Budget doesn't exist in this hobby: Brian's 45g Build
 

Hey guys, I'm Brian and completely new to owning an aquarium. Recently moved back to Vancouver from Ontario and kind of spontaneously decided to finally start up a mini reef. I have been looking into starting one up and researching from time to time for the past couple years but the cost of starting a tank always deterred me from committing. Couple of weeks ago someone parked on the side of the road opened their door without looking and smashed my mirror off my car. They decided not to go through insurance and paid me $600 which was the quote for repair. Managed to find one for $100 from a scrap yard and had some extra cash :peace: So I thought what better time to look into starting a mini reef again.

I was just casually browsing through craigslist last week and found a brand new 20g tank for $20 and thought that's a really good price so I'll just buy it and store it until I end up using it for a tank one day. After that, I was just browsing on the forums here and saw a 29g for sale for $20 as well so I actually just decided to buy that too :razz: I went over to user Galizio's house to pick it up and that was the first time I've actually seen a mini reef in real life. It was so much more beautiful from what I have seen in videos and I was completely blown away. His tank was absolutely stunning and this was the moment when I knew I was committed. So now I have 2 tanks and don't really have a plan just yet. I might sell off the 20g or end up using it as a sump.

I say this will be a budget build but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be cheap. I guess cheap is a relative word but in general I don't really like using just the cheapest product available especially in something like a mini reef where quality of equipment will matter. When I say budget I will mean that I will try to get the best performance I can while keeping the cost as low as possible by either buying used items or fabricating my own stuff. So I will be documenting how much I've spent as I go to perhaps give other new reefers a sense of the cost of starting up a reef from complete scratch.

For now I guess I have some planning to do ahead of me and will be sitting in front of my computer looking for some good deals for the next while. If anyone has suggestions or tips as I go don't hesitate to let me know. Any help will be appreciated as I have never tried something like this before.

Total cost so far: $40

Here are the tanks
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7072

The 29g I will be using for the main tank that I got from Galizio
It had black silicon which I thought looked nicer than just clear
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7073

Finally, the 20g I might end up using as the sump.
It came with a metal mesh top which fits the 29g width-wise as well so I might cut it in half later and use it on the 29g
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7074

Welcome to the addiction! :D

I think that's a great idea to use the 29-gallon for the main tank and the 20-gallon for the sump. Now you need to build a stand to hold them. :) You won't be able to use that metal mesh lid though as it will rust very quickly.

Thanks for the welcome!
Yup, been scanning craigslist for a suitable stand or design one from scratch. Could I spray on some coats of protective paint or still no good?

No, paint will peel fast and you'll get rust. If you need a lid, use mesh with an aluminum frame you can make from window parts at Home Depot.

Got it, I'll see if I need a screen. I guess that'll depend on what livestock I go with. Was just gonna try to make use of it since it came with the tank but guess not. Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely try to fabricate one if need be

Yeah, for a smaller tank like that, just look for a nice household cabinet. You can always reinforce it by adding some 2x2" or 2x3" to the inside. Just make sure it's tall enough for a skimmer to sit in the sump and be able to work comfortably in there.

Went to go look at a couple cabinets today.

I want to put the tank under this shelf I have in my room but hard to find one that will fit under nicely with the tank.
This is where the tank will be going. Don't mind the mess I just cleaned the shelf off to get a better idea of how I wanted the tank set up underneath :redface:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7079

This was the best one, solid oak and fit perfectly where I wanted it.
Unfortunately I couldn't negotiate the price under $60 which was more than I was willing to pay at this moment.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7075

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7076

Will be going to look at this one tomorrow. Also oak, doesn't look as sturdy but will probably get the job done. I'll see when I go look at it tomorrow. This one is listed for $20 so my hopes are up. Little bit less storage space but as you said as long as there's enough room for a skimmer and work it should be good.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7077

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7078

I see a backpack, are you a student?

First of all, do you have any tools available to work with? Circular saw? Drill?

The first one is pine, not oak. It looks to be a really good option. You could paint it white or the wall color to match the house trim or walls and it would look pretty sharp. I'd probably pop the boards off the back of it and replace that with 1/2" plywood. You're right though, $60 is too much.

The second one I wouldn't be comfortable putting a 29-gallon tank on top of it as it is. It appears like it would collapse sideways fairly easily. I would remove the lower backing, and put a single backing of 1/2" plywood covering the whole thing. I'd also check under it to see what's supporting the "floor" inside the cabinet. What's the inside measurement from the floor to the shelf? It looks pretty short.

The reason I suggest plywood is because it's one solid piece, and if you tack it on all the way around with nails or screws every 6-8" it adds a significant amount of reinforcement preventing the cabinet from leaning one way or the other and collapsing.

Yes I am indeed, I'm attending BCIT for mechanical engineering right now.

I do have some tools, I also have access to the machine shops at school. For more specialized tools I was going to start asking local reefers if they could lend me a hand when the time comes. I'm sure my school will have more than enough tools for my needs though.

I never knew shopping for furniture would be so difficult and expensive to get just the one you want. I'll usually spend about 2 days max looking for something online and picking it up, but 4 days of searching for the right cabinet and still nothing...

Once I have a cabinet in my possession I'll start to look into ways to strengthen it for sure. Have you built a stand from scratch? What is the rough estimate cost of the 2x4s and plywood altogether? I want to spend just about as much as it would cost to build one. Another couple of days and if I can't find something to my liking I might just hit up the hardware store and DIY it.

Lots of members here build their own stands. Just scroll through the Tank Journal forum. You can spend as little as nothing, if you have material lying around, or hundreds to thousands depending on many factors including welded metal frames, or fancy millwork. In your case, I'd expect you would spend $60 at least on materials at Home Depot etc. Buying a used piece of furnature and reinforcing it as Myka suggested is the best way when on a budget.

Check the "Free" section on Craigslist. Once in a while you can find some gems on there that cost you nothing, just need transportation to bring it home. You'd be surprised at what people give away for free.

I agree, I built this one for about 95$ 2x4s and pine covered. Added trim and stain and still without doors im in for 150$....

http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/...psbdegenlk.jpg

http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/...psc73skkm3.jpg

That nice pine cabinet for $60 doesn't seem like a bad idea anymore... hahaha
Your stand looks awesome though Roskoreef, if I had time and money right now I wouldn't want to do anything else but custom build all my equipment.

Wow today was a busy of running around picking up some equipment and looking at multiple different cabinets.

This was today's haul:

CPR CS-90 overflow box and brand new Tom aqua lifter with hanging kit
Got this for $50 together from someone on craigslist
The overflow has some buildup but it's eventually bound to happen. Any tips of removing this? Is acrylic safe to vinegar dip?

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7080

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7081

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7083

Next, I grabbed a return pump and a simple LED light to use for the fuge for $10 also from craigslist.
Not sure what brand the pump and the label doesn't have much info either, but from what I've researched I think this is called a mag7 pump? If anyone has more info and want to post it'll be appreciated. I just thought it was cheap and there wasn't much to lose with this purchase so just went for it.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7086

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7103

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7089

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7090

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7091

Finally, I found a cabinet that I think will finally work for my build!
I believe it's solid pine, and it was built by the seller's uncle.
I got very fortunate with this purchase, he was selling a set of 4 furniture and I thought he wanted $90 for it and was thinking of offering $30 for the cabinet alone. When we met up and started talking price he wanted $200 for the cabinet and I was shocked and I told him I came here thinking of spending about $30. Turns out the ad was for $900 altogether and I had just misread it. We negotiated a bit and I told him since we're both out here and I got $40 cash right now that I would take it on the spot if he can let me have it cheap for a project and in the end he let it go to me! The furniture was too big for his my apartment and he had been paying storage to have it stored so I think that's why he was so generous about letting it go. In Vancouver Kijiji seems to be less popular compared to Craigslist but I'm glad I looked there and found this cabinet.

Here it is!
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7097

Each side is made up of about 1" thick wood and even the back which is shown in the picture
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7095

The bottom is supported by beams on 3 of its side
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7092

Each joint is glued and either screwed together or nailed together
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7093

The back panel has a bit of gap between it and the top but i think structurally it should still be sound. I might fill in the gap with some wood putty.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7096

Even the doors are joined together instead of 1 piece, looks awesome imo
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7101

I gotta admit though that with the sump in the storage compartment it's a tight fit. I'll be able to get everything in there but will need to do some amazing cable managing to get everything to fit nice. Starting to plan out the plumbing as well now and things are starting to get complicated. Maybe I'm being overzealous with the 20g sump and maybe I'll try to find a 10g to use instead.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7102

Here it is set up with whatever I have for now.
I wanted to hang the lights off the shelf I have and the cabinet turned out to be the perfect height so I'm very happy.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7100

The wood on the cabinet is also rough finished so I can just light sand it and stain or paint it the way I want or just leave it the way it is. I kind of like the look of the wood right now and how it contrasts the rest of the dark furniture in my room so I might just leave it the way it is and just give it a nice finish.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7099

The cost is slowly starting to rise and the next couple of things I get will be more expensive probably. Next on the list to hunt down are a skimmer, heater, lights, and power head.

Total cost so far now: $140

Thanks for the tip, while looking on there I actually found some glass sheets being given away for free. I wanted to take a sheet and cut it up to use for my baffles.

I had some questions though, the glass is coming from some office and I assume it has been cleaned with chemicals during its time. Is there a safe way to clean the glass so that it will be aquarium safe? Or should I just not bother?

Does anyone know of a reputable and inexpensive place to get glass cut in GVRD?

Just clean it with a vinegar/warm water solution and that will do the trick.

Cheapest way to cut glass is with a glass cutter from Revy/Home depot, maybe $10, and use a straightedge to score. Finish the edges with some sandpaper. Provided of course, the glass in question is NOT tempered.

Try to find a 15-gallon tank for your sump. Dims are 24 x 12 x 12". You just have to be smart about your baffle height and plumbing so there is room for the water to backflow and not overflow the sump. I used a 15 on my 50-gallon reef.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

Alright I'll have a lookout for one.

Maybe you can trade your 20-gallon for a 15? Or, Petsmart here carries the 15-gallon tanks for I think less than $20, but I can't remember for sure. A 10-gallon will be too small.

Got a fresh box of apples from user SSDiver from Kamloops!

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7104

Let's see what's inside!
Awwww it wasn't apples :sad:
SSDiver really put in some care packaging everything and even covered half the shipping.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7105

So here are the things I bought from him:

Tunze DOC 9004 protein skimmer for $70 and 3162 comline filter for $50
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7106

SWC Xtreme LED lights $90
I couldn't pull up much info on these lights other than that they use 3W Cree LED which people seem to have mixed opinions about.
Do you guys think this will be adequate for a 29g? If not I was thinking of adding a T5 fixture to go along later down the road.
Fan is so damn loud on this thing... I don't know how someone could listen to it all day. Will have to replace it for sure.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7107

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7108

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7109

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7110

I was a little hesitant about this purchase but went for it anyways.
Tunze 3155 ATO for $120
I'm trying to keep this a budget build and an ATO is a bit of a luxury item, but since I was buying multiple items SSDiver gave me a fair price for it so I thought why not.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7111

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7112

Koralia Nano 425 PH for $10
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7113

Here are some things he threw in for free which was really nice of him.
Power bar, 300W heater, magfloat glass cleaner, and a mechanical timer
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7125

Quick mock up of how everything will go in the sump.
Heater, skimmer and filter in the first chamber. The 300W heater might be too big and I might need to purchase a smaller 200W heater instead.
ATO sensors and the pump in the return chamber.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7126

Shoutout to SSDiver, he was so amazing with communication and just an awesome person to do business with.

Even while trying to keep this a budget build it's not proving to be cheap. For someone on a tighter budget the comline filter and the ATO were not necessary purchases and could save roughly $170 without those 2 parts.
At least all the expensive components have been purchased now. Only the plumbing left really.
Where is the best place to buy plumbing parts in Vancouver? I went to RONA today and they had scarce amounts of plumbing parts.

Total cost now: $480

Good choice on going with the ATO. I wouldnt consider that a luxury item at all. In a smaller water volume setup such as this, evaporation can cause salinity swings easily if you're not diligent with your water top ups. Id count that as a good, must have purchase.

Agreed. I think this is mandatory equipment. If I'd had to top off manually, I would have quit years ago. My ATO is plumbed right into my RO. Haven't touched it in years.

Thanks guys, making me feel much better about the buy.
Now only if I could convince my gf that spending $120 on a "thingy that squirts water into the tank every once in a while" was a sensible purchase hahaha :razz:

its all good practice for the day you have to justify the 100.00 - 1/2" frags. :wink:

I'm enjoying the build, thanks for sharing it.

This is very true, thanks for following with my build!

Me likes your choice of equipment! :mrgreen:

Like others said, ATO is just too darn important; manual topping off is just too painful.

$480 with almost everything so your budget build, I would say, is well within budget. I am more than $700 in and I still have to get skimmer, ATO, live rocks and you know...stuffs to put inside the tank and etc.

Another busy day and it's only halfway through the day!

The fan in the lights is way too loud and have to come out.
Time to disassemble, my favorite activity!
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7114

Here is a closeup of the 3W Cree LEDs, looks like they are quite easy to replace if a module fails or I want different colored LEDs. Right now there's 10 white LEDs and 10 Blue LEDs. Would any of you change out 1 or 2 of these for a different color?
If so which would you go with?
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7117

The thermal paste contact was quite poor from the factory... less than 30% of the heat from the main board was probably being carried to the cooling fins.
This won't do, so time to get modifying.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7115

This is what I use to clean thermal compound off anything. It was for use in my computer build a while back but they have come in handy for many other unexpected applications like this one.
It comes in 2 stages and does an amazing job, you can simply use 100% rubbing alcohol to get similar results.
Will also be using some nice new thermal compound lying around from my last PC build as well.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7116

Nice and clean
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7118

Luckily I had some fans lying around from trying out multiple fans to get the most optimal airflow in my PC. I will be using the Noctua NF-S12B for the lights. Anyone in the PC building community will know that Noctua is the undisputed leader when it comes to quiet performance fans. The NF-S12B was designed for airflow rather than static pressure like most computer fans are, which makes it ideal for this application. Since the density of the cooling fins are nowhere near the densities of computer radiators, getting more air flow through them rather than static pressure should be more efficient and keep them cooler.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7127

Time to "simply" switch over the wiring from the old fan to the new.
You'll see why it wasn't so simple soon.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7120

There are 3 or 4 wires depending on the fan. The only ones we want are the red power and black ground wires and I simply trimmed off the yellow. Rest are usually for variable fan speed signals from the motherboard of the computer.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7119

Here it is soldered and heat shrinked. After assembling everything I was still able to hear the fan at 100% so I went back and added a resistor to keep the fan running at 50% but not shown here in the picture. Do you notice something weird?
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7121

If you noticed that the power is connected to the black wire and the ground is connected to the red wire you are correct. If you look back at the original disassembly picture, someone at Cree or SWC thought it'd be a great idea to switch up the colors of the wires for the fan :idea:
I soldered everything like I supposed to the first time and went back to assemble the light and the fan wouldn't turn on no matter what. I thought I somehow broke something and pulled out my multimeter to check the voltage at every point on the circuit board. To my surprise everything seemed to be working right until I checked on the connector for the fan and saw that the polarity was reversed. That's when I looked back at the photos and realized the red wire was the ground and the black wire was the power for the fan connector :doh:
What should've been a 5 minute soldering job turned into hours of trying to troubleshoot a simple wire mixup.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7128

Time to assemble everything back together, I wanted more thermal compound on these cooling fins but the tube came in small volumes since they were only really designed to cover a CPU. I actually emptied the whole tube here.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7122

I used the rubber attachments provided by Noctua instead of the original screws to hold the fan to further decrease the amount of noise from the fan. Finally everything is assembled and running!
There's nothing quite satisfying like the sound of a silent fan operation hehe :mrgreen:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7124

I have 2 more of these fans lying around so I might use them to create some airflow in my sump area if the space permits inside my cabinet.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7123

I also ran around 3 different RONA locations today to find all the plumbing parts I needed. I still need a check valve since neither RONA nor J&L carried any. Anyone know where I can find some locally? I also need a method of connecting soft tubing from my mag7 pump to one end of the 1" PVC pipe. What is the best method of doing this?
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=7129

Also, does anyone in the Vancouver area have a hole saw that can drill a hole big enough for 1" bulk head to go through? This might be a bit of a stretch but I'm also looking for a 5" or 120mm hole saw to drill a hole for the circulation fans. If anyone has either of these tools and was ok to lend it to me for a bit it would be much appreciated! I checked up on these tools while I was at RONA and for the 5" one it was like $50+ before taxes :sad:

The only plumbing I've ever done was inside my computer but seems like the concept is pretty much identical
http://i.imgur.com/HnGrxT2.jpg

The cost of the PVC parts came out to more than I expected/wanted to.
I think I spent just around $80 for plumbing parts.

Total Cost: $560

My total budget I had planned for was around $600 until I start cycling and it's getting close!
The bulk of the equipment has been purchased now so I think I'm doing an OK job at keeping to budget. Usually when I enter a hobby I like to go all out. This one is just a bit too costly to do that, so this is the first time I've had to really keep track of my budget and it's proving to be a good learning experience.

Your signature hits too close to home hahaha
I see that you recently got back into reef keeping so I'll be keeping a close eye on your work.
Thanks for dropping by, I knew what I was getting myself into but didn't expect the costs to pile up this quick :lol!:

That thing is drool worthy! Braided cable and rigid pipe water cooling....sighs I always wanted to do that to my PC my with all the horror stories about coolant leaking and the expense is just too much to swallow.

:lol:

Thanks :)

The cost of setting up is the tip of the iceberg. It's like you pay $7 for the ticket to a movie but then end up paying $15 for popcorn and drink. And you know watching a movie without the snacks are like a saltwater tank without the fish/corals (you see what I did there?).

Thanks, I have more time and money invested in my computer than I want to admit. It was a year long project with every tube being hand bent with a heat gun and every individual wire made and sleeved by hand as well. Never really worried about leakage with hard tubing. It's more of an issue with soft tubing as it deteriorates over time. It's definitely a fun project and I recommend it. It's really like plumbing an aquarium on a smaller scale. In terms of expense, you can try to spend as little as you like or just go all out. Since this project took a whole year I had more time to save up money compared to this tank build.

I totally get your analogy. That is why I'll only be keeping track of the cost until I am done cycling as anything that comes after that I cannot predict.

Fun build! Yup budgets are meant to be smashed when it comes to hobbies.
That computer is awesome, showed the wife the pic and the first word out of her mouth was NO! LOL back to spending money on getting back into tis hobby.

So ya... this totally happened over the holidays haha

Such a teaser! We need pics!

Nice build so far. Pics!!!:lol:

Hehe... having fun yet? :wink:

Been very busy celebrating the holidays and classes in college just started again for me, but I have been constantly working on the setup during that time.

So here's the first update of the new year!

Preparing to paint the back
http://imgur.com/mX24JsP.jpg

Used some black spray paint I had around.
Definitely didn't put out enough newspaper and got a lot of overspray on some stuff in storage haha oops :p

First light coat
http://imgur.com/OCc8IWR.jpg

Took a shot at cutting up some glass
I got 3 24x24 glass sheets for free from craigslist and a $15 glass cutter and it was a lot easier and fun than I expected

Cutting up some baffles to use in the sump
http://imgur.com/u3pxW5e.jpg

Grabbed black silicone from J&L during the boxing day sale and took some scrap pieces to practice with

http://imgur.com/NcYbb4h.jpg

I thought I might as well make something with the scraps and built a container for the ATO
Got this idea from seeing Rich's tank couple of weeks ago at a meet

http://imgur.com/d03ytCI.jpg

Was a messy job but whatever it holds water, I'm calling it a day haha

http://imgur.com/dMCyCtH.jpg

Here's how it would sit in the cabinet

http://imgur.com/vG0q84Z.jpg

Installing the baffles as well, simple 3 chamber design with a bubble trap
With a pretty small sump I was pretty limited with space.
A little worried if I have to upgrade the skimmer one day but I'll make it work.

http://imgur.com/D6lezZo.jpg

3 coats of paint later

http://imgur.com/RUIgo0Q.jpg

and plumbing completed
Lots of unions, I love unions. What lovely invention :mrgreen:

http://imgur.com/Jxd1Ny8.jpg

Finally, a leak test on everything
Did have a small leak with a bulk head but easy fix

http://imgur.com/HBTjnel.jpg

and then I decided I wanted to have the biggest possible tank that this cabinet could fit and grabbed a 45g from craigslist...

http://imgur.com/8NxriPM.jpg

There's more to the update but I'm running out of time since I'm going skiing since it's such a nice day. I'll post more later~ :lol:

A little worried about how much fun I'm having, if I'm dead honest haha

See I told you... easy peasy!

Nice buddy!

Haha, not even wet yet and you're upgrading! You won't regret it!

Fell asleep after skiing and woke up at 3am got nothing better to do than to give you guys part two of the update!

The standard 45g was the best fit for my cabinet especially with how I had plumbed it.
The issue was that the 45g is rather odd and unpopular tank size and getting hold of one was not easy.

I tried almost all the big LFS around here and every single one of them told me that they don't carry the 45g because people simply don't really buy one.
Messaged the 1 or 2 tanks on craigslist from people in Kelowna to even the islands with no luck.

When I finally saw this one come up for sale in abbotsford I just had to grab it.
I paid $60 which was more than I wanted to but I knew if I didn't grab this one I wouldn't have much other choice in terms of finding another 45g

The tank overall was in rough shape. Scratches here and there I can deal with but it seemed like someone had attempted to reseal the tank over the existing silicone and did a terrible job at it.

http://imgur.com/DbwRWA2.jpg

The silicone was also bubbling which was ugly and compromised intergrity.

http://imgur.com/S8A7jlM.jpg

When I finally saw the tag of when this tank was made I knew a reseal was inevitable.
This tank is old enough to buy itself drinks at a bar!
(the bubbles are from me testing if it would even hold water on the bottom because the silicone was in terrible shape)

http://imgur.com/ILEojd7.jpg

New tank proposed new challenges as well like this center brace.
I plumbed for the overflow box to run in the middle and the brace will also block off my lights.

http://imgur.com/S4m3AzE.jpg

So I simply cut if off...
I am convinced that the 45g doesn't actually need this brace as I did a full water test and measured that the glass doesn't bow more than 2mm in total and the brace didn't even go tight.
Just so I can sleep with an ease of mind at night I will still be replacing the brace with something else in a future project.

http://imgur.com/DSuL4bS.jpg

Now it's easy to work on the silicone without the brace getting in the way too.
Resealing the tank was fairly easy and didn't take as long as I expected.
It was almost scary how easily the silicone on there came off. I'm very glad I decided to reseal the tank.

http://imgur.com/nDplnCN.jpg

Prepared for reseal

http://imgur.com/SSOcurd.jpg

Cleaned up all the glass and sealed her up.
I gotta say my silicone applying skills have come a long way since that test ATO container I made :mrgreen:
Seeing the glass clean and smooth silicone edges make me a very happy person haha

http://imgur.com/srjNxBd.jpg

While waiting for silicone to dry and whatnot I wired up this fan system for cooling as I don't have space nor expenses for a chiller.
I grabbed a tank fan from craigslist for $20 and soldered in my 2 fans in the wiring.
The power supply is a 220V supply and conveniently only runs at about 8V DC instead of 12V since it's only on 110V. This keeps the fan running quiet.
The issue was that there wasn't enough current to drive the 120mm fans so I wired in a fan controller going into the tank fan to control how much current I sent to it until the two 120mm fans had enough power to start running.

http://imgur.com/Y8HzZ59.jpg

Started cleaning some of the more gunked up used items with a 48 hour diluted vinegar dip.

http://imgur.com/1cbr39G.jpg

This stuff was gross to clean.

http://imgur.com/JYfbNIT.jpg

So grabbed some new equipment over the holidays like this Tunze nano wavebox for $40 from a fellow reefer here and a Tunze silence pump from J&L as the mag 7 was unbearable.
As you guys might've noticed in the short time I've been in this hobby I have fallen in love with Tunze products. Every time I try their stuff out it's dead quiet and energy efficient.
If I'm having troubles choosing between brands I will have no hesitation to try out the Tunze first.
I might try to find a used controllable Tunze powerhead to connect up to the second channel on the wavecontroller for better flow and ease in the future.

http://imgur.com/6O685Nu.jpg

I also scored a RKE for $200 from a fellow reefer with the modules I wanted.

http://imgur.com/WR4Y7B6.jpg

I was a little disappointed to find out that there were some issues with the unit.

First, the temp probe would only throw an error when connected through the RJ11 ports

http://imgur.com/oyMVPuH.jpg

Second, the SL1 module was reading nonexistent values even when there were no probes connected to it.

http://imgur.com/F9oX7p1.jpg

http://imgur.com/8Ip3ZzL.jpg

http://imgur.com/G5YtavU.jpg

Finally, this PC4 module would not power up...

http://imgur.com/yDwN1GM.jpg

Having a look inside there were heavy corrosion and even after trying to wipe off most of the debris with 100% alcohol I had no luck.
The owner said that he got it a while ago and never used it.
I would say that being near saltwater and being stored away for a long time caused the board to corrode and fail over time.

http://imgur.com/BJV0R49.jpg

Some really heavy corrosion around these mosfet chips

http://imgur.com/5IpuLFZ.jpg

So I assumed that the SL1 probably suffered the same damage as there are openings to the case on the SL1 which make it more prone to humidity damage.
As I predicted I found some corrosion inside the unit but not as bad as the PC4

http://imgur.com/JUkGHRe.jpg

Gave it a good brush with 100% alcohol.
The red circle shown is actually one of the areas I think was causing issues.
If you look carefully enough you can see that the corrosion built up enough to the point that these 2 contacts on this chip were touching.

http://imgur.com/cjCmhRa.jpg

Cleaned off the area well and voila! Never thought I'd be so happy to see an electronic throw an error before.

http://imgur.com/Jc9N93p.jpg

So now I had to test what was wrong with the temp probe so I cut off the RJ11 connector and crimped on some molex connectors that I had from my computer build.

http://imgur.com/JdHaXoA.jpg

Plugged it into the SL1 and it works!
I guess this is how I'll be using the temp probe from now.
The owner did promise to refund me some of the cost for the broken PC4. I'll either have to ship it to DA for repair or try to find another one for sale.
Or maybe both...

http://imgur.com/iE6cK1G.jpg

Decided I was gonna drill a 3rd hole in the cabinet to add a second drain to the overflow box.

http://imgur.com/da6ntFO.jpg

So after much research, I have read from Herbie himself that the Herbie method is not viable for a siphon overflow.
So I know that Herbie can't be achieved here but the overflow is already pretty silent as it is and the 2nd drain will just purely act as an emergency and not to surface skim.
This should give me some redundancy as many people have told me that HOB overflow tends to fail a lot.

http://imgur.com/7psSZKn.jpg

The middle drain had a cheap ball valve and when I did a leak test on the 29g I realized just how clunky these things are to control flow so I decided I wanted a gate valve on the main drain. Grabbed a gate valve from a reefer on here.
The issue was that even though the middle drain was on unions I didn't want to remake the plumbing already installed under the cabinet so I just had to route the plumbing to run to the existing ones I had already installed.
It got a little wonky but I'm happy with the final product.

http://imgur.com/TTwZd6q.jpg

Total cost now: who knows... I've lost count
I just started researching more and realized I want more and things quickly got out of hand before I even knew it lol

One of the mods should edit the title of this thread to - There is no such thing as budget in this hobby: Brian's 45g build :lol!:

Brian, just skimmed through your thread, that's a whole lot of work you did buddy. One thing I want to mention is that overflow, I have had nothing but bad experience with them...I think you should drill...