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180g peninsula tank build - First ever aquarium
So, about 5 weeks ago 3 gold fish came into our home because of Persian New Year. Well these poor goldfish were stuck in a little 3gallon tank. I decided that they deserve more!!! I embarked on a mission to find these goldfish a new home where they can swim free....
One thing lead to another and I bought a 180g tank.... SW tank... soooo ya, goldfish are still stuck in the 3gallon one! DOH! Anyways, this is my first aquarium so I may be doing alot of things wrong so take my pictures and posts with a grain of salt (instant ocean salt) Hardware so far: 180g tank 70g sump 6' coralife aqualight pro 150 watt with new 13K geismann's 2 tunze 6105s powerheads 1 tunze 6215 wavebox PENAIR SKIMMER (Euroreef 250 copy) made by Pen-air Aquatics(8"body & 24"tall) sedra9000 pump with gate valve SICCE 5.0 return pump Marine Tech Calcium Reactor 1/4 Pacific Chiller Neptune Systems Apex Controller Livestock: ~250lbs live rock 2 cinnamon clowns 1 porcelain shirmp 1 yellow clown goby 1 green candy cane Quick links: Initial pictures of tank and sketch up model Building the stand Stand is done, tank is up on stand Painting the back and adding new bulkheads Electrical, Plumbing, Overflowboxes, Magnets Filling with water - finished plumbing First fish added Mesh installed - Desk view Automation setup First Corals/Anenome Full tank shots and Livestock update July 20th 2010 Overbending wood to straighten it Skimmer Silencer for gurgling noise from intake |
The tank before I got my hands on it:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...d/IMG_0335.JPG Here is a sketch up of what the final product is going to look like (But with fish in it!)... that is if I do everything right.. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/AQ1.jpg |
Building the stand
I thought this was going to be the easiest part of this whole thing but it seems this is the hardest!! I wanted to stand to look really good. This aquarium is "decor" to me and needs to fit in with the rest of the house. Most of the pieces in the house are black laminate so I wanted to match this... simple right? sorta of
Turns out laminate shows ANY bump, dip, etc on the wood. So the first batch of wood I got was totally wrong. So I had to go back and cut two more 4x8 pieces of wood. The stuff that I really needed was plywood G1S (which stands for Good 1 Side). This stuff is sanded and free of bumps, notches etc on 1 side of the wood. Its a bit pricey but its nice. I bought 1/2in sheets. The sketch up diagram worked really well to get the measurements needed. I made 4x8 rectangles in sketchup and The laminate I bought was called Fromica (sp?). 4x8 sheet of the stuff is $65 bucks but the store I was at had 2x4 sheets for $5 so I bought 16 of them. Here is the stand with the crappy wood on top http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...d/IMG_0348.JPG My carpentar buddy came over and laughed at me for buying the wrong wood but he came up with the idea of filling in and sanding the top half so we could save the big pieces of wood. Its gota be smooth for the laminate to go on. We used drywall filler because thats all we had at the time but the stuff that you are really suppose to use is called "Poly filla". Then we just used a sanding block to smooth it down. Here he is sanding and filling. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/059.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/060.JPG The laminate we cut with a table saw but you can use a laminate cutting tool which is really cheap ($6). Slapped 1 coat of contact cemant ($13 for 930ml - ended up needing 3 of these) on laminate, 1 coat on wood.... then you wait till you can touch it and it doesnt leave anything on your finger and you add another coat just to the wood (it soaks the first coat up). once you can touch it and it doesnt leave anything on your finger you stick the two pieces together. Kinda easy once you do 1 or 2. After that, we took a rotor to trim off the 1/8 excess laminate. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/063.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/065.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/070.JPG This took us something like 6 hours to do.... lol. |
wow, there are some major tools being used in this build! :lol: Looks good, and I'm really jealous that you've got bamboo growing in your backyard!
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Ya i got lucky i got a friend thats a carpentar.
Dont look at the yard!! it needs to get mowed and cleaned up but it keeps raining here. |
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btw kien, dont be surprised if you see some simliarties between this build and yours. All the sides of the stand are panels like yours and they are going to be attached with magnets
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What about these poor 3 gold fishies stuck in the 3 gallon tank?? Are they going to see a better day?
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they will need something bigger, just get a cheap 50 gallon and an aquaclear for them.. they will grow into it in no time.
nice build :) I left my old 90 with my ex because after my showpice fish died while i was working on the road her 3 goldfish and 2 plecos got moved in. after being in there a year there was no way they could be moved to something smaller. if you keep the water clean enough to keep them alive they are almost indestructable. |
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Can't wait to see what you do with the tank. :mrgreen: |
all your pics are gone. sounds like a fun build for you.
now you will have to pimp out that gold fish bowl!!!! |
Yes, nice looking build Milad.
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Thanks guys! Its raining again so the last bits of the stand are on hold until next week.
Are the pics not showing anymore? Im using dropbox to host them, might need to change to photobucket. As far as the goldfish go, if they are still kicking when im done with this build i'll find them a 30g. |
Looking forward to this one. My new tank will be a peninsula too.
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neat build. keep us all posted. im debating going to a cube or rimless peninsula next myself!
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so last night I woke up at 4:37am with a brilliant idea on a water change system.
I quickly jotted it all down. So expect to see a automatic weekly water change in this build. And when i say automatic I mean I do absolutely nothing but put a couple cups of salt in (and ill find a way to automate that too). Ill have some models up of it for feedback tomorrow night. |
here is the thread for the automatic water change design if you guys want to give me some feedback on it.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...303#post514303 |
So today my buddy and I finished the top of the stand
Here are some pics I used 4 small sheets of laminate on the top since its not going to show much http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/002.JPG And the .5in styro http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/008.JPG TANK IS UP!!! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/010.JPG Decided to also test out the lights http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/011.JPG Im leaving the panels off until I get all the plumbing done so what have I learned? No way in hell would I ever make a stand again. That was the most labour ive done in years. My hands are a mess and im tired as hell. Next time im going to ikea, finding some panels, then having someone build a rod iron stand to match the panel sizes. I wouldnt recommend anyone making their stand. To much time/money. |
O and here are the goldfish that started this build
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...0build/001.JPG |
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Nice tank. I see tangs in the future!
I agree with the earlier comment. Find a larger home for the goldfish or take them back to the LFS. |
So while waiting for some hardware to get to my place I ended up painting the back of the stand where all the piping was.
I used some flat black latex paint to do the back. I took out the old bulkheads and decided to put some new ones in while I was painting. did about 5 coats and then sanded it down with a sanding "pad" that is used for drywall. The sanding pad actually worked really well. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/001-1.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/002-1.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/004-1.JPG So everything looks great... all is well.. paint is dry. I go to remove the tape and the bulk heads and the paint starts coming off with them!!! it was like it was taped on paint! LOL. So I had to use a blade to seperate the paint and the tape I used. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/005-1.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/007-1.JPG Now that I got the old bulkheads out, paint done, time to put in the new bulk heads. As you can tell from the previous picture I left some room to make sure the bulkheads touch all glass. The holes drilled in the tank arent the greatest so I decided to fill the gaps with silcone. I taped up the bulkhead threads as close as I could get to the glass so I didnt get silcone in them. I also taped the bulkheads to the glass on the inside of the aquarium to keep them in place. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/017-1.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/019-1.JPG The trick I found to making the silcone look good is to use a plastic spooon to clean up the excess silcone. worked flawlessly! Combined with the tape I added in the previous step they seam looked very nice. I also taped up the wrench that I tightned the bulkheads with so it wouldnt scartch them up. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/023-1.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...eads/024-1.JPG Stay tuned, this build is starting to catch some speed. Most of the hardware should be in next week and I thought of some great ways to "recycle" a few things that I have at work..... Ill be posting some pics of the "recycling" tomorrow... |
OK, it's been 3 days...What happened to the recycling?
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recycling is done
overflows made overflows are in reinforcement of glass is done drains are done return is done electrical is done (I like what i did here btw, i think its slick) leak tested last night but i guess you guys want an update with pictures? Well i went and get a new camera too so the pictures are even slicker now. ill be posting them tomorrow night probably. |
Sorry this took so long for an update but I did the plumbing, then got mad at the plumbing and have since removed it (picture show old plumbing) and I will be redoing it tonight I think. I also wanted to wait to get you guys pictures of the newest "design" i came up with and got someone from work to help me create. Im very impressed with it, its in the last pictures on this post (dont you dare skip ahead, read!).
I was sitting at work thinking.... "Milad, where can you get some better magnets to hold up the panels of your stand" While I was thinking that.... these were sitting on my desk.. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...s/IMG_0551.jpg Eureka!! Hardrive have super strong rare earth magnets in them! Well when we decommsion a PC we destroy (physically) the hardrives for security reasons. So here is a quick how-to to remove the magnets First unscrew the side that has all the writing on it (should be about 7 screws). you need special screwdriver for these. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...s/IMG_0556.jpg then just peel it open http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...s/IMG_0554.jpg pry the magnets out (some are screwed in, others are not) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...s/IMG_0557.jpg And boom, two magnets (each harddrive has two, one upper and one lower) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...s/IMG_0558.jpg these magnets will tear skin so they can hold up my panels easily. now off to the electrical and plumbing.... So what I went and did was grab a bunch of plumbing and electrical items from Rona (the how to people) and started installing away. I wanted to split the load of the aquarium between two breakers and it happens that where this aquarium is going, there are two sockets that are on different breakers! and after reading the thread on the GFCI thing I decided to throw two in for the fun of it. These are just two GFCI outlets in a plastic box. This was probably one of the easiest things to do but one of the scariest to turn on because ive never actually done electrical wiring though my old days of car stereo installer and trailer wiring installer came in handy http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/025.JPG The two wires are running through the gray conduit on the right. I ended up using 14 guage wire http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/027.JPG used a tension reducing thingy at the end of the conduit, simple to install and only couple bucks http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/033.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/036.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/042.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/043.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/056.JPG I needed some overflow boxes and I went through a bunch of different designs and ended up with one on the inside of the aquarium. One thing I hate about this is that it takes up so much room and looks ugly..... until I came up with a way to fix that (more later). I used bunch of 3/8 in glass for this. Was about 15 bucks per piece. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/017.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/023.JPG This was my first silcone job and I think I did ok. I was surprised how strong the silcone was! So one thing that scared me about buying this used tank is that the rim was brittle in one area and cracked. I dont want water everywhere so I read around and came up with a plan. First... try to seal it http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/013.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/014.JPG I cant remember what I used for the seal but its for patching hot water tanks. I then decided that wasnt enough so i did the following: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/015.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/016.JPG Clean eh? I thought so. Two 3/8in x 27 1/8in x 3in glass. I had 1/16in on each side to fill with silicone once I taped them into place. They came out really nice and I think they will add a bit of extra support to the tank to ease my mind. Im not really showing the plumbing because I think I did it wrong so i ripped it out, but we did leak test it before i ripped it out http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/058.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/062.JPG for some reason this fish didnt want to go in, hmmmm http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/065.JPG tunze wave box thanks to mike olsen! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/049.JPG as you can see by the above picture I threaded them on the outside when I was suppose to slip them on the inside! not only that, i didnt use purple premier! doh So now you are asking yourself why I had two overflow, well, this is a herbie setup so I pulled some strings at work and got my guys to cut me up some arcylic http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/066.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/069.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/076.JPG Looks nice right?! WRONG!! I didnt like it at all. It looks two clunky, to much stuff, to many 90s. This is why i didnt want the overflows inside. UGH dammit ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... But wait.. what did I say at the begining of the thread? In comes my co-workers with their holy **** elite skills. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/078.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/077.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/070.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/072.JPG http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2361330/Aqua...umbing/075.JPG now thats what im talking about!!! hope you like! |
btw the reason the glass for the overflow wasnt taped up when I was putting it together was because I came home after drinking a few bevies while watching the canucks lose so i forgot I could tape it to control the silcone and make it look clean.
live and learn! |
Is your wave box upside down?
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is it?! |
I thought those slits on top is for water entry. Don't they need to be in the bottom? Sorry for my ignorance. Nice build though. Best o luck!
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Ah...Someone else who drinks while they tinker with their tank! I'm not alone :lol: Hey here's a question for you...how did the silicone turn out around the bulkheads? I know it should work, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of the rubber gaskets? Just being extra cautious I would think eh? Oh well...nice job on the black back, and good score and the hard drive destruction man...who would have thought!
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i didnt silcone were the rubber was, i silconed the gap between the glass... whoever drilled the tank before did a sucky job of it and it had some big gaps so i just filled them in.
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I am very impressed with this build so far. For your first aquarium you are really doing the research which is the best way to go about it. Seems to me you are a bit of a "techi" - I like that. I like fancy stuff and gadgets, who doesn't. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build. Do you have any idea what you want for livestock/corals? Great job thus far. I wish I knew people at work that could just fab something up for me :biggrin:
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i havent gotten to livestock yet, lol. i know i want some clowns and lps
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Great ideas! Thanks for showing us all the steps of your tank build . Keep the pics coming!
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That cover your friends made for you is soooooo clean.
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Fine work, looking great.
One thing I noticed in your post #27 though, a long one, you show plumbing and electrical work. Says you used 16 gauge wiring routed to your GFCIs mounted int the stand, correct? Difficult to get a complete idea from the photos of exactly how you wired this up, but I'm assuming you're using an extension type cord (16 gauge) plugged into a normal wall outlet and routing that to two GFCIs in the stand? If so, I'd highly recommend bumping the wire guage up to at least 14. That's the standard size for a 15 amp circuit. By the sounds of it, you have two wall plugs available on different circuits. Why not take your two GFCIs in the stand and replace the standard wall outlets with them? Then all you need in the stand is normal outlets or even a good quality power bar or two with heavy gauge wire. |
i believe its 3 16guage wires (thats what the rona guy said was standard for bathroom GFCI wiring.)
I wired the GFCI under the stand just beacause if I ever move the stand i dont want to move the GFCI outlets, just made more sense to me. Plus they were black and my stand is all black. There is going to be about 4 power bars under the stand. Two Apex controllable power bars and two standard powerbars. now that im searching around for standard gauage wire for the bathroom everything is saying 14!? WTH, im going to go bitch out the RONA people |
Some of the folks at RONA & Home Depot etc. know what they're talking about, retired tradespeople working for some extra cash. But as you can see, you need to be careful with any advice from large box stores. Any electrical contractor or specialty vendor would have provided you with more reliable info. If you want a good book on electrical code requirements for the homeowner, get the "Electrical Code Simplified, Residential" published by PS Knight. Soft cover book, red in colour for BC version, around $20 these days I think and available at.... RONA, Home Depot.... etc.
If you're going to go with larger gauge wire, might as well get 12 if you can. I can sort of see your point about having the GFCIs in the stand, but moving a 180? How often do you anticipate doing that? Receptacles are relatively easy to change, whether in the wall or in the stand. One other advantage of doing the wall, is you potentially save yourself one plug/recepacle interface. Each time you extend any circuit with an extension/plug and receptacle, you add resistance and potential power loss. Small perhaps, but it adds up, especially with undersize gauge wire and a controller and timer or two thrown in! The more continuous wire you have the better. If you do the wall receptacles, you could get by with heavy duty power bars alone, saving at least one plug/receptacle interface. With the GFCI or regular receptacles in the stand you'll have an extension cord from the wall powering the receptacles in the stand. Then you add another plug/receptacle interface for any power bars you use and finally you have yet another plug/receptacle interface from the power bar to the piece(s) of equipment you wish to power. You're going to end up with a lot of junctions there. By converting the wall receptacles and using power bars directly you could save yourself one of those. Final thought, I don't recommend any plugs in the stand whatsoever. Try to keep anything with a plug and receptacle outside the stand. Less chance of humidity of the salty kind getting in there and causing you grief. |
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