125rr Build - abower

The 125 tapped, sprayed back and bottom. Standard Rustolium spray paint, 3 cans midnight blue:








Plywood Stand Skeleton. Made with various finish grade plywood. 1/2" maple vineer for sides, 1/2" finish grade back, 3/4" plywood face grid runners and reinforcements. Plywood offers superior stability to warping and burling compared to dimensional lumber:





Some Cherry facing added:





All trim and facing in cherry, inlay shown is the 1/2" maple vineer part of the skeleton:





Stand, Laquer finish, absolutly no stain:





On the fly leveling system. White oak base and vertical runner. White Oak can handle the high levels of compresion and has good rot resistance ability. Red oak is only slightly softer but has no rot resistance:

 

Custom Sump and Refuge made with 1/4" black HDPE from 4'x8' sheets. Panels heat welded with high temp air:


Windows cut in and executed with 1/4" acrylic sheet cut to give 1 1/2" lap beyond hole in HDPE Tank. Holes in acrylic drilled with 1/4" dia. carbide tiped spade bit (dont use a standard spiral drill bit on acrylic) typical for glass or tile. Nylon bolts secured the acrylic with silicon gasket (move fast, the silicon dried very fast. Lots of bolts to slam together and tighten down).





Refuge:








Bio media chamber prior to welding into the sump. Holes drilled to force the water to disperse through media:





Inlet side of sump through two filter socks (not installed in photo). Water moves under dispersion plate and through biomedia (precured rock):





Water then moves through carbon and over the spilway to the third cell where skimmer is placed and outlet to pump.





This third cell is a failure. the skimmer needs to be in a place where water volume in consistent. a wier is in the works to be welded in on next system cleaning to combat this problem. currently the wier is friction fit...

 

Panorama of Sump, Plumbing, Refuge.








The water is gravity transferred from high side of sump in cell two (biomedia cell) through bulkhead in cell 3 with valve in line, through bulkhead in exterior sump then to refuge. a 2" line exits the final cell of the sump to and interceptor (tee) where water is accepted from the refuge and throttle by a ball valve. It is the goal that all water exiting the refuge goes to the pump and into the Display tank. Refuge lighted opposite of the DT with a 23 watt, 1300 lumen, 6500k compact florescent par 38 bulb.

 

Pictures of the Display Tank, 80 ibs of aragonite, 160 ibs of rock (needs some more), 3 sicci powerheads








and one of my faves, the powder brown





Power to the system is supplied by a dedicated 30 amp breaker split to two 15 amp fused lines below the tank. (15 amps is the typical maximum aloud by a power strip)


Lighting is various equipment i have around. I am still in the debate of the route i plan to go.





Thanks for viewing. Any questions, constructive criticisms and comments welcome.

 

Thanks to the forums for all of the experience and advice relating to the hobby that influenced the build.


and


A special thanks to Craig with AC&C for system specific build consultation and equipment sales and support of quality aquarium equipment.

 

Thank you,

I got the cherry lumber is course cut and rough planned from langhoffs lumber just north of Marion. Much cheaper than prepped and sanded boards. The cherry trim (crown and base cap) is from the Amish in northeast Iowa near elkader. The routing on the face is my work. If you zoom in you can see some dig out at the top of one run.

The neat thing with doing cherry with maple inlays is the maple will stay light, the cherry will continue to darken from light exposure.

Been woodworking for 5 years.