My 29g DIY Nano Reef Build...

[w2Thezoo]

Welcome to my 29g DIY Nano Reef Build.

Over the next while I’ll be putting together a 29 gallon nano system. The plan is to put together as much as I can myself from scratch making this a true DIY system. This is my first time attempting a reef system and I thought it would be fun to share with you my successes and failures in the hopes that we can all learn something about this hobby and some cool DIY stuff along the way.

Goals of the system:

It has to work! - Pretty obvious (by work I mean sustain life)

Energy efficient - I want to keep operating costs down (and also I hug trees ) so I’m going to try and keep the number of plugs and overall wattage to a minimum. This means trying to keep things as analog as possible (by analog I mean using physics and not electricity). I’m also going to be on the lookout for new ideas and technologies (such as LED lights).

Eco friendly - When I do get to stocking the aquarium I’m going to try and keep the oceans reefs as far from my tank as possible. This means a couple things; I’m going to be vigilant about tank bread fish, I’m going to only stock with second generation coral frags, and I’m going to be making my own rock (neh sayers? to you I say neh).This might be a challenge but it’s definitely not impossible, the only problems I foresee is with invertebrates which may pose an even greater challenge.

Innovative – I’m an arts person and I love to test the boundaries.. I think someone once said, “without those who push the boundaries we would never know how far we can go”.. Or something like that (I’ll Google it later), anyway, I’m going to hopefully come up with some new ideas and put a few twists on some old ones and see how it goes.

So that’s the plan; some things probably won’t work out, some things will. I hope you guys will follow along and share in my reef experience; I’d love to hear your questions or comments.

Don’t forget to subscribe

[duncantse]

Can't wait for some pics.

[keifer_unit]

Good luck, I just finished my 29G build. Cant wait to see some pics.

[w2Thezoo]

Originally Posted by duncantse

Can't wait for some pics.

They’re coming

Originally Posted by keifer_unit

Good luck, I just finished my 29G build. Cant wait to see some pics.

Just read through your build, very nice! Love the plumbing and sump design, very unique! As far as pictures you and duncantse will see some soon enough ...

[w2Thezoo]

The List…

Today I just wanted to break down my “To Do” list and kind of give you guys a heads up on what exactly to expect in the next little while. Over the coming weeks (probably months) I’ll be doing a series of DIY projects with the ultimate goal of getting a reef aquarium up and running. I have a boatload of projects planned and have actually started (and finished) a couple, which I’ll get to in my next posts. But like I said, I just wanted to break down what I’ll be doing in a kind of “to do list”; so here it is.

What I’m going to be building / doing:

• Stand
• Pluming - (Overflow / Return)
• Rock – (Oystercrete)
• Sump
• Reactors
• Skimmer
• Plenum
• Dosing device
• Auto top off
• LED fixture
• GFI install
• RO/DI install
• Quarantine / Hospital tank
• And many other things along the way…

As you can see there are more than a few projects planned and I’ll do my best to document them as I go to share with you. Everyone loves pictures so I’ll keep my camera handy and depending on the interest of those that follow the thread I might shoot some video. Anyway, that’s my piece for the day

[1Snapple]

Subscribed, can't wait to see if when it's all up and running.

[renoeb]

Nice

[w2Thezoo]

Alright, so before I get into it I should probly tell the story of where this starts. About 2 and a half years ago I was running a 10 gallon freshwater tank in my room. I had fun with it; it was definitely something I enjoyed. I got all my fish and equipment from a pet store that only sold freshwater fish and plants. I really had no idea about salt water tanks and fish (I grew up in northern Canada, way inland, still never actually seen the ocean except on TV). So, I’m doing pretty good with my 10 gallon, and now I’m kind of getting into the whole fish thing. One day, while on the hunt for some “cooler fish”, I visited an actual fish store. Seeing a reef tank for the first time BLEW MY MIND (the way it only can for someone who’s never seen anything like it before). I just stood there with my face to the glass for an hour and some as buddy from the store told me what I was looking at. Cool tentacle animals, the most colorful and amazing fish, all kinds of awesome salt water plants (corals), weird looking bugs moving all around the tank almost invisible…..HOOKED…. so I hit the classifieds and found a pretty sweet 29 gallon tank still in the box for $40 and started building a stand. Once the stand was finish, I moved... and like so many things, it had to be put aside for a while as a million and one other things got in the way… so now I’m settled in and have some time on my hands (2 years later :S) and it’s time to get back at it!

Basically, I tell you this so you understand the stand build pictures are old and were never really intended for this forum (some didn’t survive the move and computer upgrades since that time), and also so that you understand the lag in the build process, what you see on my avatar picture is what I’m building, because I’m ahead of my posts by a couple sections (I’m actually just finishing the plumbing). I know what you’re thinking “holy @#$! No one cares! Let’s see some pictures!” lol so here you go…

The Stand…



^ The framing pictures are some of the pictures that got lost so I did a quick rendering of it in sketchup. It is made to match the foot print of my tank exactly (30.25”L x 12.5”W including the plastic ends). Its height is 29” leaving an inch for its top (making the stand 30”H when finished). Notice how I notched the 2x4 posts so that the boards that run the length of the stand fit right into them.

The pictures for the next few steps were never taken. But, basically I then skinned it with half inch (good one side) plywood, trimmed it with some premade trim from Home Depot (Expensive stuff), put a one inch thick pine top on it that extends out just past the trim, and stained it with some Varathane stain (I forget the color now); in that order.

I also built a hood that I framed with 1x2 strips, and then I skinned it, trimmed it, and stained it with the same stuff as the body of the stand.

I thought it would be cool to give it kind of a sunken treasure feel so I decided to paint only the trim black. Here is what it looked like up to this point, getting ready for paint.


^ The stand


^ The hood

Basically, I covered up everything but the trim using some paper and painters tape.


^ That’s what the stand looked like after I sprayed it.


^ The doors I made using the same plywood and corner trim as the stand. I also stained and painted them in the same fashion. That’s the paint I used in the picture.


^ On the insides I sealed every seam where the wood meets with caulk and added some extra bracing (This stand is seriously overbuilt and weighs a ton! < -- figuratively). I later gave the insides a few thick coats of white outdoor paint. If I laid this thing on its back it would hold water.

Once everything was dry I gave the whole stand a few coats of spray polyurethane to give it a nice shine and seal it all (good for 25 years :P).


^ That’s what the finished stand & hood look like in my office .

(Note the missing paint on the bottom corner; when my dog was a pup he thought corners were delicious.)

There you have it! One 29 gallon aquarium stand.

[duncantse]

OMG! Gorgeous stand.

[100%hydrophylic]

wow, that is a beautiful stand.

You can already tell that this is going to be a high quality DIY build

[Aaarrrggg]

Wow!! Amazing stand! Gotta keep my hubby away from this build or he'll have me taking down my tank to make one like yours!

Awesome plant pot / side table thingie too!

[w2Thezoo]

Originally Posted by duncantse

OMG! Gorgeous stand.

Originally Posted by 100%hydrophylic

wow, that is a beautiful stand.
You can already tell that this is going to be a high quality DIY build

Originally Posted by Aaarrrggg

Wow!! Amazing stand! Gotta keep my hubby away from this build or he'll have me taking down my tank to make one like yours!

Thanks everyone for the great feed back!

Originally Posted by Aaarrrggg

Awesome plant pot / side table thingie too!

Haha it’s actually an ashtray that my lady bought me a while ago. It had to be re-purposed because I’ve since quit smoking (Been about 6 months < -- Yay me! )

[Aaarrrggg]

Originally Posted by w2Thezoo

Haha it’s actually an ashtray that my lady bought me a while ago. It had to be re-purposed because I’ve since quit smoking (Been about 6 months < -- Yay me! )

Haha, then I DEFINITELY need to keep him away from this thread because I'm trying to convince him to quit smoking too... an ashtray like that would make it near impossible! Gratz!

[w2Thezoo]

Originally Posted by Aaarrrggg

Gratz!

Thanks!!!

[Smolder]

Hey Zoo,
I noticed you said you were an artsy kind of person, and also wanted to stay as far from the reefs as possible. I was wondering if you had seen cerameco's vida rocks. I found these the other day and have since ordered some for my upcoming reef. Very neat stuff. You can get the info from the web site. All custom and one of a kind pieces. Very economical and ecologically sound.

[w2Thezoo]

Originally Posted by Smolder

Hey Zoo,
I noticed you said you were an artsy kind of person, and also wanted to stay as far from the reefs as possible. I was wondering if you had seen cerameco's vida rocks. I found these the other day and have since ordered some for my upcoming reef. Very neat stuff. You can get the info from the web site. All custom and one of a kind pieces. Very economical and ecologically sound.

Hey Smolder,

Thanks for the heads up! Definitely some cool stuff. I’m going to be making my rock myself in the near future but there are definitely some great inspiration pieces on their site.

[w2Thezoo]

The Plumbing…
(Including Pump, Overflow, Return, and Overflow Box)

Alright, right off the bat let me tell you that I did most of the plumbing while my girlfriend was in Niagara on a girls weekend, and so she had the camera. I did get a lot of pictures, but they were taken with my Blackberry which has less than spectacular clarity. So, please excuse the quality of the pictures.

The Parts

To plum a reef system you need parts, so here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I purchased:


^ A Sump

My “new” 10 gallons sump (20”L x 10”W x 12”H) which I bought used from the local classifieds for $5.00. It did have some ugliness on it, but from what I could see the seals looked good and there were no scratches or anything; so I took it home. After a 24 hour leak test / vinegar solution soak (I used 5 cups of vinegar per 10 gallons of water) and some TLC, that’s how it came out.


^ A Pump

I chose to go with the Mag 7 for my system after doing a few calculations. In this picture you can also see the airline check valve I bought for the overflow.


^ Some Fittings (Return fittings are ½” and overflow fittings are ¾”)

These are almost all the fittings I used (I’ve since added a few finishing touches which I’ll get to at the end of this post). The top left set is the spray bar assembly, the bottom left set is the manifold and pump assembly, the top right set is the overflow assembly, and the bottom right set is the overflow “through-stand” assembly. Not it the picture is a 10’ length of 1/2” PVC pipe, and a 10’ length of 3/4” PVC pipe. Everything depicted here cost me about $60.


^ PVC primer and solvent cement

That’s pretty much everything as far as parts.

Putting it together

Pump Manifold Assembly & Overflow “Through -Stand” Assembly


^ First I measured out and cut some holes where the pluming would go through the stand


^started dry fitting and cutting some pipe


^ Everything cut and dry fitted


^ Pump manifold all glued and ready to be installed permanently.


^ The finished product installed. (Bad picture quality :S )

[w2Thezoo]

Overflow & Return Assemblies


^ I started the overflow by modifying some of the fittings to give it a more compact design.


^ Beginnings of overflow


^ Dry fit overflow assembly

That is actually as far as I got that day with the overflow; because I wanted to do some tests before I glued it all together. (I’ve since run some tests and made some modifications.)


^ Here are the beginnings of the spray bar assembly


^ This is what I’ve done up to this point in the build as far as the spray bar and overflow


^ Completed(ish) spray bar

I made the nozzle by putting the end of a small piece of PVC (maybe 1.5” long) in a vice and heating it with a lighter while I closed the vice slowly (Trick is to keep the flame moving). When the end of the pipe was completely closed, I let it cool and harden in the vice. Once it was cool, I took it out and cut the sealed end off just after the seam where the pipe begins to open again and glued the new nozzle end into a 90 degree elbow.

From here I ran some pipe from the pump manifold to the spray bar, and from the overflow to the sump.


^ The spray bar and overflow plumed in

And that’s the plumbing … (for now)

[w2Thezoo]

Overflow Box


^ Overflow beginnings

The over flow box I made with a piece of 4” (diameter) ABS pipe. I started the overflow box by cutting the piece of ABS pipe to the height of my tank (just shy of 18”); I then cut the pipe in half. I also rounded the bottom corners of the overflow box so that they fit nicely with the silicone on the bottom edge of the tank.


^ Overflow box baffle measurements (I ended up using the set of measurements at the bottom)


^ Baffles cut in the overflow box


^ A quick test fit

I finished off the overflow box by painting it navy blue with some Krylon Fusion spray paint. (It’s been drying for the last week)


^ This is what the system looked like by the end of the weekend

I later added threaded hose barb fittings to the pump manifold and overflow where they poor into the sump and attached some hoses. Once everything was cemented and left to cure for few days I did the first test of the plumbing. You can see the system running in my plumbing test video.

1st Plumbing Test - "The Loop"

And there you have it! One almost completely plumed 29 gallon DIY system.

(Also there is an update coming in the near future.)

[keifer_unit]

I was going to build an overflow just like that for my build. I like they way it turned out.

[w2Thezoo]

Originally Posted by keifer_unit

I was going to build an overflow just like that for my build. I like they way it turned out.

I like it so far (not sure how long that’ll last). One of the best parts of it is that it stays primed and doesn’t require manual intervention in the event of a power failure! And also, it was super cost effective. However, I do already feel an inch diameter pipe might have been a better choice and I might end up switching it out if it becomes a problem (clogging being my main concern). The math says it’ll work fine giving the proper head pressure, but my gut says bigger is better lol.

I think a Beananimal type system would have been my preferred system, but that would’ve meant buying tools for drilling and a bunch more PVC and time. So, I went with cost and time over coolness.

As a failsafe, I’m eventually going to plug the return pump into a float switch so that in the event the overflow loses it’s prime or stops working for whatever reason and the display starts to overflow, it’ll kill the pump.

Anyways, Thanks for the feedback

[fote03]

Looks good. Keep the updates and pics coming!

[w2Thezoo]

Overflow Box (Continued)

Alright, so last weekend I got around to siliconeing the overflow box into place. Here is a look at how that went.

First off here is the silicone I used


^ As you can probably read its GE Silicone I 100% silicone rubber clear

I started this project by placing the overflow box in the position I wanted (in relation to the overflow pipe) and tracing it on the outside of the aquarium glass.


^ Overflow box outlined in dry erase marker

I then taped off the areas I didn’t want silicone to touch, leaving only the seam I wanted to silicone exposed.


^Overflow box and tank ready for silicone

After a couple of test runs practicing the motions (wax on-wax off), I laid down a bead of silicone following the marker line as a guide.


^ The first bead

The next few steps I had to do with some haste since the silicone dries relatively quickly, so I couldn’t take many pictures, but I basically placed the overflow box gently into the silicone making sure the edges were completely encased. Once it was laid in the silicone, I laid another bead of silicone along the seam, and right after I finished the second bead, I smoothed out the silicone with my finger and removed the tape.



^ That’s pretty much how it turned out

^ Some shots from the inside, back, and bottom of the tank (stuff that’ll never be seen again)

The silicones packaging sais 48 hours is required to fully cure so, before I could leak test it, I would have to wait. In the meantime I started the next project (which I’ll get to in my next post). I gave it more than 72 hours before leak testing my seal, I figure when it comes to cure time more is almost always better.

Leak Test

I started the leak test by making sure the aquarium was level.


^ I had to use some shims (the floor in my office is not my most level floor.)

Once everything was leveled, I began filling the tank.


^ Tank filling setup


^ So far so good


^ 6 hours later and no leaks

Success!

[violet21chewy]

tagging long.

[sponger0]

Looks good. I love the stand