Real Reefer's 5g AIO DIY

[RealReefer]

Helo fellow reefers!

 

Hope you are well. Long time lurker here on nano-reef. Some awesome setups here. True inspirations. I would like to share with all of you my new 5g AIO DIY build.

 

The Reef :

300mm (l) x 350mm (w) x 300mm (h) - Water level 270mm

 

AIO box:

300mm (l) x 80mm (w) x 300mm (h). 

1. Overflow chamber:  50W heater and some filter floss

2. Filtration:                    Seachem matrix , purigen and carbon

3. Return pump:            230gph / 880lph

4. ATO:                              0.32g / 1.2L with DIY double mini switch or single switch with optical sensor.

 

Circulation: Return pump for now. Still trying to figure if a MP-10 or Jebao SW-2 will work. Maybe way to big?
Light: DIY 54W led build

Substrate: Caribsea Seafloor special grade

Rock: Single piece of dry reef rock

Cabinet: DIY MDF
 

Rock and sand cleaned in a RO / bleach solution for 24 hours. Rinsed with RO and then soaked in seachem prime for another 24 hours to neutralize the bleach. 

That's about it for now. I'll post a few pics of the progress so far.

 

Thanks for following!!

 

[RealReefer]

As promised. A few pics of the progress so far. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

[RealReefer]

So the plan with this reef is to get it as stable as possible for the long run. I have integrated a 1.2L ATO chamber along with the rest of the back filtration and return pump.

I'm going to use a 6V DC dosing head with a DIY mini float switch setup for the top up. I also ordered a mini temp controller to control a 80mm PC fan for cooling. 

 

This is the idea...
 

[RealReefer]

Morning all. Happy New Year to all. Hope you have a wondeful, exciting and blessed new year. All of the best!!!

 

A few more updates from my side. Rock and sand in 10l bucket with a bleach solution. With only 10min in it really shows how dirty it is. 

 

 

 

 

24 hours later

 

 

 

 

[RealReefer]

To the followers. A few more updates. Back AIO compartment finished! I used the square for 90's and then tagged the glass on the edges with hot glue to keep it up straight. Easy to remove and clean after the silicone dried.

 

 

 

 

 

[RealReefer]

Morning followers. Thought i'd share a few updates with pics. AIO and perspex front panel is in place. Return is 16mm fitted with a adjustable flow nozzle. Overflow slots are 6mm. Normally i do a 5mm but i'm not sure if the overflow would handle the return on such a small overflow width. I also covered the back and sides with black vinyl to finish it off. Enjoy!

 

 

[RealReefer]

Now that the tank is finished, i'll be moving onto the DIY led unit. I'll be using a PAR38 54W led unit with a few modifications. For starters i'm going to change out all the led diodes with custom colours.

15k Cool White
Royal Blue
Deep Blue
Violet

I'll keep you posted on the progress! Enjoy!

[RealReefer]

Helo followers. Update time

 

Took the par38 apart. Very easy to do. What you left with is half of a heatsink with a big hole in the middle. Not very effective at cooling. a 50w driver, the led PCB and acrylic lens cover. This one is 60deg. Too narrow for my liking. I'm going to use it without the lens.

 

 

I desoldered all of the old led diodes. Cleaned the PCB and replaced with new ones. I don't have any deep blue leds at the moment. when they come i will replace 2x RB in the middle circle with 2x Deep blues. Thinking of doing another 2 or 3 PCB's with different colour leds so that i can just swop the PCB in the future if i want to play with colours. 

 

 

 

 

 

Have an awesome weekend!

[HarryPotter]

Nice DIY so far! How did you cut the overflow teeth? 

[RealReefer]

3 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Nice DIY so far! How did you cut the overflow teeth? 

Thanks man! With a laser cutter.

[Biglex]

This looks awesome 

[MortalWombat]

Whoa! You're DIYing the cr@p out of this thing!

[NanoRox]

This is crazy awesome.  Watching with interest

[RealReefer]

15 hours ago, Biglex said:

This looks awesome 

 

14 hours ago, MortalWombat said:

Whoa! You're DIYing the cr@p out of this thing!

 

13 hours ago, Duane Clark said:

This is crazy awesome.  Watching with interest

 

 Thanks guys for the positive response. 

[Lula_Mae]

Glass is so clear!  Very sharp looking.  Tagging along cuz, well, 5g tanks are the best.

[RealReefer]

On 1/6/2018 at 8:02 AM, Lula_Mae said:

Glass is so clear!  Very sharp looking.  Tagging along cuz, well, 5g tanks are the best.

5g's rock! Thanks for tagging along on this one.

[RealReefer]

Hello followers. Incoming update. Led DIY is still a work in progress, but i couldn't wait any longer so i did a quick mock-up of the tank with the led over it. Was sooooo excited to see the result, and i'm happy with it! Also started working on a design to house the PCB. Opting for a single arm led mount with a custom led body. Doing a test run on MDF. Ultimately i want to laser the unit out of acrylic. But if the MDF works out, ill prime, paint and seal it. It should last a long time.
Did my very first run at wood kerving. A bit tricky finding the correct cutting depth and number of slots. Already messed up 3 times. Well the 3rd was actually a success, but in my hastiness i forced the curve to fast and it broke . I'll try again this weekend.  Not the best freehand routing on the PCB mount , but i'll give it another shot. This was fun!

A few pics. Enjoy!
 

Single arm in progress

 

Got a nice bend on this one. To bad it broke.

 

3mm reccess on a test piece. The recess for the led cover to sit flush.

 

Lens sitting flush.

 

PCB mount

 

 

Some pics of the mock-up

 

 

 

Have a GR8 week!

[RealReefer]

Helo fellow reefers and followers. In the meantime i decided to start the 5g. Waiting patiently for any signs of life. Not even Lance moved since last week Sunday. Looks like he is trapped in quicksand. Poor thing. Will make a post as soon as the micro pods starts exploring the front glass. Can't wait. Also dosed 5ml Seachem Stability for some bac activity. Lance is supplying the ammonia. Still busy with the led DIY. Maybe a change in plans. I'll keep you posted.

Have a GR8 week!

 

 

 

Water still murky because of Lance.

 

[RotaryReef]

Assuming you laser cut the glass as well?

 

Looking good thus far!

[Justind823]

Very cool! Love all the DIY in here. 

 

Are you you pulling the trigger on cutting acrylic for the light? Will you be installing a fan in the finished product?

 

Any pics of the cabinet you made?

 

Following along!

[RealReefer]

Just now, RotaryReef said:

Assuming you laser cut the glass as well?

 

Looking good thus far!

I wish i could laser the glass. That will mean perfect sizes all the time. The glass is cut with a glass scoring tool. Most of the times the glass is on size and nicely cut. But i have seen some really bad workmanship with the local guys here. I just send the glass back. You can either choose a clean cut or it can be send away for bright polish on the edges. On the clean cut i use sand paper just to "soften" the edges. The factory can also sand it but they normally over sand the edges and it looks bad.

 

A simple glass cutting tool.

 

 

 

[RotaryReef]

What is your current water level compared to the top of the tank? How did you determine the height positioning of the overflow teeth?

[RealReefer]

Just now, Justind823 said:

Very cool! Love all the DIY in here. 

 

Are you you pulling the trigger on cutting acrylic for the light? Will you be installing a fan in the finished product?

 

Any pics of the cabinet you made?

 

Following along!

Thanks for following. Yes i have new plans for the DIY led. Started with a design. Going with acrylic. It's going to cost more. But in the end it will be be a much better looking light than the MDF. I initially chose MDF because i had some left overs  from a previous project. As soon as you start working on a project you start thinking of new ideas and improvements. A real kickstarter for the brain. I realized that the MDF was to bulky. Need to work on something sleek and elegant. Hope i can pull it off.

 

Cabinet is also on the to do list. For now its just sitting on a office desk drawer. Similar to the pic below.

 

   

[RealReefer]

Just now, RotaryReef said:

What is your current water level compared to the top of the tank? How did you determine the height positioning of the overflow teeth?

Water level is at 270mm. 30mm from the top. The starting point of the teeth is 40mm from the top. The water rises about 10mm depending on the return flow rate. But i have never had it rise more than 20mm even with a strong return. The stronger the return the higher the water will rise. I suppose the number of slots also determines how high it will rise. Less slots = restricted overflow rate = higher water. But i have never worked from the latter.  

[RealReefer]

Helo followers and future followers. Happy to do another update after the weekend! Almost finished with the LED unit. A change of plans and the kerving project is now on the back burner. Would have loved to actually finish the kerving at least. It was quite a challenge to get the perfect curve without the wood breaking. In the end i ran out of off cut MDF and then realised that a removable led housing would make it a lot easier when working in the tank especially when the plan is to do a WC every week. That could increase to 2 times a week when bio load is high. So i ended making another simple DIY led unit and i am happy with it. Still planning to do a proper acrylic version in the near future. Be on the lookout for that!

I primed the wood with pink plascon wood primer. Let it sit over night to dry properly. Finished it with 320 grit sandpaper. Applied 3 coats of gloss white paint.

Lance has left the building and the water is now crystal clear. So without further ado, here's some pics of the tank after a 2 week cycle.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a GR8 week!