My Ultimate 40 Breeder Build

[Marlboro Zoa]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

that reservoir looks really nice, with the dimensions you have room for, hot much top off water will it hold?

I agree, it looks awesome. If I make my reservoir 4X14X18 then it will hold a little over 3.5 gallons. Theorectically, the largest that would fit in the space I have would be 5.5X14X18 which would be a little over 5 gallons, but probably won't fit. I will have to make a cardboard box model and test the sizes out once I recieve my fuge/sump and place it in the stand.

I think the painted looks better anyway. You chose a nice blue. Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought about using 1x3 legs to make the opening wider. Perfect for a 20 long. Good job hiding the screws. I was planning on putting the base inside the frame, but I like how yours looks with the wood on the bottom. Did you glue two pieces together, or did you round it with a router or something?

Nothing fancy for the 3/4 ply on the top and bottom, just slapped it over the 1X4 box frames, and attached with 2" decking screws and glue. Later I filled the holes with wood putty, and then the veneer makes it look like a solid piece of wood and covers the putty spots. I like having it this way because it give more height inside the stand to work with, and after it's all sealed up it will retain a bit of water in case of a major leak.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Oh, happy day! I got my skimmer today! This things a beast considering its the smallest model in it's line. I was not expecting it to be so big, but isn't that what everyone says when they order an awesome skimmer?


I would have prefered they put this inside a box and then ship it, but oh well, made it in near perfect condition surprisingly, not a scratch or tear on the box.

The unboxing...

So clean and new....just want to sniff it :spin1:

Not-my-beer comparison picture, really its been in the fridge for months!

Inside the imaginary sump, looks diminutive now

Should get my vortech tommorow or monday, can't wait :bum:

 

[RG21]

This is pumping me up for my 40B build!

 

[Mavrk]

This is pumping me up for my 40B build!

Me too. I like the corner molding. That is what I was thinking was a routed top. Looks nice. Can't wait to see what the stand looks like stained or painted or whatever.

 

[96slowbra]

you won't be disappointed by anything from elite-aquatics. i have his 5-gallon ato reservoir and several other things he has made for my reef. i just got my sump/skimmer/cal reactor from him for a 120 build i am working on. his work is flawless

 

[OwenReefin]

That sump is absolutely stunning.

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

This is pumping me up for my 40B build!

I'm glad! I can't wait to get it done myself.

Me too. I like the corner molding. That is what I was thinking was a routed top. Looks nice. Can't wait to see what the stand looks like stained or painted or whatever.

Yep, thats the stuff. Just left a bit of an overhang with the plywood and put corner moulding under it. This was a round corner moulding that is 1/2" thick on one side and 3/4" thick on the other side, pretty cheap too.

Finishing the stand is the scary part. I know for certain that I want a black finish, but I have my doubts. I don't want it to look like it was spraypainted. I don't want to hide the grain totally and have it look like cheap wood was used and painted over. I don't want to stain it wrong and have the result turn up blotchy because it didn't take on some random areas where I had previously wiped off glue, I have no idea what to do. Well actually, too many ideas and none that I can decide on. For instance you can turn wood black through a chemical process called ebonizing. Or you can achieve a perfectly black stain by mixing a can of black stain from the hardware store with this stuff you buy at a crafts strore called "India Ink". But then part of me wants to use black laquer, and a whole bunch of coats of clear gloss laquer over it to achieve a super glossy piano finish. Oh man :hmm2:

you won't be disappointed by anything from elite-aquatics. i have his 5-gallon ato reservoir and several other things he has made for my reef. i just got my sump/skimmer/cal reactor from him for a 120 build i am working on. his work is flawless

OK, I'm sold :inlove:
I will be contacting him once I decide on a blueprint!

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Got the vortech MP-10W today. Yes it's very cool, but I'm still looking at this tiny thing thinking, my God that was expensive, and I still need to buy another! But I love my gadgets, and this thing is state of the art, so I'll be keeping it. I'm not going to try it out in my current tank though, trying to keep all my stuff brand-new so I can have maximum enjoyement with the new setup. The only thing I did was verify it worked on a thick piece of hardboard for a couple minutes and got familiar with some of the modes. Didn't let it run too long though in case the wetside needs to stay cool via water submersion.

All the included parts. At the top left you see two stips of hook and loop tape for securing the control unit to wherever. Unfortunately there is no key hole in the unit similar to how power strips have keyholes. Below the four nylon zip ties you can see the foam guard that can fit over wet side. In the bottom right corner you get a total of four wire management clip things that you zip tie the dry side wire to and adhere these clips along the tank frame ect using the included dual sided adhesive tape on each of them.

The business end. The included ruber disk says to use it if glass thickness is below 1/4" to prevent damage to the pump.

 

[Patricklong]

While your taste in beer is questionable...your choice for powerheads is EXCEPTIONAL!!

 

[Below Radar]

While your taste in beer is questionable...your choice for powerheads is EXCEPTIONAL!!

Questionable at BEST!! lol Have you thought about going with an MP-40Wes to go along with the 10? Overkill is overrated!!

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

While your taste in beer is questionable...your choice for powerheads is EXCEPTIONAL!!

lol! Would you believe me if I told you it was one of my mom's beers!

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

Questionable at BEST!! lol Have you thought about going with an MP-40Wes to go along with the 10? Overkill is overrated!!

I thought about going with two MP 40's but what with the price and all, I just decided that in the future if I ever have a large enough tank, I can buy a third MP 10 or more.

 

[Mavrk]

any updates?

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

any updates?

Not a whole lot going on right now. My sump/refugium is supposed to arive between Aug 2 and Aug 8. Once I get that I can buy a ton of plumbing supplies and work on designing a top off reservoir. I also need to buy another vortech mp-10, the JBJ auto top off, aqualifter pump, some heaters, a heater controler or reef keeper jr (or similar), an American DJ strip or two, and either an Eheim 1260 or 1262 return pump, and another phosban reactor. Oh and I need a whole new RO/DI unit probably; my coralife RO unit needs a new membrane, carbon, and prefilter so I might just buy a whole new setup.

I decided not to build a canopy for the tank since rimless is what's in these days, and I don't feel like going through all the trouble.

Got my mp-10 mounted, I'm not sure how many people use the wire management squares, but I'm not taking any chances. I would probably cry if the dryside fell off and busted on something!

 

[mgrmax]

I'm thinking black would look really nice for the stand, which looks excellent BTW.

 

[Arkayology]

I really like the build so far. The stand and sump are super nice!

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

I'm thinking black would look really nice for the stand, which looks excellent BTW.

Thank you! Yes, black should look pretty sleek.

I really like the build so far. The stand and sump are super nice!

Thank you, appreciate it!

*Update*

Well, my refugium still has not arived, it was due for delivery between Aug 2-8. Story of my life. I have also spent around $800 this past week on other goodies, some of which have allready arived. I'm dying to post pictures, but want to dump them all in a day or two once it's all here! Oh boy, the waiting is killing me!

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

OK, the wait is killing me. For some unseen reason the manufacturer of the sump/fuge took longer than expected to build it, and I should be getting a tracking number by tommorow. So in the mean time, I'm going to post pictures of my newest purchases! Besides the sump/fuge I have some other tidbits that should arive soon too...

Eheim 3000 return pump. This will run two TLF PhosBan Reactor 150's as well; one with activated carbon, the other with GFO.

But this is my most exciting arival yet! What could possibly be inside???

YEAH!!!

In all it's glory. But I'm not done though, I plan to buy another Energy Bar 8 or EB4, and a PM2 with salinity probe.

So now that I have all these electronics layed out before me, and knowing that I will also have the vortech controllers and more Apex stuff, I have to choose a mounting location. Because I am paranoid about moisture and oxidation when I have this much $ invested, I am afraid to say that the inside my stand will not be an ideal location. Looks like I will have to build some sort of external electric cabinet. While I am at it, I am going to probably design it to hold an uninteruptable power supply. I have been researching those as well, the plan will be one that can run (1) vortech MP10 continuously on low and my return pump for about 5 minutes every couple of hours for a 36 hour period which is the longest power outage to date in my neighborhood (thanks Comed and your failure of an electric grid that shuts me off for any strong gust of wind).

 

[OwenReefin]

Very nice setup going on. Most don't think about things like power failures until a few system crashes later

 

[pkane11384]

In it on this one. SUBSCRIBED. Your workmanship is impeccable. I wish I was that talented with woodworking