taketz
New member
So, I figured since I should be getting my tank this Friday and I just finished building my stand, I should go ahead and start the build thread. I guess I'll go ahead and start out with the specifications of this and the equipment I'll be using...
Tank
Custom 24x24x20 Cubish tank - built by a local builder recommended by my favorite LFS. It was drilled with three holes; 2 3/4 inch and 1 1.5 inch. The two 3/4 are going to be used for the drain and the return from the sump. The 1.5 inch hole will be used for the electrical cords from my powerheads, lights, fans, and RK2 (If I decide to put it on my hood). Was a little more pricey than some of the other people I talked to (Glass Cages and a few others) but only 40 or 50 dollars more. In that case I decided to go through a trusted LFS rather than a tank builder on the other side of the country for ease of contact, a history of standing by their service, and also to support a great store.
Stand
Custom built by yours truly. I decided that since I was going to need a custom stand due to my odd sized tank and I had done some minor carpentry in the past, I should build my own stand. This had its pro's and con's which I thought would be useful to others in my same position of moderate experience.
First the Con's...
1. Like I said before, I had only done minor carpentry, so there was a good amount of doing things twice. This meant I spent a good chunk of time on this and more money that I had expected.
2. Again, due to a lack of experience, my wood couldn't be stained because of the vastly different types and the mistakes I made in choosing it. So, I was forced to paint it and it didn't come out quite as classy as some other's I've seen.
3. Isn't completely level, but I'm hoping the pink foam I will put under the tank will correct the small inconsistencies. Though to be honest, I'm pretty happy with how close to level it ended up being given how little thought I actually gave that issue. :lol:
Now the Pro's...
1. I overbuilt the heck out of it. Four 2x4's and 2 3/4 pieces of plywood hold this sucker up. Me and my other two roommates all got on it at once and even with us bouncing up and down, nit didn't budge. Thats ~600 lbs bouncing around on top of it without any movement. I think it'll be fine :bum:
2. I made the stand to my specifications. For example, I'm 6'4". I didn't want a 36" tall stand because that would mean I would have to bend down to see the actual tank from its intended viewing height. So, I built my stand a good amount taller and with the foam in place, the tank should rest at about 41". This should put it so that I only have to bend down a little to see it yet I can still reach into the water pretty far without the help of a chair.
3. Due to the desire to keep everything self contained and also the odd shape of the stand itself, building my own stand gave the me ability to build the stand to allow the pieces of equipment that I thought were most important. So, I built the stand just large enough so that a 20 gallon could be used as a sump, and due to the extra height, I built a small stand which I plan on resting both a small refugium and an tank for top-off water for my planned ATO. These, IMO, were the two most useful parts and easily accounted for additions to help the tank with stability and ease of maintenance (Added ph stability of a refugium on an opposite lighting schedule and stability plus maintenance convenience of an ATO).
Here's a picture of the small stand inside the stand I'm talking about using for the ATO and Refugium. Oh, and just as a fair warning, my picture taking abilities are mediocre at best...
4. Also, along with building the stand to accommodate my needs, I did the same with the hood. Plus, I feel that the taller hood makes the stand and hood become almost a piece of furniture in itself, which adds to the entire set-up. Not to mention, it allows for much more room in the hood which helps with cooling, possible future lighting upgrades, and allows me the possibility to mount my RK2 on the hood for convenience (And lets not forget, to show off the great looking faceplate. I would be lying if the looks weren't a major factor in my decision for a RK2
)
5. Saved a good chunk of money, with all things considered. I probably only spent $250 on materials for both the stand and the hood. With all the custom requests I would have made, I can only imagine what a builder would have charged. Plus, I'm a college kid so I had free time on my hands to do this project with.
6. Last, but oddly enough, not least, it feels good to build something like this when you've never done it before. Nice to be able to look at it and know you did it, even if it did take you twice as long as you expected :rollface:
Heres a picture of the stand a hood on top of each other; I think the color ended up working better than I thought it would.
Also, you can see how instead of using doors, I just used panels with magnets to hold in the doors. Lets just say, hinges are harder than they look. It ended up working out well though, because this way I have the most room possible for getting underneath my stand.
Equipment
Lighting
PFO DE Pendant with a Phoenix 250 watt 14k Bulb on a 250 Watt Coralife Electronic Ballast
2 55 Watt PC on individual reflectors running on a Workhorse 5 ballast. Might upgrade this to T-5's down the road, but these will work fine until my CC stops smoking from my recent purchases.
Filtration
Euro-reef RS5-2 - which I am planning on modifying into a recirculating skimmer with a direct feed line from the overflow. Since I have two Sedra pumps, does anyone know if it would be too much for the body to have two recirculating pumps? I'm definitely game to put them both on there if they'll increase the skimming ability.
Refugium - Is not purchased and/or decided upon but a trip to Walmart of Target should be all it takes to find a small container suitable. Some chaeto, a minijet, and a cheap light should do it.
20 Gallon sump with two compartments - One for skimmer and one for the return pump/feed to and return from refugium/ float valve.
Live Rock - Roughly 50 lb's of old, dry live rock from my reek tank I tore down almost 2 years ago. Rock is a mixture of tonga, fiji, and whatever unique shapes I could find when I had my old tank. I put in a piece of live rock I purchased from a LFS, threw in my skimmer, a heater, powerhead, and let the rock cook. Been cooking for over 4 weeks now, and the water is getting consistently clearer. I expect once I finally move it over into the the tank, the high flow will finish taking out all of the detritus out of the nooks and crannies. I am planning on having a fairly open Aquascaping design, so I'm waiting to see how the rock I have works until I buy more.
Substrate - Haven't decided yet on BB with Starboard, True BB, Starboard with VSSB so that the starboard never loses its white color, and just your average SSB. However, I won't be going DSB due to the small size of my tank and the comparative straightforwardness of a BB setup.
Here's a picture of the LR cooking with the skimmer off for some reason.
Controller
Reefkeeper 2 - Soon to arrive and I will also purchase the lab grade ph probe shortly. Once I did the math on the wavemaker, light timers, ph and temp probes, it made sense to just bite the bullet all at once and not only get all of those major functions, but a multitude of others too. Plus, it looks just so darn nifty.
Tank Flow
2 Tunze 6045 nano-streams - to run on the Wavemaker function of the RK2.
1 Modded Maxijet - to also run on the Wavemaker function of the RK2.
NOTE: Since I was obviously looking for high flow in my set-up and I didn't really want powerheads taking up precious room in my relatively small tank, I looked into using a closed loop for most of my flow. I actually went so far as to buy a used OM SSquirt from a local reefer (Which is for sale for a very reasonable price to interested parties ). After looking at the effect even a very efficient pump would have on my monthly electric bill, I decided on using powerheads instead, even though I'm not a fan of them in the tank. However, I will not that the new Nano-Streams are incredibly small and I imagine will be hardly noticeable against the black background and overflow.
Picture of the Lighting and Tunze's anxiously waiting for the tank to be up and running.
Equipment still needed
RO/DI unit - which I will likely purchase from my favorite LFS seeing as how its a very good unit and only $10 or so more than what I can find it for online. So, supporting the local businesses is worth that to me, plus I'm not very patient so...
Fans - Will go to a computer supply store soon once I finish setting up my hood and get some real quiet computer fans to run on the temp function of the RK2
Float Valve - Am planning on using the Kent floating kind unless I hear some horror stories about it. Seems easier and more logical that wiring multiple float switches. Anyone know if there is any issues with that and running diluted kalk through it with your top-off water?
Tubs/Buckets - Can always use more of these...
Thats it for right now. Hope it wasn't so long that I lost to many of you, I just figured I might as well add in the reasons for me choosing the way I did so that others setting up a new tank could take that into account. Oh, and don't worry, there will be more updates and pics once I get my tank, RK2, and start with the plumbing...
Tank
Custom 24x24x20 Cubish tank - built by a local builder recommended by my favorite LFS. It was drilled with three holes; 2 3/4 inch and 1 1.5 inch. The two 3/4 are going to be used for the drain and the return from the sump. The 1.5 inch hole will be used for the electrical cords from my powerheads, lights, fans, and RK2 (If I decide to put it on my hood). Was a little more pricey than some of the other people I talked to (Glass Cages and a few others) but only 40 or 50 dollars more. In that case I decided to go through a trusted LFS rather than a tank builder on the other side of the country for ease of contact, a history of standing by their service, and also to support a great store.
Stand
Custom built by yours truly. I decided that since I was going to need a custom stand due to my odd sized tank and I had done some minor carpentry in the past, I should build my own stand. This had its pro's and con's which I thought would be useful to others in my same position of moderate experience.
First the Con's...
1. Like I said before, I had only done minor carpentry, so there was a good amount of doing things twice. This meant I spent a good chunk of time on this and more money that I had expected.
2. Again, due to a lack of experience, my wood couldn't be stained because of the vastly different types and the mistakes I made in choosing it. So, I was forced to paint it and it didn't come out quite as classy as some other's I've seen.
3. Isn't completely level, but I'm hoping the pink foam I will put under the tank will correct the small inconsistencies. Though to be honest, I'm pretty happy with how close to level it ended up being given how little thought I actually gave that issue. :lol:
Now the Pro's...
1. I overbuilt the heck out of it. Four 2x4's and 2 3/4 pieces of plywood hold this sucker up. Me and my other two roommates all got on it at once and even with us bouncing up and down, nit didn't budge. Thats ~600 lbs bouncing around on top of it without any movement. I think it'll be fine :bum:
2. I made the stand to my specifications. For example, I'm 6'4". I didn't want a 36" tall stand because that would mean I would have to bend down to see the actual tank from its intended viewing height. So, I built my stand a good amount taller and with the foam in place, the tank should rest at about 41". This should put it so that I only have to bend down a little to see it yet I can still reach into the water pretty far without the help of a chair.
3. Due to the desire to keep everything self contained and also the odd shape of the stand itself, building my own stand gave the me ability to build the stand to allow the pieces of equipment that I thought were most important. So, I built the stand just large enough so that a 20 gallon could be used as a sump, and due to the extra height, I built a small stand which I plan on resting both a small refugium and an tank for top-off water for my planned ATO. These, IMO, were the two most useful parts and easily accounted for additions to help the tank with stability and ease of maintenance (Added ph stability of a refugium on an opposite lighting schedule and stability plus maintenance convenience of an ATO).
Here's a picture of the small stand inside the stand I'm talking about using for the ATO and Refugium. Oh, and just as a fair warning, my picture taking abilities are mediocre at best...
4. Also, along with building the stand to accommodate my needs, I did the same with the hood. Plus, I feel that the taller hood makes the stand and hood become almost a piece of furniture in itself, which adds to the entire set-up. Not to mention, it allows for much more room in the hood which helps with cooling, possible future lighting upgrades, and allows me the possibility to mount my RK2 on the hood for convenience (And lets not forget, to show off the great looking faceplate. I would be lying if the looks weren't a major factor in my decision for a RK2
)5. Saved a good chunk of money, with all things considered. I probably only spent $250 on materials for both the stand and the hood. With all the custom requests I would have made, I can only imagine what a builder would have charged. Plus, I'm a college kid so I had free time on my hands to do this project with.
6. Last, but oddly enough, not least, it feels good to build something like this when you've never done it before. Nice to be able to look at it and know you did it, even if it did take you twice as long as you expected :rollface:
Heres a picture of the stand a hood on top of each other; I think the color ended up working better than I thought it would.
Also, you can see how instead of using doors, I just used panels with magnets to hold in the doors. Lets just say, hinges are harder than they look. It ended up working out well though, because this way I have the most room possible for getting underneath my stand.
Equipment
Lighting
PFO DE Pendant with a Phoenix 250 watt 14k Bulb on a 250 Watt Coralife Electronic Ballast
2 55 Watt PC on individual reflectors running on a Workhorse 5 ballast. Might upgrade this to T-5's down the road, but these will work fine until my CC stops smoking from my recent purchases.
Filtration
Euro-reef RS5-2 - which I am planning on modifying into a recirculating skimmer with a direct feed line from the overflow. Since I have two Sedra pumps, does anyone know if it would be too much for the body to have two recirculating pumps? I'm definitely game to put them both on there if they'll increase the skimming ability.
Refugium - Is not purchased and/or decided upon but a trip to Walmart of Target should be all it takes to find a small container suitable. Some chaeto, a minijet, and a cheap light should do it.
20 Gallon sump with two compartments - One for skimmer and one for the return pump/feed to and return from refugium/ float valve.
Live Rock - Roughly 50 lb's of old, dry live rock from my reek tank I tore down almost 2 years ago. Rock is a mixture of tonga, fiji, and whatever unique shapes I could find when I had my old tank. I put in a piece of live rock I purchased from a LFS, threw in my skimmer, a heater, powerhead, and let the rock cook. Been cooking for over 4 weeks now, and the water is getting consistently clearer. I expect once I finally move it over into the the tank, the high flow will finish taking out all of the detritus out of the nooks and crannies. I am planning on having a fairly open Aquascaping design, so I'm waiting to see how the rock I have works until I buy more.
Substrate - Haven't decided yet on BB with Starboard, True BB, Starboard with VSSB so that the starboard never loses its white color, and just your average SSB. However, I won't be going DSB due to the small size of my tank and the comparative straightforwardness of a BB setup.
Here's a picture of the LR cooking with the skimmer off for some reason.
Controller
Reefkeeper 2 - Soon to arrive and I will also purchase the lab grade ph probe shortly. Once I did the math on the wavemaker, light timers, ph and temp probes, it made sense to just bite the bullet all at once and not only get all of those major functions, but a multitude of others too. Plus, it looks just so darn nifty.
Tank Flow
2 Tunze 6045 nano-streams - to run on the Wavemaker function of the RK2.
1 Modded Maxijet - to also run on the Wavemaker function of the RK2.
NOTE: Since I was obviously looking for high flow in my set-up and I didn't really want powerheads taking up precious room in my relatively small tank, I looked into using a closed loop for most of my flow. I actually went so far as to buy a used OM SSquirt from a local reefer (Which is for sale for a very reasonable price to interested parties
). After looking at the effect even a very efficient pump would have on my monthly electric bill, I decided on using powerheads instead, even though I'm not a fan of them in the tank. However, I will not that the new Nano-Streams are incredibly small and I imagine will be hardly noticeable against the black background and overflow.Picture of the Lighting and Tunze's anxiously waiting for the tank to be up and running.
Equipment still needed
RO/DI unit - which I will likely purchase from my favorite LFS seeing as how its a very good unit and only $10 or so more than what I can find it for online. So, supporting the local businesses is worth that to me, plus I'm not very patient so...
Fans - Will go to a computer supply store soon once I finish setting up my hood and get some real quiet computer fans to run on the temp function of the RK2
Float Valve - Am planning on using the Kent floating kind unless I hear some horror stories about it. Seems easier and more logical that wiring multiple float switches. Anyone know if there is any issues with that and running diluted kalk through it with your top-off water?
Tubs/Buckets - Can always use more of these...
Thats it for right now. Hope it wasn't so long that I lost to many of you, I just figured I might as well add in the reasons for me choosing the way I did so that others setting up a new tank could take that into account. Oh, and don't worry, there will be more updates and pics once I get my tank, RK2, and start with the plumbing...
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