Acorral 250g cube(ish) reef

[Acorral]

So here is my tank build !!!

I currently have a 400g reef and I love it, but it is on the entrance of the house so I cannot enjoy the tank as much as I would like to...

Since we bought the house I knew I wanted to remodel the lower level, move the kitchen, tv room, get rid of some walls, etc...

About six months ago that remodel begin and as you can imagine the new reef is important part of it

The idea is to have the aquarium in the middle of the living room, as if it was part of a big central column...

First we need to get rid of this wall:

Replace it with a steel I beam:

You can see there the preparation of cold & hot water, a drain and electrical instalation for 2 new circuits.

This is the finished place for it...

another view.. it will be where those orange plastic containers are... also you can see the blue glow on the right where is my actual 400g aquarium now...

 

[Acorral]

This is a basic render of it:

More details on the aquarium:

Here is the stand, lost the photos of the build process but it's made of some structural 2x4, 2x6 joined with pocket holes...

If you like woodworking... get a kreg jig !!!

Finished with the top, piroxiline primer and white lacquer:

 

[saltnewb]

the transformation of the space you're using is amazing! great work on the stand as well. Are you going to have a floor to the stand, sit on the actual floor or everything plumbed elsewhere? like on the other side of the wall?

 

[jsker]

Nice work on the whole project

 

[Javier peynado]

Me imagino que quedará excelente ese proyecto
Saludos

 

[Acorral]

Me imagino que quedará excelente ese proyecto
Saludos

Gracias !!

 

[Acorral]

the transformation of the space you're using is amazing! great work on the stand as well. Are you going to have a floor to the stand, sit on the actual floor or everything plumbed elsewhere? like on the other side of the wall?

Thank you !!

Everything will be under the cabinet... maybe in the future I will plumb some lines to have the sump on the garage but not now...

I made an acrylic tray with drain to go between the floor and the sump and equipment... will post pics later today...

 

[Acorral]

This tray is going to be placed between the floor and the sump, the objective is to drain any spill or leak directly out of the stand cabinet to the drain..

The real thing:

Making the slot on the stand for the drain:

In place...

 

[Acorral]

Three months ago I started preparing the rock...

Acid bath:


Curing:


I am using SeaKlear Lanthanum Chloride to eliminate Phosphates on the rock, works great....

 

[Sandroni]

Great build! I am following along.

 

[saltnewb]

that base your using looks great! can't wait to see how it all comes together!

 

[joseserrano]

thanks for sharing.

 

[Acorral]

For lighting I will be using 4 Rapidled Corona and I'm leaving space in case I wish to add 2 more in the future...

Lights on:

Fixing the power supplies and ducting the cables:

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Wow! nice build! Following along for sure!

 

[Acorral]

Putting together the aquarium...

Drilling the overflow holes on the back...

Received my shadow overflow:

Tomorrow the guys who are making the aquarium will come to fix the eurobrace on the top and some reinforcement for the seams... also to place black vinyl on the back...

 

[Acorral]

Some of the goodies I have been getting for the project....

Break out box for my APEX since the sensors I have now connected are with a DIY breakoutbox that I hate ...

Controller for the existing Gyre XF150 i have o my aquarium now and a second one to have the complete set

Flex silicon hose, 2ft 3/4" and 2ft 1" for the inlet and outlet of the two Ecotech Marine Vectra M1 that I will be using as return pumps

One waterproof sealed battery intelligent charger, i will use this to charge a large wheelchair/scooter sealed battery or an optima gel battery as backup for one vectra return.

Already have a similar setup for a vortech mp60 on my aquarium

Vectras use 36V (not 12V like the MP60) so this is a 12V-36V voltage step up converter & regulator

Another heater since I need to cycle this aquarium before tearing apart the current one...

Infrared water level sensors with conditioning circuit, this gets 110V AC line and provides 2 relay outputs... ready for the APEX

I like the idea of this optical sensors not having mechanical parts that can fail, rather they have electronic parts that can fail... I guess I will still float switches that I have somewhere collecting dust as redundancy... and a mechanical float valve as even more redundancy...

 

[Acorral]

I am planning a very simple sump, still working on the details but the main ones are going to be:

1. I want a double sock setup that when the first gets clogged the level rises to reach the second one, and when the second one gets clogged a float switch will alert on the apex
2. One big all-purpose section after socks
3. One divider with bubble trap and variable level adjustment
4. Last section for external return pump bulkheads and ATO sensors/floats
5. External skimmer Deltec AP702 skimmer, old but great
6. External Deltec media reactor for GFO or GAC
7. External Geo 6x24 Calcium Reactor
8. Algae Scrubber

 

[Acorral]

Looking for something like this for the sump

Maybe on waterjet cut glass or acrylic...

Or maybe go with a standard SS34 from synergyreef

 

[Jolanta]

Mucha suerte con este proyecto Andres, se ve muy prometedor!

 

[Acorral]

This will be the sump:

Will be made of glass, the top piece and sock holder will be manufactured by waterjet CNC cutter: