Building From Scratch

[ShakeyGizzard]

Started the sump build today. 20 long from marineland, building the sump dividers myself, all will be water level adjustable. had some left over 1/4 inch acrylic that I stated with. This will be a long thread since I'm a DIY guy. Wife still just wants a 40 gal so be it. Did not have much time today, working my day job for the next few days.

 

[Uncle99]

Following your build.
Enjoy!

 

[CasperOe]

Sometimes that's the best way! You get it exactly the way you want- at at fraction of the price! And a bit of DIY is always fun..

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

will be adding 1 inch glass strips to support the acrylic dividers since as of late I have read that silicone does not hold very well. will post pics when I get to that. The sump will have the following:

-Theiling Compact Rollermat
-AquaMaxx WS-1 In-Sump Protein Skimmer (for a 40 gal)
- 2 for redundancy, Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 Pump
- 2 for redundancy, 200W Titanium Aquarium Heater W/ Helio Controller
-Chaetomorpha Algae
- 3 Copepod Species (5280)
- still looking at fuge lights

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Todays pics are just getting divider size set. no slots for water flow cut yet, but its easy if you have the equipment on hand. I do cabinet door and other woodworking on the side. the stand build will be included. this will be a long thread.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Cut and slotted the sump baffles. used my router table for this. Had to improvise the table fence to accommodate the large distances. Will wait till the sump equipment get here before putting the bubble trap together, this will allow me to adjust the size as needed. short video below

 

[alpburakozbay]

Good job buddy

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

layout with sharpie, used old table for pictures so maybe you can see the pieces

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Framed up the stand today, picking up some quality hard wood plywood tomorrow to close it in. frame pics and a pic of what I'm duplicating look wise except the design on the footing in the front.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Mostly closed in, adding some trim and building the doors. Getting painted when doors complete.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[kevgib67]

Wow, looks like you could set a tank on top of it! Looking great.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Wow, looks like you could set a tank on top of it! Looking great.

Just made sure I can remove to 20L sump

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Almost done with the stand, wood working is my hobby also. Made up the shaker style doors today, did impact the removal of the 20L sump if needed by requiring one door removal. Some sanding needed on the doors and painting. Already drilled the 40 breeder for the Eshopps small (600GPH) have not done the return bulkhead yet. I don't think you all need bored with the tank drilling since there is gobs of it out there. After painting I will show in detail my plumbing, since some my find it helpful.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Slow going, regular job and vacation last month. But got the stand painted.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

At least it's in the house now ! Painting back of the tank tomorrow . Then getting some plumbing hooked up. This is not the final spot for it, shuffling things around to get a good spot

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Holidays and some side work has put me way behind on the tank build, but did get the sump put together, plumbing is done but removed in the picture. Bubble magus gen. 2 filter roller, Bubble Magus Extreme Curve 3 skimmer, Sicce return pump. Fuge light is a Finnex , still have not decided to use this or spend on another one. The tank baffle install shows glass strips I added for support on the baffles. I heard that the finnex light is made by tunze, don't know if its true or not.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Been slow going, actually building a stand for someone right now, and my build is basically on hold. Thought I would up date my component list anyway

- 40g breeder
- custom DIY stand
- Eshopps 600 gph overflow
- 20g long for sump with DIY baffles
- Bubble Magus small gen. 2 filter roller
- Bubble Magus extreme curve 3 skimmer
- Sicce 3.0 return pump
- Finnex 20w fuge light
- Nicrew Hyper Reef 100w with controller lights (2)
- Current USA eFlux duel wave pumps (6014)
- DIY poly carbonate screen top
- Inkbird ITC-306a with 2 50w BRS Titanium Heater Element

Work in progress
- DIY ATO , with float switch in reservoir to disable pump when empty

​

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Hitting the giveaway threads. Hopefully I can build my aquacape with this Ecoscape rock

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Building up a controller panel. Will house all the power bricks also. No apex planned for this one, but it can be easily removed. Decided to paint to match stand, DIY trim around cable openings . should blend in nicely when done. No screws will be visible when done. Will note, the pic shows a shelf inside for the power bricks. Have room for about 6 or seven controllers. should be plenty of room.