92 gallon quarter circle with custom stand

[+SChrisEV]

First off, the people on this forum are great, after being out of the hobby for about 10 years I'm pretty much a noob, we'll call me a re-noob. The input I've received on posts has been awesome, thank you all! I hope as time goes I can provide help to others.

Okay a little background, about 12 years ago I was a freshwater (cichlid) owner and I really enjoyed it, but was ready to join the big boys and go salt. So I bought a 135 gallon all glass tank, and oak stand. Used a 30g tank I had as a sump, and gave my 55 gallon cichlid tank to a buddy to help get him hooked. I had the 135g running for about 2 years, as a reef system generally following the Berlin Method. Anyway all was good and I LOVED IT!... then along came a woman, marriage, two girls and the need for a larger home. The tank came down, we moved and there was no good place to set up a 6 foot tank, at least that the wife was happy with. It sat, and sat. Then a move from California to Texas was on the horizon, and with that I traded the 135g tank for a 92g corner, figured it might be easier to find a place for it. The tank was crated up, and was shipped to Texas. Some 8 years later in Texas many life changes and I'm more than ready to get a reef system set up again. One of those life changes was a hugely different economy between moving from CA to TX and the overall drop in income. So now here I am (about a year ago actually) ready to start but on a very tight budget. So I started to read, LED was the "new thing" but very expensive to start off, and I know that the only way to get this to all work for me was as much DIY as I could.

First things first, I needed a stand for my aquarium. Anyone that knows the 92g corner knows it has some challenges, one of the biggest that I expected was the lack of space under it. My 135g was a nice 6 feet long, and I still remembered wanting more room under it. I also had a wall that I wanted the new tank to be on, BUT it was not deep enough to use it in the corner. So I decided to be creative and kill two birds with one stone. So instead of placing the tank in a corner I'd place the tank with the rounded part facing away from the wall, making a much larger stand providing more room underneath and build side walls and a canopy.

I'll post a number of pics now showing some large leaps, then I hope within a few days I'll show the tank set up with the stand at it's final resting place. And will document the build further as I go.

Basic Frame:


Frame with rounded Front:


Round Front sheeted (MAJOR PAIN):


Rounded front bottom & side view:


This was a sheet of 3/4 inch African mahogany plywood. It does not naturally bend, or want to bend at all. To bend the plywood I used a method called kerfing. If you are interesting in knowing more let me know.

Large jump ahead, sorry kinda forgot to take more pics. This is basically the finished base of the stand. It needs one more coat of polyurethane, plenty of dry time and a good wood wax. I also have the two sides at the same stage, again sorry for no pics, but in a couple days I'll post more pics, once dried and ready for water test, still in the garage.


There will be a canopy that I need to build next, I was going to wait to get it all at once, but two major things... my wife is really ready to have the garage back, and two I'm REALLY REALLY ready to get things moving IN the tank. I figured I can get the tank cycling while I build the canopy, and my DIY LEDs.... More on that soon.

So this design, provides a much much larger area under then tank, and I hope will provide a great viewing experience!

Thanks for taking the time to read this over, and please feel free to comment or ask any questions.

[+SChrisEV]

Oh, I do have a question. the tank is "reef ready" in that is has an overflow and return drilled into the tank. I drilled the holes in the stand to allow for these two, but was wondering if I'd be better off using both of the tank drilled holes as drain lines and have a third line (need to drill the stand) that is the return line. Seems like I could use a larger GPH pump to push water back up and get more water turnover. thoughts? Is it worth doing this or should I stick with the existing tank design? Here are some pics:

You can see the lines where the back corner of the tank will sit:

And the overflow:

[fishcraze_1]

I love the stand. Neat set of pics.

[+SChrisEV]

Few more pics. Poly is dry two sides placed on top of tank. The round front of the 92g will take up the entire open area between the side walls.

Doors open, went with black (interior/exterior furniture paint) to easily see any salt residue for cleaning and if there was any leak or other issue.

More to come.

[Robb in Austin]

GREAT job on the stand. Looks like you could make stands, and other furniture, for a living!

As far as the dual drains go, if you want to, go for it. Nothing wrong with more turn over but don't use that for in the tank flow.

[mFrame]

Two things - usually you use powerheads to generate flow in the tank rather rather than rely on the the return pump to do that. The overflow/return will turnover the water through your sump but you'll want to direct flow in the tank with powerheads to minimize dead spots in the tank where detritus builds up.

The second question is what kind of bulkheads are you using? The holes in your stand appear to be exactly the same size as the overflow/return, which indicates the bulkhead nut will be on the other side of the wood. If the bulkhead leaks then it'll damage the wood. If the holes are larger and there's a leak, you'll see it or hear it dripping rather than have the wood absorbing it. On my stand I simply cut a 6"x6" rectangle for the plumbing to run through, the aquarium on top will hide it assuming you use sand. This gives you plenty of room to work and prevents this problem.

[Viet'spride70]

impressive craftman-ship. excellant job...

[+SChrisEV]

Thank you all for the kind words. I'm not a stranger with wood working, I come from a long line of builders, and as soon as I was old enough to swing a hammer I was put to work! However I have never done any thing this "big" or rather complicated. The curve of the tank, and in turn the stand has provided many challenges, and has REALLY increased the time it has taken to get this done. This is a major reason that the tank will be put in place before the canopy is finished, it too will have the same curve!

Sorry I was not clear, my thought/question about using a third line for the return was NOT for creating flow in the tank, it was to (if it would even make since) provide a higher volume of water to "turn over" from the DT to the sump.

To Mike: My drilled holes in the stand are actually a good but larger then the holes in the tank, but I will double check that I can get a good fitting with the bulkheads, I would much rather do that now than once all is in place. Thanks for bringing it up.

[(Bio)³]

I would turn over too much from sump to dt... I always want a 3-4 tank turnover per hour. Anything more than that and my sump is moving too fast. Then I add power heads as needed for more flow.

Slower sump helps keep bubbles on traps and it's good for any thing you put down there. If you need to tumble algae and it won't with that turn over you can just t the pump and run a line back to the algae area to increase that flow only for tumble without effects to the dt.... This assumes the right pump though

[Sascha D.]

Looks great!

[mFrame]

Utmost respect for getting those curves done in wood. That kind of thing takes forever (and a good amount of talent).

[+SChrisEV]

Last night I put the tank on the stand, and filled it with tap water. Checked for any leaks primarily in the overflow area, I tested the tank for leaks way back at the start of this project. I'm glad I did this in the garage, there is a very slow leak in the return pump bulkhead, I think the gasket is failing. Much better finding that now than once it is in the house with saltwater! Now I need to go buy a 3/4 bulkhead, things could be MUCH worse, with a tank sitting in a crate for about 10 years, any number of things could have gone wrong. I let it run overnight, and will continue to let it run today. The leak is leaking down the return hole back into the sump.

Stand with the tank inside, tank filled with freshwater, not a great picture bad lighting, IMHO it does not do it justice, but then I'm a little biased!

Oh, and Mike, I did cut the holes larger in the stand, while the bulkheads did fit it was a bit tight getting my fingers up inside to tighten the screws. I followed your idea, cut one, mostly rectangular hole for both, I now have plenty of room to reach in and tighten the fitting! Thanks again for bringing that up!

With any luck, the next set of pics will be it plumbed and in the house ready to cycle.

[BBMarlin]

Your tank looks outstanding and there is nothing in it! Wow.

[mFrame]

Glad it's all working out, can't wait to see it all up and running!

[+SChrisEV]

This last weekend I was able to get the stand and the tank into the house, and fill it with salt water!!!!! I also added 80 LBS of live sand, and it was SOOOO cloudy!! I used Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand, I did expect some cloudiness but this was incredible. Has this been your experience? By Monday morning about 70% of the "cloud" had settled and by the time I was home from work it was mostly out of the water column. However it has just settled on the sides, bottom and the 50 lbs. of live rock I have in the tank. Making everything look white. I figured better to have it in the water column to go through the filter, plus I wanted my sand bed more level, it was so cloudy when I added it I could not even see the contour of the sand. So I to took the live rock out, and moved the sand around to "flatten it", then swished the rocks a bit to get the sentiment off them. The water was again very cloudy. But by this morning (Tuesday) it looked much better. Should I continue this process? Getting the sentiment into the water column to let the filter clean it a bit, or leave it be?

I have my protein skimmer running (should I do that during the cycle period?) and I clean the filter sock about three times day, is there anything else I should be doing to help speed this along?

Here is a pic of it this morning after waving some water across the rock, again trying to remove some of the sentiment from it.

I'll post some pics of the plumbing and the current sump I have in place later.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and if you do comment.

[mhayden]

Looks beautiful! I'm excited for you.

[fightinghippo]

i had the same exact problem when i put the fine live sand. it took a week or more for me to wipe the glass get the sand off the live rock etc.. I did read somewhere a better way to put sand in. i think it said put the sand down first. take a big trashbag spread it over the sand and then pour water in so sand does go everywhere. after that remove the trash bag slowly and then place the live rock. i am planning on doing this for the new 90g i am setting up.

[victoly]

I don't know what your sump situation is, but frequently rinsing the fines out your filter socks and/or using a HOT Magnum micron filter has always worked wonders for me.

[Sascha D.]

To get rid of the cloudiness in live sand you put a filter sock on your overflow and it will remove the fine particles from the water column. This helps you keep the critters you want and remove the stuff that is just filler.

[(Bio)³]

dumping the sand through pvc so it drops right to the bottom always works really good to prevent the cloudy waters. You can also aim a PH at the bottom/sand to help, I have done this on a few tanks it helps them clear up twice as fast since the cloud has sand to stick back onto.

[+SChrisEV]

i had the same exact problem when i put the fine live sand. it took a week or more for me to wipe the glass get the sand off the live rock etc.. I did read somewhere a better way to put sand in. i think it said put the sand down first. take a big trashbag spread it over the sand and then pour water in so sand does go everywhere. after that remove the trash bag slowly and then place the live rock. i am planning on doing this for the new 90g i am setting up.

Yeah I read about doing this.... after the fact.

[+SChrisEV]

I don't know what your sump situation is, but frequently rinsing the fines out your filter socks and/or using a HOT Magnum micron filter has always worked wonders for me.

My sump currently is just a 30g tank, with my return emptying into a filter sock, a pump pushing my skimmer, and a return pump back to the display tank. I have been cleaning the filter sock out multiple times a day. I have not pulled the lines apart and cleaned them, I did plan for those things, using a union etc. for easy removal. I'll continue with the sock cleaning and in a few days I'll pull the lines out and clean them well also. Thanks for that. As for HOT Magnum micron filter... I'll have to look into that.

[victoly]

I've got one you can borrow. It's just a hangon cannister filter that uses a pleated mechanical filter to pull out fines.

[+SChrisEV]

I've got one you can borrow. It's just a hangon cannister filter that uses a pleated mechanical filter to pull out fines.

That would be great! What kind of media (if any) do I need to pick up for it? Will send PM now

[+SChrisEV]

So help me understand this, or maybe I got it. I tested my water for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. I really was not sure what to expect at this time. Just added the saltwater, sand and live rock Sunday...

Ammonia was about .50 ppm, Nitrite is .25 ppm, and Nitrate is about 7.0 ppm (some place between the 5.0 and 10.0 color reading). So if I understand (remember from years past) how this works I'm doing okay with the cycle. Meaning I have some bacteria working for me, converting ammonia to nitrite and that to nitrate. I expect I owe this mostly to the well established live rock that I got from Funkness, and some in part to the "live sand" I added.

So should I not add any fish to the tank until the Ammonia is at 0 ppm, or should I add something, at some point to help with the cycle? I'm not trying to hurry, I'm more than willing to let it just play out as needed, I just want to "help" as much as I can.