29 gal external overflow all DIY - yep another one

[impur]

What is that frog mounted on?

An ice cube! I have to reglue it every hour or so

Its just an acrylic cube that it came on. I wanted let give the frag time to adjust and didn't remove it from the cube, and now its encrusted to it as you see so its too late. Oh well, i'll find a nice spot to shove the cube down into so you can't see it.

 

[cthompson]

nice tank impur. what brand skimmer is that?

thanks,
ct

 

[cj_basser]

I really like the ides of the acrylic cube. It looks like the coraline is really growing on it, as well.

 

[impur]

nice tank impur. what brand skimmer is that?

thanks,
ct

Its a Pacific Imports skimmer, i think the guy who makes them live just a few hours north of me in Portland.



I got a refractometer the other day, boy am i glad i did. SG tested at 1.027, a bit high. The swing arm was reading 1.025 and the glass hydrometer was reading 1.024. I thought the glass would have been more accurate. Lesson learned! If you've been thinking about it but would rather spend the 40 bucks on a frag or something, DON'T! I think this is why i lost the teal polyp digi and why my danae is now going downhill.

 

[spoon671]

I am heading down to the refractometer store ASAP! I always wondered if those refractothingys were worth it.

 

[impur]

I really like the ides of the acrylic cube. It looks like the coraline is really growing on it, as well.

Yah the coraline likes the plastic stuff. Whats really cool about that little cube is it fits perfectly into the squares of eggcrate.


Good call spoon671! There is a deal at drsfostersmith.com for 40 bucks for reefcentral.com members. It was like 44 bucks total with shipping.

 

[xtrstangx]

Good to see you went with a refractometer. In the grand scheme of things, $40 isn't that bad especially since most coral at my LFS are atleast $60.

Tank looking good as always.

 

[X88&94GT]

silver stang,

I used to own a 88 GT (my 1st car) and then had a 94GT vert (1 of 9 made, long story not known at the time) then the last mustang I had was a 89 saleen replica. I had about $10K invested and still not done. But we had a baby so I ended up selling to my best bud.

My SN comes from corral.net, it was the first message boards i was on way back in the day. And ended up just using this same SN when I can on everyboards.

Now I drive an 89 Land Cruiser yeah its alot diff than the stangs, but now i can just drive over whatever

Well I got my sump and other 2 tanks drilled and set-up somewhat. I used 3 10 gal tanks. Well I eneded up cracking 2 of them putting in my homemade bulkheads, b/c im to anxious to wait on the ones I have on order. But I think I was able to fix them with extra blass siliconed over the cracks. Only time will tell i guess as to if they will continue to hold water fine.

I am considering just going with the rubbermaid for the sump/return and using the last 10 gal for the fuge. (since I havent cracked it yet.

And I think I decided I wanna go with an in sump return pump so I will be selling the little giant I bought on ebay. I will prob just run a mag 9.5 or mag 12?

 

[xtrstangx]

You had to order 10g tanks? Dang, the Petsmart near me carries atleast 20 10g's at a time and they don't have a very big tank selection (the biggest is a 55g).

Sorry to hijack!

 

[impur]

That sux they cracked. Rubbermaids make good sumps too sounds like a good plan. Keep in mind on the mags, my 9.5 keeps the tank at 80 degrees alone. My heater never kicks on, its set at 77. I have a fan blowing over the sump to keep the temp steady, but the mags add quite a bit of heat to the water.

 

[X88&94GT]

i have the bulkheads on order no tthe 10gal tanks. Thanks for the info on the mag pumps. Any ideas on in sump pumps that dont add a ton of heat? I dont have an issue with heat, but dont want to either.

I do have a rio 2100 and a 1700 that i got cheap, but i was just going to use those as circulating pumps for mixing stuff/and or a return for another smaller tank. (thinking of doing a 10 or 29gal later down the road.)

 

[impur]

I don't know of any pump that can go in the sump and not add heat. I am contimplating adding an external.

 

[impur]

Aother month or so has passed, i thought i'd update with a few new pics

 

[impur]

 

[impur]

My oregon tort and a. suharsonoi are both acting odd. Neither has shown any polyp extension for a good week. Not sure why either, my alk has been fluctuating some, from 7 to 9dKH. Its been tough to get stable. I've been able to keep it at 8 for the last few days. I'm hoping this is the only reason they aren't showing PE.

 

[impur]

So i'm starting up my next DIY project, the WmTasker DIY calcium reactor. I have the body and pump, still need the co2 tank, regulator and controller. I'll have to finish up in a couple weeks, I've got my wedding this weekend and then i'm off to Maui for all next week!

 

[ctreefer]

Impur,
I've really been enjoying your progress on your tank. I finally decided to take the plunge and do the same to my 29. I have a couple questions for you regarding your cutting methods. When you say a nice smooth rounded corner to your overflow, how do you attain the smoothness. I've been grinding away with the dremel bit and it always wants to created gouges rather than smooth areas. Should I be concerned that the shallow gouges may become a fracture area?

Also, I have about a .5inch radius in my corners. I couldn't pull up the pic's of MacNreefs damaged tank, but did he have any radius' in his corners that you recall?

Finally, are you still happy with the Seio, or if you could do it over again would you do a closed loop? I was planning on a closed loop with a squid return powered by the mag 9.5, plus a mag 3 to push water back to the tank from the sump/refugium. Not sure if this will be enough, however I only plan on maybe 5 colonies of sps in the tank the rest will be lps,softies.

thanks.
vince

 

[impur]

Impur,
I've really been enjoying your progress on your tank. I finally decided to take the plunge and do the same to my 29. I have a couple questions for you regarding your cutting methods. When you say a nice smooth rounded corner to your overflow, how do you attain the smoothness. I've been grinding away with the dremel bit and it always wants to created gouges rather than smooth areas. Should I be concerned that the shallow gouges may become a fracture area?

Thanks Vince! I'm in a holding patter for adding corals, some of my SPS are showing signs of stress so until i have the DIY calcium reactor finished i'm just trying to keep things stable. I didn't really have a method to making the cut smooth, i just made sure that it had a nice slow slope to it. If you are using the bullet shaped bit to get the cut, i used both hands, one to put some pressure in the direction i wanted to cut, the other to move the bit up and down real slowely. I would go over these gouges (not sure how bad they might be) with the bullet shaped bit and try to smooth them out. You have any pics? The key is lots of water and go slow. As you cut you will see the glass mixing with the water to create a white looking paste. Try to keep as much water on the cut as possible to keep it cool and flush that stuff out of there.

Also, I have about a .5inch radius in my corners. I couldn't pull up the pic's of MacNreefs damaged tank, but did he have any radius' in his corners that you recall?

He did have more of a corner to his cut. It wasn't sloped on the sides as much as mine. It was more like a 90 degree corner that has been rounded with a sanding drum or something. Thats the best i can describe it. Sounds like yours should be fine.

Finally, are you still happy with the Seio, or if you could do it over again would you do a closed loop? I was planning on a closed loop with a squid return powered by the mag 9.5, plus a mag 3 to push water back to the tank from the sump/refugium. Not sure if this will be enough, however I only plan on maybe 5 colonies of sps in the tank the rest will be lps,softies.

thanks.
vince

I still do like the flow from the Seio. My only peeve about it is the snails keep trying to clean behind it, then their shells barely touch the glass and it makes a vibrating noise that gets very annoying. The other thing is that it makes it difficult to get flow on the side of the tank i have it mounted on. That is also somewhat of a plus because i can put lower flow corals there so its a toss up. Sounds like you have a great plan, if i did it over again, i'd probably go with the closed loop for the simple fact that there is one less piece of equipment in the tank.



I worked a little more on my CA reactor. Got the regulator in the mail saturday and glued about half the PVC fittings. I'll try to get some pics up tonight. Getting pretty excited about finishing it.

Miles

 

[szesteve]

Congratulations on your wedding!

I really like your thread especially the use of PVC pipes for rock scaping. I will be using the same method to acheive some height too.

Thanks impur!

 

[impur]

Congratulations on your wedding!

I really like your thread especially the use of PVC pipes for rock scaping. I will be using the same method to acheive some height too.

Thanks impur!

Thanks! It was an awesome day followed by a great week in Maui. I'm picking up my snorkeling pics today so i'll probably put a few of the better ones here.

The PVC worked great for stacking the rocks. The sand under the rack is as white as the day i put it in. Its nice not having to worry about crap building up under there.


Miles