Ben's 105g 48x24x21 Rimless Starfire

B

Ben

Premium Member
So I figured I should start a build thread on this one since I didn't do one for the tank I have now. Here's what I have so far:

Tank: 48" L x 24" W x 21" T rimless, bottom euro-braced, with starfire on 3 sides. BeanAnimal type back overflow similar to ReefSavvy Ghost Overflow.
Stand: Custom black powder-coated steel stand built by my brother. It will eventually have magnetic attached facade panels.
Lighting: AquaPerfekt Photon Plus 48"
I intend to modify this a bit to add LED's between the MH to supplement colors, moonlights, and dusk/dawn simulation.

Skimmer: Avast CS1 Cone Skimmer with PSK-1000 pump and swabbie. External waste collector with float switch made by Melev.
Sump: 40" L x 18" W x 16.5" T sump made by Melev.
RO/DI: Kent Marine Maxxima Hi-S 75gpd 4 stage with external addon carbon stage.
Media Reactors: 2 Avast MR5 media reactors for biopellets and carbon. TLF Phosban 150.
Return Pump: Jebao DC-6000
Wavemakers: 2x Jebao WP40 and 2x Hydra Aquatics Twist Water Flow Accelerators
Chiller: CustomSeaLife 1/3hp PowerCooler
Heater: Catalina 500w digital titanium
Controller: ReefAngel with custom power switches, 3 channel dosing pumps, and pwm LED modules.
Misc: Avast K1 Kalk Stirrer, 10g ATO reservoir made by Melev, ReefAngel 200gph peristaltic ATO pump, 24" BlueSea full spectrum LED fixture for propagation area of sump, 2 10w LED spotlights for refugium, fishstreet 3 bay dosing reservoir.
 
Sounds nice, the tank was made by? I'd also recommend going with two heaters on the controller. Curious to see if you'll need the chiller. What is the long term plan in terms of coral & other livestock?
 
Lets see the build pics :) also your brother interested in building me a powder coated stand?


Sent from inside the shark tank!
 
So here's a pic Justin building the stand.
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I picked it up from the powder coating place last week. It looks great!
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All the glass for the new tank came in this weekend. Mike R drove me all the way down to Hutchins and to meet the delivery truck at the Flying J truckstop. I'm taking it to Planet Aquarium to be assembled tomorrow. I had planned to build it myself but they quoted me a really good price to do it.

Here's what the overflow will look like. Still waiting on quotes to have it built.
[attachment=0]overflow.JPG[/attachment]
 
So current status is I picked up the tank last week. It looks fantastic. Black silicone, minimal silicone in the seams, black PVC layer on the bottom to protect the glass. I'll post pics tomorrow.

In the meantime I've also been working on getting an IM Nuvo 16 setup as a sort of external refugium. I have a couple fountain pumps, one pumps slow, the other faster. I'll have the smaller one constantly pumping out to the main sump and the bigger one pumping to it from the main sump. I have a water level sensor that I can set up to keep the water level at the proper level using my ReefAngel. I'll also have a secondary float switch and relay to stop pumping as a fail safe. I have a dsunny light I got from ebay with 3w LEDs and it looks really good over this tank, almost like it was made for it. I looked at the LED drivers inside and should be able to interface with them to dim via PWM.

My end goals for this tank are to keep a lot of different macro algae plus a SRBTA and a couple nice clowns in it. I don't like nems much because I like stuff to stay where I put them but the kids are always asking for a nemo fish so I think this is a happy compromise.

Here's a pic before sand and aquascaping

[attachment=0]IMG_2841 (Small).jpg[/attachment]
 
@Jzilla wrote:
Can't wait to see that ghost overflow. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2 said:
I couldn't get anyone to give me a quote to build it so I got regal plastics to cut all the pieces for me out of 1/4" black acrylite ff for $65. Not too bad. I just need to drill the holes and then I'll break out the weldon and stick everything together. I'm hoping I can get that done tomorrow. I REALLY want to get sand and water in the tank on Thursday. I've been building electronics today and yesterday.

I had added another return pump to that IM Nuvo 16 because stock it has a Y that splits to both spinstream returns. I still didn't think that was enough flow so I picked up a MP10 yesterday afternoon and added it. Much better now I think.
Click to expand...
 
I say start sandless. I made the switch and didnt like it at first, but now love how easy it is to clean.


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
Okay, had one good day of weather Wednesday so I used that to get the light hangers built and painted. I had originally thought I could use electrical conduit but the light was too heavy and they bowed too much. I went to Fulton's and got some thicker walled square tubing for less than the failed electrical conduit cost me. [smilie=lol.gif] I was able to still bend it using the tubing bender so everything looks like I had hoped.

I also got the foam for under the tank cut and the plywood for the top of the stand cut, sanded, and partially sealed. I still need to drill the holes for the plumbing and then finish sealing everything.

I put strips of hdpe under the stand so I could slide it easily on my tile and level it easier.

The bottom tray of the stand I used pieces of hardboard glued together with construction adhesive to cover the bottom and sit flush with the floor. I caulked all the corners and plan to spray the whole thing with the rubberized undercoating so it will be completely waterproof.

Thursday it got colder so I drilled the holes I needed for the ghost overflow and assembled it. It looks really good for my first big'ish project with acrylic glue. Not as good as something Marc would have done but it should hold water and none of the imperfect seams can be seen with it behind the tank anyhow.

Today I put the window tint on the back of the tank and I'm working on the plumbing.

Here are some pics from this morning before I got the tint on.

[attachment=0]20140103_095455 (Small).jpg[/attachment]

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[attachment=1]20140103_094645 (Small).jpg[/attachment]
 
You'll like the external overflow. I have one and it makes aqua-scaping so much easier.
 
Tank has been full of tapwater for the last 5 days just recirculating. No leaks and everything looks good. The overflow is working perfectly. I plan on draining it to add sand and saltwater this week.

I ended up getting a 24x48x11 propagation tank from a local fish store that I'm going to setup in the garage. I want to get it up and cycling this week too so I'll have a place to move any corals that I can from the current display tank. I think the switch over will go much more smoothly this way.
 
Sounds awesome Ben, more pictures! :D You have done an amazing job on this! How's the retrofitting coming along on the new lights? You were adding in LEDS, did that come to fruition yet?
 
Thanks. Tank has water and sand in it now. Will take more pictures once the water has cleared up.
 
Great looking tank. Did you get pics of the overflow while you were building it? I dont quite understand how the water goes from the front to the back of the overlfow? Is there a hole or cut out in the glass?
 
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