My diy build

[zoaddict]

Hi

My name is mick i,m from England and around 9months ago i decided to design and build as much of my new nano as possible.
I have kept a salty tank for the last 5 or 6 years, but because of work and money i had to sell my 2ft cube around a year ago. I thought i could just walk away from the hobby but i couldn,t so within 3 months of not having a tank i set a orca 450 up i had this in my shed. After a couple of months i wasn,t happy with the orca so decided to build myself my new set up on the cheap(ha ha ha).
I wanted to stay with a nano sized tank as money is still hard to find and small frags would be my only way forward.
Luckily my good friend is a carpenter so he started collecting some oak for me from differant jobs he was on and his yard at work.
I sat down with another friend( yes i have two) and he helped me design on computer my idea.
I had qoutes for glass but they where ridiculous so i went to somebody who built my tank cheaper than i could buy the glass!!
The nano had to be sumped and i didn,t want the wier inside the tank so opted for an external wier.
Here,s some pic,s
The cabinet is made from oak faced mdf and solid oak. I wanted the sump as big as possible so i came up with the idea of having a sliding sump.

Nearly finished one coat of finish applied

Got lots more pic,s to add

Thanks for looking
Mick

 

[zoaddict]

Some more piccy,s

Acrylic sheet cut with wier comb this hides all my plumbing and durso

More to follow
Mick

 

[zoaddict]

The draw runners i bought can hold 45kgs so i knew the sump could be filled to at least 45L. Here,s a few pic,s a bit nerve racking filling it up!!

41L in the sump and the draw is working a treat

Wet testing the system

Thanks
Mick

 

[AwkwardParrot]

Sweet set-up. Tagging along for the ride!

 

[zoaddict]

Thank you
A well over due update
Well the tank filled pretty quick this was taken Dec 2010

This was when i started thinking of a new scape

 

[zoaddict]

 

[Clownfish 11790]

WHAT! That's crazy! What type of lighting do you have? Is that a blue sea fan in the mid left of your tank? Is it hard to care for?

 

[zoaddict]

That pic was taken with a KR91 over my tank, Upgraded to a KR92 now. Yes thats a blue gorgonian . I couldn,t keep it despite all my attempts to keep it well feed.

 

[Coastie5685]

looks good man. i like the sump sitting on the slide out drawer. good job on the diy build man.

 

[zoaddict]

Thank you Coastie

 

[zoaddict]

After much thought i decided to build a new scape out of reef bones and cure them in a water butt. I knew exactly what i wanted, So the next stage was finding the branching bones and set about making the scape.

 

[mjoyce]

Great looking scape - can't wait to see the build-out.

 

[zoaddict]

Thank you Mjoyce

The bones where jet washed before sticking together, Once stuck i soaked in r,o for a week then into salty water. I added 2 power heads a heater loads of live sand and rubble.
It was left for aprox 7 weeks, The final test results where good so in the tank it went.

Mick

 

[zoaddict]

Here,s the happy couple

 

[SlvrSurfRidr]

Great thread, dig the branched aquascape!

 

[zoaddict]

Great thread, dig the branched aquascape!

Thank you very much
Here,s some more piccy,s

Thanks again
Mick

 

[AfricaOffroad]

Really like your sump drawer mechanism, makes for a very compact set up.
Also keen to see your new coral structure fill out with new corals etc.

Great work there Mick!

 

[mjoyce]

Are you worried about the gobies / jawfish jumping at all? Is there any "open" space through the top that they could get through?

 

[zoaddict]

Morning and thank you both

I have acrylic either side of my light with holes drilled into it, I never had any on there with the gobys but since adding the jawfish i thought it wise to.
Thanks again
Mick

 

[zoaddict]

Evening
A few more pic,s

Mr and Mrs with nipper

Thanks for looking
Mick