My Zoo Med 50 Gallon Low Boy Build

[calireefer831]

So I cam across a zoomed frag tank at my lfs for $150 and I had been looking at doing a frag/growout tank for some time so I decided to buy it.

I am still deciding on how I want to set it up but i figured I would post pics and update as I go along.

My plan is to drill two holes for overflows and have dual returns. I have ordered most plumbing fittings and a glass hole drilling kit which should arrive soon.

I purchased 50 pounds of reef rock rubble which I plan to use as my substrate as I am not a big fan or plugs or egg crate

Pics today is my progress on the stand for the tank. I will likely add some plywood and am debating about if i want to paint or stain the stand.

 

[Peace River]

Congratulations on your new adventure! I have often thought about getting one of these tanks so I look forward to seeing yours come together. Good luck!

 

[calireefer831]

Got home from a long day at work and the mailman left some goodies so I drilled out my holes for my bulkheads and installed them. I put the strainers in the bulkheads temporarily but will add PVC pipe to get the proper water level in the tank.
I have never drilled holes in a tank before so I was a bit nervous. I think I did ok for my first time

 

[Opus]

What is your plan for lighting. I've thought about setting one up but I don't have the option of hanging my lights. Luckily my LFS sells these predrilled with an overflow kit already installed. They also have a metal stand you can buy.

 

[calireefer831]

Still playing with options. Leaning towards 3 ai prime 16. Either with goosenecks or building a frame that goes over the tank to hang them from

 

[dedragon]

I would look into led bars or t5 if looking for best spread/ least shading. Maxspect jump ethereal is also a very nice light and comparable to the prime but i think slightly more powerful. Lower priced lights like noopsyche and smat farms are getting great reviews especially for corals with lower lighting needs. I havent seen at real tests with acropora or par levels yet though for smat farms

 

[calireefer831]

I would look into led bars or t5 if looking for best spread/ least shading. Maxspect jump ethereal is also a very nice light and comparable to the prime but i think slightly more powerful. Lower priced lights like noopsyche and smat farms are getting great reviews especially for corals with lower lighting needs. I havent seen at real tests with acropora or par levels yet though for smat farms

Thanks for your input. I had t5s on the first reef tank I had and I'm personally not a big fan so I will not be doing t5s but I will look into the LED that you recommended

 

[calireefer831]

Today's update. Worked a little bit more on the plumbing. I received my returns in the mail and they are much smaller than I expected so I'm not 100% sure I will use them. I may order bigger ones or make my own.

For my overflows I cut a piece of PVC 8 inches long and it seems to be just right. I may take another 1/4 inch off it once I fill it with water. Will have to wait and see I have two more strainers ordered for the second overflow

I'm still debating about my sump setup. Currently leaning toward a 40g breeder. And a 10 gallon tank for my ATO reservoir. I cut out cardboard with the footprint of both and put them under my tank to get an idea about space.

 

[calireefer831]

Todays update. I've made a good bit of progress. I moved the tank to where it will go. I added plywood and painted it what I would call "coraline purple". Originally I wasn't sure if I even wanted to paint or stain it. I've also started working on the plumbing and I changed the overflow. I also added my rubble rock as my substrate.

 

[calireefer831]

Saturdays update. So I got my skimmer and my heater. Still waiting on my sump divider kit I ordered. I have been trying to work on my return plumbing but I'm just fighting the vinyl tubing. I may try using a heat gun to help form it the way I need it to. If that doesn't work I will probably switch to all PVC return lines.

I think I've finally decided on my light. A kessil apx9.

 

[ProxyAquarist]

What a great project !

Looking forward to your success in 2022,
Jim

 

[calireefer831]

Todays update. Finally finished my return plumbing. Not the prettiest but it should work. If I were to to this over again I would probably drill out two more holes and put in bulkheads for returns. I was nervous never having drilled glass before that I didn't want to put in to many holes in the tank. I also added some silicone around the top of the bulkheads just for good measure. My sump divider should arrive monday so hopefully next week I can add water. I also added where I plan to hang my kessil from

 

[calireefer831]

Another update. I installed the divider kit in my sump. Added my refugium light and did my return plumbing and have started to fill it with water

 

[calireefer831]

I finally have water in it! I am currently letting it cycle. I think it looks good and I am excited to start filling it. I added plastic screws to my sump to use the adjustable water height divider. I got the light mounted and programed. The skimmer seems to be working fine so far. And the pump I got seems to be just right where I may not need to add a gyre or wavemaker. I have been tweaking a few different things here and there and I will likely continue to do so for the next week or two

 

[calireefer831]

So last night I put all my Kenya tree frogs in the tank as my test dummy's. They seem to be doing fine.

 

[calireefer831]

So I couldn't help myself today and went to three lfs. here are some pics. I will add more pics as the frags open up more.

 

[TerraMagnus]

Would you mind doing me a small favor please? Zoo Med has published dimensions for this tank that look suspiciously like they are rounding off fractional inches, or maybe only measuring the glass dimensions and not the rim. I'm looking at these for stacking in a muscle rack but there are no local sources I can go to with a tape measure and get precise external dimensions with rim.

Would you mind maybe checking the external dimensions and seeing if it's indeed fractionally more than what Zoo Med advertises? (48″ x 24″ x 10″)

 

[calireefer831]

Would you mind doing me a small favor please? Zoo Med has published dimensions for this tank that look suspiciously like they are rounding off fractional inches, or maybe only measuring the glass dimensions and not the rim. I'm looking at these for stacking in a muscle rack but there are no local sources I can go to with a tape measure and get precise external dimensions with rim.

Would you mind maybe checking the external dimensions and seeing if it's indeed fractionally more than what Zoo Med advertises? (48″ x 24″ x 10″)

Hopefully this helps

 

[TerraMagnus]

Hopefully this helps

thanks... it looks like your tape measure is below the rim. Is it true that edge-to-edge this thing is under 48x24 footprint?

 

[calireefer831]

thanks... it looks like your tape measure is below the rim. Is it true that edge-to-edge this thing is under 48x24 footprint?

To me it looks like it's 23.5x47.5x10 to the top of the rim