1.8 m long tank with 1.2m display refugium diy build

[Fulbay]

Here is my intended freshwater setup. The top tank is 1800 mm x 400 mm h x 500 mm w. It will be made be made from 12mm glass and will be completely braceless. The bottom tank will be on display with access to the top and side of the sump/refugium through cabinet doors.

Here is a detailed view of the sump/refugium. It will be 1200 mm x 450 mm h x 400 mm w and it will be made from 6mm glass. I will be using filter floss, bioballs and probably ceramic thingees in the direct filtration side on the left. it will then flow into the refugium, it will be well lit with 6500k cfl's and it will have a soil bottom with a gravel cap. The plants inside will be a huge variety I've collected. Some will be made to grow emmersed. It will then flow into the last chamber which will house the pump and heaters.

Here is a rough mockup of my proposed stand.

I'm coming to this fantastic board because i'm a fellow Aquarist from Auckland. I would love your input on this project and any criticisms.

Thank you.

[smidey]

cool idea, i like it.

from a construction/cabinetry point of view, you'll need a stronger beam to go across the opening in the front and lose the central member on the upper base so you can have one piece front to back which will make it handle more weight.

depending on what hinges you intend to use the doors above the sump will most likely sag in a short time but using specific hardware will limit that.

[David R]

Sounds like a cool plan, I've only read over it quickly, but here's the first couple of things that come to mind..

One, you'll want to make sure there is plenty of spare space in the refugium to hold the water that will drain down from the main tank when the pump switches off. It looks like your drawings show a bit of excess height, so maybe you've already considered this.

I'm no planted tank expert, but I believe sumps in general aren't ideal as the surface disturbance they produce drives off CO2 and adds oxygen, which is good for fish but not good for plants. Obviously you're going to want to design the plumbing to minimise this, which should also reduce the noise too. I'd re-evaluate your choice of filter media and look at doing something like an HMF-style filter in the sump using Poret foam. I'm guessing you won't be having a massive bioload, and even so with all the plants you shouldn't require massive amounts of bio media anyway. The Poret foam could act as bio as well as mechanical, the left hand end could have the drains flowing in at the back (below the water level for noise and minimal aeration) then it could flow through several layers of vertical Poret (in increasing PPI) before flowing over into the refugium.

Last thing I can think of right now, with that large opening in the front of your stand you're going to want a fairly rigid member supporting the base of the top tank. 400mm is quite shallow (especially with 12mm glass) but you'll stillw ant something a little stiffer than a piece of 4x2 bridging the gap.

My apologies if you've already considered all of this! It looks like a great project and I'll be interested to see how it develops.

[calculator]

Sounds like a very cool build. looking forward to seeing progress.

Not sure as I havn't done the safety factor calculations, but the glass seems a bit thin for the size of the tanks, are you making the tanks your self, or getting them made for you?

[Fulbay]

Sounds like a very cool build. looking forward to seeing progress.

Not sure as I havn't done the safety factor calculations, but the glass seems a bit thin for the size of the tanks, are you making the tanks your self, or getting them made for you?

Im getting the top tank made for me and the bottom tank is a 55 gal i already have, i'll just use acrylic for the baffle's. The quote is $340 and the guy seems to think 12mm is enough. I did a rimless tank safety calculator and with 12mm glass the safety factor is apparently 12.

[Fulbay]

Sounds like a cool plan, I've only read over it quickly, but here's the first couple of things that come to mind..

One, you'll want to make sure there is plenty of spare space in the refugium to hold the water that will drain down from the main tank when the pump switches off. It looks like your drawings show a bit of excess height, so maybe you've already considered this.

I'm no planted tank expert, but I believe sumps in general aren't ideal as the surface disturbance they produce drives off CO2 and adds oxygen, which is good for fish but not good for plants. Obviously you're going to want to design the plumbing to minimise this, which should also reduce the noise too. I'd re-evaluate your choice of filter media and look at doing something like an HMF-style filter in the sump using Poret foam. I'm guessing you won't be having a massive bioload, and even so with all the plants you shouldn't require massive amounts of bio media anyway. The Poret foam could act as bio as well as mechanical, the left hand end could have the drains flowing in at the back (below the water level for noise and minimal aeration) then it could flow through several layers of vertical Poret (in increasing PPI) before flowing over into the refugium.

Last thing I can think of right now, with that large opening in the front of your stand you're going to want a fairly rigid member supporting the base of the top tank. 400mm is quite shallow (especially with 12mm glass) but you'll stillw ant something a little stiffer than a piece of 4x2 bridging the gap.

My apologies if you've already considered all of this! It looks like a great project and I'll be interested to see how it develops.

Thanks so much for the input,

The last baffle is 330 mm high so that leaves at least 80 mm of extra space for the extra water that drains down when the pump switches off.

For the surface disturbance, apparently using a soil substrate releases dissolved organic carbon into the water as it is "broken down", well according to Diana Walstad. Also, i will be using emergent plants aswell so they will have unlimited access to co2.

The stand is just a rough sketch, for the top lateral beams i'll be using thicker wood than the vertical beams.

[Fulbay]

cool idea, i like it.

from a construction/cabinetry point of view, you'll need a stronger beam to go across the opening in the front and lose the central member on the upper base so you can have one piece front to back which will make it handle more weight.

depending on what hinges you intend to use the doors above the sump will most likely sag in a short time but using specific hardware will limit that.

I'll be using thicker top lateral beams than the vertical ones. Do you think 2 x 4 would be sufficient? As for the above sump doors i'm thinking of putting a vertical beam halfway between them and putting plastic push latches in to keep the doors in place. Something like this:

[kinnadian]

This is a really good guide for making stands.

I would use more front-to-back pieces ("blue" pieces) for the top, as well as more for the bottom if using a sump.

He recons 2x6 for a 6 foot tank.

I agree that the top middle doors will sag.

Out of interest, what is the benefit to having a refugium in a fresh water setup with such a large display tank? Just so you can use soil substrate and keep a larger range of plants?

6mm seems awfully thin for a 4 foot tank. My rimless 4 foot tank is 1200x450x450 and I put 12mm glass on, I wouldn't go for any less than 10mm personally!

[Fulbay]

This is a really good guide for making stands.

I would use more front-to-back pieces ("blue" pieces) for the top, as well as more for the bottom if using a sump.

He recons 2x6 for a 6 foot tank.

I agree that the top middle doors will sag.

Out of interest, what is the benefit to having a refugium in a fresh water setup with such a large display tank? Just so you can use soil substrate and keep a larger range of plants?

6mm seems awfully thin for a 4 foot tank. My rimless 4 foot tank is 1200x450x450 and I put 12mm glass on, I wouldn't go for any less than 10mm personally!

Thanks for the link, very helpful. I talked to a family friend who's a builder and he reckons at least a 2 x 6 as well.

As for the refugium, well many reasons. Firstly i think it's quite a novel idea, it would be a rather unique setup. Although the main reason is that i can't have a soil substrate in my top tank nor any plants because i have a turtle. He was how i got into the aquarium hobby. He would dig up all the soil and make a huge mess, plus whenever i put plants in his tank he just rips them up. Furthermore, it'll be a good hospital tank for turtle relates fish injuries (Very rare) and a good place for breeding. Lastly, it will heavily aid in filtration which is always a plus!

I will be making the refugium myself and the justification for the 6mm glass thickness is that the three planned baffles will also act as fantastic braces for the tank, i imagine that there will be no bowing at all.

The top doors will have a small vertical beam hanging down above the refugium where the doors will "clip into"using things like these

[Ira]

For that middle door, I'd probably have it be a single door that hinges upwards rather than outwards at the sides. Or maybe even the whole thing just unclips and you can set it aside.

[kiwibrick]

Very interested to watch this for ideas as I will be building a very similar size tank with sump some time soon in a wall in my basement

[kiwibrick]

If you used a piano type hinge full height of the long doors it would probably eliminate any sagging.