JustinReef Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Current FTS: April 2018: Equipment Aquarium: Innovative Marine - NUVO Fusion lagoon 25 Light: Aqua Illumination - Hydra 26 HD (running about 30% of wattage) Controller: Neptune Apex Jr. Skimmer: Tunze Comline DOC 9001 Waterflow: 2 x Ehiem compact 1000 (replace stock pump, both at lowest flow setting) Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6040 (pulse mode) Dosing pump: Neptune DOS Auto top off: Neptune ATK RO/DI: Vertex Puratek Salt/Dosing Salt: D&D H2Ocean Ca/Mg/kH: Aquaforest Carbon: Vinegar - started 05/23/18 First aquarium in about 4 years, decided on the IM nuvo 25. I disliked all the stand options I found for the 25 so I built a stand last December. All ¾” Maple Plywood. More soon.... 5 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 I had decided on the 25 last year and spent November and December buying most of the equipment I would need BUT I knew I was moving in March of this year so basically it all sat in a box for 4 months...it felt good to unpack at the new place. 2 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Hello fellow Justin! Nice work on the stand! Glad to see it's not a bunch of 2x4s slapped together You have a nice selection of equipment there. Did you get the tank yet or are you waiting on it? When do you expect to set it up? Stocking plans? 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 2 minutes ago, Justind823 said: Hello fellow Justin! Nice work on the stand! Glad to see it's not a bunch of 2x4s slapped together You have a nice selection of equipment there. Did you get the tank yet or are you waiting on it? When do you expect to set it up? Stocking plans? Thanks! I have the tank, yes. I wish I had more time at the moment to get it set up but work is getting in the way. I do have the light hung, I will update that soon. As for stocking, well, as you can see my light is overkill for the tank and I like sps... My main goal is to keep everything in proportion to the tank size. I really love all aspects of design and especially scale. So I will try and keep corals trimmed and only stock with very small fish. 2 Quote Link to comment
jstj0sh Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Oooooh, looks like this is going to be good! Following along. 1 Quote Link to comment
NanoTrav Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 You have a lot of patience to buy all those goodies and not use them for months. I wish I had woodworking skills to build nice stands. Finding a good stand is the worst for me. 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Hydra 52 HD. The only reason I went with the 52 instead of the 26 is aesthetics. I prefer the dimensions. I am using this AI mounting bracket but I do not like the look of the AI mounting rails...more on this soon. Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 2 hours ago, NanoTrav said: You have a lot of patience to buy all those goodies and not use them for months. I wish I had woodworking skills to build nice stands. Finding a good stand is the worst for me. It wasn't too hard because I had not had an aquarium for almost 4 years so although it was exciting to buy it all, I didn't feel very into the hobby yet. I'm still feeling pretty disconnected from reefkeeping but I think starting to post here makes me feel more into it. If that makes sense.... I don't really have a lot of woodworking experience but I do have a lot of patience. Youtube saved me. In terms of cost, this was not worth building but I ended up with what I wanted. Materials and buying tools (I did not have many) pushed the price well above what I think it would have cost to get this stand built in a shop. Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 I couldn't find a light rail or hanging option that I liked so I built a mounting arm out of 2" aluminum flat bar. Without having the proper tool or any metal working experience, this project proved to be difficult. Bending the aluminum with a propane torch was not very efficient but it did work. Polishing the aluminum by hand was a terrible idea and only partially worked. I'm happy enough with the results but this is another little project that if I were to do over, I would pay a shop to do the work. The height off the water is currently 12". Hopefully this works well since the height is not easily adjustable once the tank is filled. I may consider finding a solution to this "problem". 5 Quote Link to comment
jldesign Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 nice! i do not have that light on my 25 but you might be too high or need to adjust height. figure that out prior to filling like you said. i have a nanobox duo its only 6 off water. looks cool man Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 25 minutes ago, jldesign said: nice! i do not have that light on my 25 but you might be too high or need to adjust height. figure that out prior to filling like you said. i have a nanobox duo its only 6 off water. looks cool man Thanks. Yes, I'll probably lower it a bit once I test the light out...I have not even turned it on yet Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Beautiful system design @JustinReef, I really like the stand you built, very clean look. That aluminum bar light mount is a perfect solution as well, worth the trouble I'd say! Did the torch tarnish the finish when you were bending it? Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 37 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: Beautiful system design @JustinReef, I really like the stand you built, very clean look. That aluminum bar light mount is a perfect solution as well, worth the trouble I'd say! Did the torch tarnish the finish when you were bending it? Thanks! No, it did not tarnish but the flat bar I bought was in rough shape to start with. Since I asked for such a small piece, I believe it was an off cut that was likely thrown into a scrap pile where it got some deep scratches. It took a lot of sanding to get the deeper scratches out. For bending I used a small propane torch and the "sharpie" method. In theory, if you mark the aluminum with a sharpie marker and heat the marked spot, the ink will disappear when you reach the correct temperature to bend aluminum. I decided to try a 90 degree bend over 4" so my idea was to bend 2 - 45 degree angles at 4" apart. I said "in theory" because after my first attempt, I realized the aluminum must not have even been close to the desired temperature. The sharpie marks had long disappeared but I couldn't bend the flat bar more than a 1/4". I knew it was not advised to re-heat aluminum but I tried anyways; I figured I have nothing to lose. I heated the aluminum for double the time and still could not bend much more than 1/4". At this point I actually gave up and thought about abandoning the project...but I'm pretty stubborn and so I tried one more time, hours later. This time I decided to just heat it for several minutes and see what happens. I didn't really know what to expect but it ended up working. I was worried that I had weakened the aluminum with all the heat and it could snap but it seems to be very, very strong still. Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 This is currently how things look... It's hard to see but you may notice something under the tank. Unfortunately I had a lot of issues with the Maple Plywood warping due to temperature and humidity swings. I was able to get most of the plywood flat but the top has a slight bend (convex) of about 1/16". I only found this when I placed the tank on it and saw it didn't quite sit flat on the surface. It was very, very disappointing. I know its not ideal but I found a workout foam that is fairly dense but will even out that 1/16" problem. It is also water resistant and not a material that should easily deteriorate if wet. I'm not too happy about this but I don't know of any other options. Quote Link to comment
GrumpyDaddy68 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 it's looking good! I'm still shopping around for a tank but I also don't like the stands available. I have a few questions for you: Do you have more stand's shots from the back? Do you have any openings? How do you hold the front panel/door? Do you have a list with materials and final cost? Thanks, Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 22 minutes ago, GrumpyDaddy68 said: it's looking good! I'm still shopping around for a tank but I also don't like the stands available. I have a few questions for you: Do you have more stand's shots from the back? Do you have any openings? How do you hold the front panel/door? Do you have a list with materials and final cost? Thanks, I don't have any shots from the back but I can take some this weekend when I'm working on the set up. There is only one hole in the back at the moment but I may drill more. I still need to plan the interior of the stand and then I will know if/where I need to drill more holes. The front is a door with kitchen cabinet hinges. There is a magnetic catch on the right side that holds the door in place. When you push on the right side of the door, it releases the catch and you can open the door. I don't know if I explained that well. The door looks warped in this photo but it is not. As for the cost and materials...well, it may depend on what tools you already have. The cost got very high for me because I had to buy tools. This is an estimate of the materials cost (keep in mind I am in Canada, so this is Canadian dollars PLUS building materials are significantly more expensive here than in the U.S.): 3/4" sheet furniture grade Maple plywood (2 sheets) - $120 Pocket hole kit (included all the screws I needed) - $40 Hinges plus magnetic catch - $35 (roughly) Shellac sealer - $30 White Paint - $25 Rubber feet (for bottom of the tank) - $10 Total - $260 I think I may have spent about $200 on random tools. I bought the plywood at Home Depot and had them cut it for me which is very convenient since I do not have access to a table saw. Quote Link to comment
GrumpyDaddy68 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Thanks a lot for the shots, no need for more How about the height? I have been looking at the APS stand but a 36" it might be a little bit to high. Does the small compartment at the top opens as well? I saw that you have double sheet at the top and bottom; any particular reason (structural)? Thanks again, Quote Link to comment
Christmas Corals Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Very beautiful display! ??Exciting build! Love the dimension and overall look of this tank! Stand came together exceptionally well! Yeah sometimes you have to bring out the DIY skills when it comes to stands! Keeping things in proportion sounds like an excellent idea! Should balance out the tank. Look forward to the progression! 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 16 hours ago, GrumpyDaddy68 said: Thanks a lot for the shots, no need for more How about the height? I have been looking at the APS stand but a 36" it might be a little bit to high. Does the small compartment at the top opens as well? I saw that you have double sheet at the top and bottom; any particular reason (structural)? Thanks again, Hmmmm sorry I forget the height and I am at work but I know it's over 36". I want to say 38" but I will have to confirm later. The small compartment does not open, it's basically a waste of space unfortunately. Both that small compartment and the double sheet of plywood on the top and bottom are just aesthetic. Quote Link to comment
GrumpyDaddy68 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Thanks, I might built mine using yours as model but ~30" height. 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 I was able to find time to plumb my RO/DI unit to the cold water line of my guest bathroom. I live in a condo and wanted to hook up the RO/DI in a non-permanent way. I also cut out one of the baffles in the back chamber so I can fit the Tunze DOC 9001 skimmer. 1 Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Looks awesome so far. Love the clean look 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 The tank is wet! I am still waiting on some more equipment being shipped this week so I can't get everything set up but I needed a place to move some live rock to. I made the mistake of buying the live rock last December with the intention to let it cycle until March, when I moved. Unfortunately it did not work out too well, I wasn't able to keep the salinity or the temperature stable and I think the rock is in rough shape now. This rock had a lot of nice purple Coralline algae which is mostly now gone or turned red. Oh well... will be a longer cycle than I had hoped. I'll transfer the rock over to the aquarium tonight and start to organize some cords! 1 Quote Link to comment
vu.dao Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Looking good! I like your equipment list 1 Quote Link to comment
JustinReef Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 15 minutes ago, vu.dao said: Looking good! I like your equipment list Thanks! I should make an actual list in the first post...I like seeing this in people's journals! Quote Link to comment
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