Ghetto 85 Gallon Long

[Poriferan]

I picked up this tank and terrible stand for almost free so I decided to "restore" it and see what I can get to live inside.

I took a few days, a few vinegar baths, and a few dozen razor blades to get most of the calcium carbonate deposits off the glass and rim. I didn't take any pics sadly of day one, but I do have this heater that came in it for perspective.

Next I needed to figure out a stand. I was going to build a new one, but decided to try and use the one I was given and see if I could make it work.

It came with cheap (are you kidding me) casters which came off 1st. next I had to address the height of the stand at 24" and maybe 14" of opening height. I needed the skimmer to fit in the stand so that had to change.

I built a 2x6 "extension on the top and with my very limited wood working skills Mitered? (cut at 45* angles) the boards and sunk the screws.

 

[Eric]

Where's the tank pics looks like a fun project.

 

[Poriferan]

The idea of the raising the top was to cut open the plywood underneath and thereby get 5 1/2" of additional area to get a skimmer cup off.

This was still not enough. So I cut off the front, pulled out the floor and built a 2x4 bottom. This allowed me to reinstall the floor of the stand about 3" lower. I now had enough room to get the intended 40 gal breeder sump I will be building in the door with the skimmer inside, and still have plenty of room to pull the cup.:whstlr:

I picked up the 40 in worse condition, believe it or not, it leaked badly. I removed the rim and all the silicone and rebuilt it. Next it got dry rock, some water changes from my RSM 130d, and a lot of seeded bio ceramic. I cycled it with 40 lbs of dry rock and a penguin dual bio wheel filter :invisible

About a month or 2 later after I completed the main cycle damsels were added ( so I could feed something other than the rock )

 

[Poriferan]

Where's the tank pics looks like a fun project.

Patience:bouncer:

I can only type so fast and I need to get my post count up :dryer:

And thanks, It has been both an challenge and a blast so far.

 

[Poriferan]

So back to the tank. It came with a wood grain rim and blue painted background. I want black on black but my wife insisted on keeping the blue on the back:hammerhea

I masked up the tank and painted the rim with krylon paint.

 

[Poriferan]

I finished up the stand, crafted a door that holds on with magnets and painted the whole thing black.


Next I got an overflow and return from glassholes.com and successfully drilled 2 holes through the 1/2" glass. Note this was after checking for tempering using the laptop and polarized lens idea I found on this site. Thanks Nstiesi Checking for tempered glass

 

[Poriferan]

This is the skimmer I will be using a Reef Octopus Extreme 200

I am breaking it in while I finish the rest of the tank.

I have started pluming the tank but ran into an obstacle with the overflow tube.

I bought a flexible 1 1/2" tube but am not sure I like it as it really isnt very flexible. I may change this to hard line as well unless someone here convinces me otherwise.

I also started the pvc on the back as I need to finish the back and get the tank in place so I can empty the 40 into this tank and install the baffles I had cut at a local glass place.

 

[1Reefer]

looks good so far, way to bring an old tank back from the dead!

 

[Poriferan]

A bit of an update.

I got all the hard plumbing on the back side done, put the tank/stand in it's final resting place and emptied the 40 gal into it.
Got all the rock in, and found that most of the damsels hitchhiked into the new tank on the rock

Cleaned out the 40 and installed the baffles

.

 

[Poriferan]

This was my 1st time using PVC so... it has not gone as easily as I hoped really.

I have committed to the final resting place of the sump. Due to height restrictions, access to the sump is quite limited. This is making plumbing it a bit more challenging.

The damsels needed a place to live while the silicone sets up so here is a preview of what the tank will look like once I finish the plumbing.

 

[Eric]

Nice! I love DIY it's just so much more rewarding than going to a shop and buying new, you just don't get that job well done feeling after dropping a few thousand at the LFS.

On the other hand it takes a few headachs and a lot of trial and error to learn the ways of the true DIYer. Lol

Looks great!

 

[Reefmack]

Nice DIY job on reviving the old tank!

 

[Poriferan]

Thanks! Going to try and finish up the plumbing today. Cross my fingers that there are no leaks.

 

[Reefmack]

 

[JimmyJ]

Nice work Charles!

 

[Poriferan]

Plumbing is done:snowski:

No runs, no drips, no errors

Time to watch the cycle a bit. 1/2 rock and the gravel is cycled. The other 1/2 is dry rock. Hopefully it wont take long to run the algae cycle again.

Sorry for the mess in the stand, I'll get that cleaned up tomorrow

 

[Eric]

Very nice! Glad to hear there were no major issues.

 

[Poriferan]

No issues at all on start up. Fairly quiet.

Now I need to research refugium's. Sand depth. grain size, what else to put in there. order some chateo...

Ideas are most welcome.

 

[Eric]

What are your plans for this tank? I may have overlooked it actually I'm sure I did but reef or fowlr?

I have suggestions for both

 

[zigginit]

with all that work it better be reef. but it looks like your in need of some better lights for that. what kind are those?