MrZ2u Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 Its only been two years since I bought a new tank to replace the one that Feb 2021 nuked! Life got in the way! BUT...its underway. First of many pics is the stand frame. Its 14ga 1x1 and 1x2 steel. Fabed it in an afternoon and started prime and paint. 2 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 Getting wrapped in wood? Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 Marked out my holes...measured like 20x to be sure 🙂 Made a jig for the bit with water channels And Bingo...overflow installed 🙂 4 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, growsomething said: Getting wrapped in wood? Correct...with magnets as well so that I can un-skin it completely for maintenance! Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 Very nice and good idea. More ppl should do that instead of hinges Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 Sump is in two parts. First section is this 20tall. Its will mostly be be a refugium. The water will drain into the chamber on the left, and flow over the ledge through socks. I made an open section so I could better access the joints for sealant. On top is a removable sock holder plate held tight with nylon bolts. This serves a dual purpose. If I switch to a different sock and the hole isn't sized properly I just make a new one and bingo. The drilled holes will have bulkheads and downspouts that will drain into a 10gal which will house the skimmer and return pumps in separate sections. (future pics on that) 2 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 16 hours ago, growsomething said: Very nice and good idea. More ppl should do that instead of hinges Maybe to clarify, the front will be bolted in place and will have a door to access the front and there will be drawers immediately under the aquarium itself. Once I work out the positions of the sump pieces I will know what my vertical needs are for it and then I will design the drawer space. I am thinking I want one drawer half length but full-depth and two that are half and half. Not sure how that will all play out yet 🙂 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 really digging all the DIY fabrication process of this project. nice work! Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 Rough draft on this part and its completely out of sequence...I am going to build a 4-station stir plate for dosing bottles. Bought some little hobby motors for $1.66 each and 12v motor controllers for $2 each, plus a couple magnets each and two "wooden nickles" so about $4 per stir spot. Drilled 2mm centers on two and then two 12mm holes for the magnets on one...rush job so it a little off center but I will correct that on the finals, Glued together and magnets epoxied in place and we should be golden. The quest for bottles continues though. Amazon descriptions arent helpful so its been hard to find any with flat bottoms and a screw-on lid. Got some flat bottom flasks on the way...fingers crossed that these work. 1 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 More progress on the stir project. These bottles are very Heisenburg looking but they work. 500ml each with a rubber stopper with a hole for the line. Printed up what I am now calling a flywheel and this is MUCH better than the wooden nickels. Short Video 1 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Made a bit more progress this weekend since nobody bothered me all day 🙂 My first baffle was a tiny bit too narrow so I made another...this time out of smoked lexan and much cleaner! Built an ATO reservoir which will be about 5gal completely full. Still going to put a top on it but I want to let it cure and do a leak check and having the top open makes any patching easier. Also leak checked my drilled holes in the first section of the refugium. 2 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Did the internal plumbing for the overflow. Question for any of you...do you think these heights look good? I feel like the durso should be a little shorter...any thoughts? Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Can't be of help bcs I've never had an external sump. 1 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 After much futzing with the printer to get it set for the ABS I ordered I got it dialed in and printed the first of two filter sock silencers. Very pleased with the result. 4 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 12, 2023 Author Share Posted May 12, 2023 Hoping to plumb it all up and do a "wet-run" this weekend. 4 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 2 hours ago, MrZ2u said: Hoping to plumb it all up and do a "wet-run" this weekend. this looks awesome!! 1 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 13, 2023 Author Share Posted May 13, 2023 Leak testing for bulkheads... 2 Quote Link to comment
sapling Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 Nice build you got going on, When I built my AIO 25g 5-6 years ago, I definitely did not have the expertise youre showing here in the build, did you plan all this or going on another build? great work regardless, Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted May 16, 2023 Author Share Posted May 16, 2023 On 5/13/2023 at 9:46 PM, sapling said: Nice build you got going on, When I built my AIO 25g 5-6 years ago, I definitely did not have the expertise youre showing here in the build, did you plan all this or going on another build? great work regardless, This was all planned by me. I drew inspiration from many sources...seeing what they did and what I liked and then came up with my own arrangement. Prior to our little Texas grid situation in Feb 2021 I had a Fusion Lagoon 25 running pretty nicely...no power for 5 days when its 20 out and the tank was nuked. I was thinking I wanted to remove the AIO components and drill the back because I wanted a refugium sump with ample space to grow out some chaeto and make a pod factory in hopes of maybe hosting a Mandiran up top. Tank getting nuked solved one logistical issue for me. But, since it was going to be a while before I could get to all that I put it all on Craigslist for a handsome sum to see if anyone would take it all off my hands...and someone did so I got to start over from scratch. The new tank I bought has a 23.5 x 23.5 footprint so it's slightly larger than the previous tank but still 12in deep. The previous stand was not designed with a sump in mind so starting it over from scratch was going to happen no matter what. In a past life, I had a 200gal but I never liked any of the stands that were made for them...all too short IMO. So built my own from steel with a wood shell that could come completely off. Doing the same concept with this one...inner metal skeleton but I think the front is going to be fixed with fasteners and have a hinged door below whats probably going to be a single drawer....still working that out in my head. the sides will be held in place by magnets, or at least that was the thought at first. Probably still will be but I am working out an access feature in my head still. The "sump system" was originally going to be a fully contained single piece including the ATO reservoir but none of the suppliers in my area had the acrylic I needed and ordering a single sheet of the stuff was going to run about $400 so I scrapped that idea and started looking at premade units. Found several that were just a little too large to fit my space and the ones that would fit didnt have the volume I was looking for. I got two 20talls on sale at PetSmart for $40 each. Originally I was thinking of drilling both and plumbing them together. Dont know exactly why I didnt do that, probably because I had a little 10G already and it made sense? In hind sight it might have been a better move because together they could handle 100% of any overflow and siphon from a power loss without worrying about check valves. But, doing it like this gives me space for the ATO reservoir as well as a space where my stir station will sit. Still lots to do and I have a week-long pause coming up for work travel. 5 Quote Link to comment
Lebowski_ Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 This is very cool! Following for sure. Just got a 25 lagoon - any pics of your old tank? Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted November 7, 2023 Author Share Posted November 7, 2023 Wow life got in the way and put the pause on my project. I got laid off at the end of August so that put the financial progress on hold...and it still is. BUT, I finally got around to plumbing the system and building the drawer with supplies already on hand. Once I get back to work I will finish the sides and start it up! The drawer is about 22in deep X 27in wide X 6in tall Plumbing consists of unions just below the overflow and then 45's to direct the flow. Full gate valve on the main overflow and nothing on the backups... The return lines from twin pumps have a check valve at the pump and at the tank...a little redundant but better safe than sorry 🙂 And a view from the front... 3 1 Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted November 8, 2023 Author Share Posted November 8, 2023 Since it's been sitting in its box ticking away the warranty I decided to disassemble the light and paint the case white 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment
braaap Posted November 9, 2023 Share Posted November 9, 2023 Sorry to hear about the layoff. Crazy world right now. Couldn't have imagined all of this in 2019ish when things were BOOMING. Hopefully you land on your feet soon. Project looks very nice. Good planning. Quote Link to comment
MrZ2u Posted November 9, 2023 Author Share Posted November 9, 2023 So here is a pro tip...RTFM and that sort of thing. Know what the paint can says...humidity below 60%. It's 98% and I'm stupid. 1 2 Quote Link to comment
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