hcsceo Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 OK I've decided it's time for another tank. I'm really needing a frag tank. The space that I have available is in my home office and is currently used as a printer stand (don't tell my wife but the printer is moving) The cabinet is a standard built-in cabinet with a top that measures 30x24 Above this is an upper cabinet that is 28" above the countertop. Money is tight as I have another baby on the way so this is going to be as budget as possible. I've decided on two 10 gallon AGA tanks with the long sides together giving a footprint of about 20x20 Because the upper cabinet is there I'm planning on building a little hood to mount to the bottom of that cabinet giving me about 12" of space to the top of the tanks. These are also going to share a 175 MH retrokit that I already have. Each tank will be modded with a built-in fuge running a Maxijet 900 and Hydorflo. I will probably add an additional powerhead to each tank for additional circulation. I'll post pics as soon as everything makes it in. List so far: 1- 175watt MH Retrokit $0 already have from a previous project 2- 10 gallon tanks $24 2- MaxiJet 900 $30 sale at drsfostersmith.com 2- 50watt stealth heaters $30 sale at drsfostersmith.com 2- hydorflo $20 sale at drsfostersmith.com 1- sheet black acrylic 11x25 $12.50 ebay 1- sheet eggcrate $11 2- Tubes of silicone $12 1- 4x2 Oak Ply for hood $18 1- 4x2 MDF for Counter $9 2- 4x30 1/4 thick glass $20 1- 6 fan Aquatek Cooler $58 1- 20# bag of Live Sand $29 1- Tetra In Tank filter 10i $12 4# Live Rock $12 Total $297.50 Thanks to Sandeep and Lalani for inspiration.... Some of you have asked for the dimensions on the panels I build for these tanks. Here is the file. I hope this helps. Fishtank_Panel.pdf Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 OK here is a photo of the location. I'm going to thicken up the counter top to 1.50" thick as it is only .75" now. There is a hole in the top at the back of the tanks for the electrical and hoses to go through and power inside the cabinet. You can see the upper cabinet in the photo and the lighting will be attached to it inside a hood I'll build to house it. The tanks, lighting, eggcrate and plexi are here so I'm going to start modding the tanks this weekend and take pics along the way. Let me know if you can think of anything I should be thinking of now before I start cutting things this weekend. Thanks Steve Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 OK I cut and drilled the back panels last night for both tanks. Measuring the outside of the tank I cut the panel 3/8" narrower than the outside dimension which came to 9-5/8" and measuring from the inside of the tank from the bottom glass to the top of the rim of the tank came to 11-5/8" so I cut the panels to those dimensions. Following the directions for the HydorFlo I drilled my hole 2/3 of the way up from the bottom of the tank and 1.5" from the side of the panel. The MJ900 output is 1/2" round. I did some test holes in some scrap plexi and found that a 1/2" hole was too big so I used the next bit down from it (forgive me I don't remember the size now but will update this later with it) and sanded the outside of the MJ900 output to make a perfect fit. It needed very little sanding to make a nice fit. Here are some photos of the work completed last night. Link to comment
AcroporaLokani Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Looks like a good start, Can't wait to see it filled with water/hundreds of coral frags. Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Thanks Acro, hopefully I can get these bad boys filled and happy. OK, last night I continued working on these two tanks. I cut the Surface Skimmer Slats in the top using my table saw blade width as the width of the slats 1/8" wide and 1/4" separation between each and 7/8" long. Should keep anything from hopping to the back fuge and there are 12 of them so flow should be good. I also cut the fuge and return pump area separation plate (4"x10") from some clear plexi and glued it up with superglue (didn't have weldon and this is a non supporting joint so should be ok) I removed all the paper backing and test fitted it and took these pics. Tonight I'll silicon it all together and should be ready for a water test on Saturday evening. Fuge is 4"x7"x12" and the return pump area is 4"x3"x12" Here are the updated pics. Link to comment
Lalani Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Wow, looks like this is going to be a great set-up! Can't wait to see it up and running. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Now I see why you were asking about that 175W MH! Looks good. Link to comment
Dadoboy Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Hey Steve... I'm so jelous... you started your office nano 3 weeks before I did.. now your starting your frag tank about 3 weeks before I do... I'm tagging this one too... Are we going to get together and swap when I go to Dallas in December? (Can I name your fish?) Just being weird... whats on TV? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 Hey Steve... I'm so jelous... you started your office nano 3 weeks before I did.. now your starting your frag tank about 3 weeks before I do... I'm tagging this one too... Are we going to get together and swap when I go to Dallas in December? (Can I name your fish?) Just being weird... whats on TV? HAHAHA Fish Killa is back!! Man I've got a new baby coming on December 2nd so I'm no good on hooking up then but I'm always up on some swapping. I'll be water testing tank one tomorrow and putting some pics up Sunday. I'm going to get another fish just for you. Steve Link to comment
Dadoboy Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Congrats dude... I'm a Dec 22nd baby... Winter babies rock! Can we name the fish "RIP"? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 OK I did water testing on tank 1 today. I ran into one major problem with the design of the back plate. The slats are either not deep or wide enough and water was backing up causing an overflow situation. I really want 1/8" wide slats as this should keep most livestock out of the fuge. Since these are frag tanks it isn't really an issue and I just broke off some of the slats to increase the flow to the fuge. On tank two I'm going to increase the length of the 1/8" slats to a total of 2 inches and add two more slats for a total of 14. We will see how that works. Other than that it is working just fine now. See pics below. I'll start working on tank two later today and should be water testing it on tuesday or wednesday. One more thing.. I love the hydorflo. Steve Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 OK guys tonight I completed installing my frag racks into tank #1. I cut and siliconed in 1"x15" glass slats and 1"x10" glass slats that support the racks. This configuration allows me to move the racks around and get access to any part of the tank. I can add more or less racks to the system and move them around to get the best lighting at the different levels. I also built a slanted rack that allows me to take pictures from the front of the tank with the frag in a more upright position. Each frag tray is exactly the same size 5"x10" and holds a max of 32 frags. Here are the pics of the tools and the finished rack system. This should complete tank #1. I'll be testing the water flow on tank 2 tomorrow night as it is all glued up and drying now. Link to comment
Dadoboy Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Man that thing is freaking great! You must be some computer engineer to figure all that out... so far I got 'pvc pipe' on my list... I might have to change my way of thinking about this... uhhh... wanna build me something? Wow! that is really great though... Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Glad you like it Bonsai. I'm planning on a making a downloadable template for the back wall on this guy so anyone can make one. Feel free to use the rails design also for the tray holders. I'm getting really excited now. I should be water testing tank 2 today witht he modified surface skimmer. Steve Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 OK tested tank 2 tonight and found that the slats are too long LOL. After using a piece of scrap as a dam across the slats I figured the best length to be 1.5 inches with the mj900 with or without the hydorflo in place. I'll post updated dimensions on the back wall tomorrow for those interested in building it. Steve Almost forgot to say I'll be starting the MH lighting system and hood this weekend for those that are interested as both tanks are now done. Steve Link to comment
John7429 Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 Is it just me or are the pics not working? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 25, 2008 Author Share Posted July 25, 2008 IDK working for me, but I posted them. LOL Steve Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 25, 2008 Author Share Posted July 25, 2008 ok I got the hood built today. this hood won't sit on top of the tanks but will be mounted to the cabinet above leaving about 12" from the top of the tanks to the hood for maintenance. I left enough room to be able to install some T5 actinics later on. I'll be final sanding, staining, and poly over the weekend. Hopefully I can get it mounted and wired also. I also increased the thickness of the countertop to 1.5" as I'm expecting about 200#'s for both tanks. Steve Link to comment
John7429 Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 It was just me... the pics work now. VERY cool! Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 26, 2008 Author Share Posted July 26, 2008 Well I'm glad someone is watching. I'm feeling a little abandoned Finished the countertop tonight and it is thick and flat should be good to go. Stay tuned Link to comment
tyty22 Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 looking good you wouldn't happen to have a spare 150 metal halide fixture lying around or for that mater any spare lights? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 27, 2008 Author Share Posted July 27, 2008 looking good you wouldn't happen to have a spare 150 metal halide fixture lying around or for that mater any spare lights? No I sure don't this was the last of my spare lighting and was really bugging me to have it do nothing Steve Link to comment
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