Peppie Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thought I would share my last build with you all. This is not your typical AIO build. From my past experience with AIO tanks it seems there is not enough room in the filter chamber to grow enough Macro to make a difference. And it is always a challenge to lite that chamber and keep the light out of the DT. So with this build I will address both of those issues. I used 3/4'' acrylic for the DT and 1/2'' for the fuge/return/media chamber. This is a rough sketch of what I will build. The far right side of the drawing is the filter chamber. It will be taller that the DT. The reason being is the return area needs to push the water higher than that of the water level of the DT, so it can gravity feed back into the DT. There will be some small changes to this drawing, but the concept will be the same. Here are some tools that I will use for the build. I switched the #3 for # 4 weldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 The small square is dadoed into the wood block. This will keep the side panel at 90deg to the face of the other panel. The other wood stick will keep the vertical panel 1/8'' from the edge of the horizontal panel. I had cut up a tank that had a seam fail, so some of the 1/2'' material has a bow in it. You can see it here The bow is better seen here This is is how I weighted down the sides after the seam was welded I added 1/2 gussets to ALL corners to give extra welding surface This is the fuge/return section it is about 20'' tall X 8'' wide X 22'' long. Approx 15gal My bench has been hit with an acrylic snow storm My method of welding in the gussets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 The divider panel, between the fuge and return needed to be in line with the sides of the chamber for a good weld seam to the DT This is how it will look welded to the DT. The eggcreat will divide the chamber into rock and Macro, The pump will draw water from the large chamber and pump it up thru filter media back into the DT This is what I came up with to run the maxijet pump thru the divider wall, I wanted to keep the macro out of the pump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 The tank will have a HOB skimmer. I wanted better skimming action than the stock inlet "skimmer" provides so I built a larger one that will clip to the back of the tank This is the box that the inlet tube for the skimmer will sit in. I will weld these clips to the weir and hang it on the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 OOpppps double post. Can a Mod please delete post #5 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Looks good, like the work! we should get together and talk Tools! like the shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRENT Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Nice work..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Looks good' date=' like the work! we should get together and talk Tools! like the shop[/quote'] I could talk tools for most of the day. I am always finding a reason to get another good tool. The wife gets upset when I tell her I need to have two of the same tool, one for my job, and one for the shop. LOL The shop is smaller than I would like to have, but it works for me. Woodworking has been a hobby for me for the past 20 years. Wait til you see the stand this tank will sit on!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Nice work.....[/QUOt Thanks Trent, Lots more to come> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 This is the set up I used to weld the sides to the front. This is the right side panel, the long lower hole will let water into the fuge. The short higher hole will let water out of the return chamber. The entire panel is 2'' taller than the rest of the DT I used the pin method to weld the seams. You can see the shims under the front , added to close up the seam Seams look good Bottom welded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 This is the set up I used to weld the sides to the front. This is the right side panel, the long lower hole will let water into the fuge. The short higher hole will let water out of the return chamber. The entire panel is 2'' taller than the rest of the DT I used the pin method to weld the seams. You can see the shims under the front , added to close up the seam Seams look good Bottom welded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Here you can see that the right side is taller than the rest of the tank have a fear of a seam going bad. So I made these corner gussets to weld to ALL inside corners of the DT I used a card scraper to clean up all the edges welding in the corner gussets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 The tank will be a BareBottm tank so I made a bunch of these at different heights to keep the bottom clear of rocks The tank will also have a closed loop system to flow water across the bottom. This is the rig I started with, but then changed out all the tubing to hard pvc for the final system I blacked out the divider wall with 1/4'' black acrylic. The teeth on the left is for water out of the DT. The spill way on the right is for water into the DT. The spill way will set below the DT water level to get rid of any runing water noise Here you can see the skimmer collection clipped in place and the closed loop nozzels at the bottom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Wow that's pretty cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Thanks Richard, Since the acrylic is 3/4'' thick and I am going to use powerheads with magnets rated for only 1/2'' thick material, I needed to come up with a way to use the powerheads. This is what I did. I cut a slot in the top bracing to hang the powerheads on Powerhead holder made with 3/8 material While I was at it I made a black box with 2 compartments to house my ATO float switches. One primary and a second for back up. The whole ATO system will be set on a timer to come on 4 times a day and stay on for 1 min. (another back up to my back up) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 So lets see this "THING" with some water in it so you all can see my vision. LOL This is the filter end. The water from the DT enters on the top right of the Pic. The maxijet pump sucks the water from that chamber and pushes it up thru the media and back into the DT The back of the tank shows the ClosedLoop pump (Quiteone 1200 @ 300gph) A Stand Facelift is up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisW Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 You definitely have some skills with acrylic. Looks nice. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Agree with Dennis, very nice work. I love the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Thanks Dennis, impur, I have been working wood for many years, so the transition to Acrylic is not that difficult. I helps if you have the correct tools to work the acrylic. Most all wood working tools will cut acrylic. The key to acrylic I have found is edge prep. I will get started on the woodworking part of the build soon. It came out quite nice. Used mostly figured Mahogany!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Thanks Dennis, impur, I have been working wood for many years, so the transition to Acrylic is not that difficult. I helps if you have the correct tools to work the acrylic. Most all wood working tools will cut acrylic. The key to acrylic I have found is edge prep. I will get started on the woodworking part of the build soon. It came out quite nice. Used mostly figured Mahogany!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 So I am going to fastforward thru this wood working part. Mostly just the pic. Any questions feel free to ask. This sliding panel will give me access to the closed loop pump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Top is next Fuge/ filter chamber lid keeps light in and air flows thru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Feeding door trimmed out. Will be held in place with a magnet All beaded trim was shaped the old fashion way Getting the lights to hang is next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisW Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Wow! It just keeps getting better. Looking good. Thanks for sharing. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVPaquatics Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Wow! It just keeps getting better. Looking good. Thanks for sharing. Dennis Thats what i was thinking. You got skills haha! Whats next?! Keep up the killer work! Where in washington are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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