Well i'm going to try and make this a post with a good amount of pictures so new members such as myself will be able to see actual examples of what things look like. As i was searching a lot of the DIY tutorials were missing pictures so if you weren't sure what they were describing it was hard to understand it. I will accredit most of my design to this link Travis at this link for his help to us beginners:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=912378&perpage=25&pagenumber=1">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...mp;pagenumber=1</a>
Ok now a little bit about myself: I am a college student who's roommates got fish tanks 1 fresh water and the other salt water. Well i've been helping them out with theirs just because i enjoy the hobby. Once i caught the itch it was a little frustrating when our opinions on how the tank should look or what fish they should get differed i decided it was time to invest in my own tank. [IMG]http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt="" />
Originally i was going to follow the previous link i posted and do a 10G tank with just a basic sump, but then i started looking into it and decided to go with a 10G tank and 10G refugium. Then my friend told me PetCo was having a dollar a gallon sale so i ended up with two 20L tanks. I am very pleased with the 20L look because i'm going to have plenty of horizontal ledges to put coral on.
Another reason for this post is to show my progress and get feedback on my decision on equipment and design.
By the way I don't really suggest any of these techniques based on safety. Complete these steps with safety in mind.
So far the initial plan:
Tank : 20L + 20L refugium
Refugium design:
[IMG]http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/data/500/medium/sump_diagram.JPG" alt="" />
Bulkhead Design:
Decided to go with external durso, from what i understand it is quieter.
[IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/wjyeager/IMG_2516.jpg alt="" />
expanded view, will have vinyl tube and PVC barb at the end
alt="" />
Stand:
I plan on building my own, with a lighting canopy. Refugium will obviously be inside the bottom of the stand and i will hopefully be able to make the stand to where it will not extend to far sideways from the tank (if that makes any sense http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
Ok here is a picture i was trying to show how i plan on keeping the stand the exact width of the tank. I put the vertical supports on the front and back of the stand because i figured it wouldn't matter if i had extra space on the back. Then i plan on having the decorative board overlap the tank just enough to cover the black plastic. So here goes:
[IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/wjyeager/Cabinetdesign.jpg alt="" />
Ok well its getting late and i actually started drilling the hole in my tank but i figured I would start the thread while i was waiting for my dremel to recharge. here are a few sneak previews.
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Going to continue tomorrow will try and update during down times.
This is actually from another site that i'm writing it on so if i don't update here i will there:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=912378&perpage=25&pagenumber=1">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...mp;pagenumber=1</a>
Ok now a little bit about myself: I am a college student who's roommates got fish tanks 1 fresh water and the other salt water. Well i've been helping them out with theirs just because i enjoy the hobby. Once i caught the itch it was a little frustrating when our opinions on how the tank should look or what fish they should get differed i decided it was time to invest in my own tank. [IMG]http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt="" />
Originally i was going to follow the previous link i posted and do a 10G tank with just a basic sump, but then i started looking into it and decided to go with a 10G tank and 10G refugium. Then my friend told me PetCo was having a dollar a gallon sale so i ended up with two 20L tanks. I am very pleased with the 20L look because i'm going to have plenty of horizontal ledges to put coral on.
Another reason for this post is to show my progress and get feedback on my decision on equipment and design.
By the way I don't really suggest any of these techniques based on safety. Complete these steps with safety in mind.
So far the initial plan:
Tank : 20L + 20L refugium
Refugium design:
[IMG]http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/data/500/medium/sump_diagram.JPG" alt="" />
Bulkhead Design:
Decided to go with external durso, from what i understand it is quieter.
[IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/wjyeager/IMG_2516.jpg alt="" />
expanded view, will have vinyl tube and PVC barb at the end
Stand:
I plan on building my own, with a lighting canopy. Refugium will obviously be inside the bottom of the stand and i will hopefully be able to make the stand to where it will not extend to far sideways from the tank (if that makes any sense http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
Ok here is a picture i was trying to show how i plan on keeping the stand the exact width of the tank. I put the vertical supports on the front and back of the stand because i figured it wouldn't matter if i had extra space on the back. Then i plan on having the decorative board overlap the tank just enough to cover the black plastic. So here goes:
[IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/wjyeager/Cabinetdesign.jpg alt="" />
Ok well its getting late and i actually started drilling the hole in my tank but i figured I would start the thread while i was waiting for my dremel to recharge. here are a few sneak previews.
Going to continue tomorrow will try and update during down times.
This is actually from another site that i'm writing it on so if i don't update here i will there:
Good Luck :yay:
