Our 65 Gallon Shallow Tank Build

[Reef1589]

IM BACK AT IT!!!

For those of you who know me, know i got a 75g mixed reef, and ive been wanting to setup another tank.. well i finally came across another one to my liking..

its a 65g Acrylic Frag Tank.. its 48'' x 24'' x 14''
now im not 100% sure if im going to use this is a frag tank or a grow out tank of some sort yet, but i figure i'll just go with it and see what it turns into.

ive been kind of picturing some low level rock scapes in my head that could still be sweet, or just turning it into a full blown growout frag tank.. not sure of it yet, but what i am sure is i wanna share the experience with you all

it was pretty gorgeous today, so me and my brother decided to go build a stand today, let me tell ya, menards was packed today this nice weather has everyone out working on their projects already.

here's the initial start of the stand.
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Just doing a level check before we go any further
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Good to go foward, so adding the bottom panel and side panels
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Now this is a view from back of the stand, we are going to leave the backside open to help with ventilation
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and here is a front view, Tomarrow we will cut out the squares to then put on the cabinet doors we got
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we then welded together a set of metal hanging brackets where the 250W Metal halide will hang from

and here's a preview of how the tank will sit, ..just imagine for now that there are Door's in the front
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the stand will be painted black, the tank will be plumbed into a 40breeder, i think ima try and set it up as a display macro algae refugium type deal.. (thats what i have invisioned now, plans will more than likely change)

It will also have 2 brand new MP10esW's i bought a month ago for a 40 breeder project, but since my 40b turned into a sump now, they will go on the back wall of this 65g tank both facing towards the front, because i dont think they are strong enough across from each other 48'' apart (already did a test on my 75g and didnt seem like they had enough just for that long of a tank, they still had alot of motion, just not as much as i would like)

this could be a slow devoloping build, depending on some things but figure id document this 1 from the start =D

 

[finfan4]

Love those dimensions,good luck with the build. tagging along.

 

[Dre59]

Looks real good!!! Tagging along also

 

[Reef1589]

Davis junction eh? Right down the road from me finfan =P

So this isnt a major update, but just pretty much finished up the stand today

Measuring the Door's onto the stand
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Cut the holes
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Whalla!
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now that everythings on and good, decided to add some trim pieces out of boredom thought it would make it look a little cleaner, as you can see down at the corners too we rounded the edges, to make them flush and round with the tank..so it all rounds together looks pretty good in person, cant really tell in the pic though.
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Now to Paint!!
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THE GOOODIESSSSSS!!!
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[crooks]

What size are those doors and how much were they?

 

[Reef1589]

What size are those doors and how much were they?

idk the size off the top of my head.. and i got 100% lucky with this size i kind of just grabbed the 2 biggest ones, and they fit perfectly, im already in the house right now, and to lazy to walk back to the shed haha, tomarrow ill get the dimensions for you, but they were 21.99 each at menards.. and the black hinges were 2 bucks each
if i recall though i think it was like 22''H x 16''W .. but not 100% correct ill measure tomarrow for ya though

 

[Reef1589]

What size are those doors and how much were they?

hey crooks sorry took so long to get back to you with an exact measurment works been crazy was in the middle of building the sump and remembered about this so thought id measure and give em before i forgot haha
28'' H x 16'' W
and they were 21.99 each i beleive. i spent no more then 45 for the pair.

 

[Reef1589]

SO my family use to own a glass shop and we had some glass laying around so i made my brother put together the sump today, Cut the glass and edged it all nicely. we went with something pretty simple any feedback is appreciated im debating if i wanna have him add 1 more wall right after first two... or just leave it like that and have it flow from the bottom instead of over the top of a 3rd wall..

first chamber - Filter sock/ Skimmer ..
Middle - Refugium
Last Chamber - Return

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[Adyn]

Nice sump!

 

[Reef1589]

BOX NUMBER 1 FULL OF GOODIES ARRIVED TODAY!!!.. 2nd box should be here friday!
this was better than christmas..


BRS GFO/Carbon Reactor W/ Pump
Mag7
Reef Keeper Lite

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and the skimmer

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[Reef1589]

so i ment to post these earlier, but i had some things come up..BUTTTTT.... i got my rock today from marco rock, i ordered 25 lbs box, with 15 lbs of shelf rock and 1 pillary rock that weighs 6 lbs for a total for 46 lbs for right now..

i gotta say i was not all that impressed with the shelf rock, i didnt know they were going to double cut both sides, i thought 1 side was only cut but all i got where pieces that were cut on both side so it doesnt really look as natural as i like, i dont really like how you got this natural looking rock then bam some flat shelf pieces but either way still nice pieces and i would still order from them again. just next time ill make notes that i want the single cut slabs.. shouldnt be an issue.

here's some pictures of the rock, and just some aquascape idea's let me know what you think.
Rocks Laid Out
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First Aquascape i played around with

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Top View
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Angled View
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Second Aquascape i was playing with
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Top View
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Angled View
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Let me know what you think of the 2 idea's.. im sure it will change before the tank is setup.. which i estimate to be soon

 

[elite01]

That second aquascape looks great imo something new to me. Great thread

 

[faisal629]

that second aquascape looks great imo something new to me. Great thread

+1

 

[kawicivic]

if you aren't happy with the shelf rock - check out BRS shelf rock. It is not cut. It is natural shelf rock. It is very nice rock. I asked for a large piece for my 180 and I got a 10 lb piece so big that It was hard to fit into the aquascape. It is probably 12"-14" in diameter. Also, the shelf rock did not seem as dirty as the pukani rock that I got.

I agree that it doesn't look very natural. Was the shelf rock more expensive? I would assume so since its more labor. Once coralline grows in and it cycles, you may find that the edges get mroe rounded. Dry rock and live rock look totally different. I am always amazed at how many holes pop up that you didn't see when its in your tank. Anytime I've dried live rock, I found tons of tiny pin holes when it is done.

 

[Reef1589]

if you aren't happy with the shelf rock - check out BRS shelf rock. It is not cut. It is natural shelf rock. It is very nice rock. I asked for a large piece for my 180 and I got a 10 lb piece so big that It was hard to fit into the aquascape. It is probably 12"-14" in diameter. Also, the shelf rock did not seem as dirty as the pukani rock that I got.

I agree that it doesn't look very natural. Was the shelf rock more expensive? I would assume so since its more labor. Once coralline grows in and it cycles, you may find that the edges get mroe rounded. Dry rock and live rock look totally different. I am always amazed at how many holes pop up that you didn't see when its in your tank. Anytime I've dried live rock, I found tons of tiny pin holes when it is done.

that was another option i was gonna do, was the BRS rock... but meh, i was considering emailing marco rock back and seeing if they would maybe do something for me, instead of having the double cut slabs.. but im not reallly that picky so ill porbably just end up working with what i got haha, and ya i know once some corals grow onto it, and the coralline it'll look better.. haha give it a year and no one will even know they are 100% flat pieces

 

[Reef1589]

i know im starting to get into little itty bitty updates, but just thought id share i finally got everything moved into the room the tank is going into... i estimate everything to be running in about a week

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no this isnt the aquascape haha was just playing around again
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[lovereefs1]

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The above configuration wont work well due to the baffles being too tall. The skimmer needs to be in 6-10" of water to function optimally (according to the manufacturers specs). You will likely be dealing with a constant overflow as it sits. Only options are to lower the baffles to accommodate or raise the skimmer the appropriate height. The latter would be the easiest but it will make it cumbersome to clean the cup and the filter sock. Either way it will be easier to fix now than later after its full and running.


Glad to see you went with the Halide! (It's about time... lol) GL

 

[taylor t]

And I would add, you want to draw water off the bottom of the skimmer compartment, not the top. All the micro bubbles will just overflow right into the return area, making baffles useless as a bubble trap.

Nice job on the build! Looks great! That tank dimension gives you a lot of nice aquascape possibilities.

 

[Reef1589]

Well what I was thinkingg of doing was raising it cause I know it was sitting too low out and re-cut it. And make it rightt =/

 

[Reef1589]

So im getting down to the very end before finally getting to fill it up, i went out today and bought the stuff to buff the acrylic and finish the plumbing, just got done buffing it, will finish the plumbing in a bit.. but just thought i would just show you all how it turned out after i buffed it


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No, i did not clean the backwall obviously as you can tell haha, but i do ha ve a question..do i have to wash the tank out after using the Mcguire's Plastx buffing compound? or is it safe to just fill afterwards?