AIO 20L DIY Build

YankeePate · Feb 11, 2012

So after much consideration I have decided on a 20L verses the 10G AIO. I figured for not a whole lot more effort on the build I could double the tank size. I drew up the AIO fuge' wall at work and machined it out yesterday afternoon. I made it 3 chambers after a couple other members thought that it would work better. I am going to make up a drop in media basket for the overflow chamber for filter floss. And the center chamber for growing Chaeto. Pump will be a MJ900 to start with. On order is an AquaStyles 24 LED dimmable DIY kit. My plan is to make a custom splash shield and cover for it.

Boogie · Feb 11, 2012

Nice work. You should make another one of those and sell it to me.

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YankeePate · Feb 13, 2012

With a little luck and some spare time I hope to have it up and cycling within a week. I got the fuge wall siliconed into the tank over the weekend. Today I made up a one piece end wrap to go around the end of the tank to cover the fuge and it's inner workings. I also filled it with water for a leak test/flow test. All seems like a go so far.

revhtree · Feb 13, 2012

Very nice!

YankeePate · Feb 20, 2012

My package from AquaStyles showed up on Friday. I bought the 24 LED dimmable kit. I was able to get the LED's mounted and the 10K whites powered last night. I spent more time figuring out spacing than I did cutting the wire and soldering them up. I mocked the driver and pot up so I could at least power them up. All I can say is they seem to do the trick!!!! I am thinking about options to be able to unplug the completed fixture from the power cords if needed. I was playing with the idea of putting the two drivers, pots and a cooling fan in an enclosure and running the 2 power cables via USB cables up to the fixture. I don't know if it really makes any sense to be able to unplug them from the fixture though. Maybe I am just over thinking this thing. I would like to have this tank filled and cycling by Thursday.

mcgoo1977 · Feb 20, 2012

wow. nice build.

YankeePate · Feb 23, 2012

mcgoo1977,

Thanks I am glad you like it.

Kate and I gathered up sand and a couple pieces of rock yesterday and last night filled the tank. She is so excited over it it's not even funny. She's only 10 yrs old and wants to know all of the proper names for the corals and what we need to feed them etc. It's awesome!

YankeePate · Mar 2, 2012

I am trying to get a couple other projects finished while I work on this tank. I took at few minutes yesterday at lunch made these up in SolidWorks and machined them out of 3mm acrylic. I have magnets for them and hope to get them resin cast and on these frag racks this weekend.

revhtree · Mar 3, 2012

Love a clean tank build!

YankeePate · Mar 13, 2012

Here are a couple of new pictures. One of the little frag rack with it's magnets bonded on. I am going to look up and order a couple different sizes of magnets to handle thicker glass as I feel the current ones are only good for 1/4".
The other picture is of a little refugium light I put together quickly last night. It's just one of the extra LED stars I had left over from my tank light. I wired it up to a simple spare power adapter I had laying around and potted it along with a magnet into polyester resin. It looks ok and is crazy bright so it should work well.

I am starting to think I may want to do a couple fish in this one. I want something different but the choices are endless!

ReeferDre · Mar 13, 2012

Sweet build.

brazilian_guy · Mar 21, 2012

***** DOPE! i wish i had the material and right tools to do something awesome like this. i give a "GOLD STAR"

feh · May 16, 2012

How did you do the one piece wrap around to hide the fuge?

bige · May 16, 2012

Looks awesome. Well done. Looks better than the big companies that make aio tanks.

YankeePate · May 19, 2012

feh said:
How did you do the one piece wrap around to hide the fuge?

I make my bends with a CNC thermal bending machine.

YankeePate · May 19, 2012

Here is a quick update. I added a Court Jester Goby to the tank two weeks ago and he is doing great. It's a little shy but he is coming around more as the time passes. I made a drop in media basket for the first chamber for now it has filter floss and a small bag of carbon. I also made a larger frag rack as a bunch of people liked my mini rack.

YankeePate · Sep 23, 2012

Just a little up date. I made a mount for the LED's back a while ago. It was long overdue and makes things look a lot cleaner. Also added a pair of baby clownfish. They are offspring of snowflake parents but do not have the snowflake pattern. They do have "helmets" and that makes them cool enough. Sadly the female went carpet surfing or the cat was able to fish it out so we only have the one clown left. Once it gets a little larger I will find another clown to go with it.

Veganbrian · Sep 27, 2012

Cool, I wish i better understood how to work with acrylic because i have so many ideas like you lol.

YankeePate · Oct 1, 2012

I spent the better part of the weekend drawing up in CAD a small wooden airstone powered skimmer. The end result is a semi counter current skimmer that is about 12"x1.5"x1.25". It is powered by the inflow from the overflow . Adjustments are possible on the air pressure, airstone height and the skimmate collection cup height. It went online in the tank at 6pm last night.....

YankeePate · Oct 1, 2012

I spent the better part of the weekend drawing up in CAD a small wooden airstone powered skimmer. The end result is a semi counter current skimmer that is about 12"x1.5"x1.25". It is powered by the inflow from the overflow . Adjustments are possible on the air pressure, airstone height and the skimmate collection cup height. It went online in the tank at 6pm last night.....<br><br>

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