48 Gallon Corner Tank Build

[D Z]

So it's time to build my first reef tank. I have had multiple smaller freshwater tanks in the past, but have always wanted to give saltwater a go. Over the past couple years I researched saltwater tanks quite a bit and quite a bit here on Nano-Reef.com. Up until now, a saltwater tank just has not been possible. Luckily, I recently had an offer I couldn't refuse.

A friend of mine had offered to give me a tank that was taking up space. It is appx. 50 gallon, corner tank.

Small, but usable footprint inside the stand.

Future Home



I plan to re-do quite a bit of this tank. Here are some future plans:

• Re-Finish stand to a darker color
• 10 Gallon, 3 chamber custom sump/fuge
• Drill the tank for exit and return
• DIY LED canopy

 

 

 

I already am in progress working on some of this. I'm trying to get a lot of this done of Memorial Day weekend. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.

Stand Re-Finishing
Got the old finish stripped off.




Sump Design
Here is a pic of my design. I know this is kinda ridiculous, I just don't feel like drawing this up in Sketchup.

10 gallon tank fits just like a glove

Time to cut and silicon some acrylic.




I still need to get a return pump and skimmer. I am looking to get roughly 600 - 700 gph with the filtration. I am thinking about going with a Quiet One 3000, with somewhere between a 3 and 4 foot head height. As for the skimmer, I leaning toward either a Tunze 9002 or some sort of HOB skimmer. Anyone have any good/bad opinions of the either the Quiet One pump or skimmer choices? First hand experience is always a plus.

Over Flow/Return
I decided to go with a Glass-Holes 700 gph overflow kit, along with 3/4 in dual LocLine return. Order came in on Friday.


Decided on placement. You can see where the overflow box will go. I will put the 3/4 in locline returns on the other back pane, a little left of center. I'm figuring this will give me good flow and maximize usable space inside the tank.


LED Canopy
Currently, the LED canopy is just in the planning phase. I am going to have some more details plans in the near future, but what I am thinking is around 26 LEDs. These will probably be split 50/50 between Cree XP-G Cool Whites and XP-E Royal Blues. I'm thinking separate MeanWell dim-able drivers and 60 degree optics. They will be heatsink mounted inside a wood canopy stained to match the stand, cooled with 2 fans, as silent as possible. The idea did come to me to do liquid cooling of the heatsink. I could run copper lines through the fins of the heat sink and use a computer liquid cooling pump/radiator. Anyone know if this has been tried???

Comments? Please let me know what you think.

 

 

 

[xxbrianxx]

looks good man, can't wait to see it filled in. one thing though, you might want to think about putting a doorstop somewhere...I can just imagine someone rushing into the house one day, the door flying open and smashing the tank lol.

[Builder Anthony]

Im not sure if its been tried but copper kills alot of saltwater things if it gets into your tank.

[Toby Flenderson]

Looks pretty good so far, good idea re finishing the stand. Are you going to paint that top wood edge of the tank? Where is the refugium going to be in the sump design? And why is it draining in two sides? Maybe im reading the drawing wrong. It almost looks like you could invert that current setup and have e fuge in the middle,one side drain the other return.

[D Z]

Im not sure if its been tried but copper kills alot of saltwater things if it gets into your tank.

I thought this may be the case. Copper was just an idea from a material standpoint. I guess its back to the drawing board on that one. I need a material that would allow for good heat exchange and be able to handle the heat from the heat sink.

 

 

Looks pretty good so far, good idea re finishing the stand. Are you going to paint that top wood edge of the tank? Where is the refugium going to be in the sump design? And why is it draining in two sides? Maybe im reading the drawing wrong. It almost looks like you could invert that current setup and have e fuge in the middle,one side drain the other return.

 

The two trim pieces on the dank itself will be covered by the canopy and a molding that I plan to add to the top rim of the stand. It will stick up past the trim just enough to cover it.

 

As far as the sump design, from left to right, drain from main tank and skimmer, return chamber, and then the fuge on the far right. I wanted to keep the fuge on the outside so that I could control the water flow more. Therefore, that is why there is a T in the drain plumbing. I can send the majority of the draining water to the drain chamber and then control water flow to the fuge. In the sump, water will flow through the baffles from both outside chambers inward to the return chamber and then back up to the DT.

I got the idea from tyty22's 60 gal cube build.

tyty22's build

[D Z]

looks good man, can't wait to see it filled in. one thing though, you might want to think about putting a doorstop somewhere...I can just imagine someone rushing into the house one day, the door flying open and smashing the tank lol.

 

 

Thanks. Yeah, I forgot to mention, that idea did cross my mind. Unfortunately, that is the only corner in the house that usable. I have already added some heavy duty hinge mounted door stops to the middle and top hinge. This was done after the photo. They seem to stop the door adequately. I really am hoping to avoid having to install a floor stop in the tile. I think I might try to reinforce the hinge mounted stoppers so I can sleep soundly.

 

On the plus side, it does work out that I do not have a window in the front of the townhouse, therefore I don't have to worry about any sunlight. Also, the garage door will be 2 steps away, which makes maintenance easy.

[D Z]

Made some more progress today. Got the sump baffles finished. Finished sanding the stand and got the stain on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still have to add the trim piece to the upper rim of the stand. More pics tomorrow once the stain dries completely....

[D Z]

And another update. I made a little more progress tonight. Stain is dry so I put the floor and sump in and got it back in the house to see how it looks. Check it out:

 

 

 

 

Sump shots...

 

 

 

And an idea of how the trim will look....

 

[D Z]

So I have another update. Got some more work done since my last post.

 

First off, I decided on a different piece of trim.

 

 

Stained and on the stand...

 

 

 

I also had a chance to get some help today from a couple buddies. We successfully drilled both drain and return holes. This was my first time drilling through glass so it felt pretty good when it was all done.

 

 

Did some painting then. Put on a couple coats of black Krylon Fusion.

 

 

 

 

More pics tonight. After the stain finishes drying I'm going to get it all back in the house and get some pictures of it all together.

 

I ordered my pump. I decided to go with a Quiet One 3000. I got it slightly used here on the forums so we will see how it performs. They seem to be pretty quiet from what I have read. Once it comes in this week, it's time for some plumbing and water testing.....

[D Z]

Last quick update for the night.

The tank is in the house. I even tried the other light that I got with the tank. Keep in mind I am still planning on build a canopy/LED light for this. I just wanted to see what it will look like with some light in it.

 

I should be getting the pump some time this week. So then will come plumbing and water testing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell me what you think...

[Lorenz725]

Nice work i got that same tank and i love it. I just wish i had drilled mine and the tank should be a 44 gal. I cant wait to see what you do for the lights. If you can please take a lot of pics and keep a price list because i would like to do the same some day. Happy reefing!

[D Z]

Nice work i got that same tank and i love it. I just wish i had drilled mine and the tank should be a 44 gal. I cant wait to see what you do for the lights. If you can please take a lot of pics and keep a price list because i would like to do the same some day. Happy reefing!

 

 

Thanks. Yeah I am glad I decided to go through with the drilling. I haven't had a chance to set up plumbing yet, so I really haven't seen how the overflow/return will work, but I pretty confident it's going to be better than the over-the-top style.

 

My plans for the lights are basically to build a wood canopy matching the stand and then incorporate a heatsink inside of it somehow. I plan on doing somewhere between 25 and 30 :LED's, split 50/50 white/royal blue(on separate Meanwell drivers). I'll be sure to take a lot of pics, especially since I don't think anyone on here has done something inside of a wood canopy yet, but I could be wrong. Actually, I anyone does know of a build like that, please let me know as I would like to see how they went about it.

 

Oh, and I have been keeping track of a price list for everything I do, so I will probably post that sometime towards the end of the build.

 

Stay tuned...

[D Z]

So I am debating between using a Tunze 9002 or a AquaMaxx HOB-1 for the skimmer. The Tunze would fit fine in the drain chamber of the sump and the HOB-1 would hang on the sump perfectly fine too. The Tunze is only rated up to 50 gallons, where as the HOB-1 is up to 75.

Therefore, I feel like either would work, I'm justn ot sure which would work better.

 

Anyone have any input on either of these???

[cruzH20polo]

just came across this thread...

GREAT WORK!!!! I can't wait to see this thing in action

 

Do you have any stocking plans yet?!?!

 

I haven't had any experience with aquamaxx so I can't comment there, I have always liked tunze products

 

It also depends on how you want to set up your sump and what you are going to put in there, will you want more room in there for later additions? I run a CPR HOB in my sump on my 20L like so

 

 

It is deffenitly not that clean anymore though

 

don't know if that helps but good luck and Ill be tagging along

[D Z]

Thanks.....I can't wait either. LOL!

 

I decided today that I think I am going to redo all of the silicon inside the DT. I found the manufacture stamp on the tank itself(Sept. 1992). I think I will sleep better at night knowing that it has a fresh seal on the inside of the tank. Therefore, I probably won't have water in it for testing until next week.

 

Haven't quite gotten to stocking plans. I do know I want to have a good amount of soft coral. I will probably do some LPS and eventually some SPS. I definately want to have a pair of clowns and maybe 2 other fish MAX, as I would like to keep the bioload controllable. I plan on having at least 1 nem, some rics, and maybe some sort of sun coral(not too sure of upkeep on this so we'll see).

 

As far as the skimmer, I wouldn't really be worried about the Tunze taking up space inside the sump as it is pretty small. I would be putting it in the drain chamber and the only other thing that will be in there is the 2" drain from the DT. At this point, I would just like to see which one will work better.

 

How do you like the CPR HOB???

[Paleoreef103]

As far as the skimmer, I wouldn't really be worried about the Tunze taking up space inside the sump as it is pretty small. I would be putting it in the drain chamber and the only other thing that will be in there is the 2" drain from the DT. At this point, I would just like to see which one will work better.

 

How do you like the CPR HOB???

Go with the AquaMaxx HOB-1. I have the precursor to it (Warner Marine H-1) and it pulls out more and darker skimmate than the Tunze does. A Tunze 9002 on a 50 gallon corner with a sump is completely over-matched. The AquaMaxx would still be underskimming a well stocked 50 gallon tank, but it would do a lot better job than the 9002 would. Generally, you're better off with a true in-sump skimmer for a tank that size, but you'd have to rework your sump to make a good sized internal skimmer work..

 

I love the stand and the tank though! Best of luck!

[aquemeni5110]

What happen to this tank?

[andersonkc]

bump

 

What happen to this tank?

[D Z]

I still have it. I have a long list of project to do on this tank before it will see any water. Honestly, not much progress has been made since my last post. I just keep having other non-fist-tank related projects that keep taking precedence both in the money and time factors. I recently started a Nuvo 8, as it was a great deal and pretty much turn-key. So at least I have something up and running for now. I will still be working on the 48 from time to time and will post some updates once I get some more work done on it. Thanks for the interest. Check out my Nuvo too!

[keithfullermusic]

hope this one turns out well. i love the stand - i actually built a stand and canopy for my freshwater planted 29g, and it makes the tank feel so much better knowing that you did everything.