waldoz Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Little back ground. I have been on NR since 2012 and this is our first saltwater tank. My son and I were going to start a 2 gallon jar but ended up with a 20L that was given to us along with the light and pump. We have not thought of what to do and we did not have room for a sump. My son wanted to go with an AIO and the only way was to build it. 🙂 Equipment: 20L tank and stand. Sicce 1.0 pump Jebao PP-4 AI Hydra 26 Media basket DIY Media: Intank filter floss Caribdsea life rock: two new domes one used arch Caribdsea Fiji pink sand Stock: Daphne, the Pajama cardinal fish Fathom, the Percula clown: Dead Six lined wrasse: Dead Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp: Dead Nautilus, the Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp (older): Dead Porcelain Anemone crab Rainbow BTA CUC: Turbo snail 2 Nassarius snails (one might have got eaten by his fellows) Rip van Winkle, the Cerith snail Astrid and Astrix, the Astrea snails TBD: Coral: Neon Green star polyps Cats paw Mystic sunset Montipora Montipora spongodes Frogspawn light green Duncan Spider Flakes zoa Utter Chaos zoa Mohawk zoa Orange blowpop Nuclear green paly Mind-blown paly Leptastrea Meteor shower Ricordea Mushrooms FTS:1/30/21 FTS: 12/6/20 FTS: 11/10/20 FTS: 10/1/20 FTS: 9/1/20 FTS: 8/8/20 FTS: 7/2/20 FTS: 6/7/20 FTS:5/3/20 FTS:4/4/20 FTS 3/18/20 LOL not much to show. Here is the AIO chamber build. Here is the aquascape layout, but I think we might have changed it. RO/DI Rebuild thread. @righttirefire @spectra @Matteo @shaneandjohn 6 Quote Link to comment
This guy is extra salty Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 🤔following everyone’s formats eh? Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 Yeah well have not done this before so guess they layout equipment etc. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
This guy is extra salty Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 These contests are fun last one I won a shirt for “most infested” 😂 3 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 That would be at least worth it! Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Looks like we have a few 20L's. Following along. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 silly question but what did you use to drill the acrylic for the return? a 1" hole saw? 13 minutes ago, seabass said: Looks like we have a few 20L's. Following along. that cuz 2OL are cool! 2 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 The insert was made for us after we did the layout it was $40. I think it was min standard hole size for 3/4 bulkhead. We are using 1/2 now and it covers up the larger hole. 1 Quote Link to comment
Matteo Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Let me know when you need that rumble! You can also have my dirty filter pads too. That helps a lot with the cycle. When your tank settles down and is coral ready let me know and I'll give you some pieces for super duper cheap 😎👉 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Matteo said: Let me know when you need that rumble! You can also have my dirty filter pads too. That helps a lot with the cycle. When your tank settles down and is coral ready let me know and I'll give you some pieces for super duper cheap 😎👉 Thanks we appreciate that. 😁 Few things holding us up right now. The stand needs light arm moved and fit up. Then needs repaint. Also figuring out our first order and what we absolutely need. My son is set on a few things for sure. It's getting exciting 😁 I think we either need to bleach the used rock or cycle it for two months 😂 2 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 Time for a big updated. My son and I worked on the stand and we did some brain storming on how we wanted it to look. This was How it looked when we got it. I can tell you this thing was made like a tank! ---> @spectra LOL No wood on it, so you can see the frame. Here it is with the tank on it looks pretty decent but the light mount is in the wrong side. 😉 We want to see this tank from three sides. Now comes the fun part and cutting and welding up with my Junky 110v welder. Drilled some more adjustment holes every two inches up and then cut the support out. Just put the light mount to get an Idea where we wanted to go with it. Moved the support to the end and welded up. Also took the old top mount and cut it off the main hanging frame. It so happened that it was the exact length it needed to be. 🙂 So now its all welded out and ready to go. Sorry about not having more pictures but trying to finish everything up so my son can sand the stand down and get ready to paint it Gloss black. Just fit up the Hydra 26 but its going to have some spacers printed up for about 1/2 inch spacing between the mount and the light. That should be plenty for air flow and I don't think that thing is going to get hot at all. Will try and get some more things done this next week if possible. Trying to find time is the problem now LOL We are not sure if the color of the wood is going to stay the same or change it up some more. We will have to look at it for a bit longer. 😉 We also got some Ninja wire routing going on when it goes together it should be really clean! I will take some detailed pics of that so you guys have a good idea of what we are going to do. 6 Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Well if you have issues let me know...............I know a guy who can weld it up.............. 1 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 I was a welder for 12yrs LOL I think I got it taken care of. The main challange is the 110 welder but I will upgrade that down the road. I have seen some of your work and its nice I just don't have the room to create anymore. 🙂 Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 minute ago, waldoz said: I was a welder for 12yrs LOL I think I got it taken care of. The main challange is the 110 welder but I will upgrade that down the road. I have seen some of your work and its nice I just don't have the room to create anymore. 🙂 Well shit if thats the case you can just swing by my shop and I can watch........... 1 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 I might do that if ever need be, Thanks for the offer 🙂 I had to sell my 60% duty cycle Lincoln 220 years ago to pay some bills off. LOL sold it to my friend for 1k but he lives out in the boonies so its a pain in the butt now to get there. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 wow that is one nice stand! made out of 1" square tubing? Quote Link to comment
ef4life Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Cool build so far, I really like the aquascape you guys laid out. Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 2 hours ago, devaji108 said: wow that is one nice stand! made out of 1" square tubing? Yeah 1" but its 1/8 wall so thick stuff not the thin stuff. and the top mount is 1" x 1 " 1/2 and its heavy too. 1 hour ago, ef4life said: Cool build so far, I really like the aquascape you guys laid out. Trying to do a good first time tank. We have been watching for years and learning clean setups, so Hope we can do the same. We have had lots of help though, and they know who they are. 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 9 hours ago, waldoz said: Yeah 1" but its 1/8 wall so thick stuff not the thin stuff. and the top mount is 1" x 1 " 1/2 and its heavy too. . 🙂 sounds like it will hold a tank 5X the 20L! good o American engineering at it best 😄 Quote Link to comment
Matteo Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 19 minutes ago, devaji108 said: sounds like it will hold a tank 5X the 20L! good o American engineering at it best 😄 Yup. I have a light hanging mount built from him and pretty sure it could easily hold 100+ lb fixture no problem 😂 2 Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 Got some time with my son to paint the sides of the tank. We started outside and got one side done then started to sprinkle and ended up in the garage. Tapped everything off with packing paper and painting tape. We used gloss black Krylon Fusion primer and paint, just for your info. Used rubbing alcohol to clean the glass and prep. First coat and we ended up doing 4 per sided. We figured that the back would be not painted so we could see everything in the back. This is the other side, but I think it turned out better the second time around. Had to move into the garage not ideal but it worked out. Here is the final product. This is the bad side if you can call it bad. My son is thinks its looks good and I would have to agree with him. This is the the better side and its like a mirror. You can tell from the pic how glossy it ended up being. So hope to get working on the stand some more. I think its going to take more time though and its going to be gloss black also. All for now! 6 Quote Link to comment
ef4life Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 The paint looks good. I wish I painted a section on my tank, I used frosted window tint but it’s just a cling and not stuck to the glass. It’s letting air bubbles in now and looks bad. Quote Link to comment
waldoz Posted February 28, 2020 Author Share Posted February 28, 2020 Update 🙂 The weather is good but suppose to rain tomorrow and get colder. So we took advantage of the conditions and sanded the frame down and wiped it down with alcohol. It did not take to long for my son and I to do it so that was good. We used 150 grit sand paper and scuffed the paint and tried to take off any rust. We end up using 3/4 of a can but, I still have a full can left for the light mount. I have one more hole to cut in that so have to do that maybe on sat. It turned out pretty good and I would say prob 3 coats. By the time I got around it, was time to keep going. The can says about 1-2 min between so I think it looks good though. My son is happy with it and since its mostly his tank, that is a good thing. 😛 4 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 WOW green grass I have not seen that in a LOOOOOONG time. in fact I dont think I have seen dirt...sorry that's the 1st think my eyes went to..haha looks good I did that with a amazon metal stand turned out pretty good. great project for you and your sun. 1 Quote Link to comment
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