Rosebud161616's 2013 Nano Contest Submission

[rosebud161616]

Thanks, guys! I think I found someone local who does acrylic work, but if it falls through, I'll let you know!

[rosebud161616]

We made a trip to Ikea today and I found a new stand for this tank. Here is a quick cell phone pic I snapped with the vases on it. Getting closer...

[tcp316]

Are you going to use a sump and skimmer?

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[CalmSeasQuest]

Looks great Erika - Love the stand! Can't wait to see it come together.

[rosebud161616]

Are you going to use a sump and skimmer?

I will be using a sump for this, probably a standard old 10 gallon. I'm not sure on the skimmer yet. On the nano contest a couple of years ago, I did use a skimmer. I had constant problems with the skimmer getting clogged due to having such a small sump and the chaeto growing right into it. After awhile I just turned it off, and really didn't have much of a problem with out. I don't typically run tanks without skimmers so that was an experiment of sorts. I do plan to have quite a bit of algae involved in this tank, so I might just skip the skimmer all together.

Looks great Erika - Love the stand! Can't wait to see it come together.

Thanks, Tom! I'm getting very excited so hopefully I can get this acrylic piece together!

[Tom@HaslettMI]

This is a really cool idea! I'm looking forward to watching it develop. What type of corals are you planning to keep?

Tom

[rosebud161616]

Well I have been in a huge rush to get this tank up and running in order to get live stock in before the cut off date! The acrylic piece turned out to be much harder to get than I ever expected! I was able to pick up the piece over the weekend and got a lot accomplished.

Here are a couple of shots of the piece being made. A local reef club member was able to create this tray for me, and took pictures along the way. I really appreciated this because it was awesome to see this thing come to life! He took a video also, but it was over 200 MB, so it's a little bit big to get uploaded and posted on here!

Full acrylic piece before going into the CNC:


Full piece after the CNC:


All built and just waiting for me to come get it:

[rosebud161616]

After bringing it home, I got right to work! Still a ton to be done!

Here is a shot of the tray sitting on the stand with the vases on it:


I decided I'm going to light the main vase with a PAR38 bulb. The acrylic tray will have water in it, so using a clamp on light isn't very ideal. I headed out to Lowes and found a cheap, modern looking floor lamp for $15. Perfect! It gives the look of a clamp on light, but is supported by the floor.

Sorry for the blurry phone pic...


I have an order in with AC-RC on Ebay for the lights for the other two vases (that's a surprise so no more details here yet) and for the PAR38 bulb. AR-RC is in China, but they have been responding super fast. I have a tracking number so hopefully this won't take too long to get here.

I have done some painting of the main vase, lots of drilling, lots of dry fitting of plumbing, etc. This afternoon after work, I'll be right back to the grind getting this thing up with more pics to come!

[MizTanks]

Ok I'm totally intrigued! This build is very unique Subscribed!!

[rosebud161616]

Ok I'm totally intrigued! This build is very unique Subscribed!!

Thanks!

I'm making more progress...

I turned the stand into swiss cheese... mmmmmmmm


And can't forget the shelf, it has a few holes as well. Standard 10 gallon for the sump.


Here you can see how the back two "tanks" will line up with those nice big holes in the stand, and the "windows" in the tray:


I got the main "tank" painted black, the return installed with a bit of locline. I'm hoping you won't even see the locline once I have the rockwork in, but it's a tight fit to try to keep it hidden... I have standard CFL bulb in the light for now just to give a bit of a look like it might once I have the PAR38 bulb.


Now I just have to get the rest of the plumbing done! The rest of the night will be spent here and hopefully all will go smoothly...