120g Mixed Reef Build - Newbie with lots of pics

Installing the Overflows and Stand Bracing

Next we had to tackle drilling the display tank to allow the water to flow from the internal overflow to the external overflow box. We did this using my 10” drill press which we set down on some paint cans to get the correct height. We laid the display tank down on its back so the head of the drill press would fit inside. That way we ended up drilling the tank from the inside out. We got a tiny bit of chipping but not much… turned out pretty good doing it this way.





Next up was installing the actual overflow boxes themselves. First we did the internal box. So really, this was installing a 1/8” thick acrylic wall right to the back interior of the tank. Then we ran a bead of silicone all the way around it to seal it in. I also ran a bead of silicone along the cut-out area where the water would flow through the holes we drilled in the DT. I cut out a piece of plastic gutter guard so that it could be wedged into the internal overflow (under the top trim of the tank) which would prevent anything large going through the holes into the external overflow box. Overall, it turned out pretty good!

Here’s a side view of the internal “wall” and the black silicone lines we affixed to the sides.


Here’s the screen I made and what it looks like from the back. You can see the silicon seal all around the cut-out area where the water will flow from the inside of the tank to the outside.




And here’s what it looks like from the top… pretty low profile!


Finally, it was time to install the external box. Unfortunately I ran out of black silicone so I had to attach it using clear. We went a little overboard with the silicone but we wanted to be sure to get not only a tight seal between the glass, but also a nice thick bead along the inside and outside edges to prevent any water seeping into the seams.




With that much silicone, we let it cure for a full week before adding water! LOL

In the meantime, we started working on the plumbing in the stand. I started with the return plumbing, up to the point where it left the stand itself. My design has a large 4 port manifold which will hang from the ceiling of the stand to supply flow to the refugium and both carbon and GFO reactors. The problem was that this stand is pretty flimsy. The bracing is only 5/8” pine and I didn’t want to try to hang all that weight from such thin wood. Besides, I had to remove the top center brace of the stand anyway in order to get the sump in and out for the install. It won’t fit through the back or the front.
So here’s what I did to solve these problems. First, here’s what the original brace looked like.


Note that it’s simply mounted to the two center vertical braces that go from the top of the stand to the floor. All the weight from the tank is simply transferred to those two center vertical braces at the back of the stand and between the two front doors. I had to be sure that whatever bracing I designed also made sure the weight was distributed that same way. Since I also want to water test everything in the garage first, then move it into the living room, whatever I build had to be fully removable. So here’s what I came up with…

First, on the right hand interior wall of the stand I installed two stop-blocks about 5.5” below the brace that the actual trim of the tank will rest. These stop blocks will hold the brace I’m going to build to the top of the stand.


I then build the brace itself. It’s a ladder configuration with the two open “legs” resting on those two stop blocks I added. On the opposite side, in the middle of the stand, the brace has a 5/8” thick board that overhangs the legs of the ladder by 5/8” on each side. That overhang will rest on top of the vertical braces of the stand to ensure that all the weight from the tank is transferred directly to those center vertical braces just like the original stand design. The ladder then just slides into the stand, with the right side resting on the blocks I installed and the left side resting on those vertical legs. The whole thing was build using 2 X 6 redwood (scrap wood I had already) and fastened using a pocket screw jig. It’s solid as hell and perfectly square. Those pocket screw jigs are awesome!

I then fastened the manifold I build right to the ladder and it slides right into the stand along with the brace.

So here’s what it all looks like… it turned out great! None of this bracing is actually screwed to the stand, it just floats on the natural braces of the stand to ensure all the weight gets transferred properly.









Continued…

 

Plumbing and Water test!!

So we’re in the home stretch! I then mounted the two reactors and ran the ½” quick connect tubing to the manifold. Note that the manifold has two outputs on it with a drilled and tap plug that accepts a threaded ½” John Guest style push connect fitting. That allows me to easily connect and disconnect those lines when I want to pull the reactors out. I need to find a few 90 degree John Guest elbows though so I can run the lines tight to the braces rather than having them dangling like this. Overall though, it still doesn’t look too bad.





I then started working on the back of the tank and getting all the plumbing done there. I started by installing the BeanAnimal drain system in the external overflow box.


For those that aren’t familiar with the BeanAnimal design, it’s nearly dead silent with lots of redundancy to ensure safety. The right hand drain is the full syphon line. The center drain is an emergency line and it’s the tallest of the three. The left hand drain is the overflow line and it has an air valve at the top to allow air to come in. That air valve has a piece of ¼” tubing on it though which is mounted to just below the lip of the emergency drain. This tubing is there so that if the water rises to the level of the tubing it will block the air to the overflow line and turn it into a second full syphon. This will immediately flush any excess water from the overflow box down into the sump to prevent a flood.

Here’s what it looks like with the rest of the drain plumbing going into the sump. This is all pretty beefy 1 ½” PVC so they will be clamped to the stand to support the weight. Note that the syphon line has a gate valve attached. This allows me to adjust the flow of the water in that line so that there is just a trickle of water going to the left overflow line. This is how it remains silent. Since the right line has a full syphon (no air) and the left overflow line is 95% air and only a trickle of water, neither line makes any noise no matter how much water is flowing.


The last thing to do was to run the return lines. Originally I was planning on running the return line between the drain lines and the glass of the tank. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough room… I had enough for the 1” PVC, but not enough for the fittings and the valve. Thus, I had to use some 90s and 45s to run the return line on the outside of the drain lines. I think it still turned out pretty good.


So that was it… time to add water! For that we recruited my sister-in-law again!


We filled it up and kicked the pump on. Originally, we had a hard time getting the syphon line to purge it’s air without some manual help. Turns out I had the output of the line too deep into the sump. We cut that pipe down so it only dropped an inch or two below the water’s surface in the sump and it worked like a champ! A couple of quick turns of the gate valve to get the flow right and 90s later, fully silent!




Here’s what the water looks like on the returns. This is just the flow from the return pump alone and no powerheads… I have pretty good surface agitation with just these lines alone.


Here’s a view of all the plumbing from the back. I think it didn’t turn out too bad considering this was my first time doing anything even remotely like this!


And finally here’s what the front of the tank looks like. I debated many times whether I was over-engineering things with the internal and external overflows and with that 1/8” acrylic wall. It was definitely a challenging build, but in my opinion the results speak for themselves. I just love how clean the look is. I think it was well worth the challenges!






So that’s it for now. I’m going to let this run in the garage for a week while I tweak the waterflow a bit. I’m getting a bit of noise from the manifold under the stand which is feeding the refugium. I want to play with that a bit. Then it will be a matter of draining it, taking apart the unions in the plumbing and assembling it in the living room. We also still need to build the LED lights and the mounting mechanism for those. Then I’ll order my fresh live rock and live sand and start aquascaping! I figure I’m about 2 weeks out now!! Getting close!

 

Video of BeanAnimal Drain system

Hey guys, thought I'd record a brief video showing how the BeanAnimal drain system handles a power outage. This shows that, without any manual intervention, the system will automatically re-establish the siphon and stabilize after about 2 minutes.

BeanAnimal Drain Test - YouTube

 

Why is the upper half of the front black?

 

Hmmm, not real sure what you mean? The entire back wall of the tank is black but the front side is clear with just the normal 2" black trim at the top and bottom. I've got a piece of eggrate on the floor of the tank which might have caused an optical illusion of some sort that made it look funny since the tank is completely empty.

 

Build is really coming along, and I agree with you. The time you put into the set up has definitely paid off. Should be a very nice tank.

Now get it cycling!

 

I love diagrams... they help me out big time....lol

 

Just a reflection from the angle the picture was taken.

Tank build looks awesome. The probe holder looks really professional and should be sold in stores everywhere. Just a thought.

 

Update on this bad boy please?

 

LOL!!! I find this thread via youtube, read through the whole thing to the end, and then see you asking for an update.