Stephen Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Hey everyone, after being out of the hobby for a year or so I have decided to build another tank. I have been working on this for the past 4 months and hope to have water sometime really soon! The tank and stand were both designed and built by myself. Tank specs: 24"x24"x16" 3 sided starfire glass 3/8" thickness Rimless External overflow 3 drains 2 returns 29 g sump 20 g refugium Here are some pics of the stand construction. I consider myself pretty lucky.. My girlfriend let me build the stand and tank in our kitchen Test fit. Drilling the glass for return lines. Covered the glass in paper and blue tape to prevent silicone from getting everywhere. This worked out well the first time. However, when I had to cut out the front panel and resealed I didn't cover everything and got silicone everywhere Nice clean lines End result. Ready for paint! Here's the Refugium I built. Passed the water test. Testing to see how things are going to fit in the sump. Still need to baffle the sump. Tank is now ready for plumbing. Getting so close!! I'm really excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Awesome job, and yes AWESOME girlfriend! My wife HATES when I do fish stuff in the kitchen. I'm definitely along for the ride! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Love the sump and fuge, that's a difficult dimension to work with. My dining room is currently in a state of reef disarray for the pending stand move, still room to eat dinner though. Do you have any specific plans for the stocking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Very cool. You built everything. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 Here's my plumbing.. . Just about done just need one more fitting! Next I'm going to test for leaks and paint the pipes black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 looks top notch. except for that purple primer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Man that does look good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 hhahaa... yeah the purple primer looks bad, but I will be painting the pipes black! Might be able to have water in it today if I can stop watching this awful Texas game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Yeah. We don't need to talk about it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 nice looking build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Here's a pic of the plumbing after I testing and paint. Finally have water.. No big deal right? Here's a pic of the fuge and sump. Skimmer is running like a champ! Here's a view of the front of my tank. I'm really satisfied with the rock work. What do you guys think? Have had a few corals that bleached out a bit, but they seem to be bouncing back. View from left side. View of right panel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 well that escalated quickly. looks awesome! plumbing looks great, diggin the rockwork. 10/10 would view again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Looks great. What did you use to cut the glass for the over flow? I think I might do that to my biocube. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Wow. That's coming along. The open scape is nice. Definitely allows for good viewing from any side. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Thanks for the comments. Looks great. What did you use to cut the glass for the over flow? I think I might do that to my biocube. I had the guys over at Biswanger glass cut out the notch for me. Just sent them the diagram and they did the rest. Excellent work by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 I hadn't thought to ask them. They do good work so I know they can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Traded some LR to a buddy for 14 heads of frogspawn. Not fully open here, but looks great! This candy cane is bouncing back nicely. Looks like she's hungry.. GBTA Hopefully some more additions after the weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Here are some recent pics of the display. I added a bit more rock to create a top shelf on the reef. Also, picked up some amazing frags from Roland. Thanks bud! Anyways, I wish I had a better cam, these iphone pics don't capture the corals very well.. I bought a dual reactor from brs and added Gfo and carbon. Upcoming things in the works are a 2 part and vodka dosing. Going to add onto my existing led fixture too. It's currently 24 3w LEDs and I'm going to add either 12 or 24 more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 looks awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Here is the clown enjoying a nice RBTA that I picked up a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 That looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Very nice build Stephen! Puts my crude build to shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 very beautiful tank. i was reading briansrocks' upcoming tank purchase thread and asked myself "self, it cant be that dificult or that expesive to build a tank" (not taking anything from your amazing build btw) and you my friend have motivated me to make my next aquarium be one built by me. thanks for the inspiration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Very nice build Stephen! Puts my crude build to shame! Lol, thanks man. Your tank is solid, Can't wait to see it with some lights. very beautiful tank. i was reading briansrocks' upcoming tank purchase thread and asked myself "self, it cant be that dificult or that expesive to build a tank" (not taking anything from your amazing build btw) and you my friend have motivated me to make my next aquarium be one built by me. thanks for the inspiration. That's great! I'm loving my tank and it honestly wasn't that hard to build. The stand was 100 times more difficult with all the sanding, cuts and stain. Heck, I don't even have a cabinet door for my stand yet and it's been up for 4 months. lol, anyways If you need any help let me know! I put together a binder of different tank builds and advice on building tanks. It's pretty thorough and would be worth checking out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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