My Mini Reef construction

[shookbrad]

Here are the drawings of the mini reef I will be building.

The tank will hold 6.6 gallons total. The front part the display will hold 4.18 gallons. The back will be the sump and will be divided by 1/8ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ Navy Blue acrylic. The left side will have a notch cut Ã"šÃ‚¾Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ short of the top of the tank and be 5 Ã"šÃ‚¾Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ long. This will act as the over flow into the skimmer chamber.

The water will flow into the back chamber where the custom skimmer will be. I am thinking about getting a "Fission Nano-Protein Skimmer and modifying it by replacing the 2ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚reaction body with a 3ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ reaction body. I should be able to make several mods to extend the air contact time and make the skimmer more efficient.
Once the water has flown into the skimmer chamber it will flow to the right of that chamber into a 6ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ refugium.

From there it flows to the return chamber. A small Rio pump will sit in this chamber and pump the water straight up into the surge box, maybe two to add some randomness to the surges. To understand the surge box refer to this link http://avdil.gtri.gatech.edu/RCM/RCM/Aquarium/CirculationSystem.html
The water will complete the cycle by flowing from the surge box back to the tank.
One downfall I see to this method is as the water fills the surge box the water will trickle into the sump and when ths surge box empties the water will rush into the sump which could cause a loud gushing sound. I guess I will just have to wait and see.
The Stand/Hood will be one piece with a flip top lid for feeding and access to the lights.

 

[shookbrad]

Ok, now on to the construction. Before I started cutting and bending the expensive acrylic I picked up a lot of ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œfreeââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ scrap 1/16ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ acrylic from my local Ace Hardware store (thanks Ace). I used this scrap to basically make the front part of the tank to ensure my measurements were correct (they were) and that I was going to like the size of the tank. I used 3/16ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ acrylic for the final project.

I left the acrylic dirty so you could see the dimensions better.

To make the 45 degree bends I took a 2X4 and cut 45 degree angles on the ends with my miter box.

I then took a 1X10 and ripped a 45 degree cut along one end and attached the 2X4 pieces to the 1X10.

Now I have a 45 degree angle that I can lay the acrylic on to make the perfect bend.

To make the bend I took some scrap tin that I had lying around from a previous project and placed them on either side of the line where the bend would be about Ã"šÃ‚¼Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ apart. This will dam the heat to that small Ã"šÃ‚¼Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ area making the bend more exact.

I then took a propane torch and slowly heated the acrylic to a bending point. An interesting characteristic of acrylic is that it absorbs heat. So when you run the torch on it for a few seconds, stop and let the heat soak in before heating some more. If you do not the acrylic will start to bubble and mess up the nice clear finish you want. The key here is to take your time and go slow.

I will start on the construction of the tank tomorrow and post updates.

 

[chocolateblnt]

Sexy CAD drawings ... hope the tank looks just as good

 

[shookbrad]

I finished the construction of the Tank today. I will finish the sump part once I receive the skimmer and put my mod on it. This way I will be sure to maximize the space in the aquarium.

I next started on the construction of the Stand/cabinet.

I will probably not get to work on it again until next weekend but I will post more pics as soon as I have them.

 

[Chelsey]

AWESOME! I'll definately be following this thread! :thumbsup:

 

[kamla]

u got some skill man...
good start

 

[jyoon951]

looks very nice. didn't know you could bend acrylic that easy. i always thought you needed some kind of special heating element.

 

[shookbrad]

Thanks!

If you decide to bend acrylic I highly recommend practicing on the free scraps first. Like make several different shaped boxes. You will learn what does and what doesn't work. I have made a Overflow box, Fish trap and several small boxes with the free acrylic I picked up from Ace. All it cost me was my time and about $10 for the Weld-on #4.

 

[alien9168]

THis is going to be very cool!

 

[shookbrad]

Well the skimmer did not come this weekend so I worked on the surge box. It took me all day Saturday to come up with one that would work. I ended up making the box 3 Ã"šÃ‚½Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ cubed. I am using Ã"šÃ‚½Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ OD/ 3/8ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ ID tubing for the return into the tank.
In order to make it work properly I have to make sure the end of the tubing does not go below the water line in the tank. In the article I got the idea from, they call for the end to be below the water line to create back pressure. The problem I found with that is the amount of water volume I am dealing with just could not produce enough water pressure to start the siphon. I tried all sizes of tubing before I found the one that worked. Here is the good thing though I will be able to put a T below the surge box and have a constant flow in the tank. The rising water will slowly fill the surge box over about 3 minutes and create about a 1 minute surge. That should be just enough to cause alternating currents in the tank. My camera is out of batteries so I will post pictures of the setup tomorrow.

 

[midknight]

Sounds great. Can't wait to see new pic.

 

[Pico Keeper]

That's awesome, ive never seen 2 or 3 tanks that small with surge devices and ive always wanted to try. Good Work..

 

[shookbrad]

Here are pics of the surge box. Please keep in mind that this is just the prototype. I will remake the box to look nice and make sure all the plumbing is cut to the correct sizes.

 

[shookbrad]

I scraped the 1st stand. Well I decided to remake the stand. I decided that 3/8ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ plywood was not thick enough to hold up like I wanted. So I remade it with Ã"šÃ‚¾Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ Plywood. I also added trim around the viewing window. This was tricky because I had to route the lip so the molding would fit correctly. The first two pics show the lip I routed.

 

[shookbrad]

I received the skilter skimmer yesterday and I know understand how they are creating the small bubbles to produce the foam. I am going to attempt to modify it by adding a 3" body and make it the same height as the aquarium and stand. About 5" taller. This should improve the air contact time. I will post updates when I have them.

 

[AIMFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7324597#post7324597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kamla
u got some skill man...
good start

Someone aleady said what I was going to! Very nice looking work, it will be neat to see it full of life.

 

[midknight]

Hi Shookbrad,

Hope you don't mind if I ... borrow.. one or two ideas.
I found this at my dad's and though it would work perfect...

 

[shookbrad]

Sure! I bet that will do the trick.

 

[Timothy01]

awsome a diy nanocube

 

[shookbrad]

Ok, I need opinions. I got the ballest for the lights today. I will run 1 or 2 32W PC lamps. The lamps will be over 5.5 gallons. That is 5.8Watts per gallon.

Will 1 32 watt be enough? I have to consider heat along with light requiremants.

I plan on putting a birds nest, some Xenia, Green Star Polyps, Mushrooms, Candy cain, horrida etc.