xmetal's 75 gallon upgrade (2/22/12)

Starting this Saturday I will be upgrading my 50 gallon to a 75 gallon. Tank is an all glass RR on a deep blue professional stand. Deep blue is the brand my boss' supplier came out with. I will be reinforcing the stand a little bit with 2x4s because it has a door on the side to slide your sump in and out of. The stand also has a few carbon fiber components which I think is cool.

The tank was originally going to be a 75 RR rimless from deep blue, but they decided to use black silicone on a rimless. I always thought the great thing about rimless was the fact you couldn't see seams.

I will be adding 30lbs of new aragonite and eventually buying 50lbs of dry pukani rock. Hopefully 130lbs of rock will be enough. The UPS will sit on a little table built with 2x2s to keep it above any possible water if the sump was to overflow.

Anyway, I will be using this to post my chronicles of my upgrade. Let's hope I don't kill everything. Photos will begin around Sat, but possibly sooner.

 

Please excuse the awful drawings. I don't have drafting equipment available to me anymore.

UPS Stand materials:
1) 2 : 3" = 6"
2) 5 : 12" = 60"
3) 4 : 10" = 40"
4) 2 : 16" = 32"
5) 6 : 2" = 12"
6) 1/4" plywood (I will measure what I need for this part when I am done with building the skeleton)
150" or 12.5' of 2"x2" lumber needed for UPS stand and shelving. I will buy at least 15" of 2"x2". I'd rather have extra wood than not enough.



Below is a layout of where the minimum of 12 plug power strip, 2 plug outlet, filter, and UPS stand/shelving will be placed in the stand.



Plumbing will be next.

 

woohoooooo! the perfect project for a winter weekend.
I am going to subscribe and follow along.

got a pic of the stand? I am curious as to what it looks like.

thanks and good luck!

 

Rough draft of plumbing. Dotted line is h2o level. Ball valve from tank and to tank will be used to stop any water from coming in during maintenance of filter. The ball valve to the UV will be used to control flow through the UV. I will use an eheim 1262 900gph pump. Plumbing used will be silicone tubing. I would love to use PVC, but I won't have the time to glue it all together and let it dry properly. I can always go back and redo the plumbing with PVC.



Comments, thoughts, and warnings?

 

I will have a photo of the stand on Friday or Sat. Would have it tomorrow, but our shipments are all screwed up because of the storms this past weekend.

 

Good deal on the pic - i will be as patient as possible (ha ha). I did try to Google Deep Blue but with no immediate luck. Is there a web address or somewhere we can go look in the meantime? Sounds like a new brand name?

btw - is this the tank that you are possibly suspending the lights above? If memory serves - you were going to try suspending your lights from a shelf similar to how i did mine.

This should be a fun thread to follow

 

Awsome project... I will follow your thread for sure ;D

 

nice, lets see a pic of it..

 

yeah... can't wait to see it ;D

 

The website is Deep Blue Professional - Aquariums & Aquatic Accessories. The website is not exactly the best, but they are working on it. They are a new brand that my pet store's distributor came out with it. I am not a huge fan of their lights as of yet, but the stands and tanks seem very well made (except for the reinforcing that I feel is needed by the side door). Tanks look similar to oceanic. Was also going to get a 75 RR rimless through them, but I don't like black silicone, especially on a rimless. Instead I will be using the all glass 75 RR.

I will be hanging the lights above this tank. However, that will happen a little after the upgrade occurs. Need more time and a little more in funds for the braces and hanging kit. Until then, The lights will sit on some strong PVC.

As for the photo, I need to stop by the store tonight and I just put a 65 acrylic on one of their 36" x 18" stands. I will take a photo of the stand for you.