Thanks for posting that info. I've enjoyed this thread tremendously this far.

 

[Drakonis]

This is the tank i refer to...
http://www.glassreef.com/basics_overflow.php

 

[Elder1945]

So random comment but have you seen the youtube video of the tank that had built in coast to coast? the back glass was cut lower except where it met the sides to be the wier, had the glass external box that housed bean animal plumbing, and the top frame went around all that like it was an off the shelf tank. i not long ago just built my old 75 into a coast to coast with bean animal drains in an external overflow. i have a wier 5 " tall that protrudes only 1" into the tank that flows out two 60mm holes to the overflow box. tanks like the one i mentioned inspired my design, id tweak a couple things when i repeat the idea but i love the setup.

This is a great idea and have looked at a coast to coast for a while before deciding on going with a Elos style overflow.

In all honesty I messaged @mixer911 at synergy reef about there shadow overflow to see if they wanted to work with me on this build or just sell me one I assume that he is busy and did not get back to me. I am also in Canada and could not get my hands on one quickly so scraped that whole idea. I did not know of any stores that stock them up here...

I am happy though as the Elos style overflow looks and works better for this build.

Miracles shop and equipment definitely seem impressive. Thanks for posting that info. I've enjoyed this thread tremendously this far.

Thank you for following! I will do my best to share every aspect of this build .

 

[Drakonis]

The part that drew me to the coast to coast was the skimming of surface layer tank wide silently to a silent bean animal drain box. those pictures are of a 75 i have up for a temporary setup while my main tank is redone/rebooted. just before its operation i was trying to decide return meathod and thought of a spray bar across the full back to put the water in a swirl that would encourage things to be swept up where the coast to coast would skim it off to the sump. i know spray bars are a bit unliked due to blockage from growth of algaes and such but as i said this is temporary and thought id expirament. i gotta say so far i have been rather happy with the results . i have no power heads at all and my corals are foing quite well, ample flow without being over powering. will see what i think up for my main tank when its ready to go to refine this expiramental setup

 

[Elder1945]

As for the stand I have started to paint it.. I will be working on it for the next 3 days..... You will actually not see any of it as it is going to be finished in Acrylic and Sintra (PVC) but do not want it to oxidize.

I planed on it to be powder coated but with the amount of holes that I am drilling I find powder coating some times just does not hold up.

 

[Brew12]

Such a fantastic build. Makes me wish I had acrylic skills!

 

[Elder1945]

Such a fantastic build. Makes me wish I had acrylic skills!

Thanks! Having the shop to build stuff is nice

 

[Rick.45cal]

The only thing that make me more jealous than the tank is your shop! Sweet setup dood!

I'm gonna pick your brain about CNC one day

 

[Elder1945]

The only thing that make me more jealous than the tank is your shop! Sweet setup dood!

I'm gonna pick your brain about CNC one day

Thanks! this build is quite fun so far.

You can ask me anything I will try to answer to the best of my ability's.. I was going to do a whole post on how to glue acrylic with weld on 4 and 40.. showing different methods and what is required. I have a few things like this that I would like to share..

 

[Rick.45cal]

I personally enjoy watching/learning how things are made and fabricated. So I would enjoy watching anything you are willing to share about acrylic. I have no experience with that material. I would like to integrate it into some of my work eventually. I personally work in wood, but do all my work by hand. It would be nice to have some "help" from a CNC machine, plus I think it would be an interesting way to express some of the things in my imagination.

Back to your build! I don't want to derail such a great thread!

 

[revhtree]

Loved the Miracles shop photos!

 

[najer]

English person sits patiently, enjoys the acrylic work and waits for the Glass tank!

 

[AquariumSpecialty]

Coming along amazingly well...but I'm not surprised.

 

[Elder1945]

Loved the Miracles shop photos!

Thanks! I think next up is the Coral Reef Shop as they will have my Orphek lights soon..

English person sits patiently, enjoys the acrylic work and waits for the Glass tank!

I can't wait for my tank !!

Coming along amazingly well...but I'm not surprised.

Thank you... It is about to get fun

 

[RamsReef]

Well I finaly got around to adding a ATO to my QT tank.. Tunze 3155 the best ATO imho.

I had one issue and it was the pump no sitting flat on the bottom of my ATO container (new 5 gallon bucket) this was quickly fixed though.




Nice and easy fix...

As for the QT setup and mixing station I had to make a manifold for my R/O as it will make life easy later down the road.



The state of the QT and mixing station as of today... I am going for functionality over anything as this is going to be a work environment and plan on spilling and making a mess..



As for the stand I have started to paint it.. I will be working on it for the next 3 days..... You will actually not see any of it as it is going to be finished in Acrylic and Sintra (PVC) but do not want it to oxidize.

Tools used .



I planed on it to be powder coated but with the amount of holes that I am drilling I find powder coating some times just does not hold up.

What should I use to paint a steel stand?

 

[Dan I]

This is coming along nicely. Hopefully when I own a house I can venture into a big tank and do something of this magnitude. Great job!