20 long AIO build

[dansyr]

Hi everyone! This is my getting-back-into-reefing tank build. Both this build and reef2reef have been giving me a lot of joy lately, so I'm retroactively posting the build (a few months ago). I hope you enjoy. I'll try to update this top post somewhat frequently with latest photos and stock/equipment, and backfill in the build with a couple later posts.

Current FTS:

Tank & Equipment:
Stock Aqueon 20gal long
DIY drop-in AIO compartment
Jebao DCS-1200 pump (way quieter than the sicce it replaced)
RFG nozzle (3/4")
Hygger mini wavemaker 1600gph
MarineLand 100w filter
2x DIY LED strips, combo of Luxeon, Bridgelux BXRE, no-name eBay COBs, driven at ~65W total
Raspberry Pi Pico for control
PNW Custom ATO
DIY 4 head doser
* 35 ml/day Randy's 2-part
* 120 ml/day kalk

Corals:
Capnella (nutrient export baby!)
Plerogyra bubble (ORA MIMF)
Euphyllia torch (ORA MIMF)
Caulastrea candy cane (ORA MIMF)
Montipora Melonberry (ORA MIMF)
Lobophyllia (ORA MIMF)
Hammer (ORA MIMF)
Favia Spicy Lemon
Favia Scarlett Rose
Favia unknown x2
Acropora "Kryptonite" (POTO)
Pocillopora (POTO)
Alveopora Aussie white (ASD)
Alveopora green (ASD)
Zoas/Palys: Hawaiian Sucker Punch, Pandora, Alpha Omega

Fish:
Green clown goby 2x

Inverts (intentional)
Tridacna (ORA MIMF) 2 maxima, 1 derasa
Sexy shrimp (4x)
Dwarf Ceriths
Ceriths (4x?)
Conch (1x)
Trochus (2x)
Astraea (1x)
Turbo (1x, on probation)
Nassarius (2x)
Tuxedo urchin (1x)

Macroalgae:
Halimeda, 2 species
Halymenia sp (not dragons breath but pretty)
Chaetomorphia
Codium
Gracilaria
Dictyota
Ulva sp.

Plan: The goal for this tank is for all of the corals to be traced to mariculture origins in the Marshall Islands. Long story short, I grew up there but in the US now, so besides just the joy of restarting a reef & the fun of DIY, I'm also trying to recreate a little bit of home. Non-corals (CUC, macroalgae, etc) aren't Pacific, that's too much of a headache. So, just in case - if you're local to SoCal and have a frag of a MIMF-origin coral you'd be willing to sell, let me know!

 

[Fishkins88]

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[dansyr]

AIO - in hindsight, getting an AIO drop-in kit would have probably made more sense, but it was a fun project and I got to customize where the dividers were, so all in all it was worth it.


This part was mostly done in my kitchen with a drill, very old dremel tool, and sandpaper so that made it more complicated but we got there in the end. I don't have full pictures throughout but here's the idea:

Notes for next time: don't use 1/4" acrylic when 1/8th will do

Weir dimension math was successful, this is what it looked like when welding the sides on and before cleaning out the weir slots:

On the first picture you can see the lines for where the dividers are supposed to go. After the weld set, I used black silicone to seal it in, got some live rock from LFS, and got it wet and salty. Early picture just after setting up, this would be sometime in September 2022 if I remember right:

 

[GHOSTLY]

Could you send the link to the tank and aio compartment? I really wanna set up a 22g long macro algae tank

 

[dansyr]

Could you send the link to the tank and aio compartment? I really wanna set up a 22g long macro algae tank

That sounds like an awesome project! For ease of use, maybe something like Tenecor's drop-in kits might be easiest. Or at least to base design off of.

But if you're solidly in for the fun of DIY (which is why we're here, right?), I just got two 12" x 12" sheets of black acrylic from local hardware store, one became the wall with the weir and the other got cut into 4 pieces (with two being shorter) to be the dividers.

I can take a photo of the back wall of mine but it's got all the crap crammed in so it might not be that useful to see in current form.

 

[GHOSTLY]

That sounds like an awesome project! For ease of use, maybe something like Tenecor's drop-in kits might be easiest. Or at least to base design off of.

But if you're solidly in for the fun of DIY (which is why we're here, right?), I just got two 12" x 12" sheets of black acrylic from local hardware store, one became the wall with the weir and the other got cut into 4 pieces (with two being shorter) to be the dividers.

I can take a photo of the back wall of mine but it's got all the crap crammed in so it might not be that useful to see in current form.

What kind of acrylic did you use? How did you cut it? Id love a photo of the wall. Is there any tutorial you used?

 

[dansyr]

What kind of acrylic did you use? How did you cut it? Id love a photo of the wall. Is there any tutorial you used?

Sure, I'll take a photo tomorrow when the light is better.

The acrylic I used was 1/4", which was strong but too much. This is the 1/8-inch version of acrylic sheet I used if that helps.

For cutting the edges and divider, I used a straight edge, acrylic cutter-tool thing (i forget the name of the tool, it's basically a weird-shaped utility knife), and a dremel tool cutting wheel. In retrospect a hacksaw would have been easier for parts of the cut (i built this in an apartment), but I didn't want neighbors to be too mad at me. Obviously numerous different power tools to make this would be better But if you've had really any experience working with acrylic before, and some strategic planning on where you use the factory edge, it's not bad.

If you haven't worked with acrylic and you're doing it old-school, just score it very straight along the full line, about halfway through the depth, clamp it well, and snap it. Then clean it up with sandpaper. Or, just use a power saw. For the bottom, remember the silicone seams of the tank essentially round the corners, so a sanding wheel on a dremel tool is AMAZING to pull off some of the corner material to make it fit more snugly. I didn't do that great of a job, but a sand bed helps there

Weir math is important, definitely plan that out with your pump. Use one of these online calculators to figure out flow rates based on your slot size. I put in the dimensions of what I wanted an individual slot to be (I did 1/8" inch based on available drill bits), and adjusted the height until I had a reasonable multiple (number of slots) that matched the power of my pump (~400 gph, made weir for 500gph to be safe). Also, make sure there's room over the front wall of the AIO so that if somehow the weir gets clogged (disgruntled trochus or whatever) flow will go over the AIO but not overfill the tank.

For actually cutting the weir, I drilled as many holes as I could, then cut the rest out with a dremel + cutting disk combo. Check out the photos in my 2nd comment on this thread. Then cleaned the edges with sandpaper by hand. Then, I used medium-fast set acrylic weld to join the side pieces to the front, siliconed that assembly into the tank, then acrylic welded the inner dividers and siliconed them in as best I could. There's definitely some flow escaping between the dividers, but they are doing enough to direct the majority of the flow as intended.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Sure, I'll take a photo tomorrow when the light is better.

The acrylic I used was 1/4", which was strong but too much. This is the 1/8-inch version of acrylic sheet I used if that helps.

For cutting the edges and divider, I used a straight edge, acrylic cutter-tool thing (i forget the name of the tool, it's basically a weird-shaped utility knife), and a dremel tool cutting wheel. In retrospect a hacksaw would have been easier for parts of the cut (i built this in an apartment), but I didn't want neighbors to be too mad at me. Obviously numerous different power tools to make this would be better But if you've had really any experience working with acrylic before, and some strategic planning on where you use the factory edge, it's not bad.

If you haven't worked with acrylic and you're doing it old-school, just score it very straight along the full line, about halfway through the depth, clamp it well, and snap it. Then clean it up with sandpaper. Or, just use a power saw. For the bottom, remember the silicone seams of the tank essentially round the corners, so a sanding wheel on a dremel tool is AMAZING to pull off some of the corner material to make it fit more snugly. I didn't do that great of a job, but a sand bed helps there

Weir math is important, definitely plan that out with your pump. Use one of these online calculators to figure out flow rates based on your slot size. I put in the dimensions of what I wanted an individual slot to be (I did 1/4" inch based on available drill bits), and adjusted the height until I had a reasonable multiple (number of slots) that matched the power of my pump (~400 gph, made weir for 500gph to be safe). Also, make sure there's room over the front wall of the AIO so that if somehow the weir gets clogged (disgruntled trochus or whatever) flow will go over the AIO but not overfill the tank.

For actually cutting the weir, I drilled as many holes as I could, then cut the rest out with a dremel + cutting disk combo. Check out the photos in my 2nd comment on this thread. Then cleaned the edges with sandpaper by hand. Then, I used medium-fast set acrylic weld to join the side pieces to the front, siliconed that assembly into the tank, then acrylic welded the inner dividers and siliconed them in as best I could. There's definitely some flow escaping between the dividers, but they are doing enough to direct the majority of the flow as intended.

Whats the dimensions of the cuts and the circle for the output

 

[dansyr]

Each slot should be 1/8" wide and 1.75" tall, and I did 10 slots so it should be 630 gph. But I can't stress this enough - please calculate for your specific planned pump!

The return line is a "standard" 3/4 bulkhead, I got it off BRS because it was a little slimmer than hardware store ones near me. I think the size of the hole needed to put it in was 1-1/4" and I used a forstner bit to cut it out. It's way easier to cut acrylic than say glass, you can do it easily with a pretty basic drill, you don't need a drill press or anything fancy.

 

[dansyr]

What kind of acrylic did you use? How did you cut it? Id love a photo of the wall. Is there any tutorial you used?

Here's photo! Please excuse the algae farm going back there, this is just after water change and I still need to get the filter floss holders set up. Basically left-most chamber is sized for Jebao pump + heater (i think around 4"), right-most chamber is sized to the width of the weir, and the middle chamber is the left-over with plans to put in a better floss holder + chaeto chamber eventually (right now basically an algae and tube worm farm).

Flow around the baffles from weir chamber to pump chamber is down, up, down if that makes sense

 

[GHOSTLY]

Here's photo! Please excuse the algae farm going back there, this is just after water change and I still need to get the filter floss holders set up. Basically left-most chamber is sized for Jebao pump + heater (i think around 4"), right-most chamber is sized to the width of the weir, and the middle chamber is the left-over with plans to put in a better floss holder + chaeto chamber eventually (right now basically an algae and tube worm farm).

Flow around the baffles from weir chamber to pump chamber is down, up, down if that makes sense

Is that purigen?

 

[dansyr]

Is that purigen?

No, if you're talking about what's in the weir-side compartment. That's some of those cheap ceramic filter media, I crammed as many in as I could into a small mesh basket I made. You can see some sticking out on the bottom right. And I plugged the gaps between the basket and walls with filter floss to force more flow through the media.

 

[dansyr]

Light fixtures:

Overall I think this cost about 200 including mount, but I already had a number of components from some other builds. I'll put a more detailed component list below, but the general architecture is 2x 24" aluminum bars mounted about 8" above the water. LEDs are on 3 circuits: A) 24W of 5700k 98cri whites, B) ~30W of blues, and C) ~30 W white blend. It's wired so that A is on/off and B and C are on dimmers. This is what it looks like with main (A) on full, blues on ~60%, and auxilliary whites on 30%.

Please ignore the messy wires, getting ready for a move so waiting until the new place to get cable management finished. The mount is constructed from 3/4" aluminum (baluster was the cheapest). It's got about 6" legs, with rubber end caps just to keep it nice (saw that on a forum somewhere, it really helps the aesthetic I think). Uprights are 12" IIRC, the goal was to make it about symmetric with the height of the tank. The upright then attaches to a 3 x 8" box, which then goes to a 24" crossbar. Joints are either T or L aluminum plates. I should have gotten 32" long balusters but got 26" so that's how we got to the mini-boxes. But I like the look of only a single crossbar, so it worked out in the way.

The fixture is then attached with stainless eyebolts and thin stainless cable. In the future I intend to make a little carabiner adjustable loop setup, but this is good for now.

The fixtures: 24" aluminum heatsinks from Steve's LEDs that can absorb a TON of heat without warming. Each has 19 LEDs, total below spread as evenly as possible across each, and attached with screws and thermal glue:

• A
  • 4x BXRE-57S0801-D-74
• B
  • 10x eBay 450nm LEDs (nominal 3w)
  • 2x HyperViolets from StevesLED (nominal 3w)
  • 2x CoolBlue (480nm) also from Steves
• C
  • 10x ebay cool white (nominal 3w)
  • 1x ebay 450nm LED (3w)
  • 5x SunPlus Deep Red, 670nm
  • 4x ebay 3w turquoise (510nm)

Wiring: A is in 2x2 parallel driven by a single meanwell CC 700mA ~35v driver on an amazon smartplug for a timer, currently on 9am-4pm. B is all series, C is two parallel loops. Both B and C are off a Steve's driver board fed by a 60w Meanwell PS I had lying around + each its own LDD-700 DC/DC driver.

With the Photone app, it's predicting just over 600 PAR at the water surface. I don't really trust it that much, but until I can find a legit PAR meter I'm going off that + corals. The monti colors are getting more intense so I think I'm not that far off my target light levels.

 

[dansyr]

Now for the fun part, programming the lights! Currently it is on a Raspberry Pi Pico hooked up to the driver's PWM. But, the Pico's PWM is capped at 3.3V but the drivers are on 5V so it's basically capped at 66% intensity. That aside, it does it's job.

This is only controlling the blues & custom white circuits. I wanted to be over-engineered (that's the fun of DIY right??), so I downloaded surface irradiance data from NSRDB from near a spot in the Marshall Islands at 10 min resolution for all years. A little python normalized the irradiance, estimated the probability distribution (i.e. so I can realistically sample what irradiance it should be at say 2pm), and then saved that in 15 min chunks (because of memory constraints on the pi).

So this basically gives me a random but hopefully realistic day schedule, with ramp up, down, and intra-day variability independent of the brighter point lights. Currently whites are set to 30% of blues are to keep the balance. Moonlight is 3% auxilliary white, 5% blues on for 2 hrs from 9:30pm to 11:30pm

 

[dansyr]

Things are moving along nicely:

Pardon the algae on the glass, tomorrow or Saturday is water change day so will update then and get some more photos of the montipora, it's been coloring up really nicely. Copepods are also really taking off, blurry cellphone photo:

And coralline algae is starting show up in new places, which is always a good feeling.

 

[dansyr]

The move was successful, so far no losses! And the tank is now viewable from 3 sides so the peninsula is paying off. Haven't bothered to really clean during the teardown/rebuild, except for a toothbrushing of the biggest rock as that's the only one so far with a hair algae issue.

Dining room side:

Couch side:

 

[dansyr]

Growth update! The Montipora (ORA Melonberry) is showing some noticeable growth. Frag plug is now completely encrusted, the little vermetid shell is encrusted over, and it's getting bumpier.

28 Nov 2022:

Today (1 Feb 2023; 2 months):

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The move was successful, so far no losses! And the tank is now viewable from 3 sides so the peninsula is paying off. Haven't bothered to really clean during the teardown/rebuild, except for a toothbrushing of the biggest rock as that's the only one so far with a hair algae issue.

Dining room side:

Couch side:

Love the way your aquascape looks in your tank

 

[dansyr]

It's been awhile, but things are still chugging along! After a water change, I caught the tuxedo urchin spawning. Couldn't get a video, but it was really cool. I think it's a female, gametes weren't very stringy looking. Which is good, because my wife named it Ursula so it's good the name can stick.

Also, got some new corals from ASD! They're ultimately destined for a different tank, but chilling in this tank for now. And I am SOOO IMPRESSED with AquaSD's quality. I know I got these for sale prices, but I did not expect the size for the price.

One of their Ultra Aussie Alveopora's, about 2-3" inflated here, for $10:

And a Zombie Eyes goni, also $10:

The Zombie Eye stayed pretty closed up for the first 2 days when all the other gonis and alves were open(ing), and I noticed a couple ordinary red flatworms. I had iodine dipped initially but guess some (or some eggs?) got through, so I re-dipped just this frag, knocked about 5-10 off, put it back in, and it was fully opened the next day so I'm quite pleased. The fancier goni's I got (toxic frills and Monsoon Kryptonite) in the same order have been slightly more finicky in opening and seemed to have some recession since their original frag size, but looked to be re-colonizing the perimeter corallites already. And no flatworms on them so pretty sure it's just gonis being gonis since day by day they seem to be getting better PE and being more responsive, they're just a little more sensitive.

 

[dansyr]

Oh and I forgot - they sent a freebie favia frag too!