JK's - 300 Gallon Build

[JK47]

MFK needs a good build thread, lets get on with it then... I am consolidating from a 55g/125g/220g to just a 125g and 300g. 125g is done so this is the three hundy. The build will include DIY stand, custom sump, custom diftwood design, tank polish and RO/tap drip system.

The tank: 300 gallon Truvu acrylic tank. 96"x24"30" L-W-H completely un-molested (no holes, overflow boxes etc...) The tank as it sat (yellow colored level in this pic is 24" wide).



The stand begins. Solid 2"x6" every 16" on center. I'm not the skinny dude in this pic, that's a buddy.



The top and bottom pieces of the stand finished.



Uprights in. The 220g this tank is replacing is right behind in this pic. That is where the 300g gets placed as well.











Almost done with the structure. I still need to add the ply/styro and skin it. I will be using 1/4" birch to skin it with and building the doors myself since they are odd sizes.





Next up is drilling the tank and getting the bulkhead fittings installed. Pics in a sec...

 

[ceeej31]

nice job on the stand, cant wait to see how this build goes!

 

[Nemesis]

Looking good Justin. I'm looking forward to the rest.

 

[flipstylex]

looking good, keep us updated when its done !

 

[JK47]

The lids, these are reinforced so they don't bow over time with 1/2" thick acrylic strips. I LOVE these lids.. I hate most lids because they start to bow over time. These won't.

 

[JK47]

I cut these while I was making the stand. They are 2"x6" slices I will use as shims under the uprights to level the tank. My garage floor is very uneven. These are cut at varrying thicknesses (1/8" to 1/2") though I won't be using most of them. I like how they fit perfect under each upright of the stand.

 

[JK47]

Overflows are being drilled directly through the tank and will have an external durso pipe, more on that later though. The 1" white PVC pipes in this pic are an example to show the placement of the two FX5 filters that will be on this tank as well as the final resting place for overflow/return from the sump. The inlet to each FX5 will be on the far right and far left sides of the tank and the returns are placed in the middle. Same concept for the sump. I did this because I want water being pulled from the surface as well as the mid/bottom of the water column. FX5's are mostly for mechanical.



The disks left over from today's drilling for the BH fittings. My friend Damien (fallin49er here on MFK) came over and helped me. Thanks bro!



The bulkhead fittings I am using. dual 1.5" BH fittings as overflows and dual 3/4" BH fittings as retuns from the pump. I am using loc-line as well so I can point water flow where I want it. I bought the connectors that makes it so I can split the flow in four different directions. They were out of the actual line at the LFS so I only got enough to split it. Have to go back for more when it comes in.





Overflows still need the strainers but they will come in with the loc-line at the LFS. What do you guys think on the placement? Too high? The lip of the BH fitting on the inside of the tank is 1/4" from the top.





Here is where this build gets interesting. I have this area to use for a sump. The acrylic thing you see is a bio chamber not a sump. The bottom of the chamber is completely open. Damien suggested I do a plywood sump here with pond liner which I like the idea of.. The area approx 34"x18"x24". The bio-chamber is 24"x13"x12" and will have submerged media as well past the chamber. This is just the dry portion. I was planning on building an acrylic sump but cost is an issue until I get my 220g sold. What do you guys think? Build out of plywood or acrylic?



Done loading pics, this catches me up to today's progress.

 

[JK47]

nice job on the stand, cant wait to see how this build goes!

Thanks CJ!

Looking good Justin. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Thanks Dave!

looking good, keep us updated when its done !

Thanks flipstylex!

Any of you guys have any thoughts on the sump being plywood or acrylic? I have to start plumbing tomorrow.

 

[JK47]

I could use a little feedback and help checking my math guys.. I need to wrap up the sump design so I can move onto finishing the plumbing.

If I build the sump into the stand out of plywood I will do 40"x15"x20". That comes out to 52.02 gallons which is pretty close to the glass 55g I was going to use. Every 1" of water in height comes out to 9.99 gallons of water. The concrete barrier in the pic below sits at 13" so I need to run the water level in the sump at 14" (extra 1" for bulkhead fitting height) from the floor in order to do a drip system and plumb the outgoing water outside.

5.5" stand base (2"x6" are really 1.5"x5.5" today)
1/2" plywood as cover over base of stand.
1/2" plywood as bottom of sump.
TOTAL: 6.5" overall height from floor minus the 14" in height I need to achieve. That leaves me 7.5" of water and takes up 19.51 gallons of my sump volume minus media.

The bottom lip of my overflow bulkhead fittings are 3" from the inside top of the tank (29.97 gallons) in the tank that could fill the sump if the power goes out. I estimate the actual water level in the tank will only be 2" (19.98 gallons) Low end 39.49 gallons / high end 49.48 gallons depending on where the pump maintains my water level. Am I missing anything before starting? I hate suprises...

 

[Davey_8313]

Looking great so far. Can't wait to see it finished.