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

[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~