Strgazr27's DB 57 Rimless adventure......

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

I thought it was time to start a "Tank Thread" of my own so here we go............................

Now that things have settled down at home I couldn't ignore the fact that I NEEDED to get back to this crazy hobby of ours! Thanks to the BEST wife in the world she made it happen by buying me an early Christmas present! A Deep Blue 57 Rimless. This is not going to be a speedy build or done with an unlimited budget but I hope you guys all like it. Comments, both good and bad are welcomed. I need to thank Jeremy (Jerl77), Mike (MBG75) and Kenny (budddman) for pushing me to get this thing filled with water.

So without further ramblings.....

Here's a shot of the tank after getting it home.

And the pile of wood that will become the stand and possibly a canopy. I know it's a rimless but I'm not sold yet on not doing a canopy....I know I know....

The wood is 2x4's that I ran through a table saw on all 4 sides. I don't have a planer so this worked fairly well. They were all straight but I like working with square corners and smooth sides. Cut to length on my Dewalt Mitre and we're good to go..

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

So after a few hours we start to see a stand taking shape. All joints were drilled with a pocket screw jig and glued as well. The top and bottom shelf are both solid 3/4" pine. It could probably hold 3 tanks up but I tend to overbuild

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

Starting to skin the stand with some nice 3/4" Birch ply. I used this as I am still not sure what finish I am going with. I'm leaning towards a satin black finish but won't make up my mind for awhile..Adding trim on the top and bottom. Going with a large single door as originally a 20L tank was going under the stand as a sump but those plans changed for several reasons. A: The I-Tech skimmer I bought wouldn't fit in the sump and my wife asked why I didn't set it up like the 65 I did with the sump in the unfinished part

She didn't have to ask me a second time Lol...
You can see my "Catfish" in the sump when I was doing some testing of fitment and sizing...That's Mooney. She NEVER leaves my side when I am in the house.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

Adding the trim and a shot of the door that I made for the stand. This will be held in place by 4 magnetic catches that will allow the door to be completely removed for access without it sticking into the room. I siliconed all the seams inside the stand and brushed resin on it to waterproof it before 2 coats of gloss white paint were applied. All this wasn't needed really as I am going with an external sump. The stand will only hold food, paper towels etc. I drilled the top for the drain and return bulkheads as well as resin coated and than painted to top portion where the tank will sit.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

I'm still not sure if I am going to run a canopy on the tank. I like the way it looks but I also like the rimless look also. The wife, to my surprise actually liked the tank without the canopy! The trim isn't crooked either Lol. Dam camera phone lens Lol.....And yes that's the BEAST of a skimmer sitting in the tank. Although it meant buying a new sump and changing plans, it will be well worth it I think

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

I picked up a Proflex4 from Aquahut last week. I loved a lot of the features but was a bit disappointed in the layout. I spent some time looking at it and decided I could make it work for me with a small modification.
I didn't like the fact that to run a 'Fuge and skimmer you need to place the skimmer in the same section as your return pump. NOT a good setup for several reasons. Even with an ATO the level would fluctuate driving the skimmer nuts as well as possible issues w micro-bubbles.

I decided that if I added another baffle to the right side of the sump I could feed the 'Fuge section separately, keep the return pump in it's own compartment and place the skimmer in the biggest compartment of the sump with a constant level.

I found a piece of smoked acrylic laying around which was perfect. I laid out the spacing and using a jig I made I routed out "Fingers" into it. I trimmed it to size, routed the edges and glued it into the sump. I need to thank Richie for the awesome idea of tilting the baffle back slightly so that the water rolled down it instead of water-falling over it into the return pump section.

The sump came with a cover that originally fit the center section and featured a window for a lamp. As I was using the center section for the skimmer this wouldn't work anymore. What I did was cut it down to fit the new 'Fuge section. I purchased a Lumenbrite LED strip light for the 'Fuge but didn't like the light just sitting on top of the cover. A few minutes with the drill press, a tap and some 8-32 nylon screws and that problem was solved.

I know it seems crazy to spend the money on something and than have to modify it to work but in this case it was worth it. I took a chance and sent a picture of the sump to Aqueon and explained why I did what I did. Likely won't even read the email but what the hay, maybe they listen Lol.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

I was able to work a bit on the tank before heading into work. Got the wall prepped and a fresh coat of paint. Slid the tank into position and was able to get the light hung. This light will only be used till this Friday. I found a SICK deal on a TEK 36" 6 bulb. That and an actinic Reefbrite strip should work nicely. Painting the back of the tank in the morning hopefully. I can't carry this tank by myself upstairs to spray it so I'm looking for a water-based spray paint. Either that or it gets a rolled coat of flat black enamel (REALLY would prefer to spray it).

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

Plumbing the sump. I know I should have used a Y for the drain but a search of 2 Lowes and 2 HD's came up empty. I wasn't going to wait for them to be shipped over the holiday week/weekend so the T will have to do. It's been running nicely for 2 days and I see no issues with it at this point.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

So here is the finished sump and the plumbing I put together for it. The drain is split to the sump and the fuge w flow controlled by ball valves. I split the return so that I can do water changes by shutting down the tank, flip 2 ball valves, turn the pump on and fill a 5 gallon bucket with little to no mess. What isn't shown in the picture is the egg crate shelf I made to lift the skimmer up. Works out perfectly as the skimmer sits in 7.5" water which is right where it should be.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

This is the rockwork I came up and I'm fairly happy with it. I know it will likely change as I add some established rock to seed this tank. This is 80 lbs of Caribsea "Primo" Reef rock.

Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

As it sits this morning. I spent about 30 minutes rinsing the gravel before putting it in the tank and it made a real difference in how long it took the tank to clear. This is less than 24 hours since it was filled and started...
Ignore the light as it's on it's way out. I just bought a nice used TEK 6 bulb for it. Hope to add an actinic Reefbrite to it in a few weeks.. I have 1 or 2 pictures of the sump side now that I installed the RK2 ( Thanks Jeremy!) and the RO unit. I will post them later tonight.

Now if ONLY I could win the December Member giveaway to start stocking it Lol.....

MBG75 · Dec 28, 2011

Looking good.

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Strgazr27 · Dec 28, 2011

Thanks Mike! You run the pure actinic RB strip on yours right? Not sure if I want the pure ACt. or the 50/50 for some daytime shimmer.

revhtree · Dec 28, 2011

I love it already! Looks like a new canvass ready for painting!

MBG75 · Dec 28, 2011

Strgazr27 said:
Thanks Mike! You run the pure actinic RB strip on yours right? Not sure if I want the pure ACt. or the 50/50 for some daytime shimmer.

Don't go 50/50...get the all blue Reefbrite because u can't get that color pop with t5's. But u can always add more white with the t5's.
Also, the all blue also allows u another step in ramping the lights on and off.
10am Reefbrite on.
11am 2 blue+ on
12pm 4 others on
7pm 4 others off
8pm 2 blue+ off
10pm Reefbrite off

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