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Unread 10/03/2018, 10:04 AM   #1
930Reef
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1972 TruVu Acrylic Long Hexagon Build

My first build thread. Been in the hobby about a year, and my first tank was a nano 15 w/ 25 gallon ikea bin sump. Project w/ my kids. Surprised we lasted this long before upgrading.

A hobby old-timer bought this 55 new in 1972. Odd shape, I know, but thought it would fit perfectly in my 1960s split level (not totally same style, I know, but I couldn't bear for this thing to hit the landfill). Not sure if he was SW or FW, but he sold it to my local reef store when he got out of the hobby (I think). Tank had some minor scratching, but nothing too deep. A great deal at $40 for tank and stand. Old fluorescent fixture was junk for my needs, so tossed it. Purchased at my LFS in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Here's where I went (on a super-light budget) from there.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 10:55 AM   #2
Dsekula
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Cool tank!! I'm a sucker for the odd/more interesting shapes. Are you planning drilling In an overflow box and using a sump?

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Unread 10/03/2018, 01:29 PM   #3
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Cool tank!! I'm a sucker for the odd/more interesting shapes. Are you planning drilling In an overflow box and using a sump?

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Thanks! Me too. I already did a bunch of work on it, and I'll post update pics when I get a chance (hopefully tonight). I am actually ready to stock it, and I'm posting build pics retrospectively of the work I've done over the last month or so off and on.

To answer, though, I've drilled it for 1" overflow and a 1" (reduced to 3/4 locline) return. No overflow box (though I may add one at some point. The eurobracing made it tough to get super close to the top. Thanks for checking it out! I'll keep posting.

Cool old dimensional board pine stand, too, that I stained to match the floors in my house. Stay tuned...

Also found an interesting old-ish acrylic sump at my LFS for $20 that is old enough to have a chamber for airstones as a built-in skimmer. 3 chambers for media too. I think it was a trickle filter at some point.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:23 PM   #4
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Once I got it home I gave it a leak test, and then went to work with the Meguiar's PlastX to polish out small swirls/scratches. The internet says to use a Mother's polishing ball or some such, but those are like 20 bucks, and I'm cheap.

Instead I used a cheap velcro sanding pad drill adapter from Harbor Freight's headlight polishing kit, and on the velcro I stuck a circle of thick tile sponge that I cut out from a whole sponge. Worked like a charm.

A little dusty but getting there. Took some rinsing, but it really shined it up inside and out.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:32 PM   #5
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Now, for the stand..

The stand was a little dull and worn, and I don't think had ever been stained. Maybe lightly varnished, but I'm not even sure about that. I'm surprised how good of shape it was in, though dull. I first test-sanded, and then realized that all it took to add the color of my oak floors was the right color stain over a coat of Minwax sanding sealer. Dind't even end up sanding. Cleaned well, sealed and stained. Pine soaks up stain, so the sanding sealer kept it from getting splotchy.

After the stain, I did 2 or 3 coats of wipe-on semi-gloss poly. I wanted to HVLP spray some clear lacquer instead, but had the wipe-on handy.

Note: If you have an hvlp (harbor freight turbine one comes from same factory in China as the Rockler one, and is 1/3 the price), and you don't want to buy a whole gallon of Durlaq or whatever, you can get brushable lacquer at home depot by the quart. All it is is lacquer with thinner already added. Sprays like a dream, and most regular diyers will take years to go through a gallon. Quart is more convenient.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:38 PM   #6
930Reef
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Drilling for overflow and return

I drilled the back for one inch overflow and a one inch return that would accomodate 3/4 locline. Why reduce to 3/4 you ask? Because somebody gave me a length of locline for free for my return, and it happened to be 3/4.

This also worked out well because my new Jebao 3000 needed a little extra head pressure to keep from overpowering the overflow, even on the lowest setting which is 30 percent. In hindsight, i should've gone a larger overflow or maybe 2 overflows. I still could add later.

Anyway, picked up a hole saw kit at Harbor Freight for like 8 bucks. Mistake, really, as it was junk and barely sharp. Took a long time to drill the acrylic. That said, for 8 bucks, I kinda don't care. I really could've invested in a better one and actually been able to use it again after this, but oh well.

I used plumber's putty to create a dam around the holes site to hold water. Keep replenishing the water, or better yet, take it outside and let the hose trickle continuously while you're drilling. I've drilled glass before, but man did acrylic heat up. Another reason to buy a better, sharper hole saw. But, remember, I was being cheap.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:40 PM   #7
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Bulkheads installed...

Bulkheads were a bit lower than I'd anticipated, but I had to be careful not to drill too close to the top, since the acrylic is seamed there to the eurobraced top. I simply had to later tilt my locline up and add an upturned elbow on the overflow to get the water level up where I wanted it closer to the top. You'll see in later pictures.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:48 PM   #8
930Reef
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Sump!

From LFS (again, big thanks to the guys at Seven Seas in Mt. Prospect, IL).

Older, used, twenty bucks, and has three chambers for media, a large chamber for my skimmer, a somewhat smaller chamber for return, baffles throughout, and interestingly, a compartment with a collection cup that is removable for a built-in airstone skimmer. I had to clean it up and remove/plug the valve on the side, since I wouldn't be using an external pump as the previous owner seemingly had.

The little red thing on the sump is the plastic razor blade I was using to scrape old tape and goo off of it. They are available here in the Midwest at Menards. Never seen them at Home Depot. They're awesome for scraping acrylic.

At this point, I also decided to turn the stand 180 degrees and use it backward. Doesn't really matter to the stand, and I just wanted the larger opening to be in front to give me room to work and to put the sump in/out when necessary. I'll make a door for the larger opening (that used to be the back) later.

The smaller opening that is now the back had a door on it when it was originally the front. I took that off, and I'll use it to fabricate a door that matches the old style later on.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:53 PM   #9
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Skimmer!!!

SCA 302...$50 from a local forum member. Works like a charm. I will eventually remove that egg crate and run it lower in the sump.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:55 PM   #10
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HIccup...

Slowed down for a week or so at this point because we added this to our house as well. 2nd dog. We'll see how this goes. (The black one on the right, stella, is our new greyhound. Charlie is the one on the left. He's a greyhound coonhound mix. We'll see how they figure this out.)


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Unread 10/03/2018, 09:58 PM   #11
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Back to plumbing

Painted my PVC black, as the hex shape made it weird to paint the whole back black. Wasn't sure. My wife now says she doesn't like the black plumbing and prefers white PVC....oh well......

Also, in the last pic, I picked up 2 Jebao rw15s from a tank breakdown locally. 40 for the pair, I believe. Maybe a bit too big for the tank, but I'll run them on low and also use the unique tank shape to deflect flow around.


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Unread 10/03/2018, 10:03 PM   #12
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Meanwhile, the mammalian pets in the house...

It's getting better (man)


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Unread 10/03/2018, 10:05 PM   #13
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Sand!

Fiji pink from another tank breakdown locally. Free! Rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed again in small batches. Was pretty clean at the end.....


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Unread 10/04/2018, 12:21 AM   #14
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That's looking good so far, nice job with the refinishing/polishing.
I don't want to sound like a criticizing jerk so please take this as an honest question from someone who enjoys building tanks as much as filling them; you do realize that with the hight of those drain lines and the size of the sump you will likely have a very large gap at the top of the tank (about a third up on the bulkhead if not lower would be my guesstimate) to ensure the sump dosent overflow in a power failure?
If so awesome, but if not just a heads up, it's something you want to be aware of

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Unread 10/04/2018, 08:29 AM   #15
930Reef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dsekula View Post
That's looking good so far, nice job with the refinishing/polishing.
I don't want to sound like a criticizing jerk so please take this as an honest question from someone who enjoys building tanks as much as filling them; you do realize that with the hight of those drain lines and the size of the sump you will likely have a very large gap at the top of the tank (about a third up on the bulkhead if not lower would be my guesstimate) to ensure the sump dosent overflow in a power failure?
If so awesome, but if not just a heads up, it's something you want to be aware of

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Oh, no offense taken whatsoever. I totally appreciate the feedback, and it's feedback like this that makes the forum great and helpful to relative newbies like me. I love that people are interested in the project and in helping avoid pitfalls.

To combat that problem, I've added an upturned street elbow to the overflow to bring the water level higher, and not allow as much tank to go through overflow in the event of a power failure. Also, I added a 90 between the bulkhead and the locline on the return, allowing me to twist and upturn the whole return nozzle to near the top of the tank.

The result has been only about a 5/8 inch gap at the top of the tank, and the back siphon breaks relatively quickly due to the return nozzle height. Have power-fail tested several times at this point and it seems ok. I'm considering a backflow check-valve as a redundancy precaution in case one of my kids bumps the return downward.

Dunno if you can see it in the picture below, but the pic may help as my descriptions aren't always the best

Keep the feedback coming!


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Unread 10/04/2018, 08:40 AM   #16
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In the house!

So after the testing, plumbing, etc., I hauled the whole setup in the living room.

I added the cleaned sand, and tested my light from my current nano (Hipergaro reef light from Amazon that I retrofitted into the nano hood I had).

Did it with half sand in tank because I wanted to see...if it could adequately light half the sand with one light, then my plan of having 2 lights should work. I don't have a PAR meter, but it seems fine even if whites and blues/violet are not at 100%.

I'll have to figure our how to fabricate some sort of hood or top to hold my lights. The clamps they came with won't fit on the eurobraced top.

I considered suspending them, but the suspension system doesn't work with the space in my living room.


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Unread 10/04/2018, 09:19 AM   #17
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Ah, I see what your saying. Just ensure those connections stay water tight then. In my experience they start relatively good and loosen over time so if your relying on them to hold the water in the tank you may want to consider hard plumbing etc (example would be gluing the threaded connections or pipe dopeing). The locline would be the same, everywhere it bends is a future failure point and with no power the tank influent can become an effluent. If you go the route of a check valve I personally like the clear PVC swing checks with double unions. Swings clog easy and the unions are worth their weight in gold Imo, they do need relatively normal attention. Not, to necessarily maintance but at least to visually check that nothing has caught in them. You want to position it below the top water level of the sump so that in a power fail situation the pump won't running dry or spit excessive air into the tank when power comes back on. A valve right above the check (just a basic ball valve) will make cleaning out the check a few minute job. Most people that don't like check valves in a return line avoid them because the think it could be an issue where the pump runs dry or won't self prime. With this positioning you can avoid those issues.

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Unread 10/05/2018, 12:39 PM   #18
930Reef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dsekula View Post
Ah, I see what your saying. Just ensure those connections stay water tight then. In my experience they start relatively good and loosen over time so if your relying on them to hold the water in the tank you may want to consider hard plumbing etc (example would be gluing the threaded connections or pipe dopeing). The locline would be the same, everywhere it bends is a future failure point and with no power the tank influent can become an effluent. If you go the route of a check valve I personally like the clear PVC swing checks with double unions. Swings clog easy and the unions are worth their weight in gold Imo, they do need relatively normal attention. Not, to necessarily maintance but at least to visually check that nothing has caught in them. You want to position it below the top water level of the sump so that in a power fail situation the pump won't running dry or spit excessive air into the tank when power comes back on. A valve right above the check (just a basic ball valve) will make cleaning out the check a few minute job. Most people that don't like check valves in a return line avoid them because the think it could be an issue where the pump runs dry or won't self prime. With this positioning you can avoid those issues.

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Yep, did TFE paste (reef safe I'm assured by forums) for the important connections. Good call on the check valve location. Thanks!


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Unread 10/05/2018, 12:41 PM   #19
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Meanwhile.....


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Unread 10/05/2018, 01:21 PM   #20
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Finally filled. I moved some live rock over from my existing sump, and also threw in some mysis. I shouldn't have done both I think. I kick-started a mini-cycle. Indecisive mistake on my part. Anyway, it's going through its thing, and hopefully soon I'll be able to stock. Working on light mounting as we speak....


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Unread 10/05/2018, 01:45 PM   #21
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Looking good can't wait to see how you decide to stock it. And yes, I'd have confirmed that the paste is safe, I use it almost daily for work. every single drop of water that goes into a tank has probably come in contact with that paste at some point but I also personally have many connections on current my set up and current build with the paste

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Unread 10/07/2018, 02:26 PM   #22
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That is an interesting tank shape! I’m looking forward to seeing this progress


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Unread 10/07/2018, 08:49 PM   #23
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That is an interesting tank shape! I’m looking forward to seeing this progress
Thanks! I'm excited to see where this goes. Mini-cycle going on now that will hopefully end (ammonia peaked at 1.0, and now down somewhere between 0 and .25, even with daily feeding,) once my live rock seeds my dry sand and the bacteria catches up.

Stay tuned!



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Unread 10/07/2018, 09:03 PM   #24
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Top/Hood/Lid

So the tank came with an acrylic sheet to cover the holes in the top and keep the fish in. I thought I wouldn't use it, because it's kinda flimsy. But, it fits so darn perfectly, I'm using it. That said, I needed a way to mount my two Hipergero lights from Amazon ($60 each...been using one of these lights on my 14 x 14 x 24 nano, and it's been awesome for coral growth. Only 9 LEDs, but are actual crees and work really well, even dimmed to low percentages) Lenses work well for good diffusion, too. I think I prefer to Chinese box light, which has many more LEDs on it but didn't test as well for diffusion and PAR readings according to a youtube review...Link below). Either way, the clamps that come with it won't work on the eurobraced top.

Anyway, I started by building this wooden frame to sit on top of the tank, and then I was planning on skirting it with 1/8 x 2" pine lattice to cover the water line and keep it in place. I used a slightly larger piece of stock on the back to attach a couple squares of wood to accomodate my lights' clamps. They otherwise wouldn't clamp to the eurobrace top.

After a bunch of weird hexagon and miter saw frustrating math, it looked good(ish)!

But it worked like garbage. Twisted apart even after gluing and pin nailing. Stock was way too small, and I tried to get away with it. Oh well!

Side note: October cooler weather here in Chicago means my inaugural fall burn in the firepit on the patio was last night. Needed to get that first fire started w/ some kindling, which means that my failed, broken aquarium top frame attempt didn't go completely to waste......

Hipergero light review if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa7lwC8uWO0


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Unread 10/07/2018, 09:24 PM   #25
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Mounting the lights - solved!

So I think I solved the light mounting problem...at least for now.

My clamps for my two lights don't fit over the eurobracing on the top of the acrylic tank. My wood-framed top that I attempted above literally fell apart.

I then took some pieces of scrap 1/4" acrylic that I had lying around the garage, and ripped and chopped them into small 2"-ish by 3"-ish rectangles (I matched them to the width of my light clamp, and only slight taller.)

I made 3 of these and laminated them together using regular gorilla super glue gel. I did not use Weldon or any of the products recommended for acrylic, because I could not easily locally source (translation: I'm lazy and impatient). I then glued this 3-stack of acrylic pieces perpendicularly to a slightly larger base.

I then glued this assembly to the top of the tank. As a result, I have two upside-down "T"s glued to the top of my tank at the rear, with the stem of the "T" 3 sheets thick. It seems sturdy enough to hold the lights, and so far so good. I have the flimsy acrylic top on the top access, so even if the mounts snap and fail, the lights are not going in the water. Seems totally fine, though, at present.

Despite what I read online, I went with the super glue and it seems to have welded the acrylic together pretty well. I did not sand or rough up any surfaces, though the edge of the laminated block was roughed up and straightened by the table saw blade when I ripped the original strip, so maybe that helped when I glued it to the base. See pics! The first picture is one already glued up...not cloudy at all. Plus, since I sized them to match the clamps, you don't even see the plastic anyway.


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