Acrylic Work

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm finally getting closer to getting water in this 300g.

.

With the help of a local hobbyist Bill aka SawCJack00, we designed this sump to accommodate all my equipment. The outer dimensions measure 60"x24"x14.5" (roughly 90g) Then I made my way down to port plastics and purchased the necessary acrylic to do the job.

I have a laser machine that will make designs in the acrylic, in which, I had fun with all the different baffle designs

I still have 5 removable baffles to cut, they're going to all be slightly different.

My wife helped me cut the 4x8 sheets to manageable sizes and then I was off cutting all the pieces needed. Shortly after, I was able to dry fit everything to see how it was going to fit together.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Then I started peeling back a bit of the protective mask and glued panels on.... one at a time.... this process easily took 3 days to glue... one piece, let cure, and glue another wash, rinse, repeat.

After everything was in place and cured, my daughter helped move this beast outside for a leak test

I filled each section up letting it sit for roughly an hour to check for the less important internal leaks until all chambers were full.

Topped it of and let it sit for the rest of the day

No leaks.... moving on...

Peeled off all the masking to reveal the beauty within. again my daughter helped me put it in place

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Added the removable filter sock holder

All the vertical pieces that you see are for the removable baffles allowing me to make different size chambers for things like chaeto, siporax, GFO etc...

And of course everything looks better under blue light, why not a dry sump??

It's a horseshoe design, water drains into the front right, travels to the left through what will be the siporax chamber, then the chaeto chamber. On the far left there is the skimmer section, which is where the water switched back to the right, next section is another adjustable chamber that can be baffled off for what ever I need it to be. And finally through the bubble trap and back up to the tank.

Hope you enjoyed this thread, I was inspired to do this because of the $1500 price tag that it would have cost to make a custom sump such as this one. Being retired, I have more time than money... so the decision was easy...

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Oh and I also made this side by side 1 gallon chambers for my future auto water change system

Had to embellish the front with laser cut windows and laser etched graduation marks.

 

[woodwrangler]

WOW, Impressive!!
Awesome work

 

[drtrash]

Great job

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

WOW, Impressive!!
Awesome work

Great job

Thanks Guys! I'm about to glue together the ghost weir and external box.... The work never seems to end

 

[reefstew]

You have a lot of talent.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

You have a lot of talent.

Thanks, I now understand why these acrylic guys charge so much for sumps, reservoirs etc. There's a lot of work that goes into these things.

Here's the coast to coast porting of my ghost weir, I still have to polish the edges...

I had to put the bulk heads inside before I glued the final panel on

Today i'll be tackling the outside portion of the ghost weir, all the pieces are cut and drilled. Just need to create a water tight box... hehe

 

[jporter]

You have a lot of talent.

Yes, I would agree. This looks as good or better than anything I've seen from the big shops. Pretty cool that it'll be one-of-a-kind as well. Great job! JP

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Yes, I would agree. This looks as good or better than anything I've seen from the big shops. Pretty cool that it'll be one-of-a-kind as well. Great job! JP

I think there's a lot to be said about be having a hobbyist do the work as opposed to someone that just does acrylic work. We know where to focus our attention and where certain things should go for compatibility.

I finished the outside box,

which concludes the acrylic work. If you would like to follow along on the build check out my build thread

 

[Mebeknob]

It all looks awesome! Who did the CNC work for you?


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[Sisterlimonpot]

It all looks awesome! Who did the CNC work for you?


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I did, I have a laser etcher. It makes for some fun projects.

 

[Mebeknob]

I did, I have a laser etcher. It makes for some fun projects.

I'm a little jealous now!


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[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm a little jealous now!


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Yeah, we had one at my work that I used all the time and when I retired I had to purchase my own....

It comes in handy for acrylic, but I think that the money could've been spent on a decent 3D printer instead...

 

[Mebeknob]

Yeah, we had one at my work that I used all the time and when I retired I had to purchase my own....



It comes in handy for acrylic, but I think that the money could've been spent on a decent 3D printer instead...

I worked in the 3D printer industry for a little bit and they can be pretty amazing. Also very finicky and difficult at times. I think I would start with a CNC router over a laser cutter or 3D printer though.



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[Sisterlimonpot]

I worked in the 3D printer industry for a little bit and they can be pretty amazing. Also very finicky and difficult at times. I think I would start with a CNC router over a laser cutter or 3D printer though.



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I've never worked with a 3D printer but I have heard that they can prove to be a pain.

a CNC router with 3 axis control would be nice as well, the only downside would be that you're prevented from making complex strictures like these:

Each has there pros and cons, although it would be nice to have 1 of each, I personally can't justify it... :sad2:

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Made a siporax tray

Slides right into the sump right after the filter socks

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Sorry,

Held together with these nylon sex bolts for easy maintenance

 

[AZReef13]

This is trully an amazing build. Awesome Job...