Blue's 120 Build Thread

[Blue04]

Last week i purchased a 120 from a fellow reefer to upgrade my current 40 breeder. I got around to giving it a good cleaning this weekend so the fun can begin. It will probably be a slow build but i will update as the tank progresses.

Currently the only items i have for the build are the tank and stand. I will post some pictures up sometime this week. I plan on starting with a fresh coat of black paint on the stand and then on to the real work.

Plumbing plans:
My plan is to setup a 40 breeder as a sump and baffle it myself. I've been looking through sump designs but have yet to decide on what to do with it. What is recommended for securing baffles? Just standard aquarium glue?

As far as plumbing is concerned, the tank has 2 internal overflows with flex tubing on them now. I'm not familiar with the overflow design on this tank but after searching it appears to be a bean overflow. I'll be sure to take pictures of them and post em. I was thinking of running a return to each corner of the tank. What size pump would you recommend for the return? Also, what would the recommended plumbing size be for such a setup?

In regards to the flex tubing, i've heard that this can be noisier than standard pvc due to the water passing over the ridges, any thoughts?

That's my thoughts / plans so far. Im sure it will be a long ride but should be worth it in the end. I figured once i get past these hurdles i can then focus on skimmer, lighting, etc..

 

[Blue04]

Camera wasn't dead for a change so i grabbed a few shots:

Full Tank Shot

Underneath Stand:

One of the Overflows:

Rear of Overflow:

 

[reefrubble]

This should be a good build . What are you going to use for lighting ? Please keep the pics coming . Ted

 

[Blue04]

Not really sure on lighting yet, haven't gotten that far in the thought process lol

 

[Blue04]

Started working on the stand today. Although the tank has been on this stand since it was new, i just can't shake the feeling that the stand isn't built enough for it. In the past i've built a stand for all m tanks with a 2x4 frame. This stand is just pine board.

I went to home depot this afternoon and picked up a qt of semi-gloss paint and a 1x6 pine board.

I plan on reinforcing the back of the tank by putting pine boards behind the current ones:

Since it was getting late i didn't have time to cut the boards so i went ahead and remove the doors and applied the first coat of paint:

Half way done

First coat done:

Once i have the boards cut and installed i'll get all the painting completed.

As far as in the inside of the stand, i planned on using the 1/2 gallon of kilz i had left only to find it was all clumped up and no good.

Instead, i have about 1/4 gallon left of 1 part epoxy that i used on my garage floor so i'll use the rest of that for the inside.

That's all for now.

 

[reefrubble]

Matt , That looks like an AGA stand , and they don't look like they will support a full tank , but they do very well . A thin board will support a lot of (vertical Pressure) , and that is the key . Just about all the DIY stands are way over built . As long as none of boards have been damaged , or removed , it will support the tank just fine . It looks like your doing a very good job with the prep , and paint , and I like the fact that you didn't go with a High Gloss Black . Keep up the good work , and thank you for the pics .

 

[Blue04]

Im sure it's strong enough although it doesnt look it lol.If you look at the picture of the back, the board to the far right has about a 2 inch void from where a knot in the wood was so that concerned me a bit. The extrac bracing will give ma some peace of mind lol.

The tank was originally a flat back but it seemed that it wasnt easy to clean up if water got on it as there were several white spots from salt. The semi-gloss should make it easier to keep clean.

 

[Blue04]

Put some more work into the stand this evening.

I used pocket hole screws to put in some extra bracing:

Once the bracing was installed i put a coat of paint on the back. While that was drying, i went ahead and put a second coat on the whole stand:

Now that the outside of the stand is complete, i focused my attention to the inside of the stand. I applied the first coat of the 1 part epoxy on the inside:

Im going to give the epoxy 24 hours to dry. I probably won't get a chance to put the second coat on until wednesday so it'll have plenty of time to dry between now and then.

 

[Todd_Sails]

Look'n pretty good!

 

[reefrubble]

Matt , That looks super . Looks like your moving right along .

 

[Blue04]

Look'n pretty good!

Thanks

Matt , That looks super . Looks like your moving right along .

I'm moving along for now, but once the stand is finished the progress will probably slow down until i can acquire a sump and the rest of the equipment i need.

 

[jk1138]

It is coming along very nicely. Thanks for sharing your work.

 

[Blue04]

It is coming along very nicely. Thanks for sharing your work.

It's gettin there, just hope i can keep makin steady progress on it. Havin the holidays right around the corner sure aren't going to help lol

 

[Blue04]

Update - Stand is Done!

Put the final coat of the 1 part epoxy on the inside of the stand. Touched up a few spots on the outside. At this point the stand is complete although i do want to put some handles on the doors.

Now that this step is complete, I'm going to focus on the sump / plumbing aspect of this. First things first, need to find a sump lol.

Thats all for now.

 

[Blue04]

Update: The Sump that wasn't

Haven't had much progress lately, not really an update on the tank but it's related. jk1138 was kind enough to offer me a sump for the setup (Thanks again Bob).

The sump dimensions were 24" x 11.5" x 16.5" which equated to about 19 gallons. This was a little smaller than i was planning to use. Want to setup something in the 30-40 gallon range.

After staring at it in my garage for a few days, my creative juices started flowing and i decided to turn it into a frag tank or a possible QT tank.

Here is what i started with:

I used my router with an uncut bit on a router table and removed a few inches off the top. I originally planned on making it 10" tall but the sump got away from me towards the end of the last cut so i had to take another 1/2" off to even it out.

There's still a low point in one corner but i can deal with it.

Final dimensions are 24" x 11.5" x 9.5"

That's all for now. Hoping to have more updates in the upcoming weeks, getting closer to nailing down a skimmer.

 

[reefrubble]

That should make a nice frag tank . What skimmer are you thinking about getting ?

 

[Blue04]

Im thinking of going with the Reef Octopus 6" Pinwheel In Sump Skimmer OCT NWB150.

That is unless an I-Tech that comes up when i go to purchase.

 

[jk1138]

Looking good, sorry the sump did not work for what you wanted, but great Idea for the frag tank.

 

[Blue04]

There's always a backup plan lol! I think that's what scares my wife the most :lolspin:

 

[jk1138]

My wife is just happy when I don't have an extra empty tank in the garage whispering to me to set it up.