29 gal external overflow all DIY - yep another one

[ctreefer]

Thanks Impur, and yes, congrats on the wedding!!!! I was just talking to my brothers roomate who just got his scuba diving license about how much I really am going to have to get one. Snorkeling is fun, but some of the stories you here from divers makes you realize what you're missing out on.

My biggest concern right now with my cut on the tank is that I started with the two angled cuts leading to the main cut, but didn't radius where the two met. ( I somehow missed that some people's tanks had cracked based on this style cut.) I ended up going back before filling the tank with water and the only way I could get a radius in there was to loose the bevel. So now I have a verticle cut that leads to a .50 radius on each side. How crucial do you think that bevel is, for I don't have any more room to widen the cut for my outside overflow prohibits me from cutting any more?

thanks
vince

 

[impur]

Thanks again Vince! I thought about getting certified but since the ocean off the Oregon coast is so cold, and the fact you don't have much visability, i decided to just go with snorkeling. I'm sure it would be so much more fun to actually dive, but i just don't know how often i would actually get to go. My wife (man thats still crazy to say!) has her certification though.

Hmm i'm having troubles picturing what you are referring to. Do you have any pics?

Do you mean you basically started at each endpoint of the overflow cut and working in to the middle? So you cut a "V" more or less? Also not sure about the bevel you are taking about.

 

[ctreefer]

sorry, I knew when I was typing that bevel wasn't what I was looking for. I'll try and attach an image.

 

[ctreefer]

Ok, here's what I meant by bevel, sorry for the confusion. Do you think this will be problematical?

 

[impur]

Ok i see now, thanks for the pic. That is close to how MacnReef did his, but i think his radius was a big sharper. I would set the tank up outside running for a week or so. Thats what i did, just to be on the safe side. Are you planning to silicon any black acrylic to the inside to hide the plumbing? I think that would be beneficial and if you use a decent amount of silicon it would help reinforce the glass. I can't say for sure if it will crack, but if its only about a .5" radius i'd think you would be safe. Good luck, keep me updated. I love seeing external overflows, they just make the tank look so much cleaner by remove those components from in the tank.

Miles

 

[gjuarez3]

Hey Miles, I have keeping up lately with the thread. What is the name of the tool you used to cut the glass? Can you give me this info as I am ready to start with my external overflow. Can you please also tell me what other tools I will be needing. THanks for your help and I will be keeping up with the thread to ask questioms. I hope you dont mind.

 

[impur]

I used a cordless dremel. You can pick them up for 25-50 bucks depending on bells and whistles you get with it, or you can rent one. There is a picture of the bits i used on the first page of this thread, you can find those at walmart. You will need some eye goggles. Only other thing you'll need is somehow to keep water on the cut and bits to keep them cool and some silicon. I think thats about it.

Keep me updated on how it goes!

Miles

 

[impur]

Well i had discovered the dreaded red bugs on one of my corals so over the weekend i dosed interceptor. Lost all my hermits but crabs and shrimp made it fine. The main reason i wanted to dose is to try and get my blue tort back healthy. It hasn't shown PE for a long time. Now this morning i can see the tips of the polyps poking out so thats encouraging. I need to scrape the glass again, coraline is sure growing like crazy. I also built a CA reactor so i'll get some pics up of it soon.

 

[Mr. Eko]

I didnt find this, but how much flow do you have in there?

Thanks =-)

 

[impur]

Well its more of a guesstimation, but i'd say 1300-1400gph. Not real sure of how much the scwd cuts down on the mag9, i'm guessing about half.

 

[impur]

Quick update. Treated tank with interceptor over the weekend. Lost all hermits and killed all red bugs, also lost most pods. Shrimp and crabs were fine thru treatment. My tort is looking a tad bit better, not much though. I also finished up my reactor. I changed the standpipe inside it. I ended up using a 3" X 1.5" reducer, cutting off the bottom where the 3" pipe goes into it, and used a reducer to 1". I drilled about 150 holes in it for waterflow. On the other side i used a male adapter and an o ring to seal things up better. Pics

 

[impur]

Also i never put up any of my snorkeling pics, so here are some of them. I still have a role to develop.

This is where we went, off the coast of Lanai'i and also at Honaloa Bay. Most of these pics are from Honaloa.

Hawkfish

Good pic of the reef and a Morish Idol

A large eel

Big puffer

 

[gjuarez3]

cool pics. I really liked your reactor. Keep the pics coming

 

[cateyes]

yeah,, great pics Miles... i bet it was neat seeing those fish in their natural environment!!!! lisa

 

[impur]

Thanks! Yah the coral and fish were amazing. I was kind of disappointed with the coral, not as many bright colors as i had expected. Mostly some light blues, yellow, pink, and brown. Lots of catspaw there, i mean LOTS.

 

[ctreefer]

Cool pics Miles!! That was pretty much about what I saw in the carribean 5 years ago. At least you donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t feel as upset that you canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t take a piece of it home with you.

I might have to start following your DIY on the calcium reactor after the tank is done.

I havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t taken any picââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s of my tank yet, but I should get some by this Thursday. I filled the tank with water on Saturday and still no cracks so Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m keeping my fingers crossed. I kept going back and dremeling a little more to clean up the cuts and make the radius bigger. In the end I ended up with probably a Ã"šÃ‚¾ radius in each corner. I even put a little force with my hands against the cut back wall with the water in it and no cracks, so Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m feeling more confident.

Now onto the color for the back of the tank. I noticed you used acrylic to cover the plumbing and painted the back of the main tank. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m still up in the air on using acrylic to cover everything up and just letting the coralline cover the tank. Did you come up with any other thoughts to hide the plumbing?

Also, just to keep me posted. Howââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the seio doing? Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m debating on the closed loop with the mag 9 and squid for one source of flow and I have an old mag 3 lying around that I was going to use for a return from the sump. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m a little concerned that the mag 9 is too much flow for a 29 gallon and at the same time the mag 3 is too little. I have run the mag 3 for a return when my tank was set up previously and since Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m going to most likely set up the sump as a part refugium, that flow is probably just about right through a 10 gallon sump. What are your thoughts.

Anyways, keep up the good work. Sorry on the red bugs, Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve had them before and itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s a PIA. Ended up loosing the few sps I had.

Vince

 

[impur]

Hey Vince. Yah i was just fine with leaving the stuff on the reef. I would bet that most of the great looking stuff has been picked clean anyway which is unfortunate. I had thought about maybe getting a fish to bring back but decided against it in the end. They just look too happy out there in the wild.

I'm pretty stoked to get that reactor up and running. I figure i saved at least 200 bucks by building it. Plus its one more thing my tank can do on its own!

Let me know when you get the pics, looking forward to em. It sounds like you did a good job on that cut. Of all the ones i've seen crack they usually did it in the first week or so. If you put some force to it and nothing cracked you should be good to go!

Letting the coralline cover the back would work too. On my tank the coralline covers all the glass EXCEPT the back now, which is odd but since its black i don't mind. Just a pain in the arse to scrape all the time. My only thoughts where the acrylic or leaving it bare.

The Seio is doing good. I actually think its lost a bit of its umph, not sure why or how. I've cleaned it regularly so i'm a bit puzzled. Now i'm getting a bit of diatom growth on the sand under where i have it mounted. I don't recall what you plan to keep but i still think you'd be fine with both pumps. The mag 3 would be good for your return if you plan to have that fuge down there. You can always put a ball valve on the mag 9 return to throttle it down a bit if need be.

Thanks for the support, i think we all need it in this hobby! I'm actually glad i got rid of those red bugs, i'd hate to introduce them to another person's tank in a trade or something. Keep me updated!

Miles

 

[ctreefer]

Miles, How's the reactor coming along? I definitely plan on either getting one or making one in the future. Maybe not for the 29, but definitely once I get the 90 back up and running. (maybe I can test it on the 29)

How much $$$$ does one cost approx. after you've gotten everything . Are you going to get a controller as well?

thanks

vince

 

[impur]

Reactor is all done, just need co2 in the tank and hook er up. I am getting a controller, i plan on getting an aquacontroller JR with a DC8. The reactor cost me about $250-270 to build completely with everything needed except the controller. Looking at other reactors i saved at least 200 bucks building it, and it has been running strong with tanks up to 120gal with lots of SPS and keeping up fine. So worst case if i upgrade sometime to a 180 i'll have to add a second canister which would cost me 30 bucks max. Its definately a great DIY build that would work well on most tanks.

I also picked up an Aqua C Remora used from a fellow reefer here on RC. Its been running since saturday and still pulling only clear stuff out. The guy cleaned it real well so its still in its break-in period. Hoping it pulls out more than the crappy PS100 i was using.

 

[ctreefer]

Sounds like a great winter project. Where did you get the lid(top) to the unit? It looks like some kind of pool filter.