Tank of the empty pockets - 22 gallon long low iron DIY AIO

AnotherReefHobbyist

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As many may have remembered, I posted a thread about going back on the decision to do a 40 breeder, quite a few agreed that I should do a smaller build ( due to a lot of current situations ) and just make it more premium.

My choice was originally to do a 25/20 gallon innovative marine, but in the end I wasn't so stoked about a few things, such as the black silicone, and I didnt feel like all of the dimensions were to my liking, in the end I decided on a 22 gallon long ( low iron, cause this is the tank of empty pockets! )that I would add a DIY AIO chamber in the side ( this is a peninsula )

I am working on a stand, and am just adding trim right now, so It should be done in the next few days, but before that here is an equipment list, with what I already have, and a few pictures!

Equipment:

22 gallon long low iron - DONE
Self leveling mat - DONE
black acrylic ( will laser cut for DIY AIO chambers ) - DONE
Clear acrylic ( will laser cut for diy lid ) - IN SHIPPING
Clear mesh ( also for diy lid ) - DONE
Hydor centrifugal pump ( 300 gph for return ) - DONE
2x nicrew hypereef 50 watt - 1X DONE
DIY typhon reef led controller - DONE ( OML this took forever, I was using code from 2012, there was so much debugging, probably shoulda just bought a spectral controller )
heater - need to order.
stand - Im working on it!
refugium light - DONE

this is all I can remember right now, do keep in mind that I have a reef tank currently ( picture below ) that I can use a few things from, such as the wavemaker, the rock, the sand, flipper, all of that. The list above is just new things, and there may be a few more things I do need.

and here are some pictures!

IMG_2190 (2).jpg

old tank, so this is really more of a transfer....
IMG_2240 (1).jpg

new tank! with a curious cat....
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led array of a nicrew hypereef led
IMG_2242.jpg

back view of fand and such ( nicrew hypereef )
IMG_2245.jpg

hydor centrifugal 300 gph, IK its so freaking small and perfect!
IMG_2246.jpg

mesh, didn't need this much but it was the smallest amount BRS had!
IMG_2247.jpg

and leveling mat, yalls didn't really want to see this but whatever.
IMG_2251.jpg

cheapo refugium light off amazon, it do be bright doe!
IMG_2249.jpg

black acrylic, I promise its black.
IMG_2241 (1).jpg

whooo that beautiful, many many hours of work for a kinda simple led controller.




I was told pictures can jumpstart your thread, lets see if it works!
 
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Any pics of the acrylic back chamber? I have been thinking about doing something similar
so the acrylic back chamber is currently just two peices of 12" x 12" black acrylic, however using my friends laser cutter I will be cutting the first panel down a little bit to fit the interior dimensions, and then cutting intake holes and a hole for the output, and with the other one I will be creating a couple basic baffles to create a first chamber for a filter sock, and second chamber for refugium/skimmer, and a third chamber for return pump and maybe some bio media.

I will be showing the cut peices and how I attach them in, so that should happen in the next couple weeks :)
 

garbled

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Let me just say, I've recently been doing a bunch of this kind of wiring of arduino's or arduino-like circuits, and found JLCPCB. I went and made a super-simple wiring diagram online (easyeda), and then ordered boards, which were pretty amateurish, but they worked. It's *so* much nicer to have it all soldered down on a nice neat board, and not have to futz with it. Total cost was about $20 with shipping, but totally worth it to have reliable boards for my projects rather than wire-wrapped messes.

Also, good luck on the tank, it's looking good!
 
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Let me just say, I've recently been doing a bunch of this kind of wiring of arduino's or arduino-like circuits, and found JLCPCB. I went and made a super-simple wiring diagram online (easyeda), and then ordered boards, which were pretty amateurish, but they worked. It's *so* much nicer to have it all soldered down on a nice neat board, and not have to futz with it. Total cost was about $20 with shipping, but totally worth it to have reliable boards for my projects rather than wire-wrapped messes.

Also, good luck on the tank, it's looking good!
link? ( I'm definitely not glued down to any one controller! )

And thanks for the vote of confidence!
 

garbled

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If you do the wiring diagram inside easyeda, and then do the convert to PCB, and then do all your PCB stuff in there, they have a button which automagically submits it to jlcpcb. Basically the price is 2-4$ per 5-10 boards (min 5), but the shipping to me was about $14. I've ordered twice and they arrived in about 1 week. Boards were high quality, matched the design perfectly, was super happy.

It took me about 5-6 hours to figure out how to do the circuit board from my diagram. It's not instantly obvious what you need to take into consideration. That being said, all 3 of my designs worked the first time out of the box, so, if you're careful to match your wiring diagram to your breadboard, you should turn out ok. Just don't try to be super compact and smoosh everything into a tiny board. Be a little wasteful, it's easier. I'm not to the point yet where I can make optimized designs. :)

It's slightly easier to use an ESP than an arduino, because you can just socket the ESP right to the board, whereas an arduino is external and you need to run wires to it. It's also harder, because an arduino is 5v and an ESP is 3.3v, so... If you have it working with the arduino, just print a bunch of solder holes in the board and then run wires to the arduino. :)
 

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Love the thread title! HA!
 
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Im super jealous my tank is just a Aqueon rimmed tank and yours is low iron and rimless
I mean you wanna look at my current tank, I couldn’t even afford to go with clear sealant! ( not to mention a freshwater light and a HOB filter rated for 10 gallons )

all I can hope is $200 extra on a tank was worth it! ( probably wasn’t but oh well )

someday the gods of thicccccc glass will find you too :)
 
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An update for everyone; I know you normally don’t see new coral additions before the tank is even set up, but itl look beut in the new tank too right! ( also blowing a bunch of money on corals is why I haven’t done a few more things by now )

here are pics of the new stuff:

image.jpg

pretty dang nice frogspawn colony....

image.jpg

yellow polyp colony, looks much better under white light but I haven’t set up a spotlight for it, although I will in the new tank. ( got this guy for $10 on Craigslist! Steal isn’t it!! )
image.jpg

Hammer colony, its taking its time to open up, and there are some issues with one of the heads, but it still looks nice!
image.jpg

And a small mushroom, it’s growing on the plug upside down ;Hilarious

Planning on ordering the second light, finishing the back chamber filtration, and finishing the stand this week.
 

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An update for everyone; I know you normally don’t see new coral additions before the tank is even set up, but itl look beut in the new tank too right! ( also blowing a bunch of money on corals is why I haven’t done a few more things by now )

here are pics of the new stuff:

image.jpg

pretty dang nice frogspawn colony....

image.jpg

yellow polyp colony, looks much better under white light but I haven’t set up a spotlight for it, although I will in the new tank. ( got this guy for $10 on Craigslist! Steal isn’t it!! )
image.jpg

Hammer colony, its taking its time to open up, and there are some issues with one of the heads, but it still looks nice!
image.jpg

And a small mushroom, it’s growing on the plug upside down ;Hilarious

Planning on ordering the second light, finishing the back chamber filtration, and finishing the stand this week.
I have a Green frogspawn just like that and i have a hammer that looks like your hammer
 
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Hey all! So I have had a productive weekend, finished the stand and got it in place, put the tank and And mat on, finished the back chambers, and got this in too!

( I also upgrade my wave pump to a jebio sine, it’s real nice to

now what y’all’s really want to see, pics :)

CBCF4AA3-50B0-4CC0-934B-166B365F8F05.jpeg

Tank in place

D3BDA689-3B0E-4D6F-8A85-1FD2F85CFBA6.jpeg

also tank in place
1B4EE65F-23BF-451D-8DD8-51C3F50F673A.jpeg

Stand front
D55C886E-AB25-47D8-A27F-A91284AF8439.jpeg

Nice n ugly inside stand with lights on.
A48C3B04-CBD8-4610-843B-40E9996F8624.jpeg

Front of back chamber diy filtration
8CD5580B-6266-4834-A32E-2DFB01290A71.jpeg

And back
B0DF7E99-DCDA-45A3-B8FC-2A889C343E7E.jpeg

Dry fit into tank
20E3048C-0E6C-4C0B-8D2D-400355D8219E.jpeg

And finally silicon!

so that’s it for now, but Tommorow I should be doing a leak test!
 
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