PDA

View Full Version : DIY Tank, ATS, Light Fixture, Overflow and half DIY stand



misoldier06
03-29-2011, 11:37 PM
Alright. Well i am very excited to post this. For the past two weeks i have been building a new tank light fixture, overflow, sump, ATS and a small part of a stand that i found. I have never been so proud of something like this. So it began a couple weeks ago when i went down stairs to the recycling bin and found about 8 pieces of large glass. So i thought hey, I havn't put together my own tank yet.... maybe now's the time. So i went and picked up a glass scorer and some silicone. If someone is wanting the know how on scoring glass you've come to the wrong place.... luckily i had 3 extra pieces to practice on and still couldnt get it to break in a straight line. So i made the deminsions 42" x 13.5 x 14.5. glued it all together and waited 72 hours. after that i was worried about what id do about lighting. I read a couple of places that you can have coral under PC's as long as the tank is pretty short. Well mine is 13.5" high. So i decided to go with 4 x 36W PC since i already has the material together from other DIY Lighting projects. I also wanted to try out LED's. So i went down the road from my house where there are LED shops galore and started pricing. To do LED's for the tank it would have cost too much for my wife to consent too spending. So i went with something a little cheaper. I got 3 x 6W SMD blue light strip. I'm not sure what kind of par or lumens this thing puts out but it is a very, very dark blue. It's almost purple in some areas.
Despite it being SMD's and not really knowing too much about the spec's, I am extremely happy with the color these things put out. So i made light fixture using some aluminum square material and a larger piece of T8 fixture reflector. Then got the PVC overflow material and put it together via Google search outlines. At first i was hesitant to use it because it did not out the flow that i wanted. It was trickling down at a very, very, very slow rate... it would maybe fill a gallon jug in a minute. It seemed if i was getting too much air in the pipe's. So i took out the trusty silicone and started filling gaps around every elbow and Tee. The next day i come in to a loud sound of gushing water. Take a look into the sump and low and behold it's pumping out super fast. i would guess at about 350 GPH. On my return pipe i have a large pump that probably pumps out 600 GPH. I have a tee on my return pipe placed in the sump where my ATS is. Right now i only have one 20W CFL light on it but i did'nt have time to get another yet. Ill get another soon to place on the other side. As for the stand, i found a cabinet with a sink attached to it down in the recycling. So i took the sink off and found four bords that would cover the top of the cabinet where the sink use to be. I also got some 2x4's to give it a little extra sturdiness. This has been the coolest thing i have ever made. The feeling i get when i look at the tank is unbelievable. i feel accomplished. Pics follow.
full tank
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01453.jpg
PVC Overflow
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01455.jpg
Return and extra powerhead
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01457.jpg
sump
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01459.jpg
light fixture
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01460.jpg
light fixture with light's off
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01461.jpg
only LED's
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01464.jpg
only PC's on
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Blaine_Klein/DSC01465.jpg

SantaMonica
03-30-2011, 11:03 AM
Handy DIY tank lighting :)

misoldier06
03-30-2011, 05:34 PM
Yeah... considering i live in korea and don't have anyone to translate for me... I think i did pretty good. I spent alot of time putting that together. To make things better the lighting cost me around 35 buck's all together.