Jeff's 100g tank upgrade

[oredith]

alright, i guess it's time for me to throw some of the photos onto one thread.

after struggling with a 12g tank with an old canister filter, i decided to set up a more realistic setup that wouldn't require DAILY maintenance. anyways, found an acrylic 60x18x20 tank for cheap, and started the build.

I was trying to decide between welding up a frame, or building it out of wood. the decision was made for me when my cousin started tearing out her room for remodel. the stand is made of re-purposed 2x4 DF

fast forward to frame basically done

found a 40g tank to use for a sump, here's the sump and the tank as bought

i intentionally made the stand tall so i can see it at a bar-stool level

threw the stuff going down into the stand in, just to check for clearance

 

[oredith]

marked up the holes for the overflow

overflow cutting in progress

external overflow

 

[Assyrian fish guy]

looking great bud. really digging the cost to cost overflow box. any plans on what your going to be keeping in this bad boy? and are you going to keep it outside? lol. i know its a no, but still have to ask

 

[oredith]

i honestly don't know yet, but definitely SPS/LPS.. not sure what kind of fishes though.

i can't wait to get cracking on the LED project. doing a DIY that should be costing about $3.25/gal

84 3w LEDs..

just about went blind testing all 84 of them.

 

[magik626]

D@mn looking good...can't wait to see more pictures..

 

[Tangwich]

coming along nicely jeff. great build so far.

 

[Goober]

Awesome DIY build so far. I'll be following along

 

[Reefomeez]

That overflow is niiiice! Making great progress so far!

 

[oredith]

alright, here's the sump mostly done (still need to put in egg crate over the return, and get some of that ceramic brick stuff and carbon)

pretty close to what i had sketched up here, but without the bubble baffles

 

[RileysReef]

nice set up Jeff!

 

[oredith]

sump test:

good news - water flows exactly the way i thought it would, so the design is sound.
bad news - the walls of the tank are not perfectly straight (i'm starting to realize this isn't uncommon), so my perfectly cut piece did not meet the walls perfectly, which left for a gap on the welding, which failed. (the right 2 baffles which did not have any other reinforcement, unlike the sock filter compartments, which held up perfectly fine.)

next step. cut out some 1/2" stripes of my lexan, and weld it to the sides of the tank, so that the baffles can slot in, and have those lexan be the structural members.

i had this fun thought while looking at the sump fill.

what if i kept a mantis shrimp in the sump? - thoughts?

 

[oredith]

alright, after a really stressful week resulting in anxiety attack and almost blacking out, i was able to squeeze in some time to work on the plumbing after recovering all weekend.

well get to start under the tank soon..

 

[oredith]

mocked up the first (of 3) strips of LED. only used the 21 whites to see the spacing, so there were 8 more that were left empty.

gonna drill the holes tomorrow and start attaching the LED, and then the soldering.. >_<

 

[babyjess210]

sweet. Are you using heatsink for the strip?

 

[oredith]

no, i'm going to line up the 3 of them, enclose the ends in a box enclosure, and do a push/pull fan setup with 2 of these on each end.

i'm kinda wondering if i really need the fan though. I really think the aluminum tube itself will be enough thermal mass to dissipate the heat.

 

[robert_ellis]

no, i'm going to line up the 3 of them, enclose the ends in a box enclosure, and do a push/pull fan setup with 2 of these on each end.

i'm kinda wondering if i really need the fan though. I really think the aluminum tube itself will be enough thermal mass to dissipate the heat.

Although the lights may stay cool enough it would also Help cool the water so your chiller doesn't have to work so hard. Also help blow out any moisture which causes rust.

 

[oredith]

something like this:

with a lot more wires going all over.. >_< i haven't figured out how to hide that, especially considering i won't just be stringing from one bulb to the next, but skipping 6-7 at a time..

 

[SchnitzelReef]

With the LEDs being that close, at 1000mah, ur probably gunna want to run some fans.

Nice setup. Also the way u set up ur plumbing is a little inefficient I believe. Ur not gunna get much flow out of the side returns. Might wanna take another look at that


Hot Dogs are GOOD!

 

[Six2seven]

I really like the external overflow. Nice work. The LEDs are going to run extremely hot. That's a lot of LEDs for a square tube? U-channel? I would pay a little extra for a heatsink with more fins. With as much as you've probably spent, what's a little more.

 

[oredith]

sump test #2 with reinforced slots - success

overflow watertight test #1 - success (yes, apparently painter's tape CAN hold up the water pressure. i was surprised)