50 gallon LPS & Zoa Reef
 

Now that the weather is warmer I have begun the building process for the new 50 gallon tank I picked up. I currently have a 90 gallon mixed reef that I am splitting into two tanks. I am removing all the LPS from the 90 gallon tank and putting them into the new 50 gallon, plus all the Zoas and Palys that are in a 10 gallon "temporary" tank from the 20 gallon Atasuki tank I tore down in November.

The new 50 gallon tank will have a Herbie overflow installed with gate valve, and a drilled return. I am using an Ocean Runner 2500 return pump, and a SWC 120 Cone skimmer. I'm going to see how the tank runs with just a Hagen Glo 2x36 watt T5s fixture, but I may need to replace with a 4x36 watt fixture. The tank measures 36x18x18".

The stand is glued and screwed 2x4s. The stand is sheeted in 3/8" sanded plywood. The vertical edges are joined with 45 degree edges. I still have to cut the front out, use that piece for the back of the stand to partially enclose the back of the stand, and install the doors. The doors will be 3/4" sanded plywood. All the plywood edges will be finished with iron on Birch edging. I'm aiming for a nice clean look with straight lines. There is a sheet of 1/2" dense styrofoam between the stand and the tank. I'm not sure if I'm going to make a canopy or not...will see how it looks after I get it set up.

The stand will be painted green to match the living room walls. Color is General Paint CL-1933M Worn Soul. The idea is to have the stand blend into the wall so it looks less obtrusive in our small living room. I am going to spend some time doing a high quality finish. Sand it with 180 grit to start, primer, sand with 220 grit, paint, sand with 220 grit, paint, sand with 220 grit, satin finish water-based polyurethane, very light sanding with 320 grit, and a second polyurethane coat . If I am careful and do a good job this will give the stand a cabinet-grade finish.

The sump is a 15 gallon tank. Glass is ordered for the sump, will be ready next week . It will be pretty basic. Room for a filter sock on the overflow pipe, skimmer chamber, a few baffles, and a return chamber.

Framing:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Mar1020122.jpg


Sheeted:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Mar182012.jpg


Front cut out. I originally planned to use that cut out piece as a partial backing for the stand (you can see it laying in place) to help keep the wall behind clean of salt spray on the occasion the skimmer may overflow or such, but I couldn't get it to look the way I wanted to, so I ditched out on the idea. Although I'm now revisiting that idea with a new installation plan.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Mar3120122.jpg


Doors I planned to span the full width of the stand, but I couldn't find hinges that would mount on a parallel surface, so standard doors (boo on that):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Mar312012.jpg



"Primer" on. Technically, it is just flat paint that is two shades darker than the finished color that I happened to have sitting around. Free primer? Sure why not.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...L/Apr72012.jpg



Here's the second coat (first coat of right color). The camera didn't pull the color right though, it's not this yellow. First coat inside the stand is white outdoor gloss plaint.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr720122.jpg

Too bad about the hinges. Stand is lookin' nice
What made you go with a 15g sump?

Lookin good so far....actually pretty similar to my own setup. Just a heads up, I've got 4x39w HaganGlo's over my 35g and I've had some nice growth on my LPS/Zoa tank so you might want to go with 4 lights on a 50g.

If I ever do find appropriate hinges it wouldn't be difficult to replace the doors. That's why I just went ahead and kept going. I can revisit later if I can find hinges.

Regarding the sump, a 15 gallon tank fits in the stand nicely, has plenty of room for the skimmer and return chamber, isn't too tall to be awkward. I'm not sure what you mean, maybe if you added a "rather than ____" to the end of the question I could answer it better? Or maybe I did. :lol:

Yeah, this I know. I'm going to just use 2 bulbs for now because I want to see how it does out of interest. I might need 4 bulbs just to span the 18" width though.

FWIW, I ran my 77 Hagen on a dual lamp Hagen GLO 48" T5HO fixture for at least it's first year. Had a mushroom pop up on a piece of LR that I had no idea was in there under that light. I think I had one 10000K & one Actinic in the fixture.

Might be a good opportunity to consider a LED fixture. It it's going to be a dedicated soft coral system, you could get away with fewer (or lower power) LEDs than on an SPS reef. I recently finished a LED DIY and it's been running over my tank for a week. Really like it. Lower power usage, dimmable, plenty of colour options. Prices are coming down & there are more plug & play standard bulb options these days, so a DIY could be as simple as having four to six standard light sockets with PAR38 bulbs or a low voltage MR16 bulb solution. You'll certainly have time to play around with ideas while running the 36" Hagen GLO.

Yeah, LEDs are a consideration too. I'm still not sold on LEDs, although I would like to try them out myself and come to my own conclusions. I really wanted to put an AI Sol on my 20-gallon Atasuki tank, it would have fit the tank really well. I'm sure I would need two AI Sols on the 50-gallon though, and all of a sudden a $400 experiment is almost a grand. Kinda stiff for an experiment I think! If I could get a good deal on a used pair I might still consider it because then if I don't like them I could sell them onto someone else without a big loss. I would like to buy a fixture rather than DIY simply because forming an opinion on a DIY version would possibly be unfair for the LEDs. I like the PAR38 bulbs on nano tanks, but they have such a bad spotlight effect that I would not consider them for the 50-gallon tank.

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Painting is done on the exterior of the stand. I'm a bit disappointed in the quality of the finish since I had to brush it instead of spraying it. I'm going to have to buy a new sprayer to paint my other stand (that's a different thread to come hehe). It has also been really difficult to get rid of the wood grain on the plywood. I ended up having to float a coat of filler over the entire thing to get the grain out. Maybe MDF would have been a better option. Hard to say...MDF is gross, but the finish would have been smoother. Well sealed, MDF could be a good option. I still have to paint the bottom of the stand to seal out any moisture in case of a wet carpet accident (ugh). The inside of the stand still needs one more coat too. I should have saltwater and rock in it by Sunday afternoon. Yippee! I've been working on the stand for 5 weeks already simply because our garage doesn't have heat so I'm limited to weekend days with nice weather. I did the painting in my kitchen though... :o

Hey mindy nice build what about edging in piano hinge and have it hidden or tack on a piece of wood to where the hinge is going and that would allow for the hinge base to attach. I hope this make sense

Yup, you did. I figured you'd not want something too tight to work with. But ...
Have you looked at a 20 long? 30-1/4 x 12-1/2 x 12-3/4
Probably a little tight to slide in, but you wouldn't have to re-order glass if your 15g is 24-1/4 x 12-1/2 x 12-3/4.
It would still give you room to externally hang reactors on an end.
Looking forward to more pics

Well you see...I also have six 15 gallon tanks in the garage. :D I don't think I've seen a 20L in any of the shops around here. I could take a peek at Petsmart this weekend. I am a bit worried that 15 gallons will be too cramped, and I might not have enough room for the back flow from the return line when the pump is shut off. I have to measure it up.

Yeah, that makes sense. I like this idea, and it's a good one actually. I don't think I would use a piano hinge though because they tend to rust real easy. This does give me some new ideas though. Thanks!

I figured something like that was going on :wink:
The sizes I gave you are an Aqueon
That's why I asked in the first place, but didn't want to step on your toes :biggrin:

Sure would be nice if your local store had this is stock
http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...uctId=11164157

If the 15 gallon will do the trick though there is no need, so I'll measure it up first and see what I have. A quick guesstimate though says I will need room for about 5.5 gallons of back flow (that's 2" drop in the tank, which I doubt it will be that much), and there would be about 6 gallons room in the sump. That is pretty close, but I'm pretty sure that I won't have 5.5 gallons back flow.

The only places here that sell Aqueon (that I know of) are Petsmart and Petland. Petsmart doesn't do any special orders at all so if it isn't a regular stock item they can't get it. Petland has outrageous prices so I refuse to shop there unless it is dire need. :lol: I will go check Petsmart this weekend though because I think I might have seen 20L there.

Actually it shouldnt rust that much where its dadoed in the wood on both sides

Mindy, while I was drifting off last night I remembered Lee Valley. Have you looked there for hinges?

Sask Location

Mike, I wasn't thinking to dado it...how do you mean?

Greg, I've been all over Lee Valley's website, but I haven't managed to get in the store yet. I didn't see what I was looking for on the website, but I'm thinking if I describe it to the guys there that they might be able to come up with an idea.

Tonight I was in the Recroom, hacking away, cutting crappy pass-through holesaw holes, and heating up my variable drill ( fuming about my inaccessible drill press ), when I thought of you.
I have a heated garage, fully setup with all my larger woodworking tools, and I can't use them because of the Collector Camaro.

I feel for you having to build outside on nicer days and paint in the kitchen.
At least I can make a mess on the carpet and hope to vacuum it all up before the Wife gets a splinter :smile:

Haha yeah, next house will have a heated workshop! :D

Mindy:
what you would do is take the piano hinge and lay it on the door and trace it out.
- Then Router out the thickness of the hinge into the door.
- This will allow the hinge to sit flush withteh frame.
-Hence having a flush door that is attached to the frame.

HTH

Ah ok...I was thinking a bigger dado for something that I wasn't understanding.

I know it's a bit late now, but these are pretty cool hinges. $42 for 2 doors ( ouch ). They open 180 degrees
Imagine the doors flush-recessed
You'd probably need to re-face the stand if you want nearly full-sized doors but could cut down the doors you already cut out if the size of your opening is happy.

Looks like you'd need inner stoppers for those hinges. Maybe the sprung-magnetic style ( there's also this and this kind ) up high? My wife hates that kind, but you get the idea
If you don't mind door knobs these are cool, and this is also cool, as long as you don't lose the knobs !

Those Soss hinges are awesome, but they won't work. They position the doors within the opening rather than the doors covering the opening. The trouble with that is that it would be a real pain in the butt to block the light coming from the sump which would shine out the crack between the door and the opening. Right now the skin on my stand only covers the 2x4s, so the opening is as big as possible. It wouldn't take much to modify the doors I have to work with the Soss hinges. I was considering the option at one point. For now though I'm just going to stick with what I have and hurry up to get some water in the tank! Replacing doors later is pretty easy.

I'm going to silicone the overflow in tomorrow morning, and hope to have the tank running by Sunday evening. I guess I will see how quickly the silicone dries.

When I silicone my overflow within 8 hrs I was gtg

Haha, you're nuts! I'm going to wait at least 24 hours. I have to paint the bottom of the stand still anyway which needs to dry fully before I can put it down on the carpet. I should have done that during the week sometime.

I know:mrgreen:

So I totally bunged up. I had this brilliant idea to use a hammer to knock the corner off the glass overflow liner to make room for the silicone joint that runs along the bottom of the tank. Yeah, I have NO idea why I did that. The annoying part is that I have all the tools needed to grind or cut that little corner off, but nooooo I had to use a hammer. Mad at self. Needless to say, I need to order a new piece of glass on Monday and there won't be any water in the tank this weekend. Sigh...

I still have to drill the return hole. I'm going to drill it for 3/4" bulkhead even though I really only need 1/2" return from the pump. I want to try it with 1/2" line and 3/4" and see if I get any "free" extra flow from using 3/4". :D

Here it is in it's spot. The color is pretty accurate in this pic. Doors still need clear coat. I haven't decided on background color, but will probably be black. After looking at it all set up I will definitely be making a short wrap (canopy) for the top.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr152012.jpg

I feel for ya. I busted my new chaeto tank yesterday trying to move a line. I'm not going to buy another 2mm tank but rather try making my own with 6mm and the old framing.
Stand looks great.
So I see your going to be using a scraper on some panes :smile:

Any progress ?

The tank has almost all of my LPS corals in it now. I put a couple juvenile Galaxy Clarkii clowns in there yesterday. I don't have the return pump hooked up yet. I painted the back and took some pics, but they seem to have been lost. I must have deleted them off my camera before my trip to Kauai. With only 2 T5 bulbs I can't get the color to my liking. I'm looking for a used 4-bulb fixture to put over the tank already. :lol:

Greg, in reference to your previous post, the European hinges hold the doors closed so I don't need magnetic latches. I'm going to buy the "soft-close" pieces for the hinges so they won't slam shut.

Excellent. Glad to hear the hinges you picked work
Lookin' forward to some pics

Figured you were out of town. Hope you had a wonderful time

They were hinges I bought probably 2 years ago, so I figured I may as well use them. I just couldn't use my original plan with those style hinges. Oh well, I'm still happy with the stand, and really like that it is the same color as the walls behind it. It looks very nice like that.

And thanks, our trip to Kauai was awesome. :)

Update ??????

Yeah, I guess I didn't update this! My Canon G9 died while I was in Hawaii in April, and I didn't take many pics after that since my waterproof camera doesn't take the same quality of photos. I bought another G9 a week ago though, so I should get more pics soon here.

I still need to add a bunch more live rock. I bought a few nice pieces just for the tank a couple months ago, but haven't got around to putting them in the tank. I got a blue Mini Carpet anemone for the tank too. Cool little critters.

Here's May 2nd:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...L/May22012.jpg


May 3rd (added a bunch):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...May3201213.jpg



Here's the sump (installed early May):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../May132012.jpg


Here it is May 19:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../May192012.jpg


This Aussie Lobo got nailed by its neighbor, and is recovering well:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...July820129.jpg


This is the neighbor:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...July820128.jpg


Here's RBTA. It hosts a young pair of Galaxy Clarkii, but they ditched when they saw the camera.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...uly8201211.jpg

Awmygawd, sooooooo nice :surprise:!

Yeah, thanks that one's a beauty! I like the damaged Aussie on better though. I have 8 open brains and 6 closed brain corals in there. One of my fav corals.

I added a bunch of rock yesterday and redesigned. I still need to get the last of the corals off the sand, replace the powerheads (they do no good in the boxes), and give that green Sinularia a major pruning, but it's a start...

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...uly2520123.jpg

Wow, that's a nice upgrade

wow....this thing sure changed in a couple months.....lookin good Mindy!.....can I bug ya for a close up of that cool lookin red/yellow favia type coral that is up front and center in the tank?.....pretty please:wink:

Thanks guys! It changed fast because I already had all the corals stuffed into other tanks. Essentially it was just a drawn out tank transfer. :lol:

Doug, it's actually an Acan echinata. The feeder tentacles are out a bit in the FTS. Orange and green..."Orange Crush" I think it's called? Pic is from March when it was under diff lighting:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Mar320126.jpg

Due for an update I suppose. I was working in Alberta all winter again and I came back to a lovely Caulerpa carpet. Three different species even! :eek: So, I ended up picking up the rocks and turning them over to pull all the Caulerpa off. You know how that goes...you pick up a rock and it never goes back to same. So...it got renovated. Still a bunch of Zoa frags in a pile at the front.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Apr3201311.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...pr320139-1.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...L/Apr32013.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320132.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320133.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320134.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320135.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320136.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320137.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320138.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr320139.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Mar262013.jpg