crashburnoveride Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Hello NR. I'm starting my first nano build! I used to have a 120g system for about 6 years. Eventually doing water changes without my own RO unit wore me down, and I sold most things off. My goals for this build will be to try to keep it small, sleek, relatively inexpensive, and beautiful this time around. I will try to have no visible equipment in the display tank as I will be setting up my first sump too. I dream of it being featured as the tank of the month here on NR someday. At first I bought a 10g. But I couldn't resist my urge for more water volume and I bought a 20 tall. So now the 10 will be the sump. The house I bought already had a culligan aqua cleer RO system installed. So I'm replacing the filters and will be using it for WC's. Should be nice. Keeping things inexpensive for this build means DIY. Like repurposing my dads old dresser into the stand. Tami is my wife btw. So I threw on paint, polyurethane, new nobs. And we are here. I also have my old light still, its a 150w MH and 2 blue PC's with LED moonlights. Not having to buy new reef lighting equals more saved $$$. I have a tote full of heaters, powerheads, etc that I'm hoping can all be usable. I will be drilling the 20 for an overflow, and have a quarter piece of pvc pipe to make the overflow panel from. Spent zero on that. Will paint it with krylon fusion since I read on this site thats the way to go. I'll update this thread with my progress so check it out if u want! Link to comment
Arce Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Sounds like a plan, good reuse of a dresser, following. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Hey Arce thnx for the comment. Well, here is some progress... I'm very impressed with the krylon fusion gloss finish. It really does seem to have bonded to the pvc. Also super happy I found a good blue color. The back will match, and I didnt want a black background for this tank. Overflow might even pass for store bought now! After a lot of research, thought, reading, drawing, I have come to this as a sump plan. One square = 1 square inch. I read protein skimmers don't like microbubbles hence bubble traps on each entrance to the skimmer zone. Chime in if you have an opinion based on your own experience. For now I have no plans for mechanical filtration. I'd like to split the return pipe and use only that for the display water flow. We'll see if that works out! Link to comment
afyounie Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I hope that krylon fusion sticks to the pvc. I used it on my DIY acrylic overflow and its very very slowly flaking off. No negative effects so far though. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Most people won't have their return and skimmer in the same section, to help avoid microbubbles going back up to the tank. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Most people won't have their return and skimmer in the same section, to help avoid microbubbles going back up to the tank. Hmmm... might need its own compartment. Thanks for the input. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 New sump layout. Stumbled upon the SCWD wavemaker yesterday. It looks like an awesome and affordable product. I'm excited to try it out. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Painted glass. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 What kind of overflow are u going to use? I think the scwd would make it hard to tune. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 What kind of overflow are u going to use? I think the scwd would make it hard to tune. I'm drilling the bottom corner when my bit comes in the mail. I think the tube will run up then curve over 180 degrees. So water will go up and over and I hope that eliminates the suction noise. I'm not sure what u mean by tuning an overflow. Elaborate? Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Started the canopy build today. My idea is to seal the top as best as possible to help with salt creep. Which was a problem with my old tank. I bought some stick on sealer padding in thin strips, and am lining the top rim of the tank with it. Then canopy fits on top of that. Water return lines will be flex hose from the scwd. Then adapt to a pvc 90° elbow that fits tightly through a hole in the rear canopy. Then modular tubing from there. It should result in a real clean look. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Ahhh, you're going with a standard overflow. By tuning, I was thinking of a herbie or bean animal overflow. You should check those out and also the durso style. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Now it just needs a door and some finishing touches. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Ahhh, you're going with a standard overflow. By tuning, I was thinking of a herbie or bean animal overflow. You should check those out and also the durso style. Gosh, I had no idea that people had put that much effort into an overflow. I've only searched for the durso style like u said and its basically wut i was planning on, but better because of the top air hole. So i will def be copying the durso design. Thanks. Canopy looks great. Thanks dood! These little canopys can be difficult to build. Im very happy with this one so far. Im excited to see it done. I have a passion for building things! (Even if im not the best carpenter) I will be puttingon some wood filler, an painting the inside tonight I think. I'll post pics. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Glad to help. If you haven't drilled yet, you should think about a emergency overflow, nobody likes a flood.... Btw, love the stand!!! Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Unfortunately I bought the drill bit off ebay without looking at where it ships from. China. So it may take as long as mid march to get here. I guess I have plenty to do elsewhere tho. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Had little time to work on projects today, but did put on some fancy trim. Should help tie it into the doors on the stand. Make it look more like they go together. Can't wait for paint time, but need to plumb the sump return pipes into the back panel first. Also waiting on ebay hinges, and loc-line flat nozels too. Still, progress is progress! Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 I decided I wanted the tank to sit back a bit more on the stand so I added 1/2 inch to the back. Canopy got 1st coat of interior paint, and I sealed the seams up. Everything will be coated in polyurethane. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Much to my surprise my diamond bit came in the mail today!! I've drilled a few tanks in my time. Even shattered a 55 gallon once. But successfully drilled a 10g too. So it always gets the adrenaline going when I do one now. This one thankfully turned out great! The key is to not rush it and barely apply downward pressure. Also keeping it wet of course. It's too late to go get pvc for my durso tho dangit. This tank will by far be the best one I've ever done. Usually I'm impatient and throw it together quickly, but I'm really doing things right this time. :-) Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 DIY $8 "durso" overflow. One coat black paint on the canopy. There will be water in the tank soon I promise!! Haha. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 So I transferred my baffle measurements onto my sump tank with sharpie. (Went over the lines in pic editor so y'all could see better) Do you guys think my return compartment is big enough? I plan on doing an ATO hopefully with 2 float switches. I wonder how fast water will evaporate out of a compartment that size. Anyone got some experience? Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Progress pic: You can see how my 2 return lines come through the canopy to modular tubing so I'll be able to tweak the flow directions. I'm contemplating splitting each side with Y fittings to have more control. Also, I'm using another set of doors off an identical dresser (it was a set) and retrofitting them for canopy doors. Getting so close now to cycle time!! My wife and I have a gender reveal party for our 1st baby due in August at our house in 2 weeks, and I'd at least like to have water, rock, and sand in by then. Link to comment
crashburnoveride Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 So this just happened... I was pulling out the bulkhead from the overflow through the top and dropped it. I've spread silicone all over it on both sides. The crack is contained to the overflow area. Hopefully water pressure in there will be sufficiently less and it's ok. I could also cut acrylic and put a layer on top of the glass and seal that in if this doesnt work. I need a drink... Link to comment
FishI Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 So this just happened... I was pulling out the bulkhead from the overflow through the top and dropped it. I've spread silicone all over it on both sides. The crack is contained to the overflow area. Hopefully water pressure in there will be sufficiently less and it's ok. I could also cut acrylic and put a layer on top of the glass and seal that in if this doesnt work. I need a drink... Awesome build. That sucks about the crack. I would get a new tank honestly. I couldn't sleep if I new about that crack. What if the wait from the water in the rest of the tank makes it crack more? Is the 1 per gallon sale going on in your area now? Link to comment
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