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

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Me likes your choice of equipment!

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.

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

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Etaloche

The only plumbing I've ever done was inside my computer but seems like the concept is pretty much identical

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.

Originally Posted by Etaloche

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

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?).

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

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.





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.

[Ian]

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.

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by Ian

Fun build! Yup budgets are meant to be smashed when it comes to hobbies.

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

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Etaloche

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

Such a teaser! We need pics!

[ALBERTA REEF]

Nice build so far. Pics!!!

[Etaloche]

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


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

First light coat


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


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



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



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



Here's how it would sit in the cabinet



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.



3 coats of paint later



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



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



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



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~