New here, My new Reef tank/ Sump Tank/ Stand build also some questions

I tried this in another forum and no one helped im trying to find a good place/ home to help the community and ask questions.
Hey all when i was younger i have had multiple fresh water tanks and i have always wanted a salt / reef tank. I was speaking with my wife about my anxiety a few weeks ago and this came up as a possible solution to settle me down a bit. Im a very creative person have always been involved in car's / building hell i build everything i can . Here is my progress so far, mainly just from reading online any input would be appreciated. The tank is a 55 gallon clear for life acrylic, Added in tank CPR overflow. Plumbing is 1.5" drain to 20 gallon 3 chamber sump tank. 1st chamber will be bubble magus curve 5 skimmer, 2nd chamber refugium, 3rd chamber will be a mag 7 pump running 3/4 " return line. The stand im currently working on , just about done and just needs sanding and stain. I wanted to do a metal industrial stand but the wife wanted it more.... subtle. As far as lighting the tank came with a 36" canopy "which was completely empty". I want to utilize it to keep a sleek look, So im going to retrofit it using a complete LED set up from aquastyleonline.
Well anyways here are some pics let me know any thoughts Im very new to this. I also would like to know any good book recomendations on water testing/ fish care. I looked at a few books at a local store but they were kind of basic and had very little info on what im looking for.

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here are a couple new photos from today finished the door " its on sliders" and its all sanded and ready to stain.
I realize that the plumbing wasnt connected in the first photos i had to change where i placed the union.






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the stand is stained and the plumbing is done. I did unions on the top and also the bottom of the stand. Top so i can remove tank from stand, bottom so i can remove my sump tank and pump. I think everything is ready , I got my Heaters im running Dual 150watt aquatop heaters. The next step of the build is to start my LED canopy. Im going to retrofit the plastic canopy that came with the tank, using Led's.
Any input ? does everything look correct?
Thanks in advance

 

fantastic start! and good on you for doing your "homework" before diving in....like you i got books at the very start, and looking throgh them now they are all "basic" like you said... i have found the best source of reads are online articles written by certain sources...

water parameters:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

there are several people on here who have links to awesome articles, hopefully they will share some with you

 

I am loving the look of this, excellent choice of stain with accent on the sliders! So are the led going to be custom or store bought for the canopy? Keep us updated, this place is a plethora of knowledge and welcome.

 

You will want to support the drain pipe to keep the weight and vibrations from translating directly to the bulkhead but everything else looks great. I have a Clear for Life Cube. Great tanks!

 

Thanks everyone for the welcome and kind words!

Thank you for the link this looks exactly like what i was looking for! If anyone has anymore please post them!.

Thank you for this i thought about that I added a support of wood " see photo" . Im going to fill the void for both drain and return line with expanding foam, but both are tight at the moment.

The canopy is just a PVC one that came with the tank its black plastic and has nothing in side it I drew up a diagram of what im going for.
I ordered a 34" x 6" x1.5" heat sink from aquastyleonline, I also ordered 48 leds to start my build. Im going to wire up 20 Royal Blue 20 10,000k white and 8 UV 3 watt leds.
Ill post photos in here once i get it started, Im pretty stoked on it!.

 

Just filled the tank to test the pump/ plumbing everything works great no leaks or anything.
My issue was when putting my cover over my pipes i noticed it didnt fit right anymore. I looked down the back of the tank and noticed that it is Bowing...... Not sure if this is normal for an acrylic tank. I just emailed the manufacture about it to see.
here is a picture.
windows screenshot

 

I would say with acrylic it is normal but how much I do not know. To me it seem thin acrylic was used. But I have never owned a acrylic display only a few sumps. And they all flexed some


Tank is off to a good start

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks man! Yeah i went to my local shop and showed them the picture yesterday and they said the same thing. acrylic is 1/4 is which does seem thin. I am backing it up against a wall but the plumbing was also hidden so i think i came up with a solution so i can still remove the back part to access the plumbing. The part i added is attached to the base and will push agains the Bow in the tank. The cover that goes over the top and the sides should still be able to be removed when it Bow's out. Just a few modifications and im back on track..... I bought a brute trash can for mixing water and im researching testing kits now as testing kits and cleaning accessories are my next purchases. Any input on them would be great!
Thanks in advance