Ghettotastic Office Build

[spipedong]

Here's what I'm working on for my office.

Disclaimer: I suck at carpentry.

The tank will be either a 20H or 20L. The tall piece of plywood off to the right side is a place holder. Basically that is the side that will be touching the wall and I will be using the extra room on that side to hide plumbing and wires.

Here's a quick sketch of finished product:

Disclaimer: Plan not final, subject to change. May not be available in all areas. See store for details.


And here's a quick progression up to this point:

[LooklikeME]

Originally posted by spipedong


Disclaimer: I suck at carpentry.

I hate to see if you were good.Your stand looks Great!!

[spipedong]

lol!


It's more of a "perfect 10".

(looks perfect from about 10 feet away)

[spipedong]

The hidden plumbing/whateverthecrap idea is now scrapped. I got a good deal on a 30G long from a local guy last night, so it takes up the entire surface of the stand.

I made it 36" just in case I did something like this and changed my mind at the last second.

I'll have the LFS drill the tank today for (2) 1" bulkheads in the bottom. I would do it myself, but I don't have the cajones or the tools for drilling glass.

[spipedong]

Tonight's Progress:






I'm not skilled and I don't even try so my stuff always has the same generic basic look, but I'm excited to make a little more progress.

What's the recommended method for bonding acrylic to glass? I know silicone doesn't work very well. The entire right side of the tank will be converted into an overflow box.

[NanoReefWanabe]

why not use a glass baffle?

you can get black tinted glass...it will look much cleaner with less silicone then trying to bond a sheet of acrylic across your tank..

so far so good though...i wonder if you can buff out those scratches in the tank before you proceed?

[RumLad]

Agreed on the tank cleaning idea. Perhaps wait for a $1/gal sale at Petco and get a brand new AGA 30?

Otherwise, it looks great so far. What lights are you thinking of for the canopy? 4 x 24" T5's have been used by others with good success.

[Zestay]

yeah man. your gonna be ****ed a year down the road if you go ahead with that scratched up tank!
a brand new 30 gallon tank is only like 40-60 bux.

[spipedong]

Thanks Guys.

Brand new 30G tanks are $100 here and thats not within the budget of this project so I'm going to go ahead for now. Most of the haze is actually caked on deposits so I'll clean all that off and see what actually is scratched and what isn't and how it looks with some water in it.

Also the $1/gallon sale is almost a full year away.

Lighting will be 1x 175W 10K MH and 2 65W PC actinics.

[spipedong]

Tonight's update:

I reconsidered the acrylic overflow box, and decided to try something crazy as you will see.

Pretty much just roughed in the plumbing and overflow tonight.

I think I may win "simplest drain" on this one, although its canceled out by "most complicated return plumbing :P.

The upper return plumbing is going to have more T's and an adjustable nozzle of some sort on each T. I plan to have two on the "back wall" and one on the "left. The tank is actually intended to sit perpendicular to the wall (i.e the right side will be touching the wall, the back side is next to my desk and the front side faces the door/window.)

Without further chat, here are more pics:

[itZme]

Cool idea with the black tubing for overflow boxes. They look a bit high in my opinion. I try to build my overflows just barely above the bottom of the trim so the waterline is above the trim when you are flowing water through it but you have some space left before it would spill over the edge of the tank if there is ever a problem.

HTH

[Jester]

definitely a cool idea with the tubing overflows... like the return manifold too...

[spipedong]

Thanks guys. I just kinda pulled the manifold idea out of nowhere so I'll see how that works out.

Also, just to clarify on the overflows - just one is actually an overflow. The other one is just there to hide the return plumbing and give it a sense of symmetry. That one has no notches cut in it, since its not actually supposed to have anything in it.

It may be a little tough to see on the actual overflow but there are 4x 1.5" notches cut into it, and they are cut down just over the trim line as itZme suggests.

I have no idea how/if it'll work but I'll see what happens.


Forgot to mention as well - I will be trying out the Hofer Gurgle Buster inside the overflow. http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson...HGB/index.html

[grallster]

Take my word for it--you're going to hate that center brace on the stand (especially if you need to take the sump out ever). Do yourself a favor and beef the stand up (use 2X4s in the corners) and just cut the brace out and screw it to one of the doors (so you don't have to make new doors). I set up my tank like yours and I absolutely hate it--but there's nothing I can do about it without draining the tank.

[spipedong]

Originally posted by grallster
Take my word for it--you're going to hate that center brace on the stand (especially if you need to take the sump out ever). Do yourself a favor and beef the stand up (use 2X4s in the corners) and just cut the brace out and screw it to one of the doors (so you don't have to make new doors). I set up my tank like yours and I absolutely hate it--but there's nothing I can do about it without draining the tank.

Thanks for the advice. Somewhere in one of my previous posts I mentioned that the center brace is removable. It's only attached with a couple of angle brackets to make it easy.

I could maybe try what you're talking about and attach the brace to one of the doors and see how it works and just put it back if I don't like it.

[Nightfall_fish]

I've got a Hoffer style stand pipe and love it. Takes up way less space than a Durso or Stockman and is super quiet. Good luck with the rest of the build.

[grallster]

Sorry, I guess I missed that....carry on...

[lakee911]

I used a return manifold in my tank and I hated it. I took it out because it flowed lousy and was ugly. If you want to do that, you're better off with a closed loop.

Jason

[spipedong]

Tonight's teaser update :P

Put a coat of paint on 'er and siliconed the crap out of the overflows.

The glass cleaned up real nice and I don't think it'll be a problem when it gets water in it.

Just one pic today

[meco65]

looking good so far.

[happyface888]

Thats looking real good so far, I have yet to come across the ghettoness.

[spipedong]

Originally posted by happyface888
I have yet to come across the ghettoness.

That's the part that happens between the photo updates :P

I don't have a lot of tools or the 'right' ones, so I make do with what I've got

[Jester]

Originally posted by spipedong
That's the part that happens between the photo updates :P

I don't have a lot of tools or the 'right' ones, so I make do with what I've got

I definitely understand that... you have to make do with what you've got...!!!! looks great though... looking forward to seeing updates...

[spipedong]

Tank is in the house. They're still working on building my office so this'll be its location for a month or two.

Moved over some water and picked up some nice live rock tonight. The light is temporary until I move my halide over. That light is only the crappy stock 24 watt N.O fluorescent.



And just for fun, here's my clown with what he thinks is his home. The xenia is less than pleased

[alpine]

Cool, reminds me of when I had my 29gal with 610watts of light over it.Your doing a good job on the stand.I love to see people build stuff with practically no tools,and still have good results.