My 150 from the ground up

Some of you may have looked at my other post in the DIY area asking to drill the tank or not. I figured that I will start a thread on the whole system build.

Some background.... A friend of mine delivered a 150 tall money pit to my door "For free" it was used previously as a fresh water Pacu tank. After several hours of clean up it now looks like it could house a fish.

Plans are for a mixed reef tank, with Herbie overflow, LED's, sump, skimmer, stand, etc... All DIY, well except the skimmer that I will buy, using the tank that I was given. If I run into a snag I will definitely be asking all of you.

Now, I did not win the lottery so this will take a while for me to get this done. I figure if I get water in it by June I am ahead of the game. Just want to forewarn everyone that it's not going to be done overnight.

The stand that came with it was not going to be let into our house by my wife, so the fun began. Stand frame, six 4x4 posts the rest is framed with 2x4's

 

So a sump picture snuck in there. So much for the suspense.... Sump, in keeping with the theme, was cut framed and glued in my wood shop. I may have... Well, I did make this a little deep. I will modify it if I can't contain the over flow in a power out condition. Using a tank calculator it will hold 42 gallons and it has 34.5 gallons circulating. Minus any rock, sand and other stuff in the fuge section and the skimmer displacement. Picture below is the circulating volume water test. It was also filled to the brim and all the seems were dry. I just didn't get a picture as it was getting cold and dark. It will be set on some foam board in the stand to cushion any inconsistencies.

 

That is a sweet stand and sump. great job all around. I will be tagging along for this build even if it lasts a year!.. or 2. I wish I had your carpentry skills :/

edit: also what did you use to seal the acrylic and how did you get the acrylic to form that perfect bend (blow torch?)?

 

Back to the stand.. The stand was sheeted with 1/4 inch oak ply and trimmed in oak. All the hardwood lumber began life as ruff cut material and not dimensional crap that you pay five times as much for from a home center. It takes a little more prep work but it's a better product in my opinion. It also adds to the whole uber DIY theme here. If I start to get the pictures out of order I'm sorry.

 

Now to make the doors.. My wife chose a flat panel style. That was fine with me as they are a bit easier to make. The whole thing was sprayed with exterior spar urethane to make it very water resistant. With a bead of caulk around the base I'd bet it would hold water for an hour..... Well, maybe not that long.

 

In my current tank, the electrical requirements were an afterthought. To avoid the same problem I installed the electrical in the stand from the start. I Installed a switched work light that I made from a couple of old single 18 inch aquarium fixtures. Four receptacles are unswitched and spaced so I can run four timers without interference. The top of these receptacles can be used for heat, power heads etc. The pair of receptacles on the other side are switched for return pumps so I can shut down the system for maintenance. I plan to use just a clamp on light and a 6500K CFL as a refugium light. The timers would be for daylights, actinics, moon lights and the fuge light.

 

Thanks. I hope it will not be a year, like I said I am shooting to be wet by June.

I bend the acrylic by clamping it up between a 2x4 and my saw table. I heat it with a heat gun until it bends and I use a couple of assembly squares to hold the bend square. I use a blow gun to cool it off and everything gets unclamped. I run the edge through my planer to square off any funky edges it got from bending.

I use Weld-On to glue it up, that I get from the plastics place. I use #4 to bond the pieces together and I think its #16 to form a small fillet of glue around the seems for strength. The smaller the number the thinner the glue, so the #4 runs into the joint for a strong bond. I probably shouldn't say "Glue" I guess because its a solvent that melts the acrylic together.

 

Now a little duplication from my other post. I didn't know if the bottom was tempered or not and I got sick of looking at my super expensive $16.00 (Shipped) ebay diamond bit so I went to town. Wallah holes for the herbie....

Today I went and picked up some acrylic for the overflow box. This will be a work in progress I fear because if I get it all together and flow test this dog and it doesn't work right, I will be back at the drawing board or screaming for help, one or the other.

I hope that my bulkheads will be in tomorrow and I can start to assemble the drain pipes. I don't for see me being able to buy the rest of the pipe, valves, pump etc until next month so I might be stuck on hold for a week or two until I can flow test this thing. Once I get it tested I will move it inside and start with the sand and rock work. That will give me a chance to work on the lights. The lights will be my first foray into LED's so that ought to be fun. Hopefully not an expensive folly.

 

Fantastic job on the stand! I am so following along on this one. I love new builds!

 

one awesome build so far, i'm in!