Mr. Microscope's 25 Gallon Cube

Good luck with the drilling. Are you drilling the back or bottom?

Bottom, and it was a success! I spray painted the back of the tank and overflow last night. Gonna add a few more coats, but a can't wait to rip the newspaper off and see how it looks!

Progress is being made!

I successfully drilled the tank last weekend. I also drilled holes in the stand to make way for the plumbing. There is a nice piece of acrylic on the top of the stand as well. This will only show for about an inch on each side, but it's the little details that give a setup that extra boost.

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...op20111222.jpg

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...nd20111222.jpg

Finally, the rock work is coming along very well! I've successfully drilled holes in the rock and cut pieces of fiberglass rod to stick the thing together. I just have to get some superglue and two part epoxy to secure the whole thing together. Then, it's into the frag tub to start cooking.

Plumbing time!

It's looking like it will be wet soon.

So, I'm continuing to work on the plumbing which is almost done, but nothing work taking a photo of yet. I have, however finished another aspect of the build. The rock pillar!

I used this stuff from Premium Aquatics:
http://premiumaquatics.com/prodimage...s/TER-12GL.jpg

At $20, it's a little expensive for epoxy, but I'm extremely happy with how well it works. It cures incredibly fast! Between kneading together the two components and being rock solid occurs in just two minutes. My favorite aspect of this glue, however, is that it doesn't have any smell. That meant that I could take my time and really enjoy the building process in our apartment without my wife complaining that everything about my hobby stinks up the place.

Here's what I built:
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...onstructed.jpg

These rocks came from Reef Cleaners. As I mentioned before, John Maloney helped pick out the pieces for me. This is mined stuff. So, I'm not going to have to worry about additional crap during the cycle.

I planned out several areas with intended purposes. First, I decided to make more than just the mushroom shape. Although, I kept this aspect of the build, there would have been no space for other corals on the bottom. So, I came up with this little arch.
Fun fishy swim through zone!
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/rockarch.jpg

It has lots of space for corals. Frag plugs fit perfectly in little holes here.
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...hsiderocks.jpg

Again, I made this area on top to serve as an SPS garden:
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/toprocks.jpg

Finally, it's hard to tell from the photo, but this area is recessed underneath the SPS garden. Since it's in the shadows, I plan to eventually use it for some Sun Corals. Though, that won't be until the tank has been nicely established and I'm ready to crash it. LOL!
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...rrockspace.jpg

I took a little time to draw in the corals.
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...alsonrocks.jpg

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...nrockstext.jpg

I have most of these corals going in my frag tub right now. The only ones I'm lacking are the Torch, the Sun Corals, and the Tub's Blues. I want the Torch for my clowns to enjoy and for some added movement to the tank.

Awesome build and awesome narration! Love your eye for detail :)

Looks like it is going to be great setup.

So, I'm continuing to work on this thing between baby feedings and mostly on the weekends. This weekend I got a considerable amount done and ran into more hurdles.

The plumbing is done for the most part. Here's what I've got going above and below, behind the overflow:
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...plumbing02.jpg
The Herbie is made of 3/4" and the return is 1/2".

I have since used some silicone to attach the overflow. I've been testing the seal and having issues. To start out, the seal looks pretty sloppy. It feels pretty solid, but after some research, I learned that there is not really a good way (at least not super permanent) to seal acrylic to glass!
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2458/headdesk.jpg
WTF!!! I thought everyone made their overflows out of acrylic! I'm thinking I'll go get some glass cut and seal that in place first. Then, attach the acrylic overflow in front of it.
That also means that I'm likely to have issues with my sump/fuge. I made the patricians out of acrylic for this as well. I think I'll have to redo it. At least the acrylic wasn't expensive.
Delays, delays, delays..

The second hurdle I encountered occurred this morning. I decided to put my rock pillar in the tank just to see how it looks. During this process, part of the structure came apart. I'm all out of epoxy and will have to get some more to re-secure the pieces. Though, I'm going use a more standard two part and super glue this time. I think the stuff I used is okay for more solid pieces, but on a small scale doesn't seem to hold up so well.

Finally, another thing on the list of projects to check off the list is this shelf:
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...lightshelf.jpg

I rigged this up with a couple of 20" brackets and a 15" x 15" piece of acrylic. As you can see, I haven't taken off the protective coating from the acrylic yet, but I anticipate that it will look pretty clean once I do. I'm going to set my LED build on top. It is centered over the tank about 8" up (I guess that will make it 9" from the surface of the water). I'm thinking that I might want to add some optics to my LED after a while.

That's it for now..
http://bristolbay.com/image/digging.gif

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Microscope

I took a little time to draw in the corals.
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...alsonrocks.jpg

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/a...nrockstext.jpg

---

SAY WHAT??? And I thought I planed my tank well.... Bravo Sir.

Thanks Badfish!