Yet Another Start From Scratch Documented Build

[littleimp]

Since these seem to be a favourite topic I am going to document the build of my anticipated 6ft planted tank. I'm cheating with some of these pics though as I actually built the frame 18mnts ago for a saltwater tank but I'll show them anyways so you get the idea.

The tank is 72"x18"x24"

Filtration will be 2 x fluval 404's (sitting in living room)
Heating will be 2 x 300w + cable heater
Lighting will be 6 x 46" T5's
Substrate will be playsand/laterite mix
Deltec CO2 unit fed into filter intake

This one is how it was as a reef.

Will continue pics progress in the next few weeks but now putting together a 3ft nanoreef in bedroom to house whats left of my marine stock sitting in main tank in just saltwater & sand. Once main tank is empty it will be full speed ahead.

 

[WILDER]

Lovely tank, well done.

 

[Tolak]

Looks good! How did you do the top, and what did you do to the top to deal with the condensation associated with water evaporation?

Tolak

 

[zephyr]

lovely tank and stand u got there. If its ok, can u plz show me some pics with doors open / hood open ? (if they do taht is)
thank you

 

[garbodude]

nice stand, what happened to your reef setup?

 

[littleimp]

The whole front bottom is clipped in & just pulls away, the doors are for show. There is no hood as the lights where a metal halide pendant hung above, although I am in the process of constructing a hood with 6 T5 freshwater lamps.

The marine side of things was all going good until my anemone decided one night to climb onto the circulation pump (stream) & turn the water to anemone soup!!

Lost everyting apart form a mandarin fish & 1 clown(about £350's worth )

That along with a hefty leccy bill every month for all the equipment & 800w of halide lighting, I've decided marines are a bit too expensive for my current situation.

If I suddenly become well off I will change this with a dream purpose built huge hole in the wall job so fingers crossed.

Reef tanks have open tops so you need a de-humidifier with this size tank, otherwise you get a bit damp!!

 

[garbodude]

bugger, i have heard of that happening with friends tanks unlucky as it was a nice setup. dehumidifyer? really one of my tanks is open topped ive never even thought about that wouldnt it just make it evaporate more?

 

[littleimp]

Yes it does & that's the idea.

Evaporation means it's being (automatically) topped up by cooler fresh (ro) water which in tun lowers the temperature. In the summer this is increased by the use of cooling fans blowing on the waters surface which allows even more cooler water to be topped up.

Evaporation on a tank this size can be 8-10galls/day in the summer.

Unfortunately high power lighting means high heat until you purchase a very expensive cooling system.

On another note, this is what I'm aiming for with more planting added.

 

[zephyr]

nice choice of design. would look really awesome in that tank of yours.
What kind of fish have you considered on stocking?

 

[CTS]

The marine side of things was all going good until my anemone decided one night to climb onto the circulation pump (stream) & turn the water to anemone soup!!

WHAT i never knew they moved, i thouht they stayed put where the were. Stupid me.

 

[bunjiweb]

They can crawl all over the place! That's what makes them potentially dangerous for some reef setups, they can literally crawl over soft corals causing havoc in their wake. With anenomes you must ALWAYS have powerheads protected well, ideally with sponges...

We had the same happen with a customer, although they tried to blame us for it...

Ben

 

[littleimp]

No I understand it was my fault but I was hoping it would stay put as it had never moved up until that point apart from on the rock it was on. When you go on reef forums most of the better tanks have a stream or 2 & invariably their's an anemone in their with them.

Anyways a quick update, they tank has now been emptied, stripped & cleaned of saltwater so is now ready for conversion.

I've siliconed in 10mm safety glass into the corners to cover the sump holes in each corner. Not a particularly neat job but it will be covered up up by the 70kg of sand/laterite mix on Monday anyways!

 

[littleimp]

Been very busy today, picked up the playsand from homebase & finally got round to emptying the marine sump & clearing & cleaning out the bottom. Doesn't look much i know but this is the ummary of several hours work including cleaning all the equipment of corraline(cement) algae!!!!!!!!!

This is now ready & have added a 2ft tank instead to act as a hospital/quarantine tank.

 

[littleimp]

I've had a day off today & have seen good progress because of it.

Electrical system replaced into the cabinet (used to be outside becuase of saltwater condensation from the sump). I've got a 2ft tank in the cabinet as already shown but this will have a cover over it so condensation shouldn't be a problem anymore. The triple RCD distribution box is wired into to main ring, a piece left over from the saltwater system. The sockets have then been wired to an RCD each for safety purposes.

Heater cable now in place.

Wiring starting to take shape

I have decided on a 2kg CO2 tank, deltec gauges & aqua-medic solenoid. The co2 will feed into a t-piece & then into 2 azoo diffusers either end of the tank.

The azoo diffusers are supposed to be pretty good but to be sure they will sit under the filter inlets, this will hopefully suck enough in to use the filter system as an extra co2 diffuser.

Next task is to stick on the jewel structured backgrounds using silicone, should be fun!!!

 

[MarkR]

If you anyone wants inspiration for SW tank then I think you have achieved that. Very impressive setup!!

I have just started setting up my Tropical tank, after seeing your tank Im having second thoughts.