Hi,
I'm uri and today I spontaneously decided to start a build thread about my new reef tank. For over a year I am addicted to reefing. Currently I have a 22 gal reef tank and I decided to set up a new one. I am from Germany and I apologize if my English is not correct in some places, but I will do my best.
This is my current 22 gal Tank. In the beginning i had all kinds of problems. Meanwhile my corals grow well and I am working on a better color.
I like tanks with a transparent sealing and in germany reef tanks are mostly sealed with black silicone. So i had two options either a custom made tank wich is quiet expensive or convert a freshwater tank into a reef tank. I like to build things by myself and that is why i decided to buy and convert a freshwater tank. On the internet I have found the aqua el ultrascape 90 set, which includes a cabinet and a freshwater light, for a good price. In my oppinion the tank has nice dimensions which create a nice depth and enough space for a nice scape. The dimensons are 90x60x45 cm (35"x24"x18") and the volume is 243l (64 gal). By the way because i am from europe i will use the metric system however i will also try to convert the data for you. After I have decided to order the tank, I started to think about the next steps that had to follow.
1. Drill holes for the overflow
2. Build the overflow
3. Build the sump
4. Choose the equipment
5. Build the scape
6. Cycle and start
At the beginning I did not know that I will document the build, so the pictures I have so far are not necessarily good. In the future I will try to make better pictures. I want to mention that I'm trying to build it on a small budget, so I'm trying to buy mostly used equipment if its possilbe. If someone is interested in the prices i have paid I can add them. After i recived the tank i have started to put the cabinet together. And to be honest after that i have started with the fifth point on my list.
5. Building the scape
For this i have used "My Reef Rocks" form Arka. I think they are pretty similar to Marco reef rocks. I have seen that alot of people on reef2reef are using them. I used a chisel on my drilling machine to crush the stones.
After that i have sorted them by shape and size. I had a few templates as inspiration and tried to build a mix of them that matched my thougths. For the gluing i used super glue and sand like in the BRStv How to NSA scape tutorial video. It was fun to put the scape together. My goal is a sps dominat reef this is why I have tried to stay below 50% of the height of the tank.
Unfortunately this is the only picture i took during the gluing process. You can see the finished scape at the end of the post. After the scape was finished i moved on to drill the holes.
1. Drill holes for the overflow
I have done some research and decided to drill three holes. Two in 32mm ( 1 1/4") diameter and one in 25mm (1"). One of the 32mm will be used as the main overflow. The second one, i dont know how its called in english, is used as a backup overflow for safety. The 25mm will be used as the retrun pipe. For the drilling i have bought thin walled diamond coated drills
with the needed diameters. I have watched alot of videos on youtube and read some threads on this forum on how to drill the holes. I was scared to srcew the tank while drilling. To prepare the tank for drilling I have bought a wooden board in the size of the bottom of the tank to support it from the bottom while drilling.
For the inside i have build a template from a wooden board with predrilled holes wich i used as support to drill the glas. While i have drilled the holes i have used a bit of water to keep the drill cool and it worked very well.
Thats how the finished scape looks like. How do you like it? I think i forgot to mention that i put a white foil under the bottom glas.
Thats it for now. I will continue the build in the next days. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
I'm uri and today I spontaneously decided to start a build thread about my new reef tank. For over a year I am addicted to reefing. Currently I have a 22 gal reef tank and I decided to set up a new one. I am from Germany and I apologize if my English is not correct in some places, but I will do my best.
This is my current 22 gal Tank. In the beginning i had all kinds of problems. Meanwhile my corals grow well and I am working on a better color.
I like tanks with a transparent sealing and in germany reef tanks are mostly sealed with black silicone. So i had two options either a custom made tank wich is quiet expensive or convert a freshwater tank into a reef tank. I like to build things by myself and that is why i decided to buy and convert a freshwater tank. On the internet I have found the aqua el ultrascape 90 set, which includes a cabinet and a freshwater light, for a good price. In my oppinion the tank has nice dimensions which create a nice depth and enough space for a nice scape. The dimensons are 90x60x45 cm (35"x24"x18") and the volume is 243l (64 gal). By the way because i am from europe i will use the metric system however i will also try to convert the data for you. After I have decided to order the tank, I started to think about the next steps that had to follow.
1. Drill holes for the overflow
2. Build the overflow
3. Build the sump
4. Choose the equipment
5. Build the scape
6. Cycle and start
At the beginning I did not know that I will document the build, so the pictures I have so far are not necessarily good. In the future I will try to make better pictures. I want to mention that I'm trying to build it on a small budget, so I'm trying to buy mostly used equipment if its possilbe. If someone is interested in the prices i have paid I can add them. After i recived the tank i have started to put the cabinet together. And to be honest after that i have started with the fifth point on my list.
5. Building the scape
For this i have used "My Reef Rocks" form Arka. I think they are pretty similar to Marco reef rocks. I have seen that alot of people on reef2reef are using them. I used a chisel on my drilling machine to crush the stones.
After that i have sorted them by shape and size. I had a few templates as inspiration and tried to build a mix of them that matched my thougths. For the gluing i used super glue and sand like in the BRStv How to NSA scape tutorial video. It was fun to put the scape together. My goal is a sps dominat reef this is why I have tried to stay below 50% of the height of the tank.
Unfortunately this is the only picture i took during the gluing process. You can see the finished scape at the end of the post. After the scape was finished i moved on to drill the holes.
1. Drill holes for the overflow
I have done some research and decided to drill three holes. Two in 32mm ( 1 1/4") diameter and one in 25mm (1"). One of the 32mm will be used as the main overflow. The second one, i dont know how its called in english, is used as a backup overflow for safety. The 25mm will be used as the retrun pipe. For the drilling i have bought thin walled diamond coated drills
with the needed diameters. I have watched alot of videos on youtube and read some threads on this forum on how to drill the holes. I was scared to srcew the tank while drilling. To prepare the tank for drilling I have bought a wooden board in the size of the bottom of the tank to support it from the bottom while drilling.
For the inside i have build a template from a wooden board with predrilled holes wich i used as support to drill the glas. While i have drilled the holes i have used a bit of water to keep the drill cool and it worked very well.
Thats how the finished scape looks like. How do you like it? I think i forgot to mention that i put a white foil under the bottom glas.
Thats it for now. I will continue the build in the next days. If you have any questions feel free to ask.