Upgrading aquarium setup

Plata01 · Sep 12, 2017

So, about a year ago my brother gave me his old 93 gallon cube when he upgraded to a 180. He gave me a radion xr30 pro along with some other equipment. Since then I have upgraded to a 150 since the cube cracked at some point. I currently have plans to upgrade the stand from wood to steel which will be powdercoated orange. The plan is to have an orange and white theme throughout the sump area. I am currently working on making my own dosing containers out of white and orange 1/4 inch plexiglass. The next thing i make will be a 12 gallon ATO container, then finally with enough practice, a 48x15x19 sump, also orange and white, from 1/2 plexiglass. I wont work on the stand or sump until about 6 months from now since I PCS in 10 months. Please follow along and criticise and make recommendations as you see fit.

my current set up, missing the neptune ato and orange dosing pumps.

current tank setup

orange dosing pumps

acrylic practice on a top-down porthole

working on my dosing containers

steel stand plans

Big G · Sep 12, 2017

Nice looking project. Enjoy it! Cheers!

Plata01 · Sep 12, 2017

Big G said:
Nice looking project. Enjoy it! Cheers!

Thanks Big G, it's amazing how this hobby get a addicting and my OCD, haha, takes over on trying to make it look nice.

Plata01 · Sep 16, 2017

Containers are almost complete, just leak testing it and the final piece will be to put acrylic hinges on the back.

Plata01 · Jan 12, 2018

Plata01 · Jan 12, 2018

Plata01 · Apr 5, 2018

Added a GFO reactor. Also waiting for my father to finish building my stand so I can start organizing my cables and plumbing.

Plata01 · May 15, 2018

So, my father started building my stand and not sure what to paint it with. I should get it this weekend. I am also moving to Washington DC in two weeks so I took advantage of the situation and bought new ball valves, gate valves, and orange pipes to go with the orange and gray theme. I also bought two 105 gallon tanks for my water change station and also will go with the orange pipe theme. Pictures to follow once I set up in DC.

Plata01 · May 15, 2018

Current tank

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Plata01 · May 17, 2018

New gate valves, ball valves, bulkheads, orange plumbing, and new water change containers. Cant wait to set it up when I move to DC in two weeks.

Plata01 · Jun 5, 2018

Moved to DC from New Orleans last weekend and installing new stand and plumbing.

litenyaup · Jun 6, 2018

Wow looks great! I see you ended up going with white fittings instead of the grey.

Plata01 · Jun 6, 2018

litenyaup said:
Wow looks great! I see you ended up going with white fittings instead of the grey.

Thank you. I was going back and forth but finally decided on the white fittings. Much cheaper and it seems to stand out more than the grey.

Plata01 · Jun 22, 2018

Adding my acrylic panels for my components and going to build my acrylic ATO this weekend. Still trying to figure out how to finish the acrylic compartment where I hide my wires on the bottom level and put the components on a second level to hide my wires.

Plata01 · Jun 25, 2018

Getting a little further with my build, slowly, but surely. Adding the acrylic panels. I still have to order some 90 degree electrical plugs, some panduit, and some 80/20 aluminum to hide the outlets. I'm also building a 12 gallon ATO (last picture).

Plata01 · Jul 1, 2018

Plata01 · Jul 6, 2018

One of my favorite pieces

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Plata01 · Oct 27, 2018

My old skimmer gave out so I replaced it with a reef octopus 300sss. Thing is a beast. I was able to clean up the sump area with a new 40 breeder tank and a 20 gallon xh foe my ATO.