No pictures as of yet as it is far too cloudy. More details later.

Closeup tank shot:

Full tank shot with moonlights:

Big moment of truth, would my plumbing and sump design work? Was I going to have an angry wife with 600+ liters of water all over the floor? Only one way to find out.

Started by testing the workings of the sump, first the skimmer, then the baffles and the return pump plumping, and that there was enough pressure to make it to the top of the tank. Check!

Now lets add some more water and get this think really flowing. The picture shows a watering can, but this was just so I could make sure everything was working ok before I got the hose. Because filling up a 600L tank with an 8L watering can would be silly right? (shh – hopefully no one will notice).

Fingers crossed and wait……..

Success!!

Here is a shot with the tank full of fresh water, hard to tell that it is full but it is.

Finally a nice picture of the working sump, with pen marks in the return chamber for power out conditions, running max, minimums, etc.

Big day today – so as a reward, I went and bought myself a few new goodies online. Watch this space.

I have to thank a mate of mine ‘Matt’, who has kindly loaned me a return pump, lights and a vortech to get me going (I’m sure he was frustrated with how long this has taken).

Now I just have to get this water OUT of the tank now, in preperation for the good stuff.

Installed the first power board of many, I’m sure I’m going to need more in the future, but this will get me started for now. I intend to install a second power board in the hood so that I don’t have power cords running down the back of the tank. Still need to source an electrician to install some power points for me.

So here is how I have layed out my plumbing for the sump. It is a little crowded in there now. I was hoping to have alot more room to work with. I’ve tried to make the plumbing easy to get to, easy to remove and maintain, as well as being modular for future expansion.

First up is the skimmer output. These are 32mm pipes so it should alow plenty of flow from the skimmer (since the input is ~ 19mm). The bottom of the pipe (not in picture) is a 45 degree elbow so it isn’t just dumping the water straight in.

Next up – put in the return plumbing and the union connectors to the bottom of the weir pipes. I’ve seen some tanks with these unions connectors and they are great for removing bits of your plumbing to do work on things. If I ever need to remove a section of plumbing because of a fault or to extend it later this makes it easier.  You can see my awesome PVC gluing skills (gee that stuff stinks!) at work here. The return pipe (20mm) comes from the left hand side of the sump, more on that later.

Next, the emergency overflow pipe (25mm). This is the pipe where I don’t want water to flow down . There are no taps to restrict any flow because this pipe is used if (and it will) the durso overflow pipe is clogged up, and it saves the family room (and my marriage).

Finally the most complicated piece of plumbing – the overflow (25mm). I’m kinda proud of this bit as I worked this out myself, being the awesome plumber that I am. There are 2 taps here, and a t-piece to the skimmer. The intention is that the top tap shuts off the entire overflow pipe (if I remove the skimmer) and the bottom tap controls how much water goes into the skimmer. If I ever remove the skimmer I made a cap that screws over the t-piece (see below for details).

Here is a close up of skimmer attachment. This clearly proves I’m a plumber now. Basically it is 2x25mm to 19mm barb hose connectors and a 90 degree 19mm barb connecter with some very tight hose between them all. I haven’t got any kind of clips on the hose, but I don’t think I’m going to need it. I had to soak the hose in very hot water to fit the hose, and I don’t think it is going anywhere in a hurry.

Finally, here is all the plumbing work nearly done. I haven’t completed the return pump section yet as I’m waiting on a return pump. The bit with the tap on is so that I can throttle the return pump if needed to regulate the flow. I’m also going to get another union join for this so that I can easily remove the return pump and replace the fitting with something else (like my water change idea).

My idea is this for doing a water change: I connect a full container of water with a pump to the return pipe union joint. I also connect an empty container to the output of the overflow (where the skimmer was). Turn on the pump with the new water as it flows up into the display tank, old water flows down the overflow into the empty container. When the new water container pump is switched off, so does the old water container. Sounds simple in theory – we’ll see how well it works in practice.

Still lots to do. I’m setting a date around February to get this baby wet.

Stay tuned….

I obtained a 2′ x 1.5′ x 1.5′ tank which I want to divide up into 3 sections. The skimmer will be sitting externally so the first chamber is small (with a bubble trap). The second chamber will be a Deep Sand Bed or Refugium (haven’t decided yet). Finally the 3rd chamber is the return section (where top ups will be done).  Unfortunately, this is the biggest sump I could fit in my cabinet without some serious remodelling. I think it should be ok, but time will tell.

After placing the sump on the dinner table you draw a rough idea on where the glass sheets will go (I had previously had some glass made up for me so I had already measured it all out).

I placed the two outer glass panes with silicon. I thought I was quite clever in using magnets to hold the glass in place while I ran a bead of silicon around each sheet of glass. Silicon when curing has a very strong vinegar smell which went through the whole house.

After an hour or so I was banned from continuing inside (due to the smell) so I migrated out to the back cover. I was starting to get sick of the smell myself. I must remember not to silicon inside the house.

After moving outside I was trying to work out how I was going to rig up the next piece of glass as it sits up in the air. You can see below my awesome skills in carpentry at work again as i rigged up a template. Those magnets came in handy again.

You can see one of the magnets are a little ‘algea’ green.. that’s from my fresh water tank (I needed an extra pair of ‘hands’ for this one.

Finally I placed in the final piece of baffle. I also put the bracing back on the tank. Again my awesome carpentry skills are at work again. I probably don’t need this brace, but it might be handy for a lid of some sort. I can always remove it.

After waiting a few days (next weekend) for the silicon to cure it was time to fill her up and test there were no leaks.

So far so good.. the first chamber done, and the bubble trap was working as I intended. It isn’t often things work first time for me.

I’ll fast forward here, to where the sump is almost full. No leaks! I even tried to make micro bubbles with the hose in the first chamber while it was being filled, and the bubble trap works as designed.

Here is the same picture as above, but I’ve drawn on how the sump is going to be working. Simple

Here it is, in it’s final resting place. I underestimated how much heavier the sump was with the extra panes of glass in it. Too a bit to get it in there (I have to put it in sideways, and rotate it 90 deg as i move towards the right. This gives me enough space for some extra things on the left (like an auto topup device) and other equipment.

Still a bit more to do before I see any water.

• buy a return pump (I blew up the last one).
• plumbing the sump, skimmer and return pumps.
• get an electrician to put in some power points (I want a sep. circuit for the tank).
• IBC for outside (for water storage).
• Lights
• Powerheads

I’m getting closer….

I’d looked around a few forums on how to paint the back of a fish tank. I also spoke to some paint suppliers and got some strange looks when I said I wanted to paint on glass, and have it visible from the underside.

So how do you paint on the back of a tank, being glass? Don’t use any kind of etching agent. You do NOT want anything that may alter the structural integrity of the glass. Especially when you have 600 litres of water pushing on it. A slight chip or crack is enough to re-live the ‘dam-busters’ feeling in your living room.

Anyway, this is how I did it.

First step was to remove the hood and move the tank away from the wall so that I could get to the back of it. I’m finding the more add to the tank, the heavier it is becoming for just one person to move. I need to minimise the amount of times I move the tank in and out.

Secondly, make sure it is clean – I cleaned it with water and some paper towels. Wet one and wipe it. Dry one to dry it all off. The glass was a little oily from fingerprints, and I didn’t want any fingerprints or hand impressions visible under the paint.

And here is another angle of the before shot. You might be able to make out the other fish tank with the bird cage on it. You can also see the sump underneath (ahh.. so that is why it was heavier to move).

Once the tank was moved, it was time to get started with painting the back of the tank. So out came the trusty paint roller, tray and a tin of black acrylic paint. You’ll have to excuse the daggy shirt and shorts – they are my ‘painting’ clothes… honest.

Had to be careful here. Black paint on a white cabinet wouldn’t look good.

Interesting camera angle. Looked much better if it was a video. Louise (my wife, and the photographer) was saying that it looked like I was painting on myself.

It can’t be that hard – I mean, it is just like a coloring book – just paint between the lines…

Hmm.. need more paint…

Slow going…

Turns out it is quite hard to paint onto glass, as glass isn’t porous , so it just sits there. As you can see from the next photo. It is quite patchy. But this is just the first coat.

We need to let it dry for about an hour, and apply another coat.. and another.. and another…

This is the result after about 5 coats..

The paint forms a nice acrylic coating. The only downside is that it is easily scratched while it is still curing. But with it being at the back of the wall, and nothing behind it to scratch it – it should last quite a while. My fresh water tank has been painted with this method and it is as hard as a rock now, and very hard to scratch. I’ve read on a forum somewhere, can’t remember where, that it can take up to 30 days for the acrylic to cure properly. At the rate I’m building this tank – that shouldn’t be a problem.

Finally what it looks like after the tank has been positioned back into position to dry/cure, and the hood positioned on top again.

It is starting to look good. I should probably start looking at the electrics next as I want to minimise the amount of times I keep moving the tank as I don’t want to scratch the back while it is curing.

Stay tuned….

How did I get it in there? well, to get it out, I slide it to the left a little, and rotate it clockwise 90 degrees, then i can slide it out the front. It only ‘just’ fits (by cm’s). anything longer and I wouldn’t be able to rotate it 90 degrees to fit it in.

Hopefully the hole is in the right spot. All I need now is some bodies to give me a hand to lift the tank off the stand so that I can slide the foam underneath it. Without it, I’m reluctant to put any extra weight in or on the tank.

I also have a photo of the newly positioned sump, and where it will end up sitting:

There are no divisions in this yet as I am still to determine where the plumbing is all going. I plan to place the skimmer to the left of the sump (external).

I’ve also got 2 x 150w heaters, but after doing some calculations I think they are a little on the small side, considering I have about 600L to heat up.

That’s all for now.