29gal external overflow and sump DIY - lots of pics

[Lingwendil]

Very clean and pro looking project, can't wait to see it running.

 

 

BTW< nice teeth (I do most everything freehand as well)

[impur]

Originally posted by Bikelock

GO DUCKS!!

 

I went to Linfield but love them Ducks. All my family and friends went to U of O though.

 

GO DUCKS!! Thats awesome, you still live in oregon? Ducks should have a nice signing day today! :woot:

 

Thanks Lingwendil, i can't wait to get it running.

[MiniReefin]

Damn dude!! You are the man.

 

Did you make the 55g stand? i like it.

[Bikelock]

I live on the beach in Texas now, but the rest of my family is there. It is really nice and tropical, but it is no Great Northwest. Oh how I miss going to Autzen to watch those Ducks. Oh well just can not say how much I miss home, hopefully go back someday.

 

Good luck

[Lingwendil]

What've you got in that 55G? Unless my eyes are shot from taking finals all week it seems to be freshwater.

[impur]

MiniReefin: Thanks! I had a friend do the welding, then i sanded it down and applied a few coats of clear coat to it. I have a matching light for it, just need to finish the clear coat on it.

 

Lingwendil: Nope your eyes are still working fine, it is FW. I have a male Green Terror and a 7" Featherfin cat. There are 2 giant danios left from the original 10. The GT picks em off slowly. Here is a few pics of him, a bit blury though:

 

 

 

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated!! I finished up the plumbing last night. I also got the arm to hang the pendant from. Will get that cut, painted and put in place tonight. I'll put up a few more pics in an hour or 2.

[impur]

Few more pics. I got some 3/4" EMT and an elbow last night. I plan to hang the pendant from this. Thats the project for tonight.

 

Ok, painting all done:

 

Plumbing glued into place:

[impur]

Ok a few more till the pendant arm is completed. The paint isn't coming out the way I would like on it. I may just leave it and set the thing up then change the mounting of the pendant later down the road. Anyway, i finished up the PVC support rack for the LR. The right side will be sloping upward with zoos and such on it. The paper towel folded in half you see represents a sandy area i would like to keep open, sort of like a ravine.

 

My cat helping. Or looking for something to steal and play with:

 

 

 

Miles

[BKtomodachi]

Where did you buy the bulkheads? I like them.

[trmiv]

Looks good! Man I should have done this external overflow on my 37g cube, but I didn't want to try it. I did drill 3 holes for my closed loop myself, but ripping a large slit in the back of the tank seemed like a bit much. Especially when the tank was $179.

[impur]

BKtomadachi - I got them at Home Depot. They are electrical male and female adapters. As you can see they have a better lip for the washer to seal, thats why i chose them.

 

trmiv - Thanks! I don't blame you for not cutting a notch in that tank. This tank only cost me $20 so i don't really care if it cracks that much. If it does though, i'm going with a 37g cube, those tanks are sweet!!

[BKtomodachi]

Thanks!

[impur]

Ok FW tank moved:

 

Tank in place and begin filling:

 

New needlewheel skimmer:

 

Just barely enough room in the sump. My fuge isn't going to fit where i planned, so I may be setting it up outside the stand. Or i have to get a smaller fuge. Not sure at this point.

[impur]

Here is what i put together to hang the pendant from:

 

It wasn't holding the pendant as i had planned. The elbow had to much of a bend and the horizontal piece sagged a bit. But i found these:

 

 

They work great!! Retractable:

 

[impur]

Filling with water:

 

 

 

Sand in. Should have rinsed it first. The silt stuck to EVERYTHING. A pain in the @$$.

 

[impur]

All clear. I ended up ordering a Reef Optix I pendant from premiumaquatics.com. I didn't like how my DIY one threw so much light outside the tank:

 

 

Racks going into place. Kicked up some dust and have a microbubble problem:

 

My fix to the micro bubble problem. I still have a few, and i've isolated it to a leak in a threaded nipple. I'll take care of it tomorrow since its late now:

 

[impur]

Heres a few pieces of rock holding the racks in place:

 

Coral holding tub:

 

[impur]

All thats left of the nano:

 

More rock in:

 

[impur]

Corals being added after a little over an hour of acclimation time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[impur]

Well few days have passed. I'm happy with the result. My Seio 820 will be here today so i can get rid of the 2 powerheads that are in the tank now. Pretty excited for that! More pics:

 

Whole tank:

 

New Royal Gramma:

 

New blastos:

 

Ric:

 

Zoos:

[impur]

Couple of new acros - browned out now we'll see what they color up to:

 

Gorgonian:

[JsL]

Very cool!

 

Why did you convert your DE pendant into a SE pendant? That's a Reef optixIII pendant right?

[impur]

Thanks! Its been quite a project. The pendant is a Reef Optix I. I originally bought an empty pendant shell off a guy at RC and installed a reflector from hellolights.com in it. I wasn't completely happy with how it threw the light into the tank so I went ahead and bought the optix I.

[impur]

Well everything is running great still. Added the skimmer finally, its pulling out some nastyness! Added a couple new SPS frags so i'll update with a few pics. I also added some black cardboard to the overflow box and just attached it with tape. It was getting some pretty good diatom growth back there and i certainly don't want a snail back there. This seems to have been a good cure as there is no long any diatoms in the overflow. I'm going to mod my Seio to mount on the tank rim, and i'm also going in on the group order here for the oceansmotions super squirt. Anyway, on to the pics:

 

 

 

[impur]