Custom 6.5 Gallon Pillar System Build

[jaynkeel]

Well I have sold my 40 gallon frag tank due to needing the space in the house back. But now I have room in another room of the house thats begging for some life. And I have been wanting a "bedside" tank for some time now. I am gonna have to have another back surgery in a few months so I will be spending most the winter in bed. Can't think of a better way than to fall asleep staring at a tank.

 

So on to my plans, although nothing drawn up as of yet it's all in my head right now.

12x12x12 glass cube, center tank drain with eggcrate covered in rubble platforms for a center island. Returns through the back, custom made stand ( need to dig my tools out ), and a small sump. I have started buying some of the parts and when I have time will upload some pics of what I have thus far.

 

The tank I am using is the Deep Blue rimless, as I have a 10 x 10 x 10 cube from them right now I am pleased with. The sump is from them also it is a 3 section betta tank, that I will be using the dividers in the sumps construction. Dimensions of the sump: 12 x 6 x 6 , just enough room for everything I need in this little tank. I was originally going to use the 10" tank but I wanted a little more room around the center island , a feeling of more openness.

 

Lighting will of course be led right now I am thinking of a hood that mounts from a post in the back of the stand and hovers above the tank at about 6 to 8 inches off the water. Something along the lines of 8 x 8 inches square. Although I do like the looks of the one housing from led group buy, so will have to feel that one out as I go.

 

Also to add the stand will incorporate some kind of metal mesh grill for the door to aid in ventilation from the sump. And a shelf area below the sump to mount the electronics, apex, power strip, everything done up in black to match the rest of my decor.

 

The reason I am posting this in the diy section is I plan on taking a lot of pictures of the construction, and the stand and many of the other components other than the tanks will be custom made by myself. Thought it might help some diy' ers later on down the road.

 

Will Update in a few days time, as always Thanks for looking.....

[jlbzixxer]

Sounds like a nice build

I love cube tanks

[Islandoftiki]

Very interesting. Following along.

[jaynkeel]

Well placed an order to get the ball rolling, will be here Monday:

 

1" Slip Bulkhead Strainer 207113 1

1” Bulkhead ABS Slip x Slip 202948 2

45 mm Diamond Coated Glass Drill Bit 203001 1

30 mm Diamond Coated Glass Drill Bit 203000 1

1/2" Loc-Line Modular Hose (6 segments) 202740 1

NPT Connector for 1/2” Loc-Line Modular Hose 202748 2

1 1/4” Flare Nozzle for 1/2” Loc-Line Modular Hose 202741 1

2 1/2” Flare Nozzle for 1/2” Loc-Line Modular Hose 202742 1

1/2” Bulkhead ABS Thread x Thread 202941 2I

BRS Dry Live Rock Rubble (by the pound) 000707 6

 

Purchased a couple extra pieces n parts because I am not entirely sure of the lay out until I mock some things up. I also picked up the wood for the cabinet just waiting on some dryer weather to start routing and pocket screwing things. I decided to go with mdf for the sides and back of the cabinet due to cost and maple for the front frame. As everything is going to be painted black the need for a grainy type wood like oak wasn't necessary. Gonna pick the tank up tomorrow, and start laying out some measurements.

 

The nice thing about these pico/nano tanks is everything is small and manageable, no huge foot prints or heavy duty stands etc.... Which makes working with the lumber a lot easier especially for someone with a bad back like myself.

[jaynkeel]

Sorry folks I forgot the actual dimensions of the main tank is under 12 inches on the inside so with my sump only half full to accommodate the event of a power outage and drain back, I needed to change the system volume to 6.5 gallons. I also changed the title of this thread to reflect that as well.

[jaynkeel]

Stopped by the local pet store today and saw they had some clearance stands on sale. Good thing I took a look because I actually found the perfect stand for the same amount of money I would have spent on building one. And the plus side to this stand is that it is wide enough to set a drink on or remote which was a must seeing as it is going to be taking the place of my nightstand. So after assembly later tonight I will post up some pictures. The stand is designed for a Marineland bow front I believe.

 

 

 

 

 

The last picture shows the flip down drawer front which will house my powerbar, Apex or DA display and other electrical things. Also the drain plumbing is going to be passing through this area as well down to the little sump below. Should work out pretty good. Sorry about the lousy ipod pictures my camera isn't charged right now.

[jaynkeel]

Picked up some plumbing parts today and some of my order came in as well today:

 

 

Some pieces are gonna be extra and go back in the parts bucket for future builds but most will be used. The only thing I am lacking now is 2 half inch 90's with threads thanks to the jabber jaw associate at home depot lol. Really the guy likes to help but he is one of those follow your shadow kinds and makes me forget crap even when I have a list. I would have preferred gate valves but they stopped stocking the pvc ones so ball it is. Also my rubble came in from brs as well and wow they did a great job both packing and picking because I almost don't wanna break any of it up!!!!

 

So since I originally posted this earlier I have made a bit of progress, some nice easy sit down work yeah!!! All the holes turned out pretty good minimal chipout and only slight walking scuffs ( easily hidden by the bulkheads though). Perhaps this will clear some things up for people that might be wondering what I was meaning by "pillar tank". I should have said center island, but liked the sound of pillar better. And yes I intentionally left the strainer sticking out of the water a bit. Now just need to cut some 1" couplers down to about 1/4" thin for eggcrate stops and then start epoxy rock to eggcrate/ pipe. And adjust the spacing between levels a bit. When done it should be like a tapered rise with minimal space between eggcrate. Still a lot of work ahead.

Till later thanks for looking...

 

 

[jaynkeel]

Today a slow start to the rock work, but crawling along. The eggcrate is working pretty good as a tie together point in this pillar build. It allows me to put pointy ends of rock between the spacing and epoxy over encasing the rock into the eggcrate adding stability. I have also added 4 corner rocks under the 1st platform to raise it off the bottom and to add strength, if not there would be a small gap between the eggcrate and the bulkhead creating wobble. Well thats all I got for now...

 

 

Top Down

 

 

 

[JR!]

that stand is awesome. who makes that?

[jaynkeel]

that stand is awesome. who makes that?

 

Marineland

[jaynkeel]

So if anyone is following this build then what kind of substrate should I go with? I am undecided. I really don't want black because that stuff is magnetic and sticks to mag floats like crazy. This tank should have high flow due to the dual returns in such a small tank so keep that in mind. One thing I do have a ton of left over rubble I could crush up to smaller pieces. Thanks for the input ahead of time.

[jaynkeel]

Come on folks really 375 views 4 replies? Please I need some input thoughts, ideas on this substrate, I wanna make a run and pick some up.

[JR!]

caribsea- seaflor speacial grade is what i would go with. since youre gonna have alot of flow.

 

do that stand have a name or model number. i wanna try to fing the same one for my manta ray. its going to be moved to another room of the house.

[Cintax]

I don't know much about substrate, I just used some variant of Aragonite sand. What is your plan for stocking it? Maybe you can base your choice of substrate on fish or coral colours.

 

The method you used to support and construct the pillar is brilliant.

[randythefishdude]

white sand is the best. i like olite carbsea or reefgrade .reef grade seems popular.

I support bare bottom as well

[jaynkeel]

caribsea- seaflor speacial grade is what i would go with. since youre gonna have alot of flow.

 

do that stand have a name or model number. i wanna try to fing the same one for my manta ray. its going to be moved to another room of the house.

 

 

Lucky thing recycling hasnt come yet lol. Item# NV90005 designed for bow front tanks 28 gallon I believe, has a rounded front instead of square. upc bar code # 047497900055 thats the entire 1st and last digit barcode.

 

I don't know much about substrate, I just used some variant of Aragonite sand. What is your plan for stocking it? Maybe you can base your choice of substrate on fish or coral colours.

 

The method you used to support and construct the pillar is brilliant.

 

Thanks and it's hella sturdy as well, pipe size is 1" for reference.

 

white sand is the best. i like olite carbsea or reefgrade .reef grade seems popular.

I support bare bottom as well

 

 

Sand would be perfect I love the clean look of it, just worried about drifts with a high flow tank. I have tried bare in the past but after a few months I seem to always give in and add it.

[jaynkeel]

Certainly don't wanna skimp on pictures with this build so I am trying to upload as many throughout the process. The final layer of rocks added to most of the structure, I have larger ones set aside for around the base before sand goes in, don't wanna glue them into place. I have left several unglued so they can be removed all the way to the top. Plenty of places to add frags later on.

 

 

I am totally impressed with the quality of this light, and with the possible options that come with it. And for the price you really can't go wrong. This is the 12" model. Now does anyone have any suggestions on how to utilize the top rail for mounting purposes, I haven't researched it yet but I imagine someone has done it. I know about the rail option with a piece of round aluminum tube but I am looking to hang it above the tank on an arm or stand.

 

 

[got2envy]

Love the aquascape! following

[jaynkeel]

So I filled it up and had a successful test run today. I always do a quick fresh water test of everything to see if the plumbing is working the way I designed before a saltwater fill. I usually do this without glue on the pvc joints so if there is something that needs changing it is easier. The cheap e bay pump is as advertised super quiet, and produces a good amount of flow. The overflow is simple and quiet, have not put a ball valve on it yet and really dont want to, but I am going to need to add a few 90's to slow the water going into the small sump as it does really rush. And my Reefkeeper lite arrived today so have been busy mounting that inside the drawer area. I am probably going to 86 the drawer pull and mount the display there. Pics to follow.

[Weetabix7]

Hmm, this is an interesting build.

Looking forward to seeing how it looks once you start adding corals to the central pillar.

I'm afraid I'm no help on substrate since I always run my tanks BB.

[jaynkeel]

Saltwater is in but after running it most the day I might have to up the size of the sump because the micro bubbles just are not dissolving before being sucked up to the display. Which is a shame because this sump fit the bill perfect, it was small and held everything I needed. I do have my other deep blue 10 inch cube that I could use as a sump and just might be doing that in the am. But the downside to that is I would only have about 3 inches of space between the top of the tank and the shelf which is not removable. So any maintenance on the sump would require pulling it forward first, easily doable considering it is tiny. Everything else is working great I actually have the return throttled down a bit for now and I put a single led over the tank for the time being. I have also been working on the light, I am going to need to order some additional bulbs but for now I have 8 blue 1 n white and 1 deep red, I would like to scoop up an ocw and some tv's to finish it off. But for the time being this will work until the cycle is done.

[jaynkeel]

 

Well here it is wet and blue. This is pretty true to color of real life right now. I need to aquire more leds to finish but as I stated earlier it's only cycling right now so no real need for the best of lighting, except to keep the rubble coraline alive. The seed rocks I added along with some filter media from my 65 gallon which has been up for a few years with rock I have had in other tanks for well over 8 yrs now. Yeah some pretty established stuff. I have yet to add the rock around the bottom of the pillar, seems I keep forgetting. I also went with some fine sand from the local fish stores tank, doesn't seem to be blowing around to bad and the flow in the tank seems just about right, not blasting but absolutely no dead spots anywhere. And with the center of tank overflow the surface has no chance of buildup which is what I was hoping for when designing this tank. Seems with most rear wall overflows there is always that corner in the front or center that has surface film floating no matter how much you blast it with flow. Again not the case here.

[ozzyvega]

Very cool build. Your gonna cover the eggcrate with some rubble right? What are you stocking it with?

[jaynkeel]

Very cool build. Your gonna cover the eggcrate with some rubble right? What are you stocking it with?

 

 

Sure am but everytime I go upstairs I forget to bring it with me lol. I plan to stock it with a general mix of everything. I have gone through my other tank and picked up all the loose corals hiding in the back and such so they are gonna be the first then I have my eye on some at the local fish store and from local reefers. I hope to just pack it with a lot of life and whatever covers and grows is fine by me. I am not gonna be picky just having some fun with this build.

[uglybuckling]

I hope to just pack it with a lot of life and whatever covers and grows is fine by me.

 

Finally somebody with my philosophy of how to grow reefs. =)

 

 

Also, very nice, clean build.