270g FOWLR and Fish Room Build (image heavy)

[Oberst Hajj]

Oberst,

I'm new to this forum and came across your build today. I am LOVING your build and appreciate the woodworking skills you have as well. I'm seeing some great quality tools in your arsenal AND a Weimeraner (correct?)! You are bringing together three of my most favorite things: woodworking, dogs, and fish/corals!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you. I've been really busy working on the build these past few days, so I'm behind on some big updates. Hopefully I'll have those posted in the next day or two.

I've put together some good woodworking tools over the years, but I've yet to have the time to really do some true "woodworking". So far everything I have done have been more of the practical type.

Yes, that is a Weimaraner! His name is Maximus and he is just a tab over a year old. He is the first Weimar that we have had and we are very happy so far!

We actually got Maximus so he could be my companion on my other super expensive hobby, overlanding and offroading.

Your avatar shows a plane, do you fly? Aviation is another passion of mine. I flew a lot during high school, but I've flown very little as an adult.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I made a little more progress on the stand this past weekend.

Some counter sunk screws to hold everything in place.

I use a circular saw to cut the full sheet of plywood down to the rough size.

All trimmed down.

A flush trim bit in the router.

The bearing on the bottom of the router bit keeps the bit flush with the side of the frame.

Then it is just a matter of pulling the router down the length of the frame to cut the top down to the exact size (and shape) of the frame.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Work on the build has been steadily progressing.

I made a mounting board for the RODI system and got that mounted and plumbed. If you have not noticed yet, cable maintenance is a thing for me. As such the RODI tubing had to be route and locked down to keep things pretty clean. I still need to do something with wires from the booster pump solenoid, but I'm waiting to see what else I have to do over there to clean it up more.

I've also made some more progress on the stand. It has now been skinned and mostly trimmed out. I still have to do the lip/ledge around the top that will go all the way back to the tank. I'm still undecided how much of an overhang I want. I'll go ahead and paint what I have done now so that there is protection under the ledge in case water gets down there.

The ledge will be attached to the top sheet of plywood where the tank will sit. It then over hang the front and sides.

I used Hemlock lumber to frame in the panels. Hemlock resists warping and twisting so it makes nice trim pieces. It does scratch and dent a little easier, so you have to be careful about that. It is also quite a bit cheaper then poplar (I'll make the ledge out of this as it will see more ware).

Wood glue helps the finish nails hold it in place.

Next I added detail trim to the inside and sealed the gaps between every board.

Then it was just a matter of sanding it all down for a day and a half.

Back when I ordered the tank, I also placed an order with TSM Aquatics for some quarantined fish. I ordered a Desjardini Sailfin tang, a Blond Naso tang, 3x Blue Hippo tangs, and a One Spot Foxface. I tried to plan for their delivery on a day with warmer temps, even postponing it a week to ensure the lows were not too cold. Of course the weather here in Colorado decided to make things interesting.

All the fish arrived safe and sound and I was quite happy with my experience with TSM. Not only was their service really good, but the packing of the fish was good as well.

The Sailfin and Foxface went into my 60g cube with the two clowns I already had.

DeVinchi

Bubbles

Archer

Renegade

I did not know that the Foxfaces changed coloring and pattering when the slept, so that was a cool surprise for the family.

The Naso and Hippos went into a temporary 40 breeder. They are all doing good, but this group is really shy so I don't have any pics of them yet.

I did have a few setbacks on the plumbing for the RODI tanks. Some how I managed to crack a union after it was installed, so I had to rem make a section of pipes and fittings. Then the pump I was planning to use to move water between the two tanks kept leaking, so I'm waiting on a new pump for that to show up. I was able to make 220g of RODI water. Now the old temporary sump is soaking in vinegar water to clean it up a little more. Pics of all of that to come once it is all completed.

That's it for this update, I hope to have more to share in a couple of days.

 

[400BA]

Thank you. I've been really busy working on the build these past few days, so I'm behind on some big updates. Hopefully I'll have those posted in the next day or two.

I've put together some good woodworking tools over the years, but I've yet to have the time to really do some true "woodworking". So far everything I have done have been more of the practical type.

Yes, that is a Weimaraner! His name is Maximus and he is just a tab over a year old. He is the first Weimar that we have had and we are very happy so far!

We actually got Maximus so he could be my companion on my other super expensive hobby, overlanding and offroading.

Your avatar shows a plane, do you fly? Aviation is another passion of mine. I flew a lot during high school, but I've flown very little as an adult.

Thanks for sharing the pics of your adventures! I do fly and it is incredibly enjoyable. Watching your build and hoping to copy a few of the things you've done as well!

Keep on keeping on!

 

[Oberst Hajj]

This week I started laying down the paint on the stand.

I also managed to get my mixing station setup over the last couple of days. I painted the reservoirs red and black to match the color scheme of the room. I think painting them makes them look much better then the neutral white color the come in. It also helps hide a lot of the nicks and scratches they got during shipping. The only thing I don't like about them being painted is, that the paint scratches off very easily. I lightly sanded and wiped them down before painting them, but maybe I should have used a different type of paint or sprayed with with a primer first.

The bottom part of my mixing station plumbing is pretty standard.

Just above the pump I have basically a manifold setup. I plan to run my salt water through a filter filled with filter floss to help control the brown crud that builds up in the new saltwater reservoir. The valve between the two allows me to use the system without a filter if needed.

After that I have another manifold. The downward facing valve allows me to draw either saltwater or RODI water into a bucket. The valve that goes in front of the red RODI reservoir will be plumbed all the way to my sump once it shows up. This will allow me to easily do large water changes from my sump. I'll have a pump in the sump that will pump all the water out, then I can just open the correct valves and turn on the mixing pump to refill the sump. My plan right now is to do automatic water changes via an Apex DOS and then do a 60~70 gallon water change once or twice a month.

 

[DH78]

Stand is looking great. You mentioned cable management in one of your posts. This has always been a challenge for me and I plan to get it right with my current build. I often peruse build threads for cable management ideas.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Stand is looking great. You mentioned cable management in one of your posts. This has always been a challenge for me and I plan to get it right with my current build. I often peruse build threads for cable management ideas.

I've thought about taking 1/2 pipe and cutting a slot in it. Then I could run my wire inside the pipe and "hard plumb" it so it fits in with the looks of everything else. Right now I'm just feeding the loose wires through standard wire loom used in automotive stuff and it is working out pretty well. You can see it in the pic I posted earlier of the fan controller.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Okay, it has been a while since I updated this build thread. That's because I've been busy working on the tank with every spare moment I get. So, here comes some update for everyone....

I finished up the lower part of the stand and I'm fairly happy with the way it came out. There are a few nit picky things that probably only I will ever notice that bother me when I see them, but so far everyone that has seen it in person likes it a lot.

I also finished up the floor supports in the crawl space.

With those two things done I was able to move the stand and the tank into their final location in the house.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

With the stand and tank in place, it was time to start cutting holes in the wall through to the fish room behind it.

To clean up the wholes I made inserts and trimmed in all of the opens and wall studs.

With everything trimmed in, it was time to paint them all to match the walls so they did not stand out too bad.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I love stands that have a giant lip around it on 3 sides like yours... very classy looking, plus, you always need to set down something for a moment, right? Loved the photos ;Smuggrin

 

[Oberst Hajj]

While all of this work was going on, my slightly custom Synergy Reef SK-60 sump showed up.

This sump allows you to run either dual 7" filer socks or dual Clarisea SK5000 roller filters. I ordered the extra top plates so that I could run both of them as needed. I plan on running the filter socks initially to catch all the crud floating around from setting everything up. That way I'm not wasting roller filter in the beginning. As you can see in the photo below, the sump is modular to allow for both options.

The sumps is a really nice looking sump and I'm very happy with it. There were a few small cosmetic issues, but since they do not effect the operation of it and are not really noticeable, I'm okay with them.

A couple of glue smears...

And a dinged corner...

 

[Oberst Hajj]

With everything in place, it was time to get started on the plumbing. Unlike the nice and easy plumbing layout I CAD'd up back at the beginning of this project, the real plumbing was not quite so easy or clean. Right where one of the return lines needed to come through the wall at was a stud. That forced me to run that return line on the house side of the wall behind the tank and out the center "window" I had cut into the wall.

One of the drain lines was also extremely close to one of the studs. So close in fact that there was no room for me to angle it over some to meet up with the drain port in the sump. Due to how the sump and tank aligned, I could there was not enough space to do a simple 45° to 45° to jog it over to line up. Instead, I had to do a full 90° and then extend it out past the sump to then do some more 90°s to get it to come back in and line up with the sumps drain port.

With all the crazy plumbing, I had to make some hangers to help support various parts of it.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

And that brings us to where it has been sitting for the last couple of days...

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I love stands that have a giant lip around it on 3 sides like yours... very classy looking, plus, you always need to set down something for a moment, right? Loved the photos ;Smuggrin

Thanks! The lip will be real handy for setting stuff on when working on the tank. And I'm sure the cats will find it super convenient for watching the fish as well!

 

[Manny’s Reef]

The RODI goodies I ordered from BRS came in today:

Once the larger reservoirs show up I'll get to installing all of this and moving my current RODI to the new location... provided I get some heat into the fish room so things don't freeze!

And since I've not posted any other pics the other equipment I have already received, here they are.

Floor jacks to re-enforce the floor under the tank.

2x 300w titanium heaters (I'm wondering if these are going to be big enough for the tank) and some cheap Amazon power heads/pumps for various flow needs in the sump.

I'm going to give the Jebao return pumps a try. A local reefing buddy of mine runs dual 18000 pumps on his 360g tank and has liked them so far. My initial plan was to run dual COR 20 pumps, but I needed to lower the start up costs on this build some and this change saved me a ton of cash. I will still probably swap these out for the CORs later on and regulate these guys to backup duties.

For flow inside the tank, I'm going with an IceCap 3k and a 4k controlled by the Apex. This should be enough flow for a FOWLR tank.

Since the Wife hates algae in the tank, a large-ish UV sterilizer is going on the tank as part of the algae management system. It is a 55w light with 3" tubing for increased contact time.

Some Apex flow sensors and a FMM to help monitor and dial things in.

And finally the exhaust fan to help control temps and humidity. It has a controller that will turn it on and off based on temp and/or humidity. The flaps close when the fan is not on.

I think I see a jeep key

 

[RobB'z Reef]

This week I started laying down the paint on the stand.

I also managed to get my mixing station setup over the last couple of days. I painted the reservoirs red and black to match the color scheme of the room. I think painting them makes them look much better then the neutral white color the come in. It also helps hide a lot of the nicks and scratches they got during shipping. The only thing I don't like about them being painted is, that the paint scratches off very easily. I lightly sanded and wiped them down before painting them, but maybe I should have used a different type of paint or sprayed with with a primer first.

The bottom part of my mixing station plumbing is pretty standard.

Just above the pump I have basically a manifold setup. I plan to run my salt water through a filter filled with filter floss to help control the brown crud that builds up in the new saltwater reservoir. The valve between the two allows me to use the system without a filter if needed.

After that I have another manifold. The downward facing valve allows me to draw either saltwater or RODI water into a bucket. The valve that goes in front of the red RODI reservoir will be plumbed all the way to my sump once it shows up. This will allow me to easily do large water changes from my sump. I'll have a pump in the sump that will pump all the water out, then I can just open the correct valves and turn on the mixing pump to refill the sump. My plan right now is to do automatic water changes via an Apex DOS and then do a 60~70 gallon water change once or twice a month.

Super nice job on that. Looks great! Maybe a clear coat to add a little extra protection? Not sure if the effort is worth it?

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Okay, it has been a while since I updated this build thread. That's because I've been busy working on the tank with every spare moment I get. So, here comes some update for everyone....

I finished up the lower part of the stand and I'm fairly happy with the way it came out. There are a few nit picky things that probably only I will ever notice that bother me when I see them, but so far everyone that has seen it in person likes it a lot.

I also finished up the floor supports in the crawl space.

With those two things done I was able to move the stand and the tank into their final location in the house.

Beautiful setup

 

[RobB'z Reef]

While all of this work was going on, my slightly custom Synergy Reef SK-60 sump showed up.

This sump allows you to run either dual 7" filer socks or dual Clarisea SK5000 roller filters. I ordered the extra top plates so that I could run both of them as needed. I plan on running the filter socks initially to catch all the crud floating around from setting everything up. That way I'm not wasting roller filter in the beginning. As you can see in the photo below, the sump is modular to allow for both options.

The sumps is a really nice looking sump and I'm very happy with it. There were a few small cosmetic issues, but since they do not effect the operation of it and are not really noticeable, I'm okay with them.

A couple of glue smears...

And a dinged corner...

I love the sump, looks like you put a lot of thought into it

 

[RobB'z Reef]

With everything in place, it was time to get started on the plumbing. Unlike the nice and easy plumbing layout I CAD'd up back at the beginning of this project, the real plumbing was not quite so easy or clean. Right where one of the return lines needed to come through the wall at was a stud. That forced me to run that return line on the house side of the wall behind the tank and out the center "window" I had cut into the wall.

One of the drain lines was also extremely close to one of the studs. So close in fact that there was no room for me to angle it over some to meet up with the drain port in the sump. Due to how the sump and tank aligned, I could there was not enough space to do a simple 45° to 45° to jog it over to line up. Instead, I had to do a full 90° and then extend it out past the sump to then do some more 90°s to get it to come back in and line up with the sumps drain port.

With all the crazy plumbing, I had to make some hangers to help support various parts of it.

I get it tho... Sucks but at least you got it figured out!

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I think I see a jeep key

Yes, yes you do.