Dom
Full Time Reef Keeper
Once upon a time, there was a boy who admired Jacques Cousteau and salt water aquariums. He was in and out of the hobby over the years, but about 15 years ago, he went on an adventure to have is first "serious" reef tank.
What started out as one tank, became two, then three... Fast forward to today, He has 5 tanks (7 if you count the empties). Frankly, it has become overwhelming and what started out as a hobby, has became a job.
I began thinking about how I could scale things down, and then I though, perhaps it isn't downsizing that I need but a condensation. So I decided to try an experiment and plumb to tanks into a large sump. And that is why I call this a "Rebuild" thread... because I have reconfigured old equipment.
So hear it is...
Of course, no rebuild can begin without a new stand. And since I planned on placing two tanks on one stand, I HAD to build new.
The stand is 72"W x 24"D x 32"H. This accommodates two tanks; a 48 wide and a 24 wide. It will also accommodate a sump 48"W x 12"D. The goal was to build a stand that lots of extra room to allow for adding other equipment in the future if necessary. Here are some pics...
And this is the stand with it's finish; dark walnut with 4 coats of polyurethane...
These are my temporary tanks. They are equipped with heaters, lights and Aqueon 110 HOB filters. Everyone was quite happy with their temporary homes, in which they lived a total of 3 weeks. Both tanks were kept bare bottom and started with freshly made water to 35ppt.
Some more closeups of the stand and sump...
So the next challenge was changing the size of the drain from 3/4" to 1" on the 24" tank. I thought for sure I'd be breaking the tank, but with patience, I was successful.
This picture is of a 1" whole drilled through a wood template. This prevented the hole saw from moving around and getting the cut started.
Drilling "in progress"...
Success...
This is the new control panel.
The temperature controller in the center is actually in an outdoor enclosure, so I disassembled it and flush mounted the controller, putting the cover back on the rear of the panel once everything was mounted.
To be continued...
What started out as one tank, became two, then three... Fast forward to today, He has 5 tanks (7 if you count the empties). Frankly, it has become overwhelming and what started out as a hobby, has became a job.
I began thinking about how I could scale things down, and then I though, perhaps it isn't downsizing that I need but a condensation. So I decided to try an experiment and plumb to tanks into a large sump. And that is why I call this a "Rebuild" thread... because I have reconfigured old equipment.
So hear it is...
Of course, no rebuild can begin without a new stand. And since I planned on placing two tanks on one stand, I HAD to build new.
The stand is 72"W x 24"D x 32"H. This accommodates two tanks; a 48 wide and a 24 wide. It will also accommodate a sump 48"W x 12"D. The goal was to build a stand that lots of extra room to allow for adding other equipment in the future if necessary. Here are some pics...
And this is the stand with it's finish; dark walnut with 4 coats of polyurethane...
These are my temporary tanks. They are equipped with heaters, lights and Aqueon 110 HOB filters. Everyone was quite happy with their temporary homes, in which they lived a total of 3 weeks. Both tanks were kept bare bottom and started with freshly made water to 35ppt.
Some more closeups of the stand and sump...
So the next challenge was changing the size of the drain from 3/4" to 1" on the 24" tank. I thought for sure I'd be breaking the tank, but with patience, I was successful.
This picture is of a 1" whole drilled through a wood template. This prevented the hole saw from moving around and getting the cut started.
Drilling "in progress"...
Success...
This is the new control panel.
The temperature controller in the center is actually in an outdoor enclosure, so I disassembled it and flush mounted the controller, putting the cover back on the rear of the panel once everything was mounted.
To be continued...
