My humble entry into saltwater tanks; 46 gallon acrylic bowfront and a homemade stand

[Marlboro Zoa]

:wavehand:

Hello, this is a great forum and I have been lurking here a few months and finally made an account

I have had african cichlids for about a decade and finally took the plunge into saltwater following a mishap. A 55 gallon tank had cracked in my bedroom while I was sleeping. I couple syphon tubes out the window and emergency bucket action later, and I had enough of those fish and that tank. I Rescued them, gave them away, trashed the tank, sold off some equipment and started anew. I believe the crack popped up out of nowhere from built up stress from moving the tank (about a third full) a few weeks prior.

Anyhow, I set out to try something new, and bit by bit, I bought:

-Seaclear 46 gallon bowfront tank
-Aquatic Fundamentals stand
-Proflex 1 sump/refugium (you can take it out of the stand through the doorway with the door removed, thats why I chose it)
-Gl@ss h0les 700gph kit
-Mag 7 pump (700gph with no head pressure)
-2 Koralia Evo 750gph pumps
-Ocean Pulse wavemaker
-Coralife super skimmer 65 (Yeah, I know, but it was a workaround for the small sump...)
-Two Coralife dual 36" T5 fixtures (For a total of 4 bulbs, got a good deal on them)
-Coralife mini dual T5 fixture for refugium (Swapped out bulbs with GE 6500K bulbs)
-A cheapo Petsmart led lighting kit with two deep blue LEDS for moonlights
-A cheap power strip with two rotary type timers
-Fluval 250 Watt heater

So here are some recent pictures of my setup:

Full tank shot

Anemone

Peppermint shrimp and brittle starfish

My first Zoas!

Sysem shot (The actinics are off in display tank and I do not have the dual 6500K bulbs in the refuge yet in this picture)

Proflex 1 as seen through the tiny door

The refugium. I need to swap this macro algea with Cheato, I hate this stuff. Also, you can kinda see how I ran the needlewheel pump from the skimmer into the right chamber with a long tube to where the water level never changes. It works, but hardly the best I'm sure!

Anyhow, this setup has been running for a few months. I cycled with a couple pieces of liverock for about 3 weeks before adding the first damsel, I use RO water, the only big risk I took was buying the anemone on impulse when the tank obviously wasn't and still isn't very mature. It's still kicking though.

But enough of that, here comes the fun part of my thread.

 

[pmrossetti]

nice. the CL skimmers work, they're just finicky. be nice if that heater could be hidden. nice tank, great job.

i like SeaClear tanks.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

OK, so now about the stand. The Aquatic Fundamentals stand is like the only stand I could find online for an acrylic tank of this size. It is made up of a total of 8 pieces of 5/8" MDF, counting the door. For what it's worth, it works.

What I don't like about it are the tiny door, MDF's tendancy to swell when wet, and the overall construction. Yes, it is coated in a waterproof paint similar to truck bed liner, but the ends of the boards can still soak up the water, especially inside the bottom of the stand where the fuge is. The top of the stand supports every square inch of the tank, but I can fit paper between the tank and stand in multiple places. Yes, I should have used a layer of foam between them, and I will with my next stand. Even still, the overall construction just makes me uneasy. All it would take is one drunk fool and I bet he could collapse it.

I researched the thread on building your own stand in the DIY subforum on this site, and looked at what others had done, and found the designs to my liking. So I set out to create a stand that is built like a tank, waterproof, and has plenty of room to access the fuge. Without further adieu, here it is so far:

About $55 of parts. Assorted 2X4's, 2X6's, 1/2" plywood, 2.5" and 3.5" coated decking screws, wood filler and waterproof wood glue. The finished stand will have a footprint of 38.5" X 18.5" at a height of 32".

The bottom box frame on the left is made out of 2X4's. It will spread the weight over a large area of the floor irregardless of whether or not the floor is totally level.

The top box frame on the right is made out of 2X6's and 2X4's. It will easily support my little 46 gallon bowfront tank, weighing in at almost 600lbs.

Here is the bottom boxframe with legs attached, these legs are made of 2X4's. Equipment will sit inside the bottom boxframe, and the area will be made to hold water in case of a leak. Every joint is bonded with copious amounts of glue, the interior will later be painted with coats of either white decking paint or truck bed liner. Still deciding.

Top boxframe mounted atop the legs. No central support beam is needed due to the 2X6's, so as not to impede equipment maintenance.

Quick shot looking up at the cross members that support the tank. Unlike glass tanks, acrylic tanks require support across the whole tank bottom due to acrylics tendancy to flex under load. 1/2" ply screwed and glued.

Next up will be a compartment on the left behind a door for various power strips, wave timers ect, and a compartment on the right also behind a door with shelving for food and dosing supplies.

Added the two interior side panels. These are 1/2" oak ply. They add support, not that the stand is not allready solid enough.

More importantly, the side panels form two compartments on either side of the stand, this one will have the shelving for food and supplies.

Added 1/2" plywood to the back. I will cut out a hole later for plumbing and wiring. Again, the stand was allready solid, but this will help prevent too much light from escaping from inside the stand, or two much sunlight entering the stand and throwing off the lighting schedule of the macroalgea growing in the sump.

Interior shot of where the sump will sit. I decided I will make the whole bottom boxframe a fiberglass lined tub incase of spills. Next up a bunch of woodfiller and sanding to prep the stand for fiberglass, paint, ect.

Please excuse the commentary under each photo, I coppied and pasted the text directly from my facebook page where I dumbed things down a bit for the 1percentile of my friends who might be following along! More pics will follow, thanks for viewing

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

nice. the CL skimmers work, they're just finicky. be nice if that heater could be hidden. nice tank, great job.

i like SeaClear tanks.

Thank you! I just saw your other thread BTW, and I do have crushed coral in this tank. I had red algea all over it but was able to kill it all off by trying out 3 days of darkness like I read in that one thread. I like the fact I can have high flow without it being blown about, and that I can syphon it, but other than that, I'm undecided whether or not I will switch out to fine argonite in the future.

I agree about the heater. A larger sump is in store for the future to hide it in.

 

[jay2525]

good job and welcome to the never ending world of reefs...

 

[dogstar74]

I'm a little worried that stand might not hold...... AN ARMY TANK!

I guess it's pretty well built. A 46 would never bring that thing down. But I like an overbuilt system.

I agree that the heater should be scuttled to the sump. Don't forget to run it off a controller. That way when it fails it won't trash your whole system.

Good start, and lovely tank.

Aaron

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

good job and welcome to the never ending world of reefs...

Thank you Jay. It's yet another money pit to add to the list of hobbies ha ha

I'm a little worried that stand might not hold...... AN ARMY TANK!

I guess it's pretty well built. A 46 would never bring that thing down. But I like an overbuilt system.

I agree that the heater should be scuttled to the sump. Don't forget to run it off a controller. That way when it fails it won't trash your whole system.

Good start, and lovely tank.

Aaron

lol, the funny thing is I convinced my girlfriend to climb ontop of it with me and she was afraid it would break! I apreciate the comments though, it really is strong. The trick is going to be making it look good.

I just looked into heater controllers, I will be buying one in the future now. Thanks for suggesting that, I wasen't aware of them; I was thinking I would need one of those multi-hundred $ Apex controllers to do that.

 

[dogstar74]

Hey, by the way! Welcome to RC!!! I don't have the fishy welcome sign but welcome none the less.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Hey, by the way! Welcome to RC!!! I don't have the fishy welcome sign but welcome none the less.

Thanks dogstar! I appreciate the warm welcome nonetheless :wave:

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Well, it was a long and boring process, but I got the stand ready for paint and fiberglass. I filled every nook and cranny with wood putty and sanded it all. I also used a router with a roundover bit on all the sharp edges. I'm in the process of painting the exterior right now with several thick coats of decking paint (tinted black). Then I will fiberglass the interior sump pan then paint the interior all white.

 

[Bilk]

I bet that stand could support a baby elephant LOL Nice start and looking forward to seeing more :thumbsup:

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

I bet that stand could support a baby elephant LOL Nice start and looking forward to seeing more :thumbsup:

Thanks Bilk! I hope I do not dissapoint :artist:

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Well, so far I have applied 3 coats of outdoor decking paint. I got these mixed in black and white. The paint has a 5 year warranty so it should be tough enough.

Here is the front. The flash really makes everthing look really lumpy but it's not that bad in person. I am debating on throwing the fiberglass epoxy resin over every square inch after all is said and done, really I just want something I can lay on thick and smooth out all the areas. Maybe somebody has some insight on this?

Here is a different angle. Looks better here without the reflections of the flash. The stand is upside down because I didn't want to paint the floor pan. I left the wood raw thinking maybe the fiberlass and epoxy will stick better when I start doing that the next couple days.

 

[L98-Z]

Looks like a really nice start.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Looks like a really nice start.

Thanks. Cute puppy

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Got a little bit done over the weekend. I made 4 doors and got them test fitted. I used 1/2" oak ply and only did a roundover on the exterior edges. The stupid european hinges cost about $6 a piece at Lowes. I removed the doors after the photo for finishing.

I also fiberglassed the whole bottom of the stand so it will hold about 3" of water. I will paint over this in white later. This was my first time fiberglassing and it was a mess. What I found was that rubbing flour (The kind you cook with, I didn't have any baby pouder) on your skin afterwards and then rubbing vigorously would remove it pretty well. This worked for the small sticky patches I got on my forearms, elbows ect.

 

[SaltyAl]

That stand is nice, it looks like we read all the same information on building stands as our frames are almost identical lol.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

That stand is nice, it looks like we read all the same information on building stands as our frames are almost identical lol.

Ha ha, yeah that Rocketengineer design is a classic. I am so glad I found that thread or else I might have made a not-so-nice stand out of 4X4's. I should be posting a huge update on this stand within a week or so, I am almost done with the electric cabinet part of it, and some other cool details...

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Yeah, fiberglass resin can be a PITA to work with, but once it sets up, it's very nice. You'll basically have a waterproof bowl in the bottom if set up right. Thinner layers may have helped you and in theory, you could use some fiberglass matting in the corners if you wanted to add a hint more bracing (sarcasm).

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Yeah, fiberglass resin can be a PITA to work with, but once it sets up, it's very nice. You'll basically have a waterproof bowl in the bottom if set up right. Thinner layers may have helped you and in theory, you could use some fiberglass matting in the corners if you wanted to add a hint more bracing (sarcasm).

Yeah, I did the bottom in one large ~18X36" sheet, then did a bunch of ~5X10 stips along the sides overlapping the bottom and corners so no leaks there. By any chance do you think I could paint over the stand in resin in such a way to get a glass-like finish since I can see a bunch of high and low spots where I sanded the wood filler?