My completly custom waterfall tank design and build from the bottom up.

[coralcruze]

here is one modification that needed to happen in order to allow the light box to fully tilt up and away from the tank during maintennance:

one on the right is before mod...

here is the test of the tilt:

 

[coralcruze]

one major consideration on a tank like this... is proper leveling of the tank. all reef tanks or any fish tank for that matter should be leveled to any imperfection in the floor. This area is commonly overlooked and other more crude methods are devised to level the tank. DONT go cheap hereand try and save money. do your resurch and buy the absolute best leveling hardware that exists. sinc ethis tank will need to sit perfectly level to the floor due to the nature of the overflowing walls, not only does the fabrication of the wall overflow needs to be percise but so too the leveling controle of the overall tank itself.

I used a 110 degree true tilt 100% 304 stainless steel leveling feet. These are heavy duty and are overkill for this tank (rated for 6000 lbs each...no kidding) but since they are still to scale to the overall look why not

you can see the tilt allowed by this hardware:

do yourself a favor set them properly:

 

[coralcruze]

 

[coralcruze]

The build!

If you are going to build in acrylic... this is where you need to start. A router. Mine is a porter cable 2 1/4 HP 27,000 RPM. cheap routers just won't cut it here. In case you are wondering. Yup I built the router guard out of acrylic and teh table also ou tof 2x4 and top from 4x8 melamine due to its low friction characteristic.

umnnn yeah in case you are wondering thats my LR... LOL. Just keep it neet and clean and contained. The wife hated me during that time.

 

[coralcruze]

did I mention contained? plastic is up from floor to cieling.

 

[coralcruze]

per-cut all pieces needed:

 

[coralcruze]

if you are going to use plywood for a finished horizontal surfaceand stain it than sped top dollar on the good stuff. However I'm skinning mine with formica laminate as it is imperviouse to water. However, taking care of the imperfections is still a must in my book.

 

[coralcruze]

unfortunatly I had to rely on the big box store to cut down my ply as I have a small table saw. This was a mistake... I needed to correct thier imperfect cuts. None of the edges were 90 deg. PITA

 

[coralcruze]

some edges I need to add a strip to make them 90 again ROYAL PITA

 

[coralcruze]

"micro dot formica" $45 4x8 at Home Depot. this stuff is super nice and looks sharp:

 

[Galantra]

:bigeyes2:WOW:bigeyes:, looks good thought the stand was just metal only. Everything look really good and we can tell you have a keen eye and great skillz in building. Any more shot of the tank?

 

[coralcruze]

formica glued down and holes cut for columns:

 

[coralcruze]

:bigeyes2:WOW:bigeyes:, looks good thought the stand was just metal only. Everything look really good and we can tell you have a keen eye and great skillz in building. Any more shot of the tank?

stay tuned plenty of ahots coming and on the way but I have to start at the begining. Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate that.

 

[coralcruze]

 

[coralcruze]

the details count: counter sink the screws and use stainless steel , ease the edge... ITS SHARP! I like my fingers thanks.

 

[coralcruze]

make the base red or white??? that is the question. I choose white as salt creep would drive me nutz and the wife... she don't touch my tank

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/CORALCRAZED2004/fish tank build/IMG_5297.jpg

 

[coralcruze]

staining the exposed surfaces and several coats of poly:

 

[coralcruze]

routing out holes for closed loop bulkheads:

 

[coralcruze]

skinning the outside of base with the white acrylic... and fabricating the removable door pannels (x3):

 

[coralcruze]

The sump build!

Prep is everything: front pannel of sump getting ready to be glued to bottom.