akarch Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 It's hard to believe that it has been 4 years since I started my last tank. The last tank was a 29g standard (build thread here). I had a good run and the 29g was running for nearly 3 years and I ended up taking it down because I knew we would be moving multiple times in the near future. Last spring I bought a house and what better time to start a new tank. I knew I wanted to go with a rimless tank, simple stand and minimalist type setup. I decided on a Mr. Aqua 11.4g tank and I will be building a stand for it myself. So far I've got the stand mostly roughed out. The rear has a good size opening with a 1/4" step down on top & bottom. The plan is to make a black acrylic plate to accommodate the plumbing and a vent fan. I'll be using a 10g standard for the sump. I'm planning on derimming it for aesthetics. Other plans so far are: -Magdrive 3 -Jager Heater -LED lighting. Fuge & Display -JBJ ATO w/ reservoir in stand -Dry rock from BRS Link to comment
TristanC Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Great start! Also great job on the stand. Link to comment
shaner014 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Awesome start, I'm about to setup this tank too! I will be following. Link to comment
Jackal_Knight Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 The stand looks great. What lights you gonna use one the tank Link to comment
shaner014 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 The stand looks great. What lights you gonna use one the tank +1 Link to comment
BoCoMo Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Looks like it is going to be a sweet setup! Subscribed! Link to comment
akarch Posted November 25, 2012 Author Share Posted November 25, 2012 Looks like it is going to be a sweet setup! Subscribed! Thanks for the compliments on the stand. I replicated the style of the Bush brand cabinets I have in my home office where the tank will go. I'll get some new pictures up once the stand is stained and cleared. For the lighting I am planning on a DIY led fixture for the display. I bought some LEDs already but still need drivers and to build an enclosure. I am considering adding some color for full spectrum but struggle with how to make it dimmable. A radion is tempting but so expensive. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Great start! I love the stand. Are you drilling the tank? Link to comment
akarch Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Just some iPhone photo updates.. I got 1 coat of stain on the stand tonight and drilled the tank. No pictures of that but I've got one of the overflow I made. And... I picked up some great black friday / cyber monday deals. The parts are piling up. Can't wait to get this thing going. -LED's but no drivers yet. -MP10 !! very excited about this -Heater -ATO -Test Kit -Finnex Fugeray -Magdrive 3 -BRS refractometer I've got some dry rock & live sand ready to go as well. At this point I just need a filter sock setup & assorted plumbing pieces that can be had at Lowes/Home Depot. Hoping to get the stand finished by the weekend and get all the baffles for the sump completed. Link to comment
shaner014 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Very nice! Can't wait to see this wet. I'm curious about your LED plan, as I just purchased an AI nano for this same tank. Keep up the progress shots, fun to see it progress! Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 It's hard not to just start throwing things together quickly when you have all those goodies piling up that you want to play with. Beautiful stand and tank too! I'll be following this build. Link to comment
akarch Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Moving along slowly. Tank is drilled, overflow installed. Back pane painted on display & sump. I also got the baffles done for the sump. Stand is stained & cleared just need to reassemble the door. I made a trip to home depot this week and am ready to plumb everything up. Hopefully this weekend it will be plumbed and I'll get to do a RO test run in the garage. After that it's headed inside for its final place. There it is in it's current state. Link to comment
urbaneks Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Great work thus far. How'd you go about getting the rim of that 10g? Link to comment
Luckedout Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 The stand turned out really nice! This is starting to look really good Link to comment
up.left Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I used to have the same tank. Your hardware was a lot cleaner than mine though. Looks good! Link to comment
akarch Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Mini update. Did a rough freshwater test. Still need to finish up the return plumbing. Also decided that the water level is too high. It's about an 1/8" from the rim. Any thoughts? I'm worried about running the mp10 and splashing water out of the tank. The pic below was a power outage/drain back test And the stand finally made its way to its home/ Link to comment
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