The 72 Project w/new pics 11-9

Hey all its been awhile since I've been on the site due to a nightmare move again. Anyway just wanted to do this aquarium diary for anyone thats interested. I cant remember if theres a special forum for aquarium logs, but I figured this would be the best spot for it because it is going to be a reef tank. Finally setting this thing up. It been a long time coming to say the least. Hope everyone enjoys the blood sweat and tears.

Well I figured the best thing to start out with would be the filter. Hey its the building block of the aquarium right? The problem I ran into is that the bowfront stand for my aquarium isn't all that spacious to put a sump into. Any way the fix for that was unfortunantly to make one. A sheet and half of plex later and I got all the pieces to make my sump, hopefully. Sheets of .25" are going for $80 now. Ouch... Took a measure of 39"x10". Yes an odd size. I started making my cuts with an angle grinder and a masonry blade. (At this point I will say save yourself the nightmare and invest in a table saw, even a circular saw set up against a straight edge will cut better than what I used). It was a good thing I made my rough cuts 1" larger than I needed because I used every inch with the router to make the pieces true and square.

It makes a mess to so be sure to have an industrial vac on hand. It seems like the router puts a static charge on the plastic chips and they stick to everything, including yourself. Little scratchy by the end of the day. But yes I think a router is the best thing to finish cut this stuff with, besides a jointer, because it leaves the edge square and ready to glue. Another one of those cool tools that makes this easier is a router table. I needed to go buy one halfway through this project. (When buying a router table make sure you get one with a good square, if its loose and doesn't give you an exact 90 degree cut you might as well start over).

Well got the pieces ready to glue and should do that hear in the next couple of days. Hopefully one hurdle closer to my reef tank.

[melosu58]

Cant wait for the finished product. Looks Good so far.

[roka64]

Very nice! More pics!

Well got a few more pics today couldn't leave well enough alone.

Set up a couple of pieces to see how they would look and then just decided to glue them together. I had to do this on my kitchen table because it is completely flat unlike the garage floor.

Tool List
* Weld-on #4
* applicator
* speed squares
* clamps

I took the side piece and layed it onto the bottom piece to try to get one of my sump sides. Once I was satisfied with how it fit I took the applicator and ran some of the solvent along the joint edge and held the two pieces together with the speed square as a referance. The weld-on is kind of like pvc cement. It works the same way except with plex. After about 30 or so seconds the pieces have enough of a hold that you can let go and then put on the clamps. At this time I would check my joints and if there were any air bubbles I would run another bead of the solvent on the other side of the joint. You can very easily see air in a plex joint and see if it needs more solvent or not. Once I had the back part of my sump glued to the bottom piece I wanted to put one of the sides on and did so. Pretty much the same thing. You have to love the speed square for quick setup. Here some pics.

Allright now that I got the sump allmost done, meaning I got the back and sides done I should probably think about a skimmer and my main return pump. Right now I have no idea what skimmer I should go with however I think that a magdrive 7 should give me enough flow through the sump and the rest I could just use ph in the tank. I want to get these pieces before I glue the front of the sump in so I have an idea of the room I will need for each seperate chamber. Skimmer, pump and fuge, hopefully.


Any input on a skimmer for a 72 gal tank with a 39"x10"x12" sump would be awsome!

Thanks in advance.

Well going to go ahead and order the turboflator multi skimmer and a magdrive 7 for the sump. Also going to get that flex tubing that comes with the drilled tank for the output flow so that you can direct the water path in the tank. Should be pretty neat. At least this way can go ahead and finish the sump and get on with the rest of it.

Okay christmas came early got the skimmer, overflow and plumbing a day early. Very nice. Had to remove the center brace of the stand to set the sump into it, but not bad at all. A couple of staples later and out it comes.With the sump in and the skimmer on the left side can see plenty of room on the All Glass Aquarium stand to remove the collection cup. Sweet dont have to send that skimmer back. Should have enough room to the right of the sump pump to put a small fuge. (Thanks meleeve for the sump design.) Hope everyone enjoys the new pics. Now I guess this weekend will have to put the rest of the plexi together for the sump to water test.

[angelscrx]

Wow looking real good. Sounds like a very well thought out plan.

[DreamerTheresa]

Oh, wow. Awesome thread.

Thankyou alls.

Yes its amazing what youll start to think about doing to a tank when its sitting in front of you and you cant set it up because of a moving hiatus that takes up about six months of the year.

Glad you like it. Hopefully I can get threw all the setup and finally get some water into this thing sometime soon. LOL