acharpenters downsize and refurbish (1 Viewer)

[acharpenter]

Part 1 - The Decision to downsize

A year and a half ago I started the build that started like this:

and left me with this in the end – beautiful no??

Video – click on it (C/O Wkjames, thanks dude):



It’s a 70 gallon Oceanic Tech tank that is 36.5 x 18.5 x 25 with Oceanic stand to match that is 32” tall

Link to the 70 build thread:
http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15279

The last few months I have grown unhappy with a few different issues’s with the set up.

1. Tank with stand put it at 57” tall. Being only 5’3” maintenance on the tank became a nightmare for me. Even standing on the handle of a step stool still put me an inch from reaching the sand bed, let alone the actual bottom of the tank.

What really did it was slipping and getting hung up on the Euro bracing and now I have a permanent scar in my friggen arm pit – thanks so much tech tank

2. Tank was so tall that I would need to go with MH’s in order for me to really grow all kinds of different corals on the bottom; I like my Tek fixture so that wasn’t an option.

3. Tank was also so tall it was hard to aquascape it correctly for its height

4. Stand was made of pressboard and saw dust. Since we didn’t do any sort of water proofing there was quite a bit of damage to the inside of the stand due to salt creep, splashes/spraying from the sump etc.

So I started just tearing down the tank. I sold the majority of the fish and then picked up a 29 gallon Nanocube to downgrade to and moved all my corals and fish into it.

Just a week into having the Nano I knew I wouldn’t be happy in the long run with it. Too small, missed having a sump and found that I really DO NOT like acrylic

SO after much thought; I decided to get a breeder tank. It is the same footprint as the tech so I could use the current stand, sump and pretty much all to the equipment that I used with the 70.

Found a used 50 gallon RR breeder (overflow off the back of the tank) as well as a new 40 breeder. Decided in the end to go with the 40 as it didn’t have a tempered bottom so I could drill it and use all the existing plumbing etc that I had on the 70

And so begins the 40 breeder build and stand refurbishing

 

[acharpenter]

Part 2 – Deciding on the new set up and acquiring the equipment

I looked around and found a few used RR 40 breeders but they were all drilled on the back of the tank. As the 70 had an internal overflow the stand was also already cut for internal plumbing. I decided that having the plumbing out the back wouldn’t be too big a deal and found a RR 50 gallon.

Once I had the tank home and started doing the measuring, I figured out that I wouldn’t be happy with the plumbing off the back.

Same day I picked up the 50 breeder I also picked up this set up as I wasn’t sure if I was going to go with the 50 or the 40:

Turns out the 40 breeder from that set up did not have a tempered bottom!!! Was all set to try and drill it on my own but then Something Fishy announced a TCMAS members special; $20.00/hole to drill your tank and they accepted liability for any damage incurred during the drilling. With having to invest like $20.00 for just the hole saw then possibly busting my tank – I jumped on that deal.

Dropped off the tank for drilling and started working on the sump.

Tank was back in under a week and today we painted the back of it black and also painted the trim on the 29 sump black:

Ta da!!!!!!!!

 

[acharpenter]

Part 3 – Modifying the sump

When we put the 70 set up together, we were brand new to sumps and a bit intimidated about building our own.

Ocean Devotion (whom be bought the 70 and stand from) happened to have a ready made 20 long sump that came with baffles, a return pipe to level out the water across the entire sump if needed and an acrylic housing for the return pipe. All we needed to do was silicone the baffles in place.

The sump was a 20 gallon long which worked just about prefect for the set up. One problem I decided to fix after I tore it down was that the baffle in the return section was always about an inch too low for my in sump Tunze skimmer

So I stripped the silicone, cut the baffle in half and added a 1” in piece in the middle.

The splice had to be in the middle rather than the bottom so I could utilize the drain pipe that was already cut to go through both baffles in the sump.

So I used reef glue to join the pieces of the baffle together and left it in the courtyard under an umbrella to cure over night.

This is what I came home to:

Thought is the heat from the day expanded the plastic on the baffle that was still attached to the tank and cracked it – UGH!!!!!

So off to find another 20 long sump – then duh, I realized I had a 29 gallon with the same footprint in storage. Eureka!!!!!!!! Not only would it fit the stand, but if I kept the baffles at the same height, it would cut down on the splashing into the stand!!!!

Holy perfect – should have thought about that to begin with – thinking the 20 cracking was Divine Intervention!!! Onward ho!!!!

Once members noted that I glued the baffle together; everyone recommended taking it apart, sanding off the glue and reattaching using Weldon 16. Took everyone’s advice and did just that

Not too bad with for my first experience with Weldon 16 – wasn’t difficult at all.

I ran a bead of Silicone over the splices – uh, not as good with Silicone on my first try as I was with the Weldon 16…..anyway, seams in the baffle done and baffles Siliconed in.

and I shall name thee – Functional Ghetto SUMP!!!!!!!:

You can tell in the pics which ones were my first seams and which were the last. I did get a tiny bit better by the end seams, just a little hee hee:

Dry fit pics and siliconed pics:

 

[acharpenter]

Part 4 – The overflow and Durso plumbing

I wanted the exact same overflow and plumbing in the 40 as what I had in the 70.

Considered cannibalizing the overflow out of the 70 and chopping it down until the members pointed out that there is a sheet of glass within the plastic frame….so cutting it down to fit would not be as easy as I thought.

Looked into buying one and cheapest I could find was $115.00 with out shipping – Holy Crap!!!!

At that point a friend offered me some scrap acrylic pieces and we decided to try our hand at fabricating our own

Turned out pretty nice thus far. Its not put together yet (waiting on getting the plumbing in before attaching it). Also need to drill the teeth.

Looked into buying a new Megaflow Durso kit but cheapest was like $50.00 and they don’t have an option for a pre-fabbed one that fits the 40 breeder.

We were able to cut the one from the 70 down to fit!! Yee haw, was only like 3 cuts and its perfect!

Here is the dry fitting of the 40 with the Durso and the overflow:

Need to definitely cut down the return to fit inline with the teeth once we cut them but so far so good!!!

 

[acharpenter]

Part 5 – The stand refurbish

Due to the water damage in the stand from the sump – I knew I had some refurbishing and prevention to do this time around.

First – cut out the ruined parts of the stand

Second, roughly sand it all up

Third, apply black silicone around the bottom 4-5”

Fourth – apply Rustoleum waterproof gloss to entire inside

Fifth – Create line of beading around the bottom to “hold” small amounts of water from spills etc

We are still at step 3 but getting there:

 

[acharpenter]

Part uh– stuck waiting on a few pieces and some thank you's!!

Need to pick up a couple of pieces to complete the plumbing as they were glued in on the 70 and had to use a hack saw to get them out.

Will be painting the inside of the stand tomorrow

SO….A few misc pics:

Stand hardware:

Stand hardware is soaking in TSP to get all the crud off. Once done, I will be applying a fresh coat of black Krylon to it:

Empty 70 : (

Here I would like to throw out my HUGE thank you’s to those that have helped me out thus far:

Discovery Aquatics/Merkurfan/Clint - for his generous donation of the acrylic we used to make the overflow box, and borrowing me a Dremel. Im sure there is more dude, but uh – this build thread has taken so long, I am starting to forget things, sound familiar?? Hee hee!!!

Lurch/Colin – for providing us with Weldon 16 as it was sold out and we were on hold until we found some – as well as the reef/shop talk about what we are setting up

kv2wr1/Eric – for an awesome trade of some of my Bam Bam frags (originated from MrLee) for a perfect sump light

SWE/Fritz – for all the advice and awesome deals on everything we have need thus far

Cory/Cory – for hooking me up with the 29 Nano

Crayonbreaker/Nick from Ocean Devotion – for hooking me up with the 50 breeder, and big thanks for getting it to fit in my lil go-cart car!!!!

Ocean Devotion/Vince – for putting up with me for 3 hours in the store while waiting to meet up with Nick – hee hee!!!!!

RyanTurner/Ryan – thanks so much for hooking me up with the 40 breeder package (http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29510) and letting me know it wasn’t a tempered bottom – which saved me a ton of time and $$$

Something Fishy/TriggerFreak Thanks for hooking me up on the drilling dude, and thanks to Something Fishy for providing the drilling discount to TCMAS members!!!

And of course – biggest of all – THANK YOU TO HEMICUDA/Kevin – we never work well together on projects, and this one has been no different. LOL!!!

Your cuts have been awesome, I suck at painting and spraying so thanks so much for taking on those chores and uh, we haven’t killed each other yet so ONWARD HO Hunny!!!

Next update probably wont be for a couple of days as I work 3 - 13 hour days starting tomorrow - so……..this concludes the build thread for this week

Thanks for stopping by – ya’ll stay tuned now ya hear?!

 

[Stony2977]

That looks like the 29g you got from me at the last swap. If it is that was my 1st saltwater tank! About 17 years ago! Ahhh the memories. :gay1:

 

[acharpenter]

That looks like the 29g you got from me at the last swap. If it is that was my 1st saltwater tank! About 17 years ago! Ahhh the memories. :gay1:

LMAO - yep thats the one, knew I had a couple at one time from somewhere and just hung on to one for no reason........LOL that's where we first met dude!!!

 

[agent462]

nice work guys!

 

[Kyle52288]

Build is looking sweet!! where did you get the plumbing parts for the internal overflow?

 

[hypertech]

Is that a filter sock holder? I've been thinking of making one. Did you make it?

 

[acharpenter]

Build is looking sweet!! where did you get the plumbing parts for the internal overflow?

The Megaflow kit came with the 70 gallon. We just chopped it down to fit the 40. You can find them online:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...TNiKO4auNpiPpNcB&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

Is that a filter sock holder? I've been thinking of making one. Did you make it?

Yup - and nope. Came with the ready made sump from Vince. Definetly comes in handy and I like having it as an additional support for the return line.

 

[Lurch]

I told you Krylon fusion rocks!

Glad to see my weld-on got put to good use and I could give you guys some tips.

 

[kv2wr1]

Looking great!:biggthumpup: Can't wait to see it up and running. 40B's are fun size tanks.

 

[Rafa]

What a journey! good luck and cant wait to see how this evolves.

 

[Jace]

Jesus...Old tank loooked A-Mayzing....Already know your knew tank will too.

 

[Merkurfan]

Nice :biggthumpup:

Your going to need my dremel back.. just think how nice the return would look with a notch perfectly cut out for it to settle in to?

 

[lr9788]

This is a downSIZE Angie. Not a downGRADE

Its all looking great

 

[acharpenter]

Nice :biggthumpup:

Your going to need my dremel back.. just think how nice the return would look with a notch perfectly cut out for it to settle in to?

Going to drill holes at about 1.5" from the top, then use the table saw to cut grooves in the top to make the teeth that will end at the holes for a nice polished even look

This is a downSIZE Angie. Not a downGRADE

Its all looking great

Awww, good call - thanks dude!

 

[Merkurfan]

Going to drill holes at about 1.5" from the top, then use the table saw to cut grooves in the top to make the teeth that will end at the holes for a nice polished even look

I ment for the opening the lineloc passes through