Tony's 55 Peninsular Build

Pickwun · Mar 9, 2020

I got started on the 55 this weekend. Got the other furniture moved out of the way (mostly). Drilled the end. Installed the overflow and bulkheads.
Here's what it looked like starting out, and roughly where it will live.

Drilling the holes.

And the overflow mounted.

I have black ABS for the barebottom. The sump will be built in a 20H with a sloped ATS. I got almost all of my plumbing parts this weekend, and the valves should be in tomorrow.
I'm adding a 2x4 base around the bottom to jack it up a few inches.
I've got classes and a ton of homework so I basically have a few hours on Saturdays to work on it. This will be a loooong process.

Flippers4pups · Mar 9, 2020

Nice start!

Skynyrd Fish · Mar 9, 2020

Sweet!

Pickwun · Mar 10, 2020

Playing with aquascape ideas. I'm kind of partial to the dynamic tension of the sloping overhang effect, but the big cantilever is pretty dramatic. (the black band on the left was the original overflow design, but I ended up with the little box that won't block anything). Yes if you recognize your scape I totally stole these from the forums and rescaled/adjusted/combined for 55gal. Thanks for the inspiration.

Of course the final result is highly dependent on the pieces that show up in the box when I order rock in a couple of months.

Pickwun · Mar 14, 2020

Laid in the blackbottom today. 1/4" ABS (because it was cheaper than 1/8", because Amazon).

Looking at it like that makes me wish I had an old-school steel frame tank with the slate bottom.
PS: Yeah, I'll scrape off the old dead stick on thermometer before I black the end.

Pickwun · Mar 15, 2020

Back In Black, or Black In Back... I don't know, something with black and back. You figure out the order. Fresh coat of FlexSeal on the end glass.

me & my baby · Mar 15, 2020

I think your bulkheads are installed backwards . The build is looking really good

mdbueno1977 · Mar 15, 2020

Looking good.

Pickwun · Mar 15, 2020

me & my baby said:
I think your bulkheads are installed backwards . The build is looking really good

They most certainly are. They're too long to go into the low-profile overflow box so I had to run them in from the outside. When I start flow testing I'll figure out if I need to trim them. The gaskets are against the glass on both sides.