12in Night Stand Cube!

[Milleme]

I got bored over spring break and decided to start a temporary nano with stuff layin' around the house, this quickly took off and now is the following-

Night stand nano is 12x12x12 ~7 gal and will be viewable from 360 degrees. Has a 4 gal. rubbermaid sump in the stand that will hold my old red sea prizm skimmer and mag drive 3 return pump. Both return and overflow are controlled by ball valves. Will eventually get an ATO for evaporation. Tank will be BB with starboard. I will be keeping sps later on once i get lights. I dont have an overflow yet, I am probably going to use a black pvc pipe that fits over the middle bulkhead for this. I also plan to just keep one fish (goby) and some crabs.

Any suggestions on anything are appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[louist]

That's quite the cool idea to use a night stand as the the cabinet.

Keep us updated, I would love to see how this one develops!

 

[Milleme]

Thanx for the nice words louist.

Just so people arent confused with the orginal post this tank is pretty permanent, it was the original thought of a dinky quick setup that would have been temporary.

my dad and i made the stand and tank. there are a few smudges from the 2 part epoxy and acrylic, is there any way to remove them or am I stuck with them?

Lastly, who sells black pvc.

If you think of anything im forgetting or have any commets let me know.

 

[louist]

2 part epoxy once cured is very inert, meaning there isn't a solvent for it. Your best chance is trying to scrap it off.

 

[YodaHart]

I hope you're going to use check valves on that plumbing or your tank is gonna be empty when the power goes out. Its a pretty good start so far.

 

[sandlot13]

can you show more details about he construction??? it would be nice to see full plans and everything! nice work, great idea!

 

[alien9168]

Very cool idea!

That would be an awsome nightstand!

Keep up the good work!

 

[deacon hemp]

Wow....My new setup is almost the same as yours.Mine is an 8inch cube w/mag 2 return and different skimmer.My tank overflows itself aswell,like a top down clam tank.But the check valve comment is true.

Nice setup,deacon.

 

[Milleme]

Thanks guys

Yodahart, Ive heard of check vavles but dont really know anything about them, can you post a link or something.

Sandlot, I wasnt very good at taken pics of the progress but I have a few I will post later along with some plans.

Deacon sounds cool, do you have a thread goin?

Thanx again guys ill keep updating as stuff falls into place.

 

[deacon hemp]

I'll start a thread as soon as i have water in it running. I have pics of all my progress and plumbing parts (check valve). Hopefully anyday now.My tank was fish's old 2 gallon starfire cube.

 

[KafudaFish]

Black pvc pipe: http://www.savko.com/

 

[Mikeeal]

Check valves will eventually fail, I wouldn't use them. In your original post you mentioned an overflow. If you made a standpipe for the overflow, and a second standpipe for your return, you tank will not empty. The water level will only drop as far as the lowest standpipe. I'd use two black pvc pipes coming up from the bulkheads, one for the overflow, and one for the return, with maybe a locline fitting for better distribution of the return. Then you could cover them with live rock, and you wouldn't even see them.

Black pvc can be found here:

http://www.savko.com/PartList.asp?pgid=4&ptid=18&pid=146

 

[Milleme]

Mikeeal thanx for the idea but i dont know if ill have enough room for two stanpipes and still have a nice clean look. Im goin for asthetics here and ive already drilled my hole in the very middle. What makes check valves so unreliable. If I could switch it out or clean it every once in a whlie would it be okay. If I do go with a check valve who has the most reliable ones?

 

[tgcreef]

what u could do is get rid of the pbc and use an eheim so that when power goes off u wont have a water level change and also the flow will be less but ur goby will probably apreciate it

i have the same thing sittin in my closet not knowing how to display it without ruining any exsisting furniture and well ur idea is perfect with the table so im goin have to do somthin real similar and if i get the project goin ill be sure to show u some picks

and is urs glass or acrylic?

 

[Milleme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7151129#post7151129 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by deacon hemp
Wow....My new setup is almost the same as yours.Mine is an 8inch cube w/mag 2 return and different skimmer.My tank overflows itself aswell,like a top down clam tank.But the check valve comment is true.

Nice setup,deacon.

That was an awseome cube. Hope it works out well.

I tried drawing some diagrams on paint but they sucked and then
RC wouldnt let me upload them until they were realy tiny so i gave up, sorry.

 

[Milleme]

NanoMan, I dont want to mess with buyin' anymore equpitment, rather just make this work, plus the parents probably wouldnt like the idea of more stuff. But good plan.

Mine is acrylic, i figured it would be a lot easier to work with.

 

[deacon hemp]

I just bought my check valve,its 1 inch in and out and is clear pvc so you can see if theres something in there blocking.I cant see how it would fail only having 7 gallons of back pressure on it.Mine will only have 2.Pandabehr on nano-reef has a tank like mine (acually i copied him) and its a 20 something gallon and has a similar check valve to mine.You can take them apart too,all you need is to have a ball valve above it.

 

[Milleme]

Thanx deacon, where did you get it? I was looking at marinedepot, theirs looked pretty good.

 

[Milleme]

Mini Update

Mini Update

Those smudges i mentioned earlier are now zero.

I did a leak test on the tank and fond one leak that i patched up and is all good now.

Waiting for my white starboard to come in and still need to get a check vavle or 2.

What do yall think: One check vavle on the return and a grey pvc pipe for drain, or two check valves and no pvc drain?

The tank is gonna be viewable from 360 degrees so the rocks could be stacked around the overflow if i went with the first way. If i went with two check valves it would just be less distracting to the eyeball.

 

[Semi_xAsian]

interesting idea, i wanna see how it comes out