# DIY Quad 40g Breeder Stand / Fish Wall



## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Here is the CAD plan of my build in mind. I am still debating about my sump tank setups though. The dwgs is of 10g tanks currently. I can get modified 20g's or use a 30g breeder and split it with a divider to make two sump areas.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 1 of Stand Construction
-framing cross member precuts


-framing construction


-breaking ground


-all frames completed


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 2

-upper and lower leg precuts


-lower legs assembled


-first rack assembly


-bottom legs placed and middle shelf frame added


-rack 2 


-racks 1 and 2 after week 2


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 3
-upper legs assembled


-top shelf frame assembled


-racks 1 and 2 after week 3


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 4
-plywood tops cut to fit and edges rounded by router


-plywood tops for top and middle shelf assembled. bottom shelf is only loose fitted. it will remain loose for ease of shimming purposes down the road. 



-at the end of this week both stands had all exposed surfaces sanded with both hand and belt sanders.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 5
-rack 1 stained


-rack 2 stained



-back also stained


I will post this weekend's (Week 6) progress by Monday hopefully once I get this weekend's progress completed. That will then bring you all up to current date.


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## dasob85 (Feb 4, 2012)

nice dude. this looks seriously sick.


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## stevenjohn21 (May 23, 2012)

This is something I'm very interested in doing myself eventually so I will be keeping my eye on it ! Looks great can't wait to see the end result


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Thanks for the compliments. I feel that I put alot of effort in to my fish plans since last year so I too am hoping for good results in the end. 

dasob85 I took a look at your 40 stands and it pretty interesting itself. The pipe work is interesting. I will be attempting drilling holes next weekend or the week after for the tanks I do have. I need two more 40s to have all 8 tanks. My bulkheads are on the way along with my hole saw kit. It will be my first time drilling though. I have watched several videos on drilling. My intents is to create a template using a 1x6 and not have to worry about the 45 degree start. Did you have any issues with drilling or anything extra to add. My piping won't be as complex as your though for all eight will feature the Bean Animal overflow.

Stevenjohn21 are your intentions for your garage as well? I am hoping for good results as well that's for sure. For the first year, these tanks will be experimental. I will setup one rack and take them thru the 4 seasons......excuse me, the 2 seasons that Texas has, lol. I will run these tanks as Aquascapes only during the experimental period. I need to know how the temps will hold up in my garage before adding fish. I have 2 ideas in mind for cooling. 1) will be evaporative cooling. Each display tank will have a small fan blowing across the surface. Should work great with a sump in which will keep the display filled to its rim. If evaporative cooling isn't enough, I have a diy cooler in mind to try.

If all goes well


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## bgallodoro24 (Feb 6, 2012)

I had no problem drilling all of mine. I did 60 tanks in a day. I bought a drill press and a good bit. Used plumbers putty and put cutting fluid inside around bit. Made a template out of cardboard. Each tank took about 5 min start to finish. Broke 5 10g and then gave up. Glass was too thin.


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## dasob85 (Feb 4, 2012)

I bought a drill press as well although with so many tanks, making a template could work too. I drilled 2 different sizes for the return and the drains. I also did the bean animal but I considered the placement inside the tank looking symmetrical. I also wanted to save some space in the back since the 40 is already pretty deep so I had to do some 90 degree bends to the side in order to put in the street elbow for the open drain. I think the next time I do this for the other rack, I'll be making a diy box on the back of the tank and then you can have the bulkheads point straight down and make it look cleaner too. Good luck drilling and I look forward to seeing updates  subbed


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## BriDroid (Oct 7, 2012)

Looks good! Can't wait to see it all finished!


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Great start. Pretty obvious you did a lot of planning. I'm curious why you decide on stain vs. water proof paint?


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## bgallodoro24 (Feb 6, 2012)

DogFish said:


> Great start. Pretty obvious you did a lot of planning. I'm curious why you decide on stain vs. water proof paint?


I decided to go with stain as well on my stands. I've had them for a year and have yet to get them wet. So as long as your careful and neat you won't have a problem.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Week 6
-stands have semi-gloss spar urethane applied. probably can't tell though. the far stand came out more reddish for some reason. I did this one first. perhaps the can was too full and couldn't mix as well vs the application for the closer stand in the pic. both stands have the same stain and the same urethane though. oh well, I am still satisfied with the out come.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Very nice, those things are bomb proof! Bordering on too nice for the garage!


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

You know, I thought about a drill press for consistency but I don't really think I would have a need for it down the road. I pretty much have collected quite a few tools with almost every project I do and this is one I have debated on. I will probably pass and go with my cordless drill with an elevated wood template sitting in a plumbers putty boundary. 

Thanks again for the compliments. I can't wait to see the final as well. Over the course of the year I have gained a lot of patience so I am taking my time to get better results.

Dogfish, I have two answers for your question. The first is because bgallodoro did it and it looked sooooo good. I recall drooling when he got done staining. It showed quality and effort put into it. I felt that with the time I put in, I might as well stain and urethane it for the best presentation. The second answer is, actually I almost painted it. Originally I was going to stain and changed my mind, then I was going to go with paint to save money and therefore used cheaper 2x4s and cdx ply instead of sanded. Then I thought again and knew I would regret not sticking with my original plans. So I went ahead and spent the extra money. Paint would have covered up the wood grain that I wanted to display and I couldn't decided on a color that fit my plans.

The stands are finished with Minwax's Helmsman Spar Urethane designed for indoor/outdoor. It protects against rain, moisture, temperature and humidity so I was sold to definitely stain with that type of protection.

The next part of this build will be working on the wall itself. I need to get the new electrical circuits ran, put in the tank drainage piping and re-paint the wall. From there it will be on to plumbing the tanks. Stay tuned.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

xmas_one said:


> Very nice, those things are bomb proof! Bordering on too nice for the garage!


Lol, thanks. Bomb proof is what I was going for. I would be crushed to see them not able to support the weight. So I chose to over build than not to. I agree its to nice for my garage, but I planned on taking quite a few pics for posting so I wanted it to look as presentable as possible. My phase II will be my 180g or a 150g build all from scratch for display in the house so I wanted to test out my stand design and construction skills in my garage first. A failed 180g/150g stand in the house, won't be pretty at all, lol.


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## stevenjohn21 (May 23, 2012)

flight50 said:


> Stevenjohn21 are your intentions for your garage as well? I am hoping for good results as well that's for sure. For the first year, these tanks will be experimental. I will setup one rack and take them thru the 4 seasons......excuse me, the 2 seasons that Texas has, lol. I will run these tanks as Aquascapes only during the experimental period. I need to know how the temps will hold up in my garage before adding fish. I have 2 ideas in mind for cooling. 1) will be evaporative cooling. Each display tank will have a small fan blowing across the surface. Should work great with a sump in which will keep the display filled to its rim. If evaporative cooling isn't enough, I have a diy cooler in mind to try. If all goes well


Im in the process of moving house so im not sure where i will put my fish/shrimp racks. Its funny though, every house we view the wife is looking at the kitchen/bedrooms and im looking in the basements/garage to see what tanks would fit where lol


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Racks look great! I look forward to seeing what you do with this. How much did you spend on building these racks?

I'm actually going to be doing something similar soon with 4 40B tanks, 2 racks in my garage. I"m just waiting on the next $1 per gallon sale (hopefully soon). 

I'm back and forth on the sump and co2 though. Not sure if I'm going to go sump or HOB filters. Tanks will be for growing. 

Anyways I'll be following. look forward to seeing your progress! I'm also in Texas (Abilene)!


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

DogFish said:


> Great start. Pretty obvious you did a lot of planning. I'm curious why you decide on stain vs. water proof paint?


After coating it with the spar urethane he now has about a sheet of plastic over the wood.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

discoveringmypath said:


> Racks look great! I look forward to seeing what you do with this. How much did you spend on building these racks?
> 
> I'm actually going to be doing something similar soon with 4 40B tanks, 2 racks in my garage. I"m just waiting on the next $1 per gallon sale (hopefully soon).
> 
> ...


Thanks for the compliment. I feel like I bust my tail on it, lol. Glad you asked about the price. I was meaning to post a bill of materials but it slipped my mind. I am with you on the next petco sale. I need two more 40s for displays and 4-5 40g to break down to build 18x18x17 sumps. I bought a 15g to toy with the idea of break down and its not too bad if you can get in the seams. The 15g I bought had 0 clearance in the seam so it was a pita at first. I am hoping the 40g will be a bit easier to take apart.

bgallodoro24 & dasob85, I did the wood template and bored thru a scrap piece of glass. It went okay but it took 5 mins for one hole by taking my time. With more than one hole needing to be drilled, I broke down and took the advice you two gave. I am the owner of a new 1/2hp drill press now, lol. It goes so much faster. I even tried to go fast on purpose and the glass did not break. I bored several holes to get a feel for the limit I can take the press before breaking the glass but it never happened. Now I know I can go at a steady pace without breaking my real tanks so I am ready to drill them in the upcoming weeks. Taking my time took 2 mins per hole, going fast I did it in 1 min. So I can say it was a good investment. I am sure now that I have the press, it will come handy down the road.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I haven't done much lately due to being super busy at work getting out projects. Its been consuming some of my weekends now unfortunately. 

But now you all can get a glimpse of what the setup would look like minus the last 2 40s and the sumps. Over the holidays I will try to get the tanks drilled for the plumbing and take more pics once the plumbing and electrical is done. Excuse the paper on the tanks. I am just trying to keep as much dust and insects out as I can until I am ready to fill them.


Bill of materials w/ estimated prices (rounded in .05 cent increments)
(39) 2x4x96 $2.75 per board
(2) 5lb 3" Deckmate Screws $30 per box
(3) 48x96x3/4" CDX Plywood $24 per sheet
(2) qt of Minwax Stain $7.75
(1) gal of Semi Gloss Spar Urethane $40
(purchased 1 gal to build a 90g and a 180g stand next year)

Grand total of $294.75

Not to bad. Two large stand for under $300. I am sure if I got these built or bought off the shelf at the size they are, it would be well over $700 each. Earlier this year when I was looking at 125g tanks, the tanks went for about $475-550 and the stands were more expensive than the tank itself and its for a single 125g. I am all for DIY stands. They can be build alot stronger, nicer and more customized than buying retail if you do it yourself. Plus it gives us something to build for the hobby, lol.


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## dasob85 (Feb 4, 2012)

nice! where did you get all the 40b? are they already on sale? I swear I will do something like this for my fishroom eventually.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

dasob85 said:


> nice! where did you get all the 40b? are they already on sale? I swear I will do something like this for my fishroom eventually.


I wish the sale was going on, lol. I need more. But to answer the question, I have been collecting a lot of stuff since June 2012. Besides the 6 40g in the pics I have a 125g, a 5ft custom 90g, a 55g, 2 29g and 4 10g. Of all those only 1 29g is setup, lol. I have put some time in planning multiple tank setups for awhile so I have been trying to collect everything I can when I have the money to do so.


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## dasob85 (Feb 4, 2012)

I know the feeling. I stockpile tanks in the attic myself lol. I got all excited thinking you had a source of aqueons


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## stevenjohn21 (May 23, 2012)

Any updates ?


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

No not really. Nothing worth taking pics for at least. I haven't even been on here in weeks due to end of year work load. But I have drilled all my tanks for the Bean Animal though. I have also bought majority of all my plumbing fittings and piping. I just have to put it together. Now that Christmas shopping is over and the petco sale is on again, I can jump back to the project. I need the 4 sumps to complete the stand and a few extra tanks to break down to make weirs and baffles. I have also decided not to run (8) 40g breeders. Since I want to display my custom 5' 90g somewhere, I will dedicate the top of one on the stands for that. Its basically the same dimensions as the 40g but in a 5' footprint. I really want my main display in house and to be a 125, 150 or 180g. So the 90g was going to waste away as a sump to the main display tank.


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## Trail_Mix (May 17, 2011)

Fascinating, those are some fantastic stands! I'm a great admirer of those who actively pursue the DIY side of this hobby rather than blindly, mindlessly, suckling on ADA's teat attempting to throw money at our problems rather than logic or elbow grease, thus I'd like to congratulate you, and I would truly love to see what you ended up doing with these!


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Its been quite awhile since I have followed up with this thread. I apologize. Since my last update I have been doing a few things here and there through out the year so the project definitely is not dead. Mainly, I have been collecting alot of parts, equipment and hardscaping needed to do the project as I intend. This update will be a progress report from Nov 13' up til today. 

Nov 30th
I started drilling my tanks for the 1" buckheads. Of the eight tanks I needed to drill I only lost 1 tank. I replaced that tank the following day and proceeded with drilling and had no problems with it the second go around. Go figure that it was one of the Tetra tanks that was lost.




April 27th
Waited until temperatures warmed up to continue. So basically I was on winter break, lol. Here I cut out the electrical box locations and ran my main tank drain line behind the tanks. Each sump will have a discharge tube that will be indirect drained to the 1.5" main line. I wanted to go thru the wall to drain outside to also double as emergency overflow control when I am not manually draining. But I didn't want to drill thru my brick exterior wall. Instead I will just connect a 2" sump hose to the hub fitting to drain when I open my garage door. Bummer but its not the end of the world.



March 3rd.
I started putting the wier's in place for the overflow system. It was a pita considering the spacing is less than 3" from the glass for a large handed person to silicone in place. The silicone job isn't the neatest by any means but I will try to clean it up once I actually start setting up the tanks. I got a little better as I went along. I will also try to conceal as much silicone as I can with the scaping. After installing the wiers, all tanks were leak tested in the overflow an the tank itself for a week. No leaks on the tanks itself. I did have to reseal half the overflows though. Second time was the charm. But no leaks with the Aqueon or the Tetra tanks. I have gotten into numerous debates about the quality of Tetra tanks in some threads. They are not Aqueons so if you don't trust them, don't buy them. No need to criticize them when most don't have experience with them. Check the quality of the tank before you walk out the store and you should be fine. Tetra wouldn't be selling tanks just for everyone to return them to the store. Worst case scenario, reseal it yourself or use it for scrap glass. I have done it for the latter of the two with no issues. Only the bottom pane is tempered. Best price for scrap glass.


July 27th
I started dry fitting the Bean Animal.


August 23rd
Here I came up with a concept for a return hose holder. Each holder is a 2x2 piece of glass to be siliconed in place. I had to modify the trim of the tank with a dremel to allow clearance for the 1/2" spa tubing. Tube is connected to a 1/2" 45 elbow. I cut up a 1/2" coupling to 1/4" and sandwiched the glass to keep the tubing positioned where I wanted it. It all worked out great. The 45 degree will direct the return flow to my Koralia 550/600 to circulate thru the tank.




Today
One column of one stand is completely glued in place. I wanted to test everything out on one before I duplicated it 3 more times. Solve any issues here first and it solves them for all 4. A video of the fill test is at the end of this post.


Miscellaneous Pics progress thru out the year.
Derimmed 4 tetra tanks to run as sumps. Pic is old but they do have a center glass brace in place now and they will have a single wier in place on both the left and right side to overflow into a central wet/dry filter before its returned.


Custom elbows for inside wier on display tank. From left to right. A normal 1" street elbow. A modified street elbow. A modified 90 elbow with a 1" piece of rigid pvc in place. I like the radius alot better on the regular elbows versus the street so I custom made them all to shorten them up.



Some of the plumbing and equipment purchased.






The original plan was to run (4) 9.5 magdrive pumps but I gained a little knowledge from people turning to dc controlled pumps. For one 9.5 magdrive the wattage is 93w. For one dc (Jabeo 6000 in this case) is 40w, it has controllable pump speeds, it pumps alot more gph and has a higher head than the 9.5 magdrive. So I bought one to give it a shot.

I purchased (4) Watts whole house filters to run 4 Cerges. It will be inline after the return pump and has a bypass valve to hopefully control flow better and keep air out the system since this version does not have a purge. I will run either a custom air manifold or purchase a ready made manifold. The intent is to run the Aquariumplants.com electronic regulator. I have the single co2 outlet and I love it. I won't use anything else so I will be exploring options to make it work. They use to sell a multi manifold for their regulator but they yanked it from the website. I emailed them and I was told to contact a particular person there so perhaps they still make them.

To start I will be running (1) 100w heater per sump. For the first year of setup, the display tanks will only be aquacaped tanks without fish or invertebrates. This will allow me to test out how the water temperatures will vary by seasons and to account for any cooling methods needed. I will also add a second heater as necessary once other life is introduced into the tank. 

All in all, I am satisfied with how everything is turning out so far. I am really really taking my time for I am meticulous about this project. This is the reason why no updates have come regularly for I wanted to get things going before really posting results. Below is my drain test for the gravity portion of the bean animal. The return system is not connected yet because I just recently glued it together and it needs time to cure. I will be giving the system a complete run thru with the return pump in place tomorrow. I will then leave it running for a week or so just to thoroughly check everything out before plumbing the other tanks.

Here is a quick video of the test as mentioned.
http://youtu.be/kwgTahfG_u8


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Forgot to mention that I had also started the 2nd Phase of my project. Another reason for my delayed updating. Phase II is for my display tank in my living room. Originally I was going to do a 125g or a 180g built from scratch using 1/2" cel cast acrylic. Since that original thought, I ended up getting a new living room furniture set and I had to alter my plans. Sticking to that plan would have taken up more space for my entry way in my house. Since I already had the custom 5' 90g tank on hand I figured it was a fairly sized tank. So I will just set it up as the display instead of using it for the sump to run one of the intended 6' tanks. Here are a few pics of that build.









Ph II is currently on hold for the moment so it will remain in its latest state until I can remove the 29g from the Living Rm space. The 29g will be taken down and upgraded to one of the 40g tanks in the garage. Once this is done, I can jump back to PhII again.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Nice job on the project so far. I watched the video, looks good and looking forward to the next follow up video with the pump running.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

How close to the wall are you going to put the racks?


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

The racks will actually be 6" off the wall once relocated and leveled. I have it where it is now so that I can assembly everything a lot easier and fix any leaks if they happen when its time to leak test. Having 6" clearance will allow decent wiggle room to work behind the tanks if necessary once everything is connected. The design calls for unions in the spots I placed them for reasons such as moving tanks individually. I will be able to pull any tank from the front without effecting any of the permanent connections. 

All tanks will have the back glass painted and all will have led back lit backgrounds as I set each tank up. The unions will help alot when its time to paint. I have been toying around with some backlighting ideas already. The plan is to run (2) Reef Keeper Lite Plus controllers per rack to make things a little more automated than having timers all over the place. The apex system is much nicer but for a planted tank, the reef keeper should suffice. So, with everything in mind, 6" should be enough for me to do maintenance behind the tank if needed. There will also be a 12" clearance from the exterior garage door, a 12" clearance between the racks themselves and about 42"-48" clearance from the door entering the garage from the house.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

deeda said:


> Nice job on the project so far. I watched the video, looks good and looking forward to the next follow up video with the pump running.


Thanks for the compliment. I am hoping things turn out in my favor. I have put alot of effort into this project. A lot of hours of sweating in a Texas garage during the summers and alot of family neglect time, lol. I always stay pretty busy doing something so they are use to it. They still love me so they put up with me, lol. The design/planning started the summer of 2012 so as you see, I am not in the biggest rush to complete it but its nearing the end of construction. Then the fun of setups begins. I have grasped the concept of being patient in the hobby so things get done, when they are done.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

All right everyone, an update from yesterdays video is ready for viewing. I connected the return pump and let her rip this morning. Majority of all the work is starting to show a little now. I probably won't do another update until all the plumbing is completed and both stands are located in their final positions. Unfortunately I don't know when it will all be completed but I am targeting by October/November. Once this is done, I will start setting up tanks one by one and making journals. 

The latest video of the system in operation is here http://youtu.be/QNAqwpQEXmI


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

my god. i need new pants.


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

This is awesome


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

Awesome job. I find the plumbing work to be as interesting as any other part of the tank. I think that's why I prefer overflows and wet/dry filters or sumps. Plus, you can hide all of the ugly equipment. This has gotten me pumped about my wet/dry filter! (No pun intended)


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

This is awesome!!! If I ever get my own house I want something like this...dont know anything about carpentry though lol


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

I really love your stand design and I'm totally going to rip it off for the next one I build :hihi:. Extremely structurally sound with the double corner 2x4s wrapped around the primary.


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## CTtanker (Dec 4, 2014)

Very nice set-up. When I get a garage, I'll be referring back to this for sure.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

goodbytes said:


> I really love your stand design and I'm totally going to rip it off for the next one I build :hihi:. Extremely structurally sound with the double corner 2x4s wrapped around the primary.


Thanks but its not my design by any means. It's actually just a modified version of one of the more popular diy aquarium stands on the web. The modified part being 3 levels, adding middle bracing for each tank and the middle support legs since the stand is more than 6' long, http://freshwatercichlids.com/do-it-yourself-aquarium-stand. I did cad drawings for nearly a year off and on until I finally stop tweaking the overall appearance. Once I stopped, that is when I knew it was time to start constructing it. Structurally sound indeed. Its better to overbuild in my book for a project of this magnitude. I would feel comfortable resting more than 1.5 ton on this stand easily.



CTtanker said:


> Very nice set-up. When I get a garage, I'll be referring back to this for sure.


Thanks for the comment. I always wanted to run multiple tanks and since I pretty much use my garage as storage, I figured why not use it for hobby as well. I don't have the room inside the house so garage it was.

My true inspiration for my setup goes to bgallodoro24. Check out his setup, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=176148&highlight. He has the best project I have come across on the web. His project definitely got my brain cells flowing, lol.

*Update since I am here. I am pretty much at the end of Ph II. The 90g stand I jumped over to construct has been stained and urethaned. I am hoping to move it to its permanent home within the next two weeks. I just finished running the electrical for all my tanks. Recently, I have been getting parts for my custom CO2 system I plan to incorporate. So by years end, I should be working on layouts for 1-2 tanks. By Jan. my bench mark is to start my 125g plant only grow out tank that will populate all my tanks. The goal is to setup one tank at a time. Doing this will allow me to pull from a variety of plants from the 125g and plant very heavily from the start. Co2 will be cranked on the garage tanks because the tanks will not house fish for at least a year or so.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

I really like your 90g stand. Can we see the finished product?


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## mthomas356 (Jan 24, 2014)

flight50 said:


> My true inspiration for my setup goes to bgallodoro24. Check out his setup, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=176148&highlight. He has the best project I have come across on the web. His project definitely got my brain cells flowing, lol.


I read through your inspiration's thread and was pretty stunned at the amount of money thrown into this. Does anyone know what happened to it/him? It hasn't been updated in over a year and his Facebook profile hasn't been touched either. I was curious to see if he ever really got it going or if it fizzled out.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. He hasn't been on any forums in at least 6 months. Too bad.


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## DayOlder (Jul 12, 2014)

Actually if you back up 4 posts you will see he updated it 12/12/2014.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

knm<>< said:


> I really like your 90g stand. Can we see the finished product?


Thanks for the like. I wish I could post what I have now for you all. The stand itself is the only thing that is 100% complete. Its still in my garage awaiting to be moved though. I took the doors off so that when I move it, I will have grip. Plus I had to drop weight because its fairly heavy, so no pics because of that. The plan is to have it in position this weekend and I will gladly take pics if I can pull it off this weekend. If not it will be the weekend of Christmas. I have family visiting this Saturday so that will eat into some of my time. 

The tank still won't be up and running once it is in place though. I will be working on finishing out the space underneath the stand but I need the Petco $1 sale for this. That's in a couple of weeks fortunately. In the meantime, I started working on layouts for this 90g using my layout tank. 




DayOlder said:


> Actually if you back up 4 posts you will see he updated it 12/12/2014.


I believe bgallodoro24's thread is what was being referred to as not being updated.


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## TankFreak420 (May 31, 2014)

Strange how 2 or 3 weeks ago I was planing that same stand you made for your 90g for my 120g. I decided against the side cabinet and mite do it to one of my smaller tanks.


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## corrupt (Jan 25, 2014)

??????


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## Mathman (Apr 5, 2009)

Updates?


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I have been working behind the scenes a bit since I last posted. I know I said I would have updates Christmas weekend but plans fell thru as I go slowed up with back issues moving this tank around by myself. I am not as young as I use to be, lol. 

I have my living room out of commission as I am painting and putting in base boards currently as part of a make over to welcome the display tank. I should be done this weekend with at least the wall were the permanent home for my stand will go. I will then put the doors on it and snap a pic for the update. I will reveal the underneath the tank setup next weekend as I am waiting for my Loc-Line attachments for my sump return to arrive sometime next week.


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## BraveBuc (Nov 8, 2012)

flight50 said:


> I have been working behind the scenes a bit since I last posted. I know I said I would have updates Christmas weekend but plans fell thru as I go slowed up with back issues moving this tank around by myself. I am not as young as I use to be, lol.
> 
> I have my living room out of commission as I am painting and putting in base boards currently as part of a make over to welcome the display tank. I should be done this weekend with at least the wall were the permanent home for my stand will go. I will then put the doors on it and snap a pic for the update. I will reveal the underneath the tank setup next weekend as I am waiting for my Loc-Line attachments for my sump return to arrive sometime next week.


You seem to be one busy person :hihi:

I look forward to the nest round of pictures roud:


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Lol, to be honest, yes I really am. Between being at work sporadic hours, anywhere from 9-16 hours and coming home to do some project for the weekend, there is always something to do at my house. Now that I am getting older, I don't zip around a quick as I use to. So I tend to just take my time to try to go for quality instead of speed. In the past, speed made me redo a lot of things.


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## BraveBuc (Nov 8, 2012)

Haha I totally agree. I have tendency to rush things thinking time is limited. Almost always it ends up taking more time.

I'm trying to learn but I'm stubborn...

Projects are more enjoyable if you take your time too.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Update 2015-01-11

I have a few pics to share that I just took tonight. I still have work left before starting to scape this thing. It's slow progress but I am okay with it.



This is the wall in my living room entry way that is shared with the two quad fish tank stands in the garage. The capped pvc is not glued as its to serve as the maintenance drain for this setup. The other pvc is just a pass thru. It will serve co2 lines, water lines and anything else that needs to be shared between the two rooms. I ran a new circuit that is dedicated to the living room setup and to a quadaplex in the garage. In total there are two new circuits to play with. At a 80% load that gives me about 3840 watts to run all my tanks. With DC controllable pumps and led lighting, I am sure I will be well under 3840 watts.



This is a closeup of the custom 90g (rounded up) She is 60x18x19. I de-rimmed her and replaced the black trim with a chair rail molding that I could stain to match the stand. The black L piece on the right is actually the internal coast to coast side overflow box that is part of the Bean Animal Overflow. I will show the plumbing for this in a few weeks.



A side view. The bottom corner is were I patched the existing drilled hole. This was a Craigslist purchase in which the original seller had it made to be reef ready. I was going to use this tank as a sump for a 125g or 180g but wanted to save a little space in my entry way and just went with the 90g since it was only 18 deep.



This is what she looks like from afar. Not perfect but I am okay with it. The grains don't match as I was trying to use the scrap pieces I had to save money. Otherwise, I would have needed to burn another $42 for another cabinet sheet of plywood. It took me (3) sheets as it was. The backlighting is still a work in progress. The goal is to be able to run it while the daylight will be on but they might get washed out. They will then turn into my after hours lighting if the wash out does occur. The roll of paper is for reference. Its a 30" roll. Stand is 6'6 by about 6'8 wide.

I am saving up for (2) XB Dutch 6300 from BML. They will suspend about 10-12" above the tank to give me easier maintenance clearance. Hopefully within the next week or so I will be able to get the sump area completed. I have orders placed for plumbing parts. Also, I hope to get some of the co2 equipment in place. Stay tuned.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

any update on this project? especially the tanks in the garage?


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I am horrible at keeping updates to this thread, lol. I work on everything when time permits. I have been working on the setup for underneath the 90g the past several weeks. I pretty much abandoned the garage setup until I got the 90g under cabinet all setup. The reason is because the plumbing for the 90g goes thru the wall and won't be easily accessible for corrections if I continued with the whole garage setup. I will continue with the garage setup eventually. It probably won't be until mid spring when I actually get around to setting up a few tanks in there though.

Last weekend I did fill the tank to test out the plumbing though. I got minor leaks at the bulkheads so I will be fixing that this weekend. I believe due to overtightening and/or weight of the piping is what caused the leaks. Other than that I need to work on sound deadening a tad. Once these issues are resolved, I will finally be able to work on the scaping for the setup.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Update for those that have been following. Based on the time that I initially started this project til now, its apparent that I haven't had anything setup and you all have been waiting for more progression. I started design for this whole thing back in summer of 2012. Summer 2013 I actually started constructing after a year of planning/designing and I still don't have one tank up and running to show for it, lol. Most have probably stopped following as I am too slow with this project. But I keep getting closer and closer to having something setup. I just want to let everyone know that every weekend, I aim to do something related to this project when time permits. I do loads of behind the scenes work that I just don't post about though. I am busy constructing something, researching, purchasing product or making some type of modifications to something I already built. Between work, my family and other hobbies, it has really stretched out the time I wanted to get things going. I thought that was going to be late 2013 or early 2014. Didn't happen that way. So there I stood, still tankless until this past April. I now have a journal in which can be referenced to this build in this thread. Although its not a tank for displaying, it is the progress to get those display tanks going. Gain access to that journal via the link in my signature.

Since my last update, I have been working on some lighting and my co2 setup. Below is that progress.

*Lighting*
Back Lighting
I have experimented with different methods of having tank back lighting. Most didn't work as I had hoped. Latex/Acrylic painting is too opaque and it didn't allow any light thru. I have tried Extreme Window tint that is used on limos but light passes through easily and nothing close to what I imagined. I have heard that you must double layer it for a car to get the limo effect but I was not willing to buy another roll to find out. I tried translucent and opaque glass paints from the Martha Stewart collection. A little better but not quite. Translucent lets in a bit too much light and the opaque just a tad bit too restrictive and not enough light gets thru. I tried mixing the two but it didn't work so I moved on.

I recall a post in which one person used plastic bags in combination with fluorescent tubes. I didn't bother there. I have attempted to fade out and/or cover the background glass by using Plexi dip or spray paints from the cheap $.99 stuff to the expensive $6 dollar cans. All ended up being scrapped off in favor of frosted window film. Aww relief at last. The desired results I was looking for is when I went this route. I already posted those results on the previous update however. It softens the light and lets the right amount thru for my needs. I am using color changing led's strips so the lights don't soften as well as fluorescents. A fluorescent tube would be ideal but uses more wattage and its bulkier. I wanted led because of watts used and I can change the color as well as control the intensity. Fluorescent tubes require either a colored bulb or a colored light cover. I chose not to experiment that route as I will just stick with the frosted film because I am happy with the results.

Grow Out tank Lighting
I have decided to run AH Supply T5HO for my grow out tank. I will be running (2) 54w 6500 daylights and (2) 54w 2-6-10 Enhanced Daylights in 4ft staggered pattern. The light canopy for this construction was made from 1x2s and 1x4s. The assembly weighs less than 30lbs so it hangs without issues. Currently the light is about 26” above the substrate. Using my Hoppy Meter at substrate level, the setup registers about 40 par on the ends and I think it was like high 70s in the middle where the staggered lights overlap. I will place par values on an update I will do in July for the Grow Out tank. This will be viewable from my “Planted Tank Journal” 

The newly constructed Light fixture







CO2 Setup
The setup below is what I plan to run for co2 full time. Similar to GLA Pro 5 at half the price, its functional. I don't need pro quality in appearance but I do want a reliable setup that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Pictured are the components for my main display and my garage setup. I will be running two separate manifolds, from two different 20lbs tanks for two different tank systems. One for grow outs and the other for aquascaped tanks. Those components are:
1. Aluminum Bubble Counter w/check valve – Evil Bay - $59 (6) shipped from China
2. Aquatek CO2 proof tubing 16ft. – Amazon - $10 (1pk) prime member
3. Air Products E12-244D (brand new) – Evil Bay - $80 free shipping
4. Paintball High Pressure CO2 line – Amazon - $11 prime member
5. Burkert 120v 6011 – Evil Bay - $37 shipped
6. Stainless 1/8” Plugs – Amazon - .75 (per plug) prime member
7. Polyconn Nickel plated Aluminum 1/4npt x 1/8npt 5 station – Amazon - $19 prime member
8. Pneumadyne 1/8”npt check valves - $45 (6) shipped
9. Polyconn Nickel plated 1/8”npt nipples – Amazon - $13 (pk of 10) prime member
10. Pneumadyne #E10-1/8 - 1/8” x 10-32 adapters – Pneumadyne - $20 (pk of 20) shipped
11. Pneumadyne #C070601 - 1/8”npt input 10-32 output – Pneumadyne - $68 shipped

Extra Components
20lb co2 – locally purchased from Welding Supply Co. - $165 used steel Coca Cola tank
CGA 320 co2 chrome fitting + nut and washer – from Regulator and Torch Exchange - $35 (2) shipped
Drop Checkers w/out dKH - $35 (12) free Economy shipping from China
Polyconn Nickel plated Aluminum 1/4npt x 1/8npt 9 station – Amazon - $7 prime member
Polyconn Nickel Brass 1/4”npt x 1/8”npt nipple – Amazon - $15 (pk of 10) prime member. Price should be for pk of 5 now. Amazon advertised as pk of 10 and sold as pk of 10 but shipped pk of 5, twice. I had to call and sort things out. They finally gave it to me as pk of 10 though. They froze the product at one point to figure out the issue before updating their site. Now its sold pk of 5 for the same price I originally paid. Good thing I bought all I needed the first time.

CO2 components


The built result


The grow out tank CO2 setup has been running since 2015-05-09. All adjustments were made during that first week of action as I tuned in my co2 for my needs for the connected tanks. To my surprise, the Pneumadyne valves are holding their own. For a $10-11 valve, it works without issues. Now it's not a precision valve by any means. However it is precise enough once tuned. I am sure many of you may require much better tuning but once a valve is tuned, it doesn't have to be touched anymore. But for my two manifolds, it works decently enough because I will need so many of them.

I have not experienced and valve float thus far. I have my 29g dialed it at about 1bps and my grow out tank.........well I have no earthly ideal, lol. I was trying to get my drop checker to read lime green to yellow. No fish means I can blast the co2. I filled the bubble counter with Mineral Oil but I still can't count the bubbles that fast. If I had to guess its at 4-6pbs. A couple of times, I had 1/2 of the oil bubble out because due to being set at 80psi. I turned the working pressure down to 40psi at one point but the drop checkers didn't like that. I have (2) drop checkers in there on opposite ends. Co2 stabilizes after 2-3 hours as they both read a tad lighter than medium green. This is very feasible but I want more. I do get some good pearling on a select few plant so I can't complain too much about the setup thus far. 

As far as tuning these cheap valves, it only takes the slightest touch for adjustments. Too much and your bps will be sky high. I am able to get my 29g dialed in without a single fish loss since the rig has been setup. My working pressure was adjusted to 70psi as the sweet spot. Although the oil does still bubble, it does not bubble out anymore though. If I attempt to set the working pressure lower than 50 psi to prevent excessive oil bubbling, the drop checkers will go to blue. So I would say for now I am tuned in until I start adding more valves.

The grow out tank's regulator was tested solo for 2-3 days with no changes. The regulator was brand new as I only changed the CGA580 out to the 320. Then came the post body test. It sat for 2-3 days and I didn't experience any pressure losses. The solenoid is on a timer so the connections after the solenoid are solid. All in all, I think the setup will definitely work longer term.

100psi Dual Stage Rebranded Concoa 


Assembled CO2 setup


Equipment
I have spent 1/4 of the time gathering items. Deciding what to use, what not to use and just go and get it when money permits and perform test. This equipment section isn't diy but I did buy it all myself, lol. I just want to keep my project in a few places/links as possible. Nevertheless, the equipment thus far is below.

1. Korila 550 – I bought these 2 years ago for Korila upgraded this model to a 600
2. Ehiem 200w – 90g heaters
3. Evil bay purchased Drop Checkers dKH was purchased separately
4. Eheim 100w heaters – Garage sump tanks
5. Planting tool set. Don't remember the price though. But it was much cheaper buying it on Evil Bay than anywhere else. 
6. Air Products E12-244D and Victor VTS 153B – purchased on Evil bay. The victor was brand new at the time of purchase put I broke the CGA fitting trying to take off the outlet adapter that was on it. I am keeping it for spare parts for the VTS 153A that I purchased. The Air Products was purchased on Evil Bay as a working valve for $30 bucks. Once received and tested, it was deemed busted. Seller refunded funds 
7. Hobby Meter – it's not his latest meter but the previous version to the current. Ball parking it good enough for me.
8. Jebao 6000. I will move this to my 90 single tank setup. I ended up purchasing a Jebao 9000 to run the garage tanks. I will need to purchase (3) more though. I will buy them as I set up each column of tanks.
9. (1) Mag Drive 7 and (2) Mag Drive 9.5. I originally planned to use the 9.5 for my garage sumps prior to getting turned on to the DC Jebao pumps. Jebao use half the watts, quieter, controllable speeds and pumps more water than the Mags
10. (5) Watts Whole House filters – All will be Cerges Reactors. (1) for 90g display and (4) for the (4) garage sumps.

Main components of my system


I also purchased a binocular microcope to go along with my setup. I was just curious as to know of the microscopic activity that goes on inside my tanks. Most people won't go this far but I am nerdy like that, lol. The scope is a Omax 40x-2000x Led Compound microscope. I had a cheap scope as a kid and really enjoyed it. Now that I make my own money, I can get a much nicer one, so I did. The whole setup pictured was about $250 perhaps.

Fun time component


Plumbing
These are just some of the parts and pieces I have purchased to plumb all my tanks. Some pieces have been bought twice or a work around solution took place when things didn't work our too smoothly causing extras fittings to be purchased. I have made 3-4 large purchases from an online pvc site. PVCfittingsonline.com to be exact. They have the cheapest and best selection of hard to find or non-common items that you just can't get locally. The catch is that there is a minimum dollar amount you must spend. So tally up everything and make large orders when possible. I purchased all the 10ft sticks locally though. 

I run class 200 piping on everything that I could. Sch 40 is like 1/4” thick vs 1/16” thick for class 200 piping. You can drain and pump a lot more volume with the thinner and cheaper pipe. We will never exceed the psi pressure limit of class 200 piping. Lowes carries it in 1/2”, 3/4” and 1”. Home Depot only carries 3/4” and 1” in my area. Other parts of the country will have a similar Home Improvements center that is similar I am sure. Now the spa tubing is sch 40. There is no getting around that but it does limit elbows and lowers friction loss. Do not use primer with spa tubing, ever. The connection will not hold and you can actually pull them apart with your bare hands. Try doing that when the connection is made with glue only and you will get a hernia in no time, lol. Also use glue that is rated for flex pipe/spa tubing. Christys is what I use and it's awesome. Don't forget latex or nitrile gloves. I have large hands and nitrile gloves are great with minimal loss of gloves due to them tearing. I have probably spent $300 or so on piping alone. Each roll of spa tube is about $50 bucks a pop on Amazon for a 50' roll. I have 1/2”, 3/4” and 1” purchased so it all adds up.

PVC sticks


One of many boxes of nothing but pvc fittings purchased. I think I have a small plumbing store in my garage because of this project, lol.




Construction Updates
I have spent half my time here. Trying things out here an there, modifying this or that, redoing or completely starting over. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff here. This and my work schedule are the prime reason for slow updates. There have been a few times when working on the project just isn't possible due to having to put in overtime at work.

90g update
The current setup has actually been like these for several months now. I ran it for several weeks to test it out and I had some tweaks to make. I originally had the setup with 1.5” drains. With the lower filtration requirements for Freshwater vs Saltwater, I could afford to decrease the pipe size and so I ended up going to 1” drains just as the garage setups. The problem with the 1.5” is that it was too hungry for water. Even with the Jebao 6000 (1500+gph) on max with about 5ft of head, it wanted more from the drainage system. The 1.5” drains turned out to be much louder than I expected. Being in my living room as my main tank, I can't have the noise levels high at all. The 1” drains in the garage was very quite so I went back to it for the main display. I should have followed my first mind in the first place here. System drain decibels lowered quite a bit with the change. Drains stabilized much better as well for they don't get drained from the overflow box as quickly. 

Now I have to solve an issue I have with water draining from the Wet/Dry into the 29g return tank. I need to somehow slow down the water flow because once I add co2, it will outgas more than I want. I have a few ideas but since the temps increased as the Texas winter broke, I jumped back to the garage setups to push it along. I will get back to the main display eventually. Hopefully by that time, I will figure out which plants grow well in my grow out and then I can get a plant selection for the main show implemented .

At first my plan was to place a 55g sump underneath. But I didn't account for the extra 1” necessary to place a 55g underneath. There was no way of getting it in without modifications to the support legs of the stand. This is why I have a two level tank system. I am trying to work around the miscalculation and have a storage tank still. I am trying to avoid going to a one tank sump. If I do, I plan to custom make a taller tank in lieu of the 29g and wet/dry that. This may require me to re-plumb everything underneath though. I will get it all worked out sooner or later. 

I am finally revealing what's behind the double doors to the 90g stand. The one smaller door to the far right is not revealed yet. But it will house the other manifold and other 20lb tank that one will go thru the wall and connect to the (8) tanks in the garage. I don't have that co2 tank yet so that rig isn't in place to show.

Bean Animal drains connected to side overflow box


Not 100% functional to my liking but this is the concept


A closer look inside


More drain routing


Media
The plan here was to experiment with different types of media to see what will work best for my sumps. I pretty much just boiled it down to using filter floss as the main media for the garage setups and the bio bale for media in my wet/dry filter. The filter sock in theory is a great idea and really cleans well but they clog too quickly and need to be changed 1-2 a week. They are expensive and you will need several on hand to swap out while you clean them. I won't have the necessary time for all that swapping so this is when I started searching for other options. Hanging out on Reef Central one day, I found the solution. Check out the diy canister sump filter section below

Media Collection


_Diy cansister style sump filter_
I choose to use the thin wall here as well. Its the area drainage pvc piping that can be found a Home Improvement centers as well. The canisters have glued on caps and non glued reducer fittings for easier media access as the top caps. Doing these will allow me to filter without having to baffle my sump. Less CO2 disturbance and less space taken up from making media chambers. These filters increase water volume by 10-15 gallon at least based on the filtering concept I had in mind at first. Since I choose to use the thinner pvc, its fairly light. To solve this, I made sand bags out of cheap panty hose and filled them to the point in which they filled out the cap area of the canister to weigh it down. Once submerged in water, they stand strong. I choose the thin wall to increase the inside media compartment plus the components are much cheaper that schedule 40. Also, sch 40 pvc caps are not flat. The filter floss will cup on the inside of the canisters and will be kept in place by the reducer fitting. The drain pipes from the Bean Animal will be directed right in the centers. With the 360 cheese grating, it should drain well and have a lot of storage space for waste. The siphon drain will have its own filter and the open to air and the emergency drain will share a filter. So a total of (4) filters will be housed in each sump. I will toy around with them to see if I can cut it to (2) canister style filters per sump but I am limited to what the spa tubing will flex to without adding extra fittings. Since these sumped tanks will be plant only tanks, filtering dead plant matter will be perfectly done by theses diy filter canisters. I dressed them in Krylon Fusion but I didn't spend a lot of time doing it obviously for they will be in the sumps and really never seen by anyone other than me.

Filter Build


Finish Product


20g long Wet/Dry
Product of the $ sale,lol. This will be the filter for the 90 display tank. It turned out mostly as planned. I did a couple of versions of the drip plate though and it was a very tedious process. Thank goodness for my drill press tough. Saved a ton of time. Only thing is you have to be more cautious as too much pressure can crack the 1/8” acrylic that I used. Also to get a good seal on the drip tray, I find that plumbers putty works great on the perimeter of the drip dray while seated. I used the putty to make berms when I drilled the tanks so I figured it would work here too and it did.

20g Wet/Dry
 


RO unit
For several years I was moving this back and forth to my kitchen sink and dragging my storage container around the house which is about 25 ft worth of moving. I had a dolly to roll it around once but it does not go down to a different floor plane very easily. So I continued to just drag it around. Luckily the containers I used never gave way under full loads. A 33g can filled with water isn't exactly light. My 38g low boy water heater finally gave out on me this past winter so I decided to upgrade to a 50g tall and use the vacated space for my RO setup. Worked out perfectly. I redid the plumbing and incorporated the RO unit and installed a water supply line for my aquarium water needs. No more dragging this or that around for water supply or drainage. The plumbing I have done has definitely made tank maintenance much easier. I also upgraded the condensate drain on my AC unit to a 1” and replaced all the elbows with 45s everywhere. No condensate should block this way. I also set the condensate drain up with ball valves for blow out purposes in case a block does happen. The discharge rate from the RO unit is much higher than the AC so I needed the drain to hold up 100%.

The unit is a RO DI unit with a catalytic carbon filter for chloramine removal. I still use Prime as I do mix with tap water sometimes. I will probably go back to not mixing tap in the RO storage can and do 100% RO there only. I would prefer to purchase another container to use for mixing. As it stands, I am only mixing water for my 29g tank. I EI dose this tank so weekly 50% water changes are performed. I would only have to make RO water once every two weeks instead of weekly if I had a separate mixing container.

RO setup


RO plumbing mods


Rex Griggs Reactor
I created two of these so far. They are cheap to build and are for tanks that won't be the main attraction. The standard style one is for my 29g tank and was my first go at the Rex so I did not dress it up. I put this tank back on co2 around Dec-Nov of 2014 to see what type of response I can get out of my tank with the addition of co2. The plants started responding so I knew I had to give them a little more. I turned to dry fertilizers in Feb 2015 and the plants that are in there definitely have more growth. Drop checker lets me know I am getting good dissolved co2. 

Reactor for 29g


Reactor for 125g


125g Reactor finished result. Also includes the complete plumbing setup for the 125g


Layout Tanks
These are what I setup for toying around with laying out hardscapes. Originally I made a 6 ft particle board bin to lay stuff out in. I was going to go with the 125g display for my main display and the 40g breeders are 36” so I figured I could kill (2) birds with one stone. Downside is that it was heavy, bulky and not see thru. It was cheap to build though but it was not giving me the concept I needed. Then came along the glass tank.

6' ft Particle Board layout bin


The glass tank I actually cracked the back pane while trying to drill it. I was done to the second to last hole on the last tank and it gave way. I guess for this reason. Instead of trashing it I decided to just patch it up and use it as a layout tank. When I do a larger tank, I will just have to do it in segments. Since I photograph all the layout variations when I do them, this shouldn't be a problem to do it this way.

40g layout tank


This now brings us to the end of the diy updates for now. Don't forget to check out the progress over in my new plant journal. It's basically the other part to this diy thread.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

WOW, lots of updates and very nicely written!! Thanks for posting such detailed updates.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

So, if you could post some updates on this, that'd be great... Lol, this is one of the most involved and most ba builds on here. I need more! I think you've probably spent more on this than some people on here make in a year.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Lol. I actually haven't been working on it in a few months. Today is actually the first day I have been on here in 3 montsh. Just been too busy with work and the fact that I purchased the Witcher 3 for my PS4. Been playing it none stop, lol. 

Now I did just put together my 2nd CO2 manifold rig. I would say the first one was a success so the second one was pending. It's confirmed that my diy [email protected] works great. The little $12 needle valve from Pneumadyne works great once you finally tune them. They are not even remotely precise in comparison to the likes of lets say a Ideal valve but it does work. I just finished my test for the new CO2 after 48 hrs so I will post it soon. I need it for the tank that I have been doing a dry start on for the past 3 months as I am ready to flood it. I am making a lighting bracket for the Ray 2 and Monster ray this weekend that I will post. 

I will be setting up another DSM tank this weekend as well hopefully. So I am slowly starting to populate the racks with occupied tanks. My growout tank is really producing so time to really start setups finally.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

A few minor updates as of the past 2 months. I setup two dsm tanks for the first shot at seeing how the system works. By just setting up two, I get an idea on what to tweak and/or work out with these stands. Finally getting to setup tanks allow me to start addressing lighting. I build a rig for my Finnex Ray 2 / Monster Ray combo that I have stocked piled for a year. Rig worked out okay but I forgot to take picks of it over the tank prior to removing them. The lights were only in place for about 2 weeks. The lights were not to my liking so I upgraded them to BML lights. I will now be investing in their fixtures for this project. Below are the two light rigs that i made for each set of fixtures. I just may get to use the Finnex elsewhere like another growout tank or something. The rig I did for the BML fixtures was my original plan for the Finnex setup but I never got around to constructing it. With the hardware that came with the BML, the rig for it worked out perfectly without having to modify the housing of the BML fixtures.






My second CO2 rig. The first proved to be quite effective so I went ahead and constructed my second rig. This rig goes into my 90g stand and feeds thru the wall to supply the (2) 40g racks. I currently have one CO2 line connected to the furthest inlet and its running as planned. In about another 4-6 weeks, I will flood my other dsm tank and connect another co2 line to see how things may need to be tweaked. I ran this tank without a solenoid for about 1.5 weeks until it came in from AP but in the pic below, you can see the solenoid is now installed and is on a timer.



I updated the sump area to my 90g stand. I implemented my diy canister style filters in the sump of my first flooded 40g tank and I got 0% splash/water disturbance in the sump. It works so well that I am able to use that same engineering on the 90g tank. So the pic below should be the final setup considering the 2nd CO2 rig is now in place. I pretty much stopped work on the 90g setup for I was needing a solution to stop water splashing in the sump coming out of the wet/dry tank. The canister will be he answer to solve this. Now all I need are more lights. (6) for the 40g tanks and (2) for the 90g. I need to start saving up for they get expensive. These tanks are about to start rolling now for this project.


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