Pife's Low Buck Build 250 Deep Dimension

Pife

Active member
I have an unique concept that I am going to try. As the title says I am building a tight asses reef. I am going to either build everything that I need and/or buy it used. I am planning on keeping a running total of what I have spent for myself and others. I know there are a lot of builds on here with great Diy instructions and pictures. I have gleaned a lot of great ideas and inspiration from these builds. To keep things cheap this is going to be long and drawn out process. I will keep the photos coming as it seems we all like pictures of anything.

This build started by chance. My wife is pretty upset bye the sound of my skimmer on my 90g in our dining room. :debi: It is really loud. I have an Iwaki 40 powering a Etss skimmer. It is a great skimmer but quite isn't one of it's features. She asked me how we could get the noise out of the Dining room. I said the best way would be to put a sump in the basement. She didn't mind the idea as long as I didn't drill through the floor. No problem for me I'll take the plumbing down through the wall. I put the word out to a couple of guys in my local fish club about the "permission" I got for a basement sump and had them keep a look out for a sump for cheap. I was at church with my inlaws when I got the call from Dsmack about a great sump at a great price FREE!!!:fun4: I contact the guy and I go pick up the sump that day and it is great. 240g sump. Here are a couple of pictures of picking it up and it sitting in the back yard. :dance:

9338028015_b78a7d7513_c.jpg


9340812924_6d40d504b7_c.jpg


This is all I have for tonight and will keep adding until I get caught up to were I am now.

Total cost
$0
 
I got the sump from a guys backyard and it may have been contaminated with pesticides not to mention that the sump came from a LFS that used low amounts of copper. I did some research and think that the best thing that I could do was clean the sump out with some muriatic acid. Now here is a small disclaimer. When you use acid make sure you use a quality pair of rubber gloves wear eye protection and only use it in a well ventilated area. Now I didn't need a lot of water so I just filled the sump up several inches of water and added a couple gallons of acid and then used a new mop and mopped the whole sump inside and out. It took awhile to meet my satisfactions that I had scrubbed enough to get everything out of the acrylic. I then added three boxes of baking soda and scrubbed everything again. I then rinsed with water and did bleach and rinsed it until the bleach smell was gone. It took a lot of time but it is well worth the effort to make sure nothing foreign gets in to my reef. I thought that I had more pictures of cleaning it but apparently I didn't want to take the gloves off to get a shot.

10215250176_129220857c_c.jpg
 
Actually, you should just trim the excess plastic around the top rim.

I dont know how much water you plan on keeping in the sump but if it the height of the baffles shown, you dont need the support that is offered by the "euro-bracing". The baffles cemented to the walls should suffice.......but Im no engineer so take that for what its worth.
 
Actually, you should just trim the excess plastic around the top rim.

I dont know how much water you plan on keeping in the sump but if it the height of the baffles shown, you dont need the support that is offered by the "euro-bracing". The baffles cemented to the walls should suffice.......but Im no engineer so take that for what its worth.


Thanks for your input. I Think it will be good also. I don't plan on running more than 14 to16 inches of water. I need to redo to baffles to better suit my needs.
 
It has been quite some time and I have made a lot of headway with the project. Mostly with the wife. I am finally allowed to put it in her dining room. I have picked up a lot of pieces for the build and will list them all here. I have the 250 dd. I bought it off of C list for the great price of $240. After I enlisted the help of some unlucky friends I have in in the backyard. After I got to do some research on Starphire glass I have figured out that it has three sides of Starphire! I think I got a heck of a deal. The only thing bad about the deal is I have to buy some bulkheads because the person that removed them didn't do a great job. They cut some of them in half and the other half doesn't have nuts. Here is a picture of the tank before I cleaned it up and for some reason I can't find any pictures of post cleaning. All I used was straight vinegar and cleaned it up to looking all new again.

10215225105_28b7f55a77_b.jpg


Total: $240
 
I needed to build a stand for this thing so I did research on here and found out what size lumber I needed. I used RocketEngineers Thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1567110&highlight=stand I went with 2x6's for the top support and 2x4 uprights and for the bottom. I skinned the top with 3/4" Plywood. I made sure to cut everything nice and square and remeasured everything after I had cut it. This is an important step as I need the stand to be nice and square. I don't want any deflection or imperfections. A LFS just had a tank seam blow out because the didn't build there stand well enough. I used a pocket hole jig and many clamps to make sure and get things square and level. The frame work came out nice now I have to pick up all the Oak I need to finish off the stand. My wife has finally picked out a couple of other stand that she likes. Now that I know what she wants I will get it built to her standards.

11920786805_edb5142e54_b.jpg


11921662016_62e3a459de_b.jpg
 
I found what I think to be a deal on a 20lb aluminium co2 tank. Would you guys pay 50 bucks for a half full tank like this?
 
The test date is good for 5 years, so I would see how long it will be before you have to send it in to have it tested. Also, I would take it in and have them take the CO2 out, then re-gas it.
 
I didn't think about having it degassed and then re gassed. I don't think I could trust some guy that I don't know.
 
Well I went ahead and bought the co2 tank. I beat the guy down to $40. I think it was a good deal for a part that I am going to be needing.
 
Well I forgot to add up the total last time and I can't remember how much the lumber was to build the skeleton of the stand so lets call that $60 as I had the 3/4 inch plywood at the house from some other project. So that puts the running total at $340.



Total $340
 
I have been busy buying things up for the build so I might as well let you guys in on it. Around Christmas time I found a cheap used Neptune Apex for sale on Selling forum on here. I paid $460 shipped to my door. It had a VDM with it and 2 lab grade ph probes that were new. I have been messing with it a little. I picked up a wireless bridge for the Apex of Clist for $10. While I was on Clist I searched for Calcium Reactors and low and behold there was a guy selling a GEO 624 with out a tank for $265. I got him down to $250 and bought up that deal. Here are some pictures of what I have bought so far.
12752285764_08e3386953_c.jpg



12751956673_17e6c3e1b2_c.jpg




Total
$960
 
Back
Top