My project 180 gallon Aggressive CA tank

[vaypourus]

*update*

I ordered a new Bosch worm drive circular saw to build the stand and to cut the acrylic for the sump. It should be here by Friday. Until then, I'm just waiting.

My tank has come in; I inspected it tonight and found it to be acceptable I'm picking it up tomorrow, as well as the plumbing supplies needed.

The glass canopy came in as well. It's a Perfecto unit and looks pretty nice. *notice the Marineland handle tabs*

 

[vaypourus]

Brought the tank home today. Very excited!

My Bosch saw also arrived which will be used in building the stand and sump

I'll add more pics as I make progress with the stand.

 

[monstermonkee]

nice thing you have going there, i like the dimension on that. 72x24x24. If you don't mind me asking how much did it run you? Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it public.

 

[vaypourus]

Started on the sump today. That Bosch saw w/ a 60 tooth carbide blade cuts the 1/8" acrylic like butter.

Here's some pics of the filter sock holder. More pics tomorrow.

 

[vaypourus]

Today I did more shopping than I did working.

Made a trip to Lowe's and picked up two of the 1" valves with the disconnects built in to each side. These were recommended by almost everyone I've talked to about the project. Oddly enough, Home Depot does not carry them.

I also bought the lumber for the stand; $50 for the 2x4's and plywood (plus a few extra "whoops" boards in case I make a bad cut). I opted to go with the 8' boards from Lowe's even though they were more expensive; they weren't as warped as the 10' and 12' boards. The guys in the lumber department had no problem pulling down a fresh pallet of wood so I could find some straight boards. I still ended up going through 50 boards to find a good dozen.

 

[cichlid fiend]

Sweet!!

 

[Loves severums]

wow nice.

 

[vaypourus]

Had a good day today.

All of the lumber for the stand is cut. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a pocket hole jig and will hopefully assemble the stand.

I stopped by Leslie's Pool Supply to pick up a few bags of sand a got a hell of a deal! The guy there sold me some ripped bags that he couldn't sell otherwise. I got roughly 120 pounds of sand for $10. I'm really not looking forward to rinsing it all.....

Also, the sump is nearly complete. The silicone on all the baffles is drying; I'll get some pictures within a day or two.

 

[vaypourus]

I've been dragging my feet on this as a lot of other things have come up. I have made a fair bit of progress though in the past couple of weeks.

The sump is all done. The design is pretty standard with a few things that I changed. I'm using pieces of 2" PVC to hold the bottom egg crate up to prevent the sagging I see on many DIY sumps. I made two notches in the bottom of the PVC to prevent water from pooling inside.

Additionally, the drip plate drops into the baffles rather than sitting on top. I'm hoping that I get a pool of water on top of the drip plate.

All that is really left is the plumbing and building the algae scrubber. My intent is to place the algae scrubber inside the sump into the last chamber with the return pumps, but I am still playing with the design.

On a side note, it would appear that there is another DIY sump builder in Rochester...all three of the local dollar stores have been sold out of scrubbies for several weeks. One clerk told me that a guy has been buying ALL of the stock on a weekly basis. Must be a hell of a sump!

 

[vaypourus]

The internal frame of the stand is also done. It turned out pretty well: the top plate varies from end to end and corner to corner by a little less than 1/16th of an inch. With the 2 layers of leveling foam I'm putting on top of the stand, I think it will be fine. For using no finish power tools and no fine carpentry experience, I think I did okay.

The whole stand was glued and screwed with pocket holes. It is very solid. I'm now just waiting to get the funds for the 1/4" Oak plywood and oak trim to skin the whole thing.