toeknee's / 20 Long build

[ToeKnee]

Hi all,
This will be my 20 gal build thread . I have been slowly getting back into things after a long break and so I dusted off some old equipment and picked up a used tank. I plan on mainly keeping zoa's. My goal is to keep things easy and low maintenance.

I started with a used 20 gal that I resiliconed and took off the rim to add glass bracing .

bracing complete

I opted to purchase the 2 little fishes in/out overflow because it took up the least amount of space which allows me to have my stand up against the wall.

Utilized my old kessil aw360we's along with rock and sand I had stored.Purchased a stand that I braced.

My sump is currently under construction, but you'll notice the bracing along with a drawer I added for supplies. I also made an ATO reservoir out of a used tank which is on a slide out shelf to make refills much easier.I have an icecap ATO that I had used on a prior tank. I have a nicrew 50watt light I got from a local member for the refugium section, and for the return pump I have a QuietOne.

 

[ToeKnee]

installed baffles and gave it a paint job. I may take the light off the mount and install it on the tank to reduce some of the light spill

 

[ifarmer]

simply beautiful

 

[ToeKnee]

simply beautiful

thanks! it wasn't easy convincing the lady to install the 20g however the cleaner I can keep things im hoping to slowly move up to the 40 breeder that I have stashed

 

[ToeKnee]

As stated trying to keep things cheap so I utilized a lot of used tanks for this build and came up with a cool idea with a spare rim I had laying around.

just playing around , but works great.. ultimately the fuge light will be in the center and the brackets will hold the plexiglass for the drain and return.

 

[ToeKnee]

second bracket done! onto prepping for plumbing and cutting acrylic

 

[ToeKnee]

test fitting.
I still have to cut lids on the drain and return sections about 3/4 of the way so the lids function properly.

A little dirty from the acrylic shavings , but the above is what I think I'm sticking to for plumbing. I'm open to suggestions or improvements....I decided not to use unions as space is limited.

I added 2 extra valves ....one to control the flow going into the display and the other is future proofing.

 

[DylanCameron]

Looks great! The shelf for ATO can hold the weight of the water I assume? Does the return pump have some sort of rubber to dampen noise? Only two things I can think of. Super clean build, what equipment do you plan on running off the manifold?

Excited to see this progress!

 

[ToeKnee]

Looks great! The shelf for ATO can hold the weight of the water I assume? Does the return pump have some sort of rubber to dampen noise? Only two things I can think of. Super clean build, what equipment do you plan on running off the manifold?

Excited to see this progress!

For the slide out shelf that's TBD... I'm pretty sure it will hold 3 gals just fine as the sliders hold about 50- 75lbs each (installed 2) They were used to hold a pretty heavy keyboard at one point, although the orientation that I installed them in may not be as they were designed , so we'll see.

No damper....didn't cross my mind...Do they make much of a difference?

I don't plan to run much more equipment ...however One outlet would regulate flow into the main tank , so I'll just shoot that back into the refugium if need be and the other is future proofing in the event i do add something (carbon/GFO). For now I may use it for water changes

thanks for the feedback!

 

[DylanCameron]

For the slide out shelf that's TBD... I'm pretty sure it will hold 3 gals just fine as the sliders hold about 50- 75lbs each (installed 2) They were used to hold a pretty heavy keyboard at one point, although the orientation that I installed them in may not be as they were designed , so we'll see.

No damper....didn't cross my mind...Do they make much of a difference?

I don't plan to run much more equipment ...however One outlet would regulate flow into the main tank , so I'll just shoot that back into the refugium if need be and the other is future proofing in the event i do add something (carbon/GFO). For now I may use it for water changes

thanks for the feedback!

Those should definitely hold the water weight in that case. Since it’s a smaller pump it hopefully won’t vibrate too much, but if it’s touching the acrylic you might get some noise, just something to think about.

Love your scape btw, it’ll look great covered in zoas!

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

Very nicely done. Great job on all the extra touches and simplicity.

 

[ToeKnee]

Those should definitely hold the water weight in that case. Since it’s a smaller pump it hopefully won’t vibrate too much, but if it’s touching the acrylic you might get some noise, just something to think about.

Love your scape btw, it’ll look great covered in zoas!

definitely will look into it.

 

[ToeKnee]

Very nicely done. Great job on all the extra touches and simplicity.

Thanks, I appreciate that.....can't wait to get things growing!

 

[ToeKnee]

update: some good and some bad!

completed the sump settled on a plumbing design , made some removable lids, and secured everything in!

I also worked on a lid for the tank. I purchased standard plastic corners for the frame and glued some credit cards to sit on the eurobrace. The frame is super lite so I have no worries that the epoxy will hold together.

Now for the bad ...I still have to make some cuts to adjust my light bracket to hold the kessil lights and so they have been balancing on the bracket temporarily. Well, my son decided it would be cool to see what happens when you drop the lights in the tank.

I spent my Saturday morning opening up my light to clean it out in hopes of not developing corrosion if the light still works.Currently the boards are inside a bag of rice and I'm hoping for the best. The way it fell only 1 light was submerged, however still a major blow as the lights have low hours.

 

[ToeKnee]

figured I'd update after my lights took a dunk. I broke down the kessil light and sprayed with alcohol and water to rinse off the salt and let it sit in a bag of rice for a week. kessil coats the boards and seals certain parts which contributed to saving the light.Time will tell however everything is working perfectly at the moment

I still have a few tweaks to make so no corals at the moment. I decided to have a snail only clean up crew so I purchased some snails and a neon blue goby. Next purchase will be some macro algae and pods as for equipment a heater controller.