Planted tank and sump

I've always wanted to get into aquariums. It was always one of my goals of finally being able to understand what's needed to maintain a thriving closed loop eco system.

My plans will eventually lead me to larger aquaponics and permaculture setups. This is the logical first place to start and learn all about testing and maintaining water quality in a constantly evolving system.

This is going to be my version of a "lotek" tank ;)

4 foot x 8 foot sheet, laid out to simplify cutting and maintaining consistent geometry. The key is planning things in passes, so that the saw is set, panels that need to be same size can all be done at once. That way, even if there's a slight measurement error. They'll all be identical and still match up nicely. I left 1/8th inch gaps between parts in the CAD drawing to account for the thickness of the blade.
improvised workspace to do the edge prep.
a parting off tool made out of high speed steel for my small lathe. The square edges made perfect scraping tool.
sawn edge from the supply house
edge after scraping
exploded view of the display tank and overflow
cementing the sump
using 123 blocks to help with sump baffle setup and spacing. The string comes in handy to fish out the blocks from the 1" gaps
display tank bracing added
beananimal style silent and safe overflow
far from complete, this is a draft showing the mix of plants, fish and snails in the sump/refugium section. I know some of those plants might not work well with floating plants. Also almost certainly going to remove the fluorite and just stick with dirt and gravel.
sump section leak test. You can see that there's a small leak on the bottom left of refugium section (there's an electrical tape "L" shape pointing to the corner leak). I had originally tried to use Weldon #16 like caulk. Later discovered the true king of acrylic tank leak fixing is Weldon #40 (or the more expensive #42).
sump filled, it isn't normally going to be this full, but kept it like this for a few days to make sure it was 100% watertight. There is a middle wood support beneath the tank, with sandpaper cardboard packages stacked to get it snug and make sure there is no gap.
used a hole saw to make the overflow port holes
tilting the tank to let the Weldon #40 form a nice fillet in the inside corner where I had some "sweaty leaks". The kind of leak that takes awhile to form a droplet and fall off. I didn't take any chances, any seam which had a leak got full corner fillet. I only had a few very minor leaks in the entire project. But using weldon #16 only made matters worse and wasted my time.
display tank leakproof
LED light for display tank, I also have a smaller one with just 8 LEDs for the sump refugium

LED color mapping.

B:       Cree Blue
400-410: Luxeon UV 400-410nm
CW:      Cool White
DR:      Deep Red
PR:      Photo Red
G:       Green
RB:      Royal Blue

let there be rock! oh sorry.. lights!

This is a first draft, I'm working on consolidating all my notes to include references, video links to tutorials I used for inspiration. As well as make some videos with accompanying details.

I have to build the stand, lids and mount the electronics cleanly for a full empty system function test. So it's still several weeks from complete.

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