I'm now in the process of searching for a stand. It needs to be 35-38" wide, and I'm hoping for around 35-38" high. The stand probably only needs to be about 2ft deep. Its very frustrating not to have any place to work on this kind of stuff anymore. I'm also going to need a matching canopy, and I'm hoping a set of doors, or something to hide the tank itself.

The plumbing is mostly figured out now, its just a matter of getting the overflow done, and assembling the plumbing parts.

Quicky update:

The tank is about 80% ready to go now. I've gotten all my plumbing parts, my pump, and I've decided on my lighting.

I'm going to stay with a single 175w MH for the moment. After a really long hard look at T5s I've decided it isn't really the best option for me. The initial start up cost was more then my existing tank cost me to set up. In short the price drove me away. Maybe in the future I will revisit the idea, but right now I'm happy with keeping my budget small.

The manifold itself is complete. Its all plumbed up, it just needs a trial run which will be happening once I get the stand. I chose to go with the ReeFlo Snapper pump for its low power consumption, the fact that it is pressure rated, and that you can dial it back for futher power savings if need be.

I'm waiting on the following before the big change over:
- Drilling the overflow box and the back pane of the tank.
- The stand & canopy
- Finalizing a sump design, this will be after the stand & canopy arrive.
- Completing the plumbing from tank to sump.

The next step is the arrival of the stand and canopy. From there it is just plumbing it up and confirming my sump design. Everything else is ready for the change over!

I'll try and post photos of everything later this evening.

The promised photos:

The tank with the finished manifold.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0134.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0136.jpg

Corner bracing / manifold rest:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0145.jpg

Cool, more pictures, more pictures :biggrin:

Lookin' good, Catherine! I'm looking forward to seeing that manifold in action. It's an idea that's always interested me.

Where are you getting your stand and canopy from?

There will be more photos tonight possibly, if not Friday.

The stand and canopy is actually coming from Edmonton Eskimo. I'm super excited about it!

I can't wait to see how the manifold works too. I think there will be a crazy amount of flow, so much so that I'll have to go barebottom, or throttle the pump back considerably. I'll try and make sure to get photos of it in action.

I hope to have the tank running by Ed's Reef Meet on the 14th, but we'll have to see.

That should work. Are you going to paint it?

I most likely will, probably a blue if I have time. I'll be painting the back, and the overflow.

Looks good. Zylumn(Kevin) has a manifold similar to that on one of his tanks.

Thanks! I'll definitely have to go take a look at his system!