Wretch's 54g Aqueon RR Corner Build

[Wretch]

Well I am finally getting around to setting my tank up so figured I would let everyone see what I am doing.

Started with a 54g corner tank and thats about it.




From there I needed a stand. With the strange location I chose and I wanted more room underneath I needed to build my own stand. I don't have any pictures of the build but I do wish i had used something besides plywood as it didn't finish that well.





Here are some of the supplies I bought for my tank. Some of these have been changed out but this is where I started.

[hillegom]

Looks like you have lots of room in that stand. Coming along nicely, keep up with the pics

[Wretch]

For some reason I didn't take any pictures of just the stand after painting or individual pieces of equipment as they came in.

I got a custom sump made from J&L Aquatics. Its 18x18x16. It fits nicely and allows enough room for a salt bucket or two beside it.




As you can see in the pictures I am going to be running a vertex IN-80 protein skimmer. The way I have it setup now is not the final positions of everything. I don't like the heaters where they are but not sure where to put them right now.

My return pump is a Eheim compact + 2000.

I have been messing around with my Marco rocks trying to find a scape I liked.





I finally settled on the following formation and glued it together with epoxy. Hope I like it for a long time.

[Wretch]

I had purchased a light last year I am kinda regretting it now but I will live with it until it breaks or I can afford something else.






It is a Twilight 120w LED light. Its has a custom designed light spectrum. It also has an internal 3 channel timer/dimmer. The lights seem bright enough and look good but I am kinda worried about control.

I made a light hanger out of aluminum, its a copy of another reefers design. Its not quite finished yet but it has got the light over the tank now.



I am not sure if I want to lower the light. I am open to any suggestions other might have about it. Right now I think it is about 9" or 10" above the tank.

[Wretch]

Well its finally that time, to check if the tank leaks. I got my ro/di hooked up to the bathroom sink and am filling the sump.



So far everything seems to be good. No leaks in the sump and I have started pumping water into the display tank.




Damn I didn't really think about how long filling 60+ gallons of tanks was going to take. Oh well a late night it will be. Sorry for the glare in the pictures couldn't get rid of it. Stupid iPhone.

[Stones]

Great start! Do you have any pics of building the aluminium light hanger or a better profile picture of it?

[kien]

indeed this is coming along nicely !

[Wretch]

Originally Posted by Stones

Great start! Do you have any pics of building the aluminium light hanger or a better profile picture of it?

I don't have any close ups of it but I will take some for you. If you do a search for thedoogan reef you will find were I got the idea from. Its just a piece of 6061T6 aluminum flat bar 0.375 x 2", with 2 smaller piece of the same aluminum flat bar but 0.250 x .75".I drilled holes into the two smaller pieces to match my light then drilled them to attach to the large bar.

[Wretch]

Here are the pictures of the light hanger. As I say its not finished yet I just wanted it attached and what not so I could get water in the tank. Still have to shorten the bolts and clean it up a little.





Hope this helps.

[Stones]

Thanks wretch. I was curious if the aluminium bar had been bent at 90 degrees or if you had 2 pieces jointed together to make a 90 degree elbow.

That hanger looks really slick. If you have the equipment, you could always take a cutoff wheel to the tops of the bolts holding the fixture to your aluminium hanger and cut them off just above the fastening nuts. A hacksaw would work equally well but would just take a bit more elbow grease to get the job done.