Dbrewsky's 4'x4' Display Frag Tank Build

dbrewsky · Feb 1, 2015

hello, I would like to introduce myself and document my new 4'x4'x12" frag tank build! I have kept reef tanks for over 6 years. After a short hiatus, during which I relocated out west to Denver, I set up a 10 gallon nano tank thinking that would keep me occupied for awhile......

Well, it sure didn't take long after I set this up before I started brainstorming about something better!!!

So as much as I enjoy the display tanks I have had over the years, ultimately I love collecting corals and growing them more than keeping the displays themselves. So This time I decided I wanted to do a tank dedicated to propagating coral and collecting my favorite coral morphs. Luckily after a couple weeks of contemplating what dimensions, material, and design to go with I found a smoking deal on craigslist for a 4'x4'x12 tall acrylic frag tank with stand and a central overflow box. I couldn't ask for a better design, even if it was a little bigger thank I planned... all at a heck of a deal!

The tank was a little rough when I picked it up, it appeared as if it was simply drained and all the algae, asterina starfish, and various unlucky mollusks still stuck to the acrylic. Underneath the gunk were copious, deep scratches and swirl marks.

dbrewsky · Feb 1, 2015

Here We Go Again.....

Ok, after about 20 hours of tediously wet sanding all the faces of the frag tank stepping up from 400,800,1000,2000 grit sand papers using a finish sander and then buffing with the Novus products..... this is the final product!

It always amazes me how these projects turn out! Its a little nerve-wracking to take 400 grit sand paper to your tank, once it starts you are fully committed. The tank looks brand new again, without paying $1000 plus price tag for a new custom acrylic tank. IT also gives me great confidence for repairing the inevitable scratches that seem to plague acrylic tanks.

I hope to have details on the restoring the stand and getting it inside soon!

Daniel@R2R · Feb 2, 2015

Looking good! :thumb:

SeahorseKeeper · Feb 2, 2015

The tank cleaned up well. Please keep us updated with your progress!

dbrewsky · Feb 2, 2015

Cut & Paste

So in all the Craigslist excitement, rushing to get to the seller before someone can steal the tank out from underneath me I had thought I had done well with my preparation.....

After all, this wasn't my first rodeo, I have built various tanks over the year.... I did the proper research about the custom tank manufacturer, did the calculations on the acrylic to ensure it was properly over built, and even measured the doorway into the garage on the way to pick it up! The stand was 34" tall and the door into the garage was 36"........ easy enough.

However, a couple hours after returning a proud new aquarium owner, i measured the doorway into the room where the tank will sit as a after thought and it I came up with 33"

Chop Chop

The stand's design made it difficult to disassemble or simply trim the legs. Additionally the legs were attached with glue and biscuits.... which can be a strong combination. However, I didn't feel confident about this design and took advantage of the situation by installing 4x4" load bearing legs.

This did two things, first it made it easy for me to bring the stand into the house in two pieces and much easier to re-assemble in house. Secondly, the 4x4 legs support the majority of the load, while the original legs provide more of a finished trim look.

I also took advantage of the situation by sealing the bottom of the sand and put a couple coats of Rustoleum brush-on enamel for much improved looks and further water proofing.
The base now should hold 4" of water in the event of a disaster.... rather than the apartment's carpet.

dbrewsky · Feb 4, 2015

Christmas Again

Well, I got the tank in the room finally! It only makes the impatience worse seeing it sitting there empty!

After work I came home to a wonderful sight, roughly 7 large packages from Bulk Reef Supply that UPS kindly delivered that afternoon. It was Christmas all over again despite getting home around midnight. I stayed up way too late unpacking and playing with stuff.... oh well!

It didn't take long till I ran into my first set back, my voyager pump's magnets were not strong enough for the 3/4" acrylic side panels... so I had to improvise mounting the heads on the euro bracing after carefully measuring and testing the pumps in a 5 gallon bucket to ensure they would sit deep enough under the water line to prevent cavitation.... I was worried there for awhile, but mounting on the euro brace looks nice and clean and frees up real estate in the tank!

I also installed a black egg-crate bottom using 3/4" slivers of black abs pipe to support the egg-crate and allow adequate circulation under the racks.

I have lots of toys just sitting waiting to be installed, however I am waiting on the glass baffles to be cut for the sump, so that is about the extent of what I can do for now!

Reef keeping is about patience right???? :/

(BTW: Vertex rocks!!!!) :bounce::bounce:

dbrewsky · Feb 5, 2015

The Waiting Game

Well, not a whole lot of progress this week.... Started a new job and have been waiting for the call back on the sump baffles from the glass shop :bored:

Of course in the interim I managed to drop by the local reef shop and what do ya know.... came home with another coral!!!

Got a heck of a deal on this wonderful Green Slimer and was it immediately polyped out after adding to my nano. It will be a great fast growing addition to the big tank once it is up and going and was too nice a piece to pass up. (I glued it to frag tiles to prevent it from encrusting the egg crate)

I did get a screen top kit built for the frag tank after deciding it would allow me to keep some more diverse fish, most which are known jumpers. I did run into a problem with the Sicce mount magnets making it impossible to rest the screen frame on the euro bracing, which unfortunately is unavoidable. The screen sits about 3/4" above the tank, but I'm not terribly worried since the eurobrace extends a couple inches inside the frame itself and visually doesn't bother me.

I also got preliminary plumbing done on the bulkheads and the return pump, but am being held at the mercy of the glass shop before I proceed with the final fitting and glue.

Hopefully I will have much more to post by the end of the weekend! Enjoy the weekend!!!

dbrewsky · Feb 17, 2015

Finally Running!

Well I had a little delay due to a glass vendor letting me down, but I ralied and got a ton of work done towards adding water. I worked well into the night after my work shifts on plumbing,fitting, and problem solving with the help of copious ammounts of caffine.

I used a 40gallon breeder for the sump, which had baffles siliconed and a hole drilled and bulkhead installed for the return pump. My friends thoroughly enjoyed the sillicone curing process in the dining room....

dbrewsky · Feb 17, 2015

I hard-plumbed the sump lines and used silicone tubing between connections to reduce vibration noise, which works great. I plumbed a manifold on the Iwaki return pump to feed the BRS 2 stage media reactor directly. The sump had 3 sections from left to right- splashdown/live rock- skimmer/equipment zone- return/ato/dosing zone.

I use a filter sock holder on the drain, however I need to order the 14" filter socks since the 8" socks start to clog and overflow after a day. I use a vertex 150 skimmer and 2x 150 watt heaters.

The hangmans gallow looking light support is a temporary mounting solution for my kessil a360we led that I currently have. I will be fabricating a aluminum ceiling mount for the lights once I purchase additional kessil lights for the system.

I am super stoked by the progress on the tank in such a short ammount of time! Cant wait to get saltwater mixing!!!

dbrewsky · Feb 19, 2015

There is Life!!!

I got my nano tank transfered over to the new tank the other night and I am super stoked to have some life finally in place! I have been in the planning and construction stage for 1.5 months. I probably sat and looked at things for 2 hours after getting things moved over.

Going forward I hope to use some live rock in the frag table itself, surrounding the central overflow box. I want to do this for aesthetics, since this will be my only reef tank. Also it will be beneficial for the fish and mounting some corals such as monti caps, etc on.

I also plan to rework the drain on this tank to reduce air and noise issues coming into the sump. I plan to add more lights, a neptune apex controller and dosing pumps as well as whatever random impulse purchases I find over the coming months. Oh, and coral, lots of coral!!!!

Everything is going well and just in time for reefstock 2015

I think I finally have room to get a few more corals!!!

I will post back after reefstock this weekend, I hope to meet some of you there.

dbrewsky · Feb 26, 2015

Reefstock 2015

Just wanted to start out by saying, if you can make it to Reefstock..... you will not be dissapointed! Tons of cool equipment, raffles, and great frags for reasonable prices! All that in an awesome town with soo much to do outside of the show.

Lets just say I was a kid at christmas the moment the doors opened and my hard earned money dissapeared alarminly fast being surrounded by blue lights and glowing frags. I got some awseome zoas, acros, and lps frags and am excited to have the frag tank looking alittle more full! I was hoping to find a pair of clowns for the new tank as well as some clams, but I wasnt super impressed by the selection/ price of the fish clams.

Im hoping to get more fish in the tank as fast as I can get them through quarantine, since im having to overfeed the tank just to keep from starving out my coral. My green slimer was starting to lighten up and not display its usual polyp extension.

Anyways, here is some new eye candy!

dbrewsky · Feb 26, 2015

jent · Feb 26, 2015

Love the frags! I also had a ton of fun, and got some awesome frags from reefstock!

dbrewsky · Feb 26, 2015

Yeah it was a good time! I only got to cherry pick frags for an hour on Saturday before heading to work. Sunday was where most of my frags came from thanks I the vendors trying to unload their products! Still a few frags that I wish I had picked up
Afterall! Guess I be prepared for next year!

Funbags · Feb 26, 2015

How does that light, light that tank? I have the same exact tank and I've been contaplaiting the lighting now for a while.

dbrewsky · Feb 26, 2015

I have the a360we about 20" above the water and running aprox 40% power. The spread is good and seems to cover the front of the tank ok. Right no I have about a 24" max intensity zone where my sps sit and the light feathers to each side. I have no concerns about not having enough par considering I am at roughly 40%.

My plan for lighting in the near future is to build a hanging light rack with two total a360we providing the bulk
Of the light to the front and back of the tank and perhaps 2 a160 kessil a to cover the sides of the tank which will only be receiving spill light from the a360we.

This should allow me plenty of light coverage while being able to create specific zones in the frag tank for sps, lps, and zoas.

dbrewsky · May 28, 2015

Update 5/27
Been awhile I have made some equipment updates, added additional livestock and rock to the aquarium and even working on the freshwater planted tank that has been sitting a little neglected since I started devoting alot of time to this project.

Although I have no pictures to post, i have added:
1 tomini tang
2 ocellaris clownfish
1 Tail spot blenny from my original nano
1 purple fire fish
and a large Dersea clam in additional to various frags

I have been having good and bad experiences with the sps which im attempting to resolve. The lps and other corals seem to be doing great!

Got some cool toys in

Got organized.... Finally

And added the rest of my rock work which adds quite a bit of dimension and interest to the tank and the fish appreciate the structure.

dbrewsky · May 28, 2015

In addition I also did a few project to increase the aesthetics and bring my apartment back to somewhat normal now that the tank is up and running!

Built a hanging light rack for my Kessil a360we's using a radion hanging kit and aluminum square pipe from home depot.

I also made a stand for my 25 gallon planted cube 18"x18"18". This was the tank that got me back into the hobby and why I now have a 4' frag flat next to my bed lol.

The tank functions as a "high tech" setup with Radion xr15fw led module on the rms and utilizes pressurized co2 in addition to aggressive fertilization.

It is home to schools of neon tetras, micro rasboras, pygmy coris catfish, khuli loaches, and red cherry shrimp.

I built the stand using 1x3 pine frame and a cabinet grade birch skin that was stained and coated with multiple coats of polyurethane.