Yerboy's DIY Frag tank

yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
Here is my first attempt at building my own tank. I used 1/4" acrylic and weldon 4 and about a tube of silicone :D. dimensions are 30" x 36" x 7" for a big shallow footprint. Light is a 15,000K Iwasaki - 175W with a PFO ballast. Custom DIY sterolite filter , 2 koralia 4s , via aqua 3300 " 950ish gph" return pump. Im also going to use my AquaC EV-180 skimmer on this system.
I used .020 steel safety wire as support bars, just drilled small holes in the acrylic threated it and filled holes with silicon.
system has been running about a week now so no frags as of yet.
Anyways on to the pics.
Enjoy






 
traps

traps

Member
That is awesome!!! Great looking custom tank.
How'd you get those plastic drawers water tight? The obvious answer would be silicone, but seems like it'd take a lot.
Definitely keep this updated with lots of pics
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
that is awesome...i am jealous!!!....i really like the tray filter system i need to think of someway to do that to mine
 
kevin34

kevin34

Active Member
That is sweet! You have inspired me too make a frag tank lol. How many gallons is it and if you dont mind me asking how much did it cost for the materials?
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Traps
http:///forum/post/2675973
That is awesome!!! Great looking custom tank.
How'd you get those plastic drawers water tight? The obvious answer would be silicone, but seems like it'd take a lot.
Definitely keep this updated with lots of pics
Well sadly there not water tight, there is a small amount of splash out but it just runs down the side and thru the egg crate so it doesn't matter much. I think im going to cut some plastic and wrap it around the sides and back to prevent any more splash.
quick rundown on how i did the filter
I took the top drawer and cut about a million holes in it with my drill to provide a rain effect. The next 4 drawers i cut out the bottom with a dremmel tool leaving about 3 inches on each side, then the bottom drawer i cut 2 2.5inch holes so the water could run out and fall through the egg crate into the sump. Each filter tray has eggcrate and pond filter. Super simple design that didnt cost very much.
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kevin34
http:///forum/post/2676295
That is sweet! You have inspired me too make a frag tank lol. How many gallons is it and if you dont mind me asking how much did it cost for the materials?
Around 28 gallons counting 36x30x6, tank is 7 inches deep but i only run it at around 6 inches. And there is likely another 10 gallons or so under the tank.
I got the 7" pieces from the big bay sight for around 50$ after shipping and it was a total of 5 pieces that where 5'x7" so i had some left over, the bottom sheet i got from home depot for about $50. so a total of about $100 for just the acrylic. I think total minus light,pump,heater i spent under $300 total on this setup. I already had the plumbing and lumber and most of the tools needed for the project. However i did have to spend $25ish on a 3 1/4" hole saw for the shower drain that connected the 2 sterolite tubs so hopefully i have use for that tool in the future. " hate spending good money on something im only going to use once"
 
kevin34

kevin34

Active Member
Can you explain how everything works and how the water moves through the system? What kind of plumbing hook up do you have?
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kevin34
http:///forum/post/2676665
Can you explain how everything works and how the water moves through the system? What kind of plumbing hook up do you have?
I drilled 2 2.5inch holes in the top of the filter the tanks overflow pipe just runs right into the top of the filter and pours onto the first tray. The first tray has about 500 small holes drilled into it so that the water will rain down to the 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th tray. Each of the filter trays have had there bottoms cut out with the exception of about 3 inches on each side and then egg crate with pond filter placed in each tray. The 6th tray just has 2 2.5 inch holes cut into it so that the water will just fall out and into the sump below. The sump under the filter has a 3.5 inch hole cut into the side and an identical sump next to it with a hole in the same location and a shower drain connecting the 2 sumps. You can see it in the last pic pouring water into the last sump section.
 
nano reefer

nano reefer

Active Member
grest set up. i think all that filter floss is a bit overkill, but there is no suck thing as overkill in this hobby! good luck, and it looks great.
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
thanks, i feel in the future i will use those trays for things such as carbon, phos and things of that nature when needed. i added 2 more trays today and also hooked up 2 150w halides for when i start growing more light requiring corals in the future.
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
here are some updated pics.
btw my frag plugs are empty so im accepting all hand outs :D
anyways on to the pics





 
rebelprettyboy

rebelprettyboy

Active Member
that is pretty dang awesome man. lol it is pretty empty in there u musta had a clearance sale
.. Looks like u gotta lot of room for frags
 
tbcseod

tbcseod

Member
That is a stunning set up - if MacGyver was into frags that would be his set up! Looks great with lots of room

~T
 
errattiq

errattiq

Member
I would definitely use all of those drawers for bunch of different filtration. You have a hell of potential in that setup!! Great Job!!
-Josh
 
rushprop

rushprop

Member
That thing is very very nice. I would love to have that at my place. I am very impressed with the ingenuity of it all. Go to the LFS and that this is selling for 1000. congrats. post some pics with some corals. also could you post apic from the top with the power heads off?
 
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