Burrito's 5.5g Rimless AIO build!
 

so after having a nanocube and a 2.5g a few years ago in college, i am back to start a new tank.(both the others were sold after various dorm room move hassles)
RIP
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/fa6084a1.jpg

so with the inspiration of others on the forum i have decided to do a 5.5g rimless AIO. i've never done a DIY project before but i figured what the hell.

ill be documenting this with as many pictures as possible, and im sure ill ask the advice of many of you all in the process.

Hardware

5.5g tank from petco $15
18' nova extreme 2x18 $49
Theo heater 50w $15
Maxi-jet 600 $18
API test kit $18
Coralife thermometer $6
Acrylic sheets(Home depot) $4
aquarium sealer $5


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2671.jpg
oopss safety first kids!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2672.jpg
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2674.jpg
all cleaned up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2677.jpg
cutting the false wall
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2681.jpg

photo limit:eek:

spray paint(kyrlon fusion)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2682.jpg
i suck at silicone i have a lot of clean up when it dries
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2683.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2684.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2685.jpg

ok. 1 HUGE!!!!! oversight was i forgot to drill the hole for the PH. any ideas how i can go about making a hole with the false wall in place already?

can i water test it tomorrow? or is it too early.

dude... im more worried about ur finger removal attempt and now ur talking about power tools?

haha its all good, my fingers fine. i rock climb on a regular so my hands are used to bleeding alot.

but about that hole... or lack there of.

Haha, I was thinking the same thing.

But seriously, if the new tank looks anything like your old tank it's gonna be sick!:)

-Chris-

dremel should help with the hole cutting.

I did that on accident when i did a 5.5 (forgot the hole for the ph).

I heated up a metal object that was large enough and near the size of a round metal file (the tapered ones work best for this), then slid the file in and got to work. The benefit to this is you get a perfectly round hole and if you go slow you can get a hole that will be just the right size.

so i heated up a 3/8th drill bit and made a nice hole that way, then filed with sand paper untill the hole was just big enough for the maxijet. if there is any water leak with the maxijet hole should i silicone it or would that be shooting myself in the foot later on.

i still have to clean up a bit but its done

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2687.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2688.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2689.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2690.jpg

looking good. i have the same light on top of a 5.5 foam build i did. you'll like the performance on it...

If there is a small water leak around it dont worry. If you are losing a ton of flow then drain it, dry it, and silicone it.

ok so the PH hole is great and i did another water test with it on. its a MaxiJet 600. as you can see in the pictures below, the flow is too much for comfort, even after i added 2 more slits(with a hot knife at this point which ruined the look of the teeth but oh well)

so my question is, to bring the water level down about 1cm do i make the slits deeper(they come down about an inch right now)? wider? or will spliting the output hole with some locline into 2 heads reduce the flow enough to bring the water level down. like shown.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...olana_side.jpg

also do hardware stores carry locline?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2702.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2705.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2706.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2708.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2711.jpg

so any ideas?

Yeah, that water level is a bit high. Use the dremel and lower those teeth another half inch. If you have a decent reef store around you may be able to find loc-line, otherwise it's going to be online. From all the 5.5 builds I"ve seen, most seem to have to split their return to reduce the flow. What if you used a MJ 400 instead? It would reduce the flow from 160 gph to 106 gph.

I've got a 5.5 and a sheet of acrylic waiting for warmer weather for my build. What dimensions did you make the back portion?

Would spliting the line be effective enough that I wouldn't have to cut the teeth more?

what are you planning on keeping in there? (types of coral and any fish possibly)

Splitting the return will not do anything for the water level. The pump will still pump the same amount. You will have more control on where it goes.

You can make the notches wider if you don't want them any deeper to reduce the friction/pressure. That will lower the water level a little bit. If you look at the pic of the water flowing through the teeth. You can see how much more water is going through the one the is more wide then the others. Maybe you can break or cut out every other one to keep a clean look.

It should run more quiet as well. Less water splashing noise.

so i widen the slits and flow is perfect putting the water level about 1/2cm from the rim. it looks great. rocks and water go in tomorrow!

as far as stocking i think i will stock sps and zoas. my fish ideas is inverts and a yellow clown goby.

or inverts and a pistol/goby combo.(is the tank big enough for this combo)?

but cycle first.

wat is your maintenance schedule going to be? How much water will you change? Will there be any other filtration.

Glad it worked out for you.

camero- i plan to do 1-2 gallon water changes a week. no other filtration. there will be some sponge right under the skimmer to get out debris though

This is a little of topic but, how does the kyrlon fusion paint hold up in the long term? btw nice build.

and we have rock sand and water!!!!

requisite cloudy tank pics

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2715.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2716.jpg
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2715.jpg
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2718.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2719.jpg

water is just under the rim, im a little worried though about something getting caught in the skimmer... i may just snap a tooth or 2 off just to be safe.

Looks great!

looking good

That is awesome.
Bump and subscribe.

im already thinking of doing a DIY LED pendent for it. i have a LED headflashlight that i held over it and the shimmer is sooo nice.

any ideas on a good CUC?

cleared up photos.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2725.jpg
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the flash photos are a bit truer to what the tank looks like.

should i have much of a cycle if i used live sand, NSW, and LR from a very established tank.
the LR was out of water for mabye 5 minutes.

Probably no cycle at all, but it's always a good idea to test anyway.

Your water level is still pretty high, did you cut extra teeth in the overflow?

Remind me again what light you have on there? I think I might have to buy a new light because the one I used on my 2.5g is only 12" long.

the water level is high, but stable, although once i add a cuc i will probably snap another tooth off bc i suspect if the flow is blocked by a snail the display will overflow.

i have the nova extremem 2x18 its on dr foster and smith for 48$

Hmm, my 12" is a 2x18w too. Maybe I can rig it up somehow.

Thanks!

all i can say is good luck with evaporation. i made a 5 gallon with the internal wet dry and i would loose water like crazy, the best way i could fix it was to cut a piece or acryllic to fit over the top, and even then it was still hard.

all i can say is good luck with evaporation. i made a 5 gallon with the internal wet dry and i would loose water like crazy, the best way i could fix it was to cut a piece or acryllic to fit over the top, and even then it was still hard.

i have a 5.5 right next to this computer im replying on, i have the same light fixture he has. but my light sites right ontop of the tank. i do not use the legs at all for the light. and my evaporation isnt bad at all...

http://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/9846/images/ditto.gif :D

Very nice.......you guys are giving me great ideas!

so the tank is no more :( i came home from work to find a giant crack along one whole panel, and half the water on the floor. fish and inverts survived and all was quickly moved (aka thrown in) to a new 5aga.

my sps are dead as they were exposed to air for who knows how long. and my rock were half exposed to air as well.


i have everything back in the new tank. is the rock gonna cause a huge spike in ammonia? i was able to salvage about 2 gallons worth of of water and all the sand.

any suggestions or advice?

im kinda bummed right now. also, the tank lighting was upgraded to a 20" 70w sunpod. is there any chance that the light fixture caused the tank to crack(its heavier) or just bad luck.

i will post pics of everything (new FTS from before the crack, cracked tank shots, and new tank later today)

Wow that sucks man. was the glass bowing at all? I know that is not a ton of water weight but that glass is very thin.
I just saw you post and I have a 2.5 I was thinking of taking the rim off but I might not do that now.
Good luck sorry for your loss.

that sucks. i went through the first page and it was awesome then i read your post i and i felt awful for you!

yikes, sorry to hear about the crack-


I am interested in building a desktop 5 almost exactly like this setup, but i was thinking of actually using a 5g glass tank, and then make the backwall and chambers with black acryllic, etc..

Are you going to rebuild the tank?

i bought a 5 gallon and a 10 gallon. everything is in the 5 gallon. no aquascape or anything of the sorts just all in there to live. i will work on a new 10 gallon in the mean time. im not sure if i will go AIO or have a AC70 hob fuge. i really like the peninsula set up i had so i may display the 10g like that again.

booo cracks!
 

so heres the update with photos.

the tank before the crack
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2809.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2811.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2820.jpg
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2831.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2832.jpg
last FTS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2852.jpg

the cracked tank :mad:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2960.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2965.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2966.jpg
and its new temp home
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2972.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5/IMG_2967.jpg

RIP old tank

any ideas that caused the tank to crack. could it have been the sunpod? i dont have any pic of the old tank with the sunpod.

should i build a new 10g ?

wow man i'm so sorry. that sucks so much, i'm in the process of building my own diy 5g. if you find out what caused it let us know. good luck with the next tank!

Sorry about your loss... that was lookin' like TOTM material (though my preferences are different than most reefers).

From what I've read/heard (was thinking about taking rims off too), it probably broke due to too much internal pressure and not enough support/bracing. As much as those rims stink, you have to leave them on as they were put there for structural stability purposes (the glass is too thin to support itself as a rimless). If you like the rimless look I strongly reccomend you buy a premade rimless or make your own using thicker glass (regular 10 gallon tanks scratch easily so the thicker/better glass would be nice no matter what).

The tank really was looking awesome, and I'm sure with another go-around you'll create another, even better one. Hopefully you didn't lose any livestock.

PS: I am a newbie though, so you should take my advice with a grain of salt, or heck, you could just not read my post altogether (though I have a feeling if your reading this you probably read the entire post :D ).

Good-Luck!

If I were to take a stab at it I would guess that the acrylic was cut to big for the tank. I know it fit but acrylic will expand a bit over time as it absorbs water. Think of an ice cube. As the water freezes it expands and that force is strong enough to split steel tubing. I can't say for sure if the light had anything to do with it.

I think the acrylic caused the early demise of your tank.

good to know, i did make my acrylic cut nearly perfect to fit, with little room for silicone. i wasnt aware of of it expanding. the crack does stem from the false wall to the other end of the tank. :(

so if i do a false wall in a 10g i should leave more tolerance to expansion and use more silicone to make it water tight?

that's what i did with mine, luckily my friend who cut the acrylic for me warned me that it can expand, so he cut it a little smaller and i just filled in the gaps with silicone. i would leave the brace on though just in case.

Yep you got it, cut it short. I think it should be something like a 1/2" short, so you will have 1/4" on each side. Maybe someone with more experience on how short it should be will chime in for you.


On a side note, if it were me I would try to use glass. I know it is a PITA cause most folks won't or can't cut it themselves. I have found that it isn't that hard you just have to comply to a different set of rules.

I think the only big draw back to you would be that you would have to give up the notched OF area.

Good Luck.:thumbsup:

I never cut my acrylic to that tolerance when adhering it to glass and it does just fine.

How short did you cut it?

Like I said I am not sure. I know glass should be cut a 1/4" short.