Katchupoy's (Cesar) 40Breeder X2 Reef Project

[big t]

Hey Cesar, I am good! How do you like the new place? I have not worked with acrylic since I built my last skimmer, but I didn't forget how! I am getting the itch to reef again, but I don't want to mess around and I think that my next tank will be pretty large. I have dreams of a 10x4x30". I of course will build the tank, sump, and all of the equipment. I am moving to my permanent new home in a few weeks which is a 5 acre ranch near the small town of Elizabeth CO and I may have to wait for the new tank until I have put on an addition to house it .

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Hey Cesar, I am good! How do you like the new place? I have not worked with acrylic since I built my last skimmer, but I didn't forget how! I am getting the itch to reef again, but I don't want to mess around and I think that my next tank will be pretty large. I have dreams of a 10x4x30". I of course will build the tank, sump, and all of the equipment. I am moving to my permanent new home in a few weeks which is a 5 acre ranch near the small town of Elizabeth CO and I may have to wait for the new tank until I have put on an addition to house it .

Well hurry up, we wanna see the bigt monster some day soon
Hope all is well there in CO!
Cesar, everything is looking good there...keep the pix coming

 

[Katchupoy]

I apologize for not updating this project. We had a family emergency and have to fly to California.

Now im back.

I realized that having a tank in the garage is not feasible. Im using a lot of electricity just to heat up the 2 40 breeder. Almost 800 watts of heater just to keep up with the temp. So I have decided not to continue this project anymore.

I will be having my tank inside the house. It will use less electricity heating the tank plus I can use the heat generated by the light to heat the inside of the house. So I think this is more win win situation.

 

[Katchupoy]

So here is what I did.

I have chopped the 8 foot long table to 5 feet (the lenght of the wall where Im going to put it in).

Here is the original table.

And here I am painting the 5 foot stand.

Here is another one...

Noticed the blue tape at the back? Well that was the plan is to have an inwall, but it did not pan out because we need that closet on the other side of the wall more.

 

[Katchupoy]

Well two nights later... after finishing up with primer and paint... Here is the result...

 

[spipedong]

looks great. get that thing going!

 

[Katchupoy]

Now instead of two 40g breeder, I will be using one breeder which is a 36 inch
width tank and a 25 gallon hi which has a 24 inch width. This in total will create a
5 foot lenght display tank with the two side by side.


So here is the 40breeder being filled up.

slowly adding water and using as much original water if possible in
order to avoid sudden change in water chemistry plus the stress of moving them.

 

[Katchupoy]

Here is the shot after the move with water on it. Note, there are no sump yet. I still dont know what to do. I was hoping I can fit one breeder on top and another one on the bottom. But i think im pushing it too much. Lets see what happens.

Sorry for the mess. Electrical wirings are temporary. I even try using a 10 gallon as a sump because of limited space.

Now I ask myself, how did i fit all those equipment before on my 18x36 stand footprint.

 

[Katchupoy]

Ok lets try to hide the mess using no flash.

and a closer look, still a mess...

 

[tamarindthai]

start to look pretty good,,great changed ,,,

 

[BCT182]

Looking good man! Glad to see things are coming together, and quite nicely I'd say.

 

[Krish]

Looking good man!

 

[Katchupoy]

Thank you all. I will upload some more pics tonight.

 

[salmonslayer]

WOW pal looking good. Show us more

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Looking great Cesar, I always thought that garage systems were fine, but one in the house is so much more accessable to everyone.

 

[Katchupoy]

Yes I agree, everytime we have dinner I am facing the tank... I really like that.

 

[Katchupoy]

Ok whats next

Its time to drill my 7 year old 25 g-hi glass tank. I bought a hitachi 2.5 inch carbide drill for "tiles". It says tiles, veneer, wood etc but not glass. Well I took my chance because I remember people here and in the other forum uses the same bit and was successful.

Well here is my experience with it. Its a PITA. Its a PITA. Its a PITA.... oh did i mention its a pita.... Well the hardest part was to drill the pilot drill bit. Please look at the pic below.

Well I tried for 2 hours just to make a hole on the center to act as pilot. But no go. Well at first, it created a dent on the glass really fast and then thats it...

I actually gave up and slept on it... and promised that i will continue it next day...
Well, came next day and I tried furiously.... and I gave up...

Then, it came to me. Why not remove the center part and just use the outer part but I need to be really firm or it will just walk on all direction. But in order for it not to walk around is use a wood to act as a guide or jig...

Well it worked. Please see pic above... Within 10 minutes, its done... what a difference.... I dont know why i did not tried it before and wasted so many precious time...

 

[Katchupoy]

Bought the carbide bit from Lowes and I think its around 25 bucks. And bought the bulkhead from McLendon for 12 bucks or something. The bulkhead I think was 2 5/8" so it will not fit with the 2.5" hole that I made. So a little work with dremel around the hole made a big difference.

I used a bit similar to this.

This bit is amazing as it can eat the glass really fast. Just make sure you spray the glass with water religiously...

 

[Katchupoy]

So here is the result of that..

my required dimensions to make it work was very tight so I have to remove some plastic on the lip of the aquarium. Look closely on the second pic.

.

 

[Katchupoy]

So here is the tank together....

and another one....

and a closer look of the 40b after the dust...