50 Gallon Waterfall Lagooooon

[FishyFishy!]

I've always absolutely loved the Konolua Volcano tank. My brother walked by me one day while I was looking at the website for this tank (http://www.konolua.com/RSS/Volcano_Tank/Volcano_Tank.html) and he said "I want that". And let me tell you... so do I! So with joint funding and my skills, I'm putting one together. Tank is in my kitchen, and the sump/mixing station will be housed in the closets behind the wall. Since my job will be leaving me two weeks in Huston at a time starting in January, the brother ok’d looking after it now that he is getting into the hobby! Wooo whoooo! Even though I don’t get to start up my dream SPS system that I wanted to, this little guy will have to do until I’m home permanently.

The inspiration behind the build:



DETAILS:



Tank:

50 Gallon shallow tank - 44"L X 22"W X 12"H - Eurobraced, painted blue background, center overflow with 2 X 1” holes for a herbie drain, 1 X ¾” return, and 1 X 1” random hole on right side that will be plugged with a bulkhead.


Stand:

Custom built stand – 2X4’s in the typical overbuilt form. The bottom of the stand has a sheet of plywood that is completely sealed with black liquid rubber in case of plumbing leaks. I will have custom skins made soon.


Sump Closet and Mixing Station:


Sump –

Custom 60 Gallon: 42L X 20W X 18H ish..– 3 compartments

20 Gallon 1st stage drain/skimmer/water change tank 24”L X 18”W X 12”H

Mixing station –

2 X large Rubbermaid Brutes
BRS 6 stage Chloramines deluxe RO unit
Mag 24 mixing/transport pump.

Equipment:


Skimmer – Bubble Magus Curve 7
Flow – 2 X MP10WES
Return Pump – Danner Mag 12
Heater – 1 X 300W Jager, 1 X 175W Jager
2 X TLF media reactors

Lighting:


Custom LED build –
Aluminum U-channel heat sinks
16 Bridgelux 3W LED strips (6 LED’s per strip) -
8 RB and 8 10K
2 power supplies
2 controllers that dim LED’s, control timing, and control fans when it reaches a specified temperature

[FishyFishy!]

BUILD:

The tank looked like this when I bought it:



The overflow wasn’t going to work for me. Only having a single hole on the back pane was a little unnerving. So I called Denny and Dave for some new holes! They came over and drilled two new 1” bulkhead holes in the middle for a herbie setup (thanks a ton!). The ¾” hole on the left will be the return like, and the 1” hole on the right, originally meant for the drain, will be plugged with a bulkhead to be made into something else in the future.

Then I really lucked out. While talking about the overflow I was about to build, Denny mentioned that the frag tank that I sold him a week or so earlier got smashed, and he actually ended up salvaging the overflow from it. It already had the black acrylic, and was all together. So I snatched that up and silicone it into place.

Lastly, I gave it a fresh coat of Blue Krylon Fusion for the background.



Stand will be skinned with panels and painted the same color as the walls/trim.



Stripped the closet behind the kitchen for the sumps/ATO. Have to mud/sand and paint the drywall still, and continue the waterproof floor paint into the closet.



Here is the LED light rack I built. It is roughly the same size as the tank. This will go into a wood floating canopy hung from the ceiling. I have yet to build the canopy. I might just hire someone to make it look good, as my wood finishing skills are not good at all. I can frame stuff up, but making it look good after that is difficult.



Lights on at about 80% (white and blue)





60 Gallon Sump – Still needs 2 coats of background paint…I ran out…then got lazy.




And the brand new Bubble Magus Curve 7 Protein Skimmer - Can’t wait to fire this guy up.



I also picked me up some American DJ 8 switch powerbars to help with automation and maintenance. I love these things!

Here is a rough layout of the sump closet



More to come!

[mrhasan]

Everything is looking awesome Tagging alone with an awesome built

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

BUILD:

The tank looked like this when I bought it:



The overflow wasn’t going to work for me. Only having a single hole on the back pane was a little unnerving. So I called Denny and Dave for some new holes! They came over and drilled two new 1” bulkhead holes in the middle for a herbie setup (thanks a ton!). The ¾” hole on the left will be the return like, and the 1” hole on the right, originally meant for the drain, will be plugged with a bulkhead to be made into something else in the future.

Then I really lucked out. While talking about the overflow I was about to build, Denny mentioned that the frag tank that I sold him a week or so earlier got smashed, and he actually ended up salvaging the overflow from it. It already had the black acrylic, and was all together. So I snatched that up and silicone it into place.

Lastly, I gave it a fresh coat of Blue Krylon Fusion for the background.



Stand will be skinned with panels and painted the same color as the walls/trim.



Stripped the closet behind the kitchen for the sumps/ATO. Have to mud/sand and paint the drywall still, and continue the waterproof floor paint into the closet.



Here is the LED light rack I built. It is roughly the same size as the tank. This will go into a wood floating canopy hung from the ceiling. I have yet to build the canopy. I might just hire someone to make it look good, as my wood finishing skills are not good at all. I can frame stuff up, but making it look good after that is difficult.



Lights on at about 80% (white and blue)





60 Gallon Sump – Still needs 2 coats of background paint…I ran out…then got lazy.




And the brand new Bubble Magus Curve 7 Protein Skimmer - Can’t wait to fire this guy up.



I also picked me up some American DJ 8 switch powerbars to help with automation and maintenance. I love these things!

Here is a rough layout of the sump closet



More to come!

[gregzz4]

I've been waiting for you to start this build - tre cool

[kien]

[Salt2Death]

Has my full attention!


Sent Via The Pirate Ship...

[Myka]

This is a cool idea!

[chris88]

looks like an amazing build. I do think you need to broaden your spectrum with your lighting. you are going to need to add some 420nm and 650nm leds or add a couple of t5s to help fill the gap. What are you planning on keeping in regards to live stock?

[Delphinus]

Looks great but honestly I'd scrape off the blue Krylon and put black. 1) Black looks better and makes colours pop more, and 2) It would match the overflow. One of my biggest regrets with my current tank was that I went blue instead of black (one day I'll change it but it's far easier before it's set up than after).

[gridley]

This is looking fantistic! You have obviously been at this tank for a while already. I'm looking forward to folowing along.