Reefing on a Budget: 75g Tank Build

[somethinfishier]

I thought that was what you had. I am exploring all my options before buying my t5s.

Nix awsered my next question. Which was about the wiring harness. When you get the wire do you think it will be hard to wire up?

I am really excited to see this tank lit up.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

No, it's very easy to wire up. It won't be a problem at all.

Here is a REALLY large picture of the ballast. You can see the wiring diagram on it very clearly. This is a link to the picture because it is so large. I didn't want to post it on the thread.

http://ballastwise.com/images/upload/products/x/DXE4HO5U.jpg

 

[captbunzo]

That ballast looks like it'd be fun to wire. I love wiring things.....

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

It's the same wiring setup as an IceCap ballast.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

A HUGE shout out to JimmyS. Nick (nIx_tank) helped me pick up a SeaClone body, and last night I picked up the collection cup. I'll be ripping this up to make a downdraft skimmer. Hopefully I'll start working on it next weekend at the earliest.

DownDraft Skimmer - FREE! (JimmyS)

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

On Sunday, Me, Nick (nIx_tank), and Jesse (Radcat) took a piece of simple extruded acrylic that I picked up from Home Depot many years ago and cut them for baffles for my sump. After a little toying around and a little trial and error, I finally have my sump completed as of last night. On the other hand, I don't have my downdraft skimmer completed. I used two processes to install the baffles, and here is what happened.

Removable Baffles
Marine/Outdoor EMPD Rubber (17 ft) - ~$6 ($5.54 after 20% off from a sale at Lowe's)
I gave the removable baffles a try last night. I ended up taking a dremel tool and having to strip off a little extra acrylic in order to achieve this. It was remotely successful. I had a couple spots where water made it through, and as I had the first section filled up half way, the baffles popped out of place. This is probably due to so much force pushing on one side of the baffle. In the end, I felt that it was safer to silicon the baffles in. Now, if you could manage to fill the sump up without popping the baffles out of place, then this would be a very cheap, effective, and versatile method of placing in baffles.
Pros: Looks great, easy to install, and instantaneous.
Cons: Slightly more expensive than silicon, not as strong, takes time to make sure the baffles fit correctly.

Standard Silicon Baffles
GE Silicon I: Window & Door - $3.97 from Lowe's
Not much to explain here. Put a bead of silicon on each side of the baffles to make them water tight and sealed to the tank walls. The most difficult part is getting any of the baffles that are off the bottom to stay in place.
Pros: Strong. No need to worry about bumping them out of place. Slightly cheaper. Easy to get baffles set in the first time
Cons: Time consuming, messy, difficult to handle, wait period on the silicon drying.

I'll update with pictures later.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Well, I took some pictures of the sump last night and here they are.

I was a little restricted on the layout that I wanted to do for the tank, but I'm overall pleased with what I have. The first section on the left hand side is where I'll be placing the Downdraft skimmer. Then, the three baffles are a bubble trap so any bubbles left from the skimmer won't flow into the rest of the tank. The middle section is the refugium. I wanted a really large refugium, but I had trouble comprimising a large refugium with a large return area. I don't want to have to top this system off very often. So, the refugium is a 12" cube. Next is a bubble deterer as I call it. In my other tank, all I had is something to section off the refugium from the return area was one baffle. As the water evaporates, it has to fall further down to meet the surface of the water. This created lots of bubbles that would occassionally get sucked into my return pump. So, with this setup, this should help keep bubbles from getting into the largest part of the return section. Lastly, the return section. It holds about 6-7 gallons of water. This should keep me from having to top off often. I'm hoping to have to do this once every three to seven days at most. I'm hoping to only have to do it once every 10 days.

Sump Cost: Free (From Reuben many years ago)
Baffle Cost: Free (Leftovers from years ago)
Silicon Cost: $3.97 (GE Silicon I: Window & Door from Lowe's)
Router Bit to cut Acrylic: ~$15 (split with friends that will use the bit, too)
Total Cost: <$18.97

This is the sump as is. The dimensions are 36" x 12" x 16". It is a stripped down Oceanic Model II Sump that had a crack in the side. I've placed an acylic patch over it years ago and it works fine.

Here is a leak test in the bathtub. It works GREAT. I missed one tiny spot while siliconing and had to go back and patch the little hole. It was on the baffle with the teeth between the bubble trap and the refugium.

I also left the level of the water in the sump/fuge low enough to compensate for any extra water to overflow from the tank in the case of a power outage. So, as long as I don't have the sump over filled, I'll never have a flood due to power loss.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Through the weekend, I put the sump under the tank, plumbed the return line, and plumbed the drain line. It feels good to get things closer. I also received some Endcaps and Standoffs to start the lighting. Now, I just need to find some wire to wire everything up!

Non-Waterproof Endcaps: $8.00
Standoffs: $20.00
PVC: ~$30

I really don't remember how much all the PVC comes up to, but the 1.5" Ball Valve was $15, so $15 for everything else seems like a good guess.

 

[dngspot]

Thanks for the tip on the sand Travis. Your refigium looks just like mine. I have been building these things for about 2 years. Most of my friends have asked me to help them build one. I cut glass for the baffles. This is one I built for my 55G tank

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Looks nice. Quite alike. I was originally going to place the baffles that were going to be off the bottom taller towards the top like yours, but I decided I would rather have the water flood over the baffles in case the traps got blocked some how.

I'm thinking about doing a test run with freshwater to see how things look and feel.

 

[somethinfishier]

That tank looks so good. Do you already have all the rock made for it? What do have left to do?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I don't have the rock made yet, but I'll be doing it through the holiday season. I want to start this weekend though. Here is what I have left to do:

Make Rock
Place Rock on PVC for aquascaping
Wire T5's
Make Downdraft Skimmer

That's it. I'm almost done. The wire for the lights should be in this weekend. I already have the T5 Components and bulbs. I have the components of the DIY Rock. And I have the plans worked up for my skimmer.

 

[somethinfishier]

Where did you end up getting the wire?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Nick (nIx_tank) just found some from an online source earlier this morning. I just deleted the link, so maybe he'll jump on here. It was 18 awg >600v Braided Copper wire. $26.95 got you a 100ft spool.

 

[nIx_tank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8511383#post8511383 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis L. Stevens
Nick (nIx_tank) just found some from an online source earlier this morning. I just deleted the link, so maybe he'll jump on here. It was 18 awg >600v Braided Copper wire. $26.95 got you a 100ft spool.

Here is the link that to where I found the wire.

Wire

I personally look forward to doing some wiring work, since my ballast is on its LAST lightings.

Plus, I can't wait to see how bright my t5s make my tank look! woohoo! I think my cats will go blind given the amount of time they stare at the tank.

 

[somethinfishier]

Why did you guys choose stranded? I am going to buy some wire for my new t5s and was planning on getting solid. Just wanted to check.

 

[nIx_tank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8511632#post8511632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by somethinfishier
Why did you guys choose stranded? I am going to buy some wire for my new t5s and was planning on getting solid. Just wanted to check.

I got stranded for the fact that it was pretty tough to locate solid. Most of the solid that I was finding was at a higher gauge, and not going down to 18. Or I would find solid 18, but not rated to 600V.

This wire is rating at 600V, with +130C temp I believe.

Otherwise, I would much have perfered to do solid instead of stranded. I am still debating if it would be easier on my fitting on these wires into my ballast if I soder (sp?) the ends to easily slip into each wire clip on the ballast.

Before I do this wiring project though, I need to build some DIY reflectors in lieu of dropping a bunch of cash on nice reflectors. I plan on replacing these DIY reflectors as soon as I have the funds to do so.

Funny how quick your fish budget for the month is gone. And it is only the 9th! lol

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

It doesn't help that I keep giving you ideas :lmao:

 

[nIx_tank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8511769#post8511769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis L. Stevens
It doesn't help that I keep giving you ideas :lmao:

Hell, otherwise I would be bored.

Nothing scarier than me bored. I get into way too much trouble then. lol

 

[captbunzo]

I think you made this hard on yourself. When I wired, I found solid wire at lowes in the form of some 4-6-8 or something conductor wire. In short, 4-6-8 or so different colors of shielded wires wrapped together in a shield, sort of like telephone wire. If I remember to (ha, yeah right) I will bring some up to the meeting this weekend.

Holler at me if you really want me to remember (PM/email/phone). And do it early as I am leaving Saturday morning for the city for various bits of tank visiting, etc...