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My Custom Aquarium Build

I love the peace and tranquility offered by an aquarium. As anyone in the hobby knows saltwater aquariums are expensive to set up, maintain, and stock. When we lived in NY and had a few extra dollars I set up my 1st saltwater tank. It was a used 27 gallon hexagon. I made many mistakes and learned a lot. One of the lessons I learned was that I do not posses the time, energy, or desire to maintain a nano tank. So as the saying goes “bigger is better.” My husband bought me a 150 gallon tank. The plan was to remove a sliding glass door between 2 rooms and install the tank. However we ended up relocating, south. Better weather! I lost all my livestock in the move; but I still planned to set up my tank at our new place. I knew it was temporary but I figured at the very least I could still keep my live rock, alive. A year later we found a house to settle into. There were issues from the mortgage broker dragging his feet…….

we ended up homeless for over 6 weeks. Needless to say my live rock became dry rock again. 

I debated at this point if I would invest my energy in a tank again. I knew I did not want a nano. Our house is too small for a 150. Plus we sold that tank before leaving NY, too heavy to justify taking it and to many unknown factors ahead of us. Shortly after settling into our new home my husband found a listing for a 75 gallon tank along with a 20 gallon long tank for a great price. Tanks only – water tight. He bought them and he made a 2×4 base for me. I was excited but still had my reservations about going down that rabbit hole again. I decided I wanted to “do it right” this time. Meaning setting it up with a sump, skimmer, LED lights, timers, ect. Basically addressing the frustrations I had with the nano and trying to set myself up to be as successful as possible.  

I got a notebook, made a plan. Researched equipment, and other supplies I wanted and felt would make my new tank more successful. As you know there’s a ton of info out there. From forums to blogs and everything in between. The options ran the whole spectrum. What works for some may not work for others. Price was also a factor. We, of course do not have 1,000’s to just go out and purchase a plug and play option. I knew I would enjoy creating, designing and building my own little ecosystem.

I drafted my plan and looked at what others had done, read the forums, dreamed of what I would house. I love Mandarins and decided I would build my set up for one. I also new I wanted a peninsula or island setup. The furniture in our house and the room set up along with space prevented an island set up. Some day if…….

While the tank was still empty and I was still in the process of obtaining equipment and planning the facade. We moved it around the room to try to find what worked for us. We would live with it over here or there until one of us would say “that’s it!! It can’t stay there.” Then off to the next spot. Matters weren’t helped by our furniture either. In NY our house was very large and open. We had big furniture because we could. We did not want to replace it until we knew where we would be, what the rooms looked like, and well….it was still functional, since nothing was broken or damaged. So why spend the money.   

My plan included a custom stand. One day while watching Tanked they showed someone’s wood stand that had rotted from years of use and leaking saltwater. I also was impressed with how they create their stands. A steal stand with a facade that can be removed, replaced, updated, whatever. I looked online to price them or find someone who could create it. I found someone in Texas that had reasonable prices but the shipping was just ridiculous. A short time later I learned that we happened to have friends that worked with steel. I commissioned him to build my stand. Before he could start, I had to solidify my ideas. I had to know exact measurements and figure out how I would attach the facade. I had to plan out my plumbing and electrical lines. Because I would not be able to shave a bit here or apply pressure there or be able to tap something into place. 

Some of the images that inspired my build.

I wanted to be able to access the tank from either side. I wanted all my plumbing and electrical lines hidden. I needed it to be functional but also easy to use/move when needed. My 1st tank I custom made the canopy and lighting. However because of my lack of experience with the maintenance and chores involved it ended up becoming more of a hindrance. It was heavy, it fit too tightly and prevented air flow. I did not take the height of the base the hood rested on into consideration when needing to reach into the tank. The cut outs for the hoses to the canister filter would constantly have salt build up on them. I had used a T5 shop light cut down to create the correct sized fixture I needed. Turned out that 16 inch T5 bulbs with the required lumes are very pricey. 

My husband bought me a table saw, a router, and a miter saw so I could create my vision. In my search for inspiration I discovered a Kreg jig. Not seeing the screws or screw holes??? I loved that!! It provides a much more professional touch. Keep in mind I have never done much wood working in the past. This was my 1st major project. I am quite proud of how it turned out. There are things I would do differently/Tweaks that should be made. But by the time I was able to put water in the tank and start cycling the tank, it had been 3  years after we purchased the tank. I knew once filled and set up moving it would not an easy task. There where many times I would tell my husband “I was over the whole thing and I was just going to sell it all off!” or that “if I wasn’t able to fill it and start enjoying it I didn’t want it!” He would laugh at me. I was frustrated because I felt like I did not have the time or space to work on the facade. Plus I did not have a pattern or blue prints. I was making it up as I went. I would try to bounce ideas off my husband. He’s in the building industry and has been, in one way or another for over 25  years. But he’s an inside the box thinker, “a this is how its done type of guy”. He’s also to impatient for detail work. Ultimately on this project he was only a helping hand or muscles when needed.  

When I felt I had enough of the facade together that I would not drop pieces into the tank or having the tank up and running would not cause issues for me, we filled it. Would’t you know…..it leaked, after all this time, energy, money spent, planning, everything!!!!! A leak. I forgot to mention earlier we drilled the tank. I bought a 3 pipe overflow box, which came with the diamond bit hole saw. I almost had a panic attack but we did it without cracks, one small chip and no scratches. My first thought was that the chip was preventing a seal. I monkeyed with it for weeks, on and off. Friends of ours, Ken and Robin, came down to visit from NY. We had nothing much going on one night so Robin and I started to try different options. I ended up using an exacto knife to modify a plumbing gasket I found at Home Depot. Leak fixed, thanks to Robin (in 2018). As the tank cycled I continued to put together the facade. I had planned on an electrical panel or control panel. Most cords were not long enough so I bought wire and plugs and made my own extension cords. We had algae issues come and go. I’ve upgraded some of my equipment, tweaked the protein skimmer, invested in wifi power strips and incorporated an auto top off system and recently invested in a dosing pump. I regularly change my power heads because I’m still searching for a very low profile, powerful, not expensive option, that has good positioning range.

More to come. Further break down of the set up, plumbing, control panel, dosing pump, RODI system, and of course the growth and progress.