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Cultivated Reef

My Apartment Water Tower


ElmoC

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I wanted to share a project I have been working on in planning for my next tank upgrade. I am currently running a Coralife BioCube 29 and would like to get a 50 or so gallon tank as my next one. The problem I am face with that is I live in an apartment and space is limited. For the BC29, I have been using a small portable RO/DI unit (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004N7QUXW/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This has worked well for me since I didn’t have a large water need. However, it was getting to the point that the filters and membrane were going to need to be replaced and the cost to replace them was going to be around the cost of a new unit. So knowing I was planning on getting a bigger tank and would need more water, I wanted to get a larger multi-stage system.

 

Most people with the larger RO/DI units have kept them in the garage or a fish room. Being in an apartment, I didn’t have either available. While I do have a spare bedroom, there is no easy access to water or a drain. With the layout of the apartment, I was looking at putting the unit inside the master bedroom closet that was next to a sink. While this gave me access to the water/drain, accessing it was going to be a bit awkward. So about the only place left that I could set one up was next to the kitchen.

 

After doing some research, I settled on the BSR 6 stage Chloramine system. I went with this system because I had recently received a notice from the water company that they were switching to chloramine and when I compared the price of the other units, adding in the parts I would need that were not included, the price of a smaller one worked out to this price. And as a technology geek, I had to have all the bells and whistles. I mounted the system onto a piece of MDF and screwed this into the wall next to the kitchen counter. Ran the water and drain lines and I was set. That was, until the wife saw it.

 

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Well, having it out in the open like this was not acceptable to her. We looked at different ways to hide it, like putting an old fashion dressing screen in front of it. She thought that would be okay, but I wasn’t all that happy with it. I knew I would need some larger containers for storing the water, and they wouldn’t be hidden by the screen. So off to the internet to do some research. I found a thread by Rollermonkey where he built a water station that had two 20 gallon containers that were stacked on top of each other (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/328296-worlds-slowest-custom-85g-system-and-there-was-coral-p18/?p=4601300). His design was a modification of one by Tiki (not sure of their full handle) which had them side by side. Roller’s unit was in a utility area where looks were not as important. Since I couldn’t get away with that, I modified his design to meet my needs. I added a frame around the upper unit, doors and panels to come up with this…

 

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After running it past my wife, I got her stamp of approval. So next challenge. How to build something like this in an apartment with no workshop? We do have a small patio area, but nothing large enough to setup up a table or radial arm saw for cutting the pieces I would need. Getting the lumber would be easy, a bunch of 1x4 from Home Depot. But how to get them cut to size? HD would not do precision cuts, so no help there. I was thinking I hadn’t visited my mom in a while and she had plenty of space there. And on top of that, my cousin was saying there and he did construction work and had his tools, including a portable table saw, handy. So, off to my mom’s. It was only a 350 mile or so trip each way. With a dozen 1x4x6 inside a small car, thank goodness for foldable seats.

 

So after a nice visit and getting the wood all cut up, back home I went. Got all the parts gathered and was ready to go. Rollermonkey’s design I ripped off…er…borrowed, used the Vittles Vault Stackable pet food containers (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DJOP2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I used his dimensions which was a little larger than the containers. I made mine a bit larger, but later I realized I should have gone even larger. My plans were a 20x20 square but in hindsight should have gone 24x24.

 

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I chose to use pocket screws to assemble the unit. I had originally planned on staining the unit so wanted to keep nail holes and screw heads out of sight. I got the Kreg Jig (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DYFISG/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and I was off.

 

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The jig make it real simple drilling the holes, but screwing the boards together presented other problems, like keeping things square. I put together a small jig for screwing the horizontal unit together. It did a good job keeping things aligned and square.

 

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Too bad the boards weren’t. I did my best to cut the boards the same length, but my cousin’s table saw wasn’t big enough to setup a stop block or gauge to make the cuts uniform. I tried stacking and sanding the ends even which got close, but in the end, not close enough. There were some pretty large spaces and gaps, but the unit was level. So I scrapped the idea of staining and decided to bondo (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007ZG9T4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and paint it. This worked out pretty good. I didn’t get things perfect with sanding to level everything because it was kicking up a lot of dust that was getting blown into the other apartments.

 

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So the frame work was now together. I next played around with fitting the containers in with the RO/DI unit. I was able to move the container all the way to the back and wedge in the board the RO/DI unit would attach to. This held the container in place and there was just enough clearance for the doors to not hit the filters when closed. I put cleats on the side panels so I could slide the top up into place, pushing the bottom part in and sliding down to lock it in place. After a little adjusting, it worked really nice.

 

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So got the door and panels in place and now it’s time to work on the plumbing. Plumbing is not something I have done a lot of. After several attempts, I was finally able to get a designed that both worked and fit in the space available (another area where 24x24 would have been better). I ran a line back from the pump to the container so I could use that to keep the water moving and when mixing the salt. But like all great plans on paper, they don’t always translate to the real world. It does keep the water agitated, but the pump is loud. Since I had changed over to Jebao power heads in my current tank, I had a couple Hydor Koralia Nano 425 and an 850 that I had never really used. I mounted those to the container and that worked out.

 

One thing I had planned on from the start was to install a site glass on each container to determine the water level. I was able to do this with a couple bulkheads, 2 90% elbows, clear PVC, and a plastic gear (thanks again Roller). While they are hard to see in the pictures, they work great. I marked 5 gallon levels to have a rough idea of the amount of water left. I installed the mixing power heads at different levels. I need to add some marking so I know when to shut them off.

 

For doing water changes, I wanted a long hose to reach from the station to the tank. Because of my past experience with clear PVC and vinyl hoses, I knew I didn’t want to use those. I asked around on the forums for ideas and had a few people mention using the 20’ Aqueon Water Changer Extension. I was able to pick one up at the local PetCo and it worked perfectly. I built a little nozzle for the end with a valve so I can shut off the water at the tank when it is full.

 

So I am almost finished. I had originally planned on painting the panels and door and had gotten a light colored, semi-gloss paint. Thought it would have been darker, but it was okay. After getting the panels painted, I was noticing that even after drying, they were still tacky. So much so that when two parts touched, they practically glued themselves together. I’m not an expert on paints but after some research and talking to the paint folks at HD, I switched to a flat paint and painted the main body with that. The panels don’t stick to it, but I did get a different color.

 

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After getting the body painted and the unpainted doors and painted panels on, the wife said she liked it like that and to just varnish over the doors. Everyone I showed the pictures to had the same reaction. So who was I to argue with the wife? I didn’t care about everyone else’s opinion. I didn’t have to live with them. I got some stain and varnish in one product and went to it. After adding a couple coats to the door, I tried doing the edges. I used plywood for the doors and panels and stain the edges of plywood never really works well. I ended up getting some trim pieces and put the around the door. I think that really worked out well.

 

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(Photobucket is really messing this one up. It is orientated correctly on there, but not when I post it.)

 

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To finish up, I mounted a power strip (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068LACFI/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i04?ie=UTF8&psc=1) on the side and thermometer to the front. The sensor doesn’t reach all the way down in the tank, but it is fine for now. I will probably replace it later if I find something with a longer cord.

 

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So that is my DIY Water Station. I have done a couple water changes with it and it seems to be working well. In the plumbing, I added a valve so I can fill other containers with the RO/DI water without running it through the pump and lines that might possible have salt water in them. The only problem I still have is the bulkhead on the bottom of the upper container leaks a bit. Just a couple drops an hour, but enough I want to fix it. I think the problem is where I put it on the container was not flat enough. I have tried using silicone and while that has slowed it down a lot, it still drips. I am going to try getting a uniseal to see if that will work. I was planning on getting it from BRS because they also have the leak detector I want to use, but are out of stock at this time. Once they get them in, will order both and see how that goes.

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Rollermonkey

I take no credit for this for a few reasons:

SaltCube designed the side-by-side mixing station that I modified my plumbing from, including using the 20 gallon pet food containers.

IslandofTiki designed the stand that I modified for my vertically oriented mixing station.

Elmo's final result looks WAY better than mine, and has the RODI inside the stand? Huge improvements.

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  • 1 year later...

Yeah. Just took some so I can replace those that got lost. I don't have all the construction pictures but I have the initial concept picture and how it looks today.

 

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And here is the results...

 

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One of these days I will get the wiring cleaned up.

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  • 2 months later...

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