I really like where you're going with this.

cycle cycle cycle cycle!!!


looking great cant wait for the next update

Phase 4 -- Extreme Durso

I wanted to make a Durso as compact as possible since I don't have a lot of extra real estate in this tank. The tank will be bottom drilled for a 3/4" bulkhead with a semi round corner weir.

Please Note:
Normally you need 1" pipe/fittings with a 3/4" bulkhead unless you have a low flow situation. This is going to be low flow with the main tank circulation coming from a MP10. Because of this I used 3/4" SCH 26 pipe and SCH 40 fittings.

This is modified from the standard Durso instructions so "your mileage may vary".

SCH 26 pvc pipe is a thin walled pipe so you get a little extra inside diameter in the pipe. Most SCH 40 fittings have that extra inside diameter. The standard aquarium bulkhead does NOT have that extra diameter instead they have a lip which would make the inside diameter of the bulkhead the same as the inside diameter of SCH 40 pipe.

The first thing I did was use a Dremel tool to remove the excess lip and make the inside of the bulkhead flow as much as SCH 26 pipe. The bulkhead on the left has the extra lip removed compared to a standard bulkhead on the right.




Next I took the fittings and cut down the mating areas in most places. I left approximately 3/8" glue area. I did this to the top and side of the T, the cap and the Street part of the 90 degree elbow. I also did this to 2 45 degree elbows on both ends. The "z" looking fitting is the 2 cut down 45 degree elbows mated together. Also pictured is an extra non modded 45 degree elbow for comparison.




Using a Dremel cutoff wheel I cut a slit in the cap area to make this have an adjustable airflow. This will allow me to dial in the size air hole all the way down to pin hole size if needed.




Here is the final Durso. The 45 degree elbows offset the pipe to one side of the bulkhead and the top section offsets to the opposite side. This makes the Durso as compact as possible so my bulkhead hole can be in the middle of the weir and the weir can be made as small as possible.

Phase 5 -- 7.5 Gallon Sump (cut down 10 Gallon tank)

Did you think this build was abandoned ?? Not a chance. Just had to put it on hold while I built Hawke's Pico Lamp

I needed a sump that had the foot print of a 10 gallon tank but shorter. Not having a convenient way to get raw glass I decided to take the bold step and cut down a 10 gallon tank to 9 inches high making it basically a 7.5 gallon tank.


A standard 10 gallon tank.




Turned it upside down and carefully banged a flat chisel between the molding and tank to loosen the silicone.




Carefully bent the molding back a bit to further loosen it.




Removed the molding. Got it off in 2 pieces. If I was more careful it would have came off in 1 piece.




Using a greese pencil marked the tank at the 9" height.




Removed the excess silicone above the marked line.




Ran a razor blade between the joint down to the marked line.




Using a straight edge scored and poped the glass at the marked line. Did the ends first since they were "inside" the front and back. Note the bottom end has already been scored, poped and removed.




Cleaned up the grease pencil marks. Here is the 4 pieces and the short tank.




Siliconed the molding back onto the tank. Here is the short 7.5 gallon tank compared to a standard 10 gallon in the back ground.




Will measure for baffles later this weekend. Waiting on glass drill bits to show up in the mail hopefully tomorrow. Also ordered a bunch of other supplemental items to get this tank up and going.

Well, I never would have thought this was possible without breaking something. I guess you did break the rim, I guess I was right Looks good, keep up the updates.

Well Damn -- finished the sump -- spent most of the day getting the plumbing all done. Was 2 mins away from a full blown water test. Decided to go through and make sure everything was tightened. Started tightening on the sump bulkhead and heard the dreaded "POP". I knew right away what had happened. Fortunatly the bulklhead is insatlled really low in the sump and the crack was from the bottom of the hole to the bottom of the tank. Most of the crack was behind tank silicone. Anyway Removed the bulkhead and put a thin smear of silicone over the crack. I think it will hold due to where it's located and the extremely small size of the crack.

Will let the silicone setup tonight and will water test tomorrow. If all goes weel will post pictures of the plumbing/water test in a day or so.

Some good news and some bad.

Bad News -- the fix didn't work so now I have to build a new sump

Good News -- I did do a full blown test tonight for about 30 mins. This tank is dead silent. The refrigerator in another room was louder.


I do think I am going to change a few things around now that I have to build a new sump. Going on vacation beginning of April so all this might have to wait till I get back.

Excellent rock work! This is going to be a sexy tankK

Check out my Bonsai scaping in my Solana XL67, let me know what ya think!

Fantastic work!

fantastic biuld. cant wait for the next update.

Well just before vacation I got a new fix for the sump working. Got everything plumbed and water tested. Had all the electricity run and all the cords organized.

Brought a nice piece of LR back from vacation to seed the Bonsai aquascaping. Last night after I got home I made some SW and started to prep the tank for startup. I had the lights in their up position. The lights then did a back flip off the tank, came crashing down on the back plumbing and cracked the sump again

I guess this particular sump was just not meant to be. So I have the LR crammed in the tank with the Bonsai aquascaping and a pump for circulation. Next weekend I hope to build a new sump so I can finally get this setup up and running they way it is suppose to be.

ohhhh, that suck man. better luck with the next one.

Phase 6 -- Tank Prep

Still needed to finish painting the tank and installing overflow so here goes.

I drilled 2 holes. Bottom left corner for the overflow and top right on the back for the return.




Taped off the tank and got it and the corner overflow ready for Krylon Fusion.




Here is the painted, semi-round corner overflow. It was carefully cut from a piece of 6" pvc pipe.




I taped off the tank to get nice clean silicone lines for the overflow.




Here is the corner overflow siliconed in just before I removed the tape. I used DOW Corning 795 in black. It has the highest adhesion especially when siliconing pvc to glass. Only down side it has a 2 week cure time. So the waiting began.

Phase 7 -- Sump Prep

Well after many problems I finally got the sump finished.

I first drilled for the external pump.




I cut the baffles from standard window replacement glass. I would have rather used 1/8" but it was the only glass I had readily available.




Since I cut all the glass baffles the edges were sharp. I used a belt sander and had my son squirt some water on the belt to keep the glass cool as I did the sanding. A belt sander with an 80 grit belt works really good. Just make sure the belt is going in the direction of the face towards the edge to prevent chipping. I also rounded the corners that were going up against tank silicone so the baffle piece fit better.




Here is the baffles siliconed in place and waiting to dry. There is a front refugium section, a overflow media section, some under/over baffles and a long area for a heater.

Phase 8 -- Electrical and Plumbing

After all the silicon cured I put it all together. I ran my plumbing and electrical for the tank. The tank is now up and running and the LR curing is basically complete. Maybe I can get a few test corals in the tank later this weekend.

Electrical and Plumbing in the back sump area.




Back upper tank area.




Front sump area while doing the initial water test.

looking good.

Totally cool. I love how you do the step by step pictures and the setup looks sooo clean lol. Man you'd hate to look by my tank with plugs and wires all willy nilly and stuff lol.

Can't wait to see more pics!

Patience sure does pay off! great build!

Very nice, it looks really clean.

Looks like your getting close to water! Looks great.

This build is soooo legit man. Awesome.

Thanks everyone -- it's been a long time in the making.

Water went in on April 24th

Tank is still a little funky. My son did give me 2 of his cleanup snails. Very small for this size tank but the gesture was nice of him.

The tank is slowly coming along and when I finally get a pic or two worth posting I will.

Waiting....
and thinking of you as I work on my DIY Refugium.

Yer my hero, CK.....

I cant believe you did that to a 10g!

Tank is just going along -- With the base rock structure I have some hair algae issues -- will get a lawnmower blenny coming up -- other then that I have about 8 corals in the tank. Will take some pics and update this thread once everything gets going right.. Took this long so far so no hurry on my part for it to come together.

need more.....


btw... kool stuff.. subscribed..

What return pump are you using that makes the tank so quiet?