How long did you build take?

[rygar]

How long did your build take? (not including initial planning) From the first swing of the hammer on the fish room or on the stand to wherever your at now? Interested in finding out how long individual things took too. Like how long it took to build the stand, do all the plumbing, how long it took you to build the light rack, etc...

And what was the biggest hurdle you overcame?

 

[SLICKTOP]

I ordered a custom tank and stand 6/3/2015. I bought it to replace existing tank. It arrived in October and I hope to have swap completed in early December. It took over 5 months to receive the tank and stand. During this time I planned my plumbing, ATO and designated power for the tank. The more planning the happier you will be with outcome.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Those are some tough questions to answer as everything is different from people to the tanks they setup. So probably the basis for your questions.

My best advice is to get on here and search build threads. There are threads from 2.5 gal to 20,000 gal tanks. Many build threads in this forum as well as the nano and large tank forums. So sit back and start reading and enjoy as the build threads are very educational and comical at times.

 

[kmbyrnes]

My first 'big' tank was a 110 tall purchased on August 25, 2013 and with the learning curve, equipment acquisition and upgrades, I started to cycle it on November 16, then added my first fish on Dec 7.
My biggest hurdle was self confidence. It was all new to me and sounded like a lot of pieces had to fit together perfectly to keep these animals alive.
Thanks to RC, I learned a little at a time. By the time fish went in, I was fairly certain that I would be successful, but also prepared to make newbie mistakes.
The biggest hurdle of the build itself was plumbing. PVC glue, physics of flow and poor equipment choices made that a definite head scratcher.
My current 350 build started on August 1, 5, 2015 and is taking about the same. Even though it is much larger, experience helps. I had to do some demolition and room prep, buy lots more equipment, and completely buff out the acrylic. Still, I got the cycle started on November 8, 2015.

Don't rush, and savor the entire process. The reward for all your hard work and patience will be a beautiful piece of the ocean that will provide hours of enjoyment, plus the pride of having created it yourself.
And best of all RC is here to help!

 

[Dmorty217]

Working on 3 months or so with the 625g. Stand and walls around the stand are built but tank isn't plumbed yet. We still haven't moved into the house it's in yet but I'm trying to make progress. I do have a 125g QT setup and cycled in the attached fish room. Still have at least one maybe two more tanks to setup for QT. for the record I have had the tank for 1.5 years sitting empty... So it's slow progress if you look at it like that

 

[Lucky Lefty]

I took about 2 and a half months to build my stand. Came home from work and sat in the garage until I was dead tired and just had a lot of fun building it. It still remains one of my favorite parts of starting this hobby. My stand came put great and it gets a lot of compliments so I'm pretty happy with it. Next one will be even better.
Cycled the tank for close to a month and added things slowly. I'm still getting the display in order as it establishes and it's about 1.5 Years old now.
My biggest hurdle build wise was using threaded fittings on a decent amount of plumbing. I had the entire tank up and running, only to discover a few drip leaks here and there. I ended up draining the overflows, dismantling a majority of the plumbing and replacing anything threaded with slip fittings.
I'm still learning stuff everyday with this hobby.

 

[Dmorty217]

I took about 2 and a half months to build my stand. Came home from work and sat in the garage until I was dead tired and just had a lot of fun building it. It still remains one of my favorite parts of starting this hobby. My stand came put great and it gets a lot of compliments so I'm pretty happy with it. Next one will be even better.
Cycled the tank for close to a month and added things slowly. I'm still getting the display in order as it establishes and it's about 1.5 Years old now.
My biggest hurdle build wise was using threaded fittings on a decent amount of plumbing. I had the entire tank up and running, only to discover a few drip leaks here and there. I ended up draining the overflows, dismantling a majority of the plumbing and replacing anything threaded with slip fittings.
I'm still learning stuff everyday with this hobby.

They shouldn't make threaded bulkheads. I too had the same experience

 

[Reefer PT]

I purchased a new 120 in April of last year and am still working on it. The thing is I have less of a "get er done" attitude on this build because I have a tank up and going already. My biggest issue has been planing the sump and electronics/Apex. My current tank cabinet is a mess and the sump needs a shoehorn to fit another thing in it. Electronics are in a humid environment, wires everywhere, etc. All things I want to avoid this time. I think having the other tank going for a couple years has shown me what to avoid and how to plan for expansion better.

 

[boon the goon]

it never ends

 

[salty joe]

I built the tank in the garage more than four years ago. I just kept plugging away little by little-still am, really.

The tank has had live rock for several months, but I still have a few issues to work through before adding coral, although a cabbage coral and some sort of flat stony coral that hitchhiked seem to be growing.

My biggest hurdles have been the time and money thing. I don't mind that it's taking so long-the process is fun and the good natured ribbing from friends and family has been fun.

 

[yoki32]

Well I started designing my stand in 2009 and I finished it last year. I know it took forever but that's how much time I had in between work and week-ends and other essential things in life :lmao:

In between those 6 years, I built my acrylic overflow box, an acrylic stand for skimmer, my 30 gallon acrylic sump and my 22.5 gallon acrylic display tank. I had to apply 3 coats of polyurethane on my custom made wood stand, figure out the PVC plumbing, etc etc. I had to go with a nano cube display tank since I had limited space at my location.

I just just recently filled up my tank and have been cycling it for over 2 weeks now with live rock. I have to work on an auto top off system cause I'm already annoyed of filling up ionized water every day with buckets :headwalls:

I can enclose pictures of my whole system if you want.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

My build took about a year to complete. It was my first build and there was a steep learning curve. I have built two tanks before with the help of LFS, but when doing everything alone it took longer.

 

[Bent]

Here's what I did.

I cut my drywall in the living room and put in an access panel
Ran the bean drain to the basement
Drilled the refugium and the DT and built the DT overflow
The stand was already made just needed some tlc (hardware, stain touched up, lacquer, etc.)
Drilled the stock tank and plumbed it (ATO, sump drain, salt mix fill, etc)
Built the mixing tower
Mounted the RO and plumbed it
All other odds and ends.

Off and on with different design revisions here and there, took me about a year or so to get everything wet and leak tested.

 

[KafudaFish]

I spent 100 days building my diy rock for my build during lunch.

 

[rygar]

I ordered a custom tank and stand 6/3/2015. I bought it to replace existing tank. It arrived in October and I hope to have swap completed in early December. It took over 5 months to receive the tank and stand. During this time I planned my plumbing, ATO and designated power for the tank. The more planning the happier you will be with outcome.

Must be quite a tank to wait 5 months for it! Got a build thread here?

 

[rygar]

Those are some tough questions to answer as everything is different from people to the tanks they setup. So probably the basis for your questions.

My best advice is to get on here and search build threads. There are threads from 2.5 gal to 20,000 gal tanks. Many build threads in this forum as well as the nano and large tank forums. So sit back and start reading and enjoy as the build threads are very educational and comical at times.

I just wanted to start this to put it in perspective for myself and for people just starting out. Many are far too hasty and do things too quick, then end up with all kids of issues. This hobby takes time. Sometimes it gets to me a bit, but then I just look at how long other people take and it kind of puts my mind at ease. I am surprised at how many actually took over a year to complete. Thought I was one of the few, but looks like its pretty common.

Also what I've seen is some people have the ability to picture something and plan it perfectly. Others on the other hand, myself included, lack that quality. I can picture how its going to turn out, but getting there is a different story. So we simple minded folks just kind of go along and figure things out as we go. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[geekengineer]

I was going to say I never will get mine done.. :headwally: However, when someone said they took a year I don't feel so bad, but mine is a small tank. lol. I'm trying to make it like if it was a big tank. lol I have some of the control system for going to a bigger tank if I wanted to and I feel like I learned something.

 

[d2mini]

How long did your build take? (not including initial planning) From the first swing of the hammer on the fish room or on the stand to wherever your at now? Interested in finding out how long individual things took too. Like how long it took to build the stand, do all the plumbing, how long it took you to build the light rack, etc...

And what was the biggest hurdle you overcame?

A few months.

 

[Reef Frog]

I went with a 250 liter AIO. From the day the crate was in my garage, it was assembled & wet within about 7-10 days, the day my live rock shipment arrived. EZ!

I did plenty of research on a custom build. But I always got stuck in the decision process.

Local shops were basically unable to put together a satisfactory solution. I didn't know any experienced reef keepers. The LFSs wanted to sell me a hodge podge of stuff they had in stock which was grossly overpriced and much of it outdated and with a poor reputation. They had minimal selection and ordering a reef ready tank with anything other than a corner overflow was more than they could do. They were unable to put a modern custom system quote together on paper and couldn't answer some basic questions. They wanted stupid money for delivery or set up assistance (actually more than my business lawyer's hourly rate lol)

Piecing it together myself was daunting. What overflow? I'm not going to drill any holes in glass. A good plumbing job the first time out...that wasn't likely. What bulkheads? What if they leak? What about noise? I could have done it but I was certain to have made numerous mistakes that I would surely regret later. And this thing was going in the living room and had to look nice. No external overflows, HOB gear or tangles of wire. Used wasn't an option - all I saw was old junk with outdated equipment.

So the ATO was right for me. It's worked perfectly for 6 years. It's design looks sleek, the company supports it and there is a large online community with the exact same equipment. Many of the design features were ingenious & virtually impossible to recreate. For example there is almost no salt creep on this system. The price was good too. Set up was quick & easy and I could concentrate on the fish and corals.

The AIO isn't for everybody. I can tell that many folks enjoy the build & fooling with hardware more than the process managing the animals that make up a captive ecosystem. That's cool - to each his own.

It's like in my jet ski & motorcycle days. Lots of guys were all about the gear - constantly modding this and that, installing all the latest stuff, rebuilding this and that. Always tinkering. Solving one problem but creating 3 more in the process. A few could pull it off, but most spent enormous amounts of time and money for a substandard result IMO and spent their free time in the garage. I preferred to spend my time on the water, on the trail or road. When you take this approach with SW aquariums, you do have to accept a few compromises but I've found them to be few & acceptable and there are still plenty of work-arounds & modifications to be done later if you wish. And the newest generation of AIOs are even better - simple, sophisticated and full of good features and plenty of options up to 6' tanks. AIOs are a good option for many wanting to join this great hobby.

Just my 2 cents. Hats off to you guys with extreme hardware talent and those willing to try. Ive certainly seen some magnificent DIY from the ground up systems and it can be done. After 6 years of research, I may give it a shot on the next tank....

 

[Bent]

I just wanted to start this to put it in perspective for myself and for people just starting out. Many are far too hasty and do things too quick, then end up with all kids of issues. This hobby takes time. Sometimes it gets to me a bit, but then I just look at how long other people take and it kind of puts my mind at ease. I am surprised at how many actually took over a year to complete. Thought I was one of the few, but looks like its pretty common.

Also what I've seen is some people have the ability to picture something and plan it perfectly. Others on the other hand, myself included, lack that quality. I can picture how its going to turn out, but getting there is a different story. So we simple minded folks just kind of go along and figure things out as we go. Nothing wrong with that.

My finished product looks nothing like what I originally had envisioned.