29 gallon SPS tank build...

[Jester]

I'm moving my tank from a 25 gallon to a new drilled 29 gallon tank that was a present for Christmas... I have a base stand for the tank, but will be building a canopy soon... This setup is going to be plumbed thru-wall and into a spare bedroom of my house...

Here's my equipment list...
29 gallon drilled tank (1" drain 3/4" return)
150 watt HQI MH with 14k Pheonix bulb
2x55watt PCs (10k and actinic)
2 Tunze Nanostreams 6025 (possibly to be modded)
AquaEuro Recirc 135 Skimmer
10 gallon fuge w/ PC lighting
25 gallon sump
JBJ ATO

This weekend I masked off the tank and painted to back a dark blue color... Looks good to me... I hate those plastic backgrounds when salt creep gets between them and the glass... I'll be updating as I finish the build and transfer my live rock and corals over...

Ready to be worked on...

Removed the bulklheads and masked everything off really well...

ready to paint....

Try to keep your strokes and painting even for the best results... I used almost an entire can for just this tank...

Spray paint dries fast, but I still let it sit outside for an hour or so before bringing inside...

Make sure you run a razor blade along the edge between the plastic frame and glass... the paint will peel off with the painters tape if you don't do this... believe me, I found out the hard way...

finished and blue..

Back in its home...

I tried my hardest but still got a little overspray under the black plastic frame near the center of the aquarium... its driving me crazy, but I keep telling myself you wont see it once the canopy is on the water level is set... we'll see, there's not much I could do anyways to get the paint from under there...

I've started picking up my plumbing pieces, so that will be next...

Jester

 

[nanotrigger]

looking good.

 

[Jester]

I went to my friends reef/marine store last night and talked to him a little about my plumbing... I was told that my original plans were a little too complicated and he helped my simplify it a lot... so.. tonight I'll be going by a plumbing shop to get the last few pieces I need to start the plumbing... then the fun of drilling through the wall will begin... =)

Its been record breaking high temps here lately, so I'll have good weather to start building the canopy and stand for my sump, fuge and skimmer this weekend... hoping to get the tank up and running with a few new pieces of live rock before this weekend and then transfer the existing livestock over at the end of the weekend... Something always messes up my plans, but we'll see how this turns out... I'll be updating photos as I go... I cant wait to have this tank up and running...

Jester

 

[nattarbox]

Your configuration is very close to what I am planning on setting up within a month. Subscribed!

 

[reefman13]

Looking good. Nice job with the paint. Any ideas for getting all the equipment running and starting to stock it up?

 

[Jester]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11549354#post11549354 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefman13
Looking good. Nice job with the paint. Any ideas for getting all the equipment running and starting to stock it up?

I think you're asking what equipment am I going to be using on this tank or the process of getting the tank running..?? I am going to be transfering all the equipment from my 25 gallon tank to this 29, but there is a dilemma when transfering equipment... I'd ideally want to hook the 29 up and have it running for a little while before adding my livestock from the 25, but that starts getting complcated since I technically need all the equipment to run my current tank... I'm still trying to work it all out... I'll probably have to transfer everything over at one time and call it a day...

 

[WZHANG]

Cool tank, keep us updated on the build and transfer!

 

[Jester]

Havent been able to do much physical work on the tank this week... Things have been hectic since the holidays are over... I did get to do a little more planning though, which probably is better in the long run...

My 2 Nanostream 6025s should be here today and I picked up some of my power control center stuff last night... here's a few pics of the things I picked up last night... I have a dj controller for the room where the tank will actually be located... This will control my MHs, PCs, moonlights, and both nanostreams... Then there will be another one located on the sump/fuge stand that will control the skimmer, fuge, ATO, heater, etc...

(as you can see in the background... all that equipment sitting next to the 25 gallon, is what caused this project to start...)

 

[Jester]

Here's some pics from playing aound with sketchup... I typically use Viz, but I need ot get better with sketchup...

 

[Jester]

I test fit the DJ controllers in my stand and it fits perfectly in the opening for the stand door... so with a few pieces of wood it will fit so that its right behind the door... tomorrow will be a day of building for the 29 gallon... Had a package waiting for me when I got home, too... Here's a few pics of my goodies...

The Nanostreams are awesome compared to the old powersweep I have in my 25 gallon... the quality of the pumps seem to be a little less than I expected though... the plastic front shroud barely stays on the pump and seems to fall off if the cord moves barely... the magnets are extremely strong though... keep those things away from each other... I had one move about 8 inches by itself to grab the mount... heheheee... scared the crap out of me...

 

[cashman95]

Jester, check out the modding forum on the Nano's, I had 4 of them on my 75 gallon tank....I modded them and had 3 times the flow allowing me to remove one easily. I had them up and running about 6-9 months without a single problem....! Its easy and still reliable!

 

[Jester]

After a really long weekend of building I have some update pics...!!! I didn't get as much done as I wanted, since there's no water in my aquarium... but I did make a lot of progress...

Canopy under progress...!!!

Canopy almost done.. just needs a little trim and some black paint..

I added a brushed steel handle to the stand...

I had to build a few brackets to hold the dj controller under the stand...

Drilled a few holes in the wall...

Here's the other side of the wall where the sump/fuge and everything will be held...

Sump stand under construction...

Finished and drying...

Another part of the build that I don't have documented is the 4 hours it took to clean the garage just so I had room to work... heheheee....

 

[RandyStacyE]

I dig the Sopranos picture on the wall I love the Sopranos!

 

[pheromo]

so the fuge and sump are in one tank?

 

[conorwynne]

It's handy being an architect all the same.

Nice start lad.

Regards
Conor.

 

[nanO352]

Like it a lot man. Doing well. Keep us updated.

 

[Jester]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11594033#post11594033 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pheromo
so the fuge and sump are in one tank?

Right now I have a 10 gallon tank that I made into a custom sump/fuge combo... For a while this will be how I run everything, but after I transfer everything over from my 25 gallon to the 29 gallon, I have rough plans of converting the 25 gallon into a sump alone and then making a 10 gallon fuge that will gravity feed into the sump... I will get all that done when I can find to draw up my plans and get into the laser cutter to cut some acrylic...

 

[Jester]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11600272#post11600272 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by conorwynne
It's handy being an architect all the same.

Nice start lad.

Regards
Conor.

Being an architect definitely has its perks... It'll definitely help when I am designing my own home with an in-wall reef tank that will finally be the size I've always wanted... heheheee... some day...!!!!

Being huge into this reef hobby, I try to get aquariums into all my designs... so far I havent been able to make a client see that it would be an awesome feature for there space... heheheee

 

[mnml]

looking good. taggin along....

 

[Jester]

I got home a little early from work today, so I hit up Lowes and got a few more things I needed to get the building phase of the project done... Here's some progress photos from tonight...

I added a 3/4" top to the sump stand... Thought it couldn't hurt and possibly could help...

My DJ controller also fit perfectly (not really planned) into the sump stand...

I added some commercial grade rubber backed carpet to the top of the stand... help keep any water that may get on there from getting to wood stand below...

The brackets i made for the stand were dry and stable, so I was able to mount the DJ controller inside the stand too...

After all that I was able to put the tank back on the stand and do a little mock up of the plumbing... nothing is glued yet, but it was good to finally see the pipes coming through the wall...

I'll probably continue with the plumbing tomorrow and maybe actually glue some things together...