Supermoto65
New member
Hey to everyone! Figured I'd do a build thread .. my first one! I mean first build thread, not tank.
Background. Been in and out of the hobby for several years. Had the usual freshwater fish stuff... community tank to SA Cichlids to Africans. Then took the plunge and setup my old 90g as a mixed reef about 13 years ago.
Had a big ole sump and external pump, fancy skimmer, a gillion watts of MH lighting (sure is hot in here). The works! 200lbs of live rock, a bunch of sand .. HOB overflow (what's that noise? Is the toilet running?). Got a great deal as I had a friend that was a friend of another friend who knew the guy with the same initials as the company ... SDC and I was able to most of the stuff directly at cost. Otherwise a 10g would have been more in my budget at the time.
Had that tank a couple of years .. two kids later and didn't have time anymore. Ended up in storage and lost it in the divorce. Oh well.
Fast forward a few years from there and got a 12g Nano Cube. Had fun with that .... upgraded pump, LR in back chamber .. added small powerhead ... tore it down once or twice due to moves etc.
So ... about 9 months ago I saw some threads about de-rimming that tank and thought .. yeah ... that would be cool!
Go into garage and find the tank .. get some razor blades and a hack saw and viola! Rimless 12g! Woohooo!
Got it setup and hit the LFS .. Yeah .. I want that pretty Live Rock there with all the Coraline already all over it! $12 a lb? Sheesh. Come to find out that wasn't really coraline and I just bought some Real Reef or WS stuff. Wow .. things have changed! (not happy the LFS did not tell me) ...
Need to upgrade the light as I removed the lid ... hit the forums ... LED? Really? I can use LED's now and the Amazon special CB are CHEAP? Put my Prime membership to use and picked up a Galaxy Hydro 165 watter. Did the conduit light stand, added a IM media basket and that's it ..
Here is a recent bad FTS ..
My kids (son 12 and daughter 10) also have tanks now .. with my daughter having a freshwater 2.5 gallon and my son just graduated from a 5 gallon FW to a new Evo 13.5 mixed reef (his Christmas present) ... I swear he knows more than I do now (thanks to the Internet). We go to the LFS and he knows all the coral and fish names already.
So now I am looking to upgrade myself! Yes ... I got a 40b and 20l at the Petco $1 per gallon sale. I am sure that's big news around here ... lol. Had to go to 2 different stores to find a 40b but we got one and it's been sitting for a couple months while the wallet recovers from Christmas.
That is until a couple of weeks ago!
Had a bunch of pallet wood for a few girlfriend projects and decided to tackle the stand as well.
Standard 2x4 ... I used some scraps for the backers which actually left room to wiggle the 20l in ... got lucky there!
Here's a shot after skinning ...
Then added the pallet wood over the 1/4 plywood skin ...
Painted the inside with Kilz ...
Sump build silicone drying .. only photo I took since my fingers were all covered in silicone.
More sump and plumbing mockup...
I need to add unions to the return and also a manifold for future equipment expansion. I am replacing the ball valve with a gate valve(s).
Still need to a piece of trim to the front above the panel and repair the two pieces that busted off when I dropped the panel during fitting. Using magnets to hold it on.
Was originally going to do a barn door slider but realized that would only give me access to half the width of the door .. didn't think that one through. LOL. So gonna do a faux barn door with the track and hardware anyway as it is part of the overall design.
That's it for now. Will be working on the plumbing tonight. Got a few goodies from the brown Santa Claus ...
Still to come:
Lights and how to make them look good in the living room .. WAF or, GFAF is you will, in play here. (you mean those ugly black boxes have to stay there!?!)
Skimmer and sump setup (what's that smell?)
Wires, power strips, controllers and other shocking things!
More goodies to on order .... to order and waiting to be delivered ....
If you've made it this far ... thanks for reading the first tank build post/novel.
If you pulled a (TL;DR) I completely understand and I hope you liked the pictures ... lol.
Stay tuned!
Background. Been in and out of the hobby for several years. Had the usual freshwater fish stuff... community tank to SA Cichlids to Africans. Then took the plunge and setup my old 90g as a mixed reef about 13 years ago.
Had a big ole sump and external pump, fancy skimmer, a gillion watts of MH lighting (sure is hot in here). The works! 200lbs of live rock, a bunch of sand .. HOB overflow (what's that noise? Is the toilet running?). Got a great deal as I had a friend that was a friend of another friend who knew the guy with the same initials as the company ... SDC and I was able to most of the stuff directly at cost. Otherwise a 10g would have been more in my budget at the time.
Had that tank a couple of years .. two kids later and didn't have time anymore. Ended up in storage and lost it in the divorce. Oh well.
Fast forward a few years from there and got a 12g Nano Cube. Had fun with that .... upgraded pump, LR in back chamber .. added small powerhead ... tore it down once or twice due to moves etc.
So ... about 9 months ago I saw some threads about de-rimming that tank and thought .. yeah ... that would be cool!
Go into garage and find the tank .. get some razor blades and a hack saw and viola! Rimless 12g! Woohooo!
Got it setup and hit the LFS .. Yeah .. I want that pretty Live Rock there with all the Coraline already all over it! $12 a lb? Sheesh. Come to find out that wasn't really coraline and I just bought some Real Reef or WS stuff. Wow .. things have changed! (not happy the LFS did not tell me) ...
Need to upgrade the light as I removed the lid ... hit the forums ... LED? Really? I can use LED's now and the Amazon special CB are CHEAP? Put my Prime membership to use and picked up a Galaxy Hydro 165 watter. Did the conduit light stand, added a IM media basket and that's it ..
Here is a recent bad FTS ..
My kids (son 12 and daughter 10) also have tanks now .. with my daughter having a freshwater 2.5 gallon and my son just graduated from a 5 gallon FW to a new Evo 13.5 mixed reef (his Christmas present) ... I swear he knows more than I do now (thanks to the Internet). We go to the LFS and he knows all the coral and fish names already.
So now I am looking to upgrade myself! Yes ... I got a 40b and 20l at the Petco $1 per gallon sale. I am sure that's big news around here ... lol. Had to go to 2 different stores to find a 40b but we got one and it's been sitting for a couple months while the wallet recovers from Christmas.
That is until a couple of weeks ago!
Had a bunch of pallet wood for a few girlfriend projects and decided to tackle the stand as well.
Standard 2x4 ... I used some scraps for the backers which actually left room to wiggle the 20l in ... got lucky there!
Here's a shot after skinning ...
Then added the pallet wood over the 1/4 plywood skin ...
Painted the inside with Kilz ...
Sump build silicone drying .. only photo I took since my fingers were all covered in silicone.
More sump and plumbing mockup...
I need to add unions to the return and also a manifold for future equipment expansion. I am replacing the ball valve with a gate valve(s).
Still need to a piece of trim to the front above the panel and repair the two pieces that busted off when I dropped the panel during fitting. Using magnets to hold it on.
Was originally going to do a barn door slider but realized that would only give me access to half the width of the door .. didn't think that one through. LOL. So gonna do a faux barn door with the track and hardware anyway as it is part of the overall design.
That's it for now. Will be working on the plumbing tonight. Got a few goodies from the brown Santa Claus ...
Still to come:
Lights and how to make them look good in the living room .. WAF or, GFAF is you will, in play here. (you mean those ugly black boxes have to stay there!?!)
Skimmer and sump setup (what's that smell?)
Wires, power strips, controllers and other shocking things!
More goodies to on order .... to order and waiting to be delivered ....
If you've made it this far ... thanks for reading the first tank build post/novel.
If you pulled a (TL;DR) I completely understand and I hope you liked the pictures ... lol.
Stay tuned!
