edgarsmith
New member
Can anyone reccomend the best light for an ATS? wattage and manufacturer and model #?
A pair of EcoWheel tanks in the making
- Thread starter Putawaywet
- Start date
There's a few of us out there that would like the answer to the very question ourselves, myself included.
Generally, anything from NO bulbs up to MH will work. Different bulb types grow different varieties of algae. Way too many variables involved to give you a specific answer.
Brett
Generally, anything from NO bulbs up to MH will work. Different bulb types grow different varieties of algae. Way too many variables involved to give you a specific answer.
Brett
I thought I would add a picture of my Eco-wheel tank that has been running for over 2 years.
I would have to be possibley the only reefer in Australia running an Eco-wheel tank.
To save on shipping costs I just purchased the Eco-wheel assembly, with modified Influent and effluent boxes. Everything else was built locally with the help of Chris from AE.
Instead of power compacts as lighting, I use a 175w MH 5000K lamp as the light source for the eco-wheel. Due to the design of the wheel you should expect to get more algae growth on some sections of the wheel over others. The wheel should not do more than 4 rpm ( this is very important). When operating correctly a typical rotation will involve the wheel slowing down alsmost to a stop, then speeding up again.
I would not advocate the removal of the bio balls, I have not and have zero Nitrates. Actually nitrates have never been a problem in this tank.
matt & pam
Member
caevan,
Would you share your thoughts why you choose MH lighting for the eco-wheel vs the PC? Thanks.
Nice tank, BTW.
Would you share your thoughts why you choose MH lighting for the eco-wheel vs the PC? Thanks.
Nice tank, BTW.
matt & pam said:
I would have gone with PC lighting, but in the end I would have had to build my own fitting. This way I was resuing the 175w ballast and fitting I had from my previous scrubber.
After consulting with Chris Limcaco at Aquatic Engineers, he thought it was a viable alternative, especially since they use similar lighting on their industrial systems. Instead of using an acrylic lid on the ecowheel tank I use a tempered glass lid.
matt & pam
Member
Brett,
Any updates on your tanks?
Any updates on your tanks?
Actually, yes.... just give me a couple days to take some more pics and get everything written up.
Brett
Brett
Hi everyone, my apologies for slacking a bit these past few months but I discovered just how incredibly slow things move when you are operating on mother nature's timetable. And since I didn't want to bore all of you with my original month-by-month account of what was fast amounting to a whole lot of nothing, I thought it might be prudent to wait until there was actually something worth reporting. But with that being said, I'm happy to share that things are still chugging along nicely and except for a few small hiccups I am still as happy with the system as I was the day I started this project. So, without further delay here's the latest on my tanks as I approach the one year anniversary.....
Overall, the system is still doing well and nearly everything is functioning as designed. As of the last update I have had no mechanical breakdowns, failures or any other major life-altering issues that have had to be dealt with. This includes the Tenecor tanks, the EcoWheel system itself, or the custom cabinetry that houses it all. However, that's not to say there haven't been a few speed bumps along the way that managed to rear their ugly heads.
First off, I recently noticed some rather offensive salt creep sitting on the carpet of my 90 gal cabinet. Apparently, the bulkhead of the influent box is seeping just enough to cause a noticeable buildup. I imagine at some point I will need to address this, but for the short term I just set a towel down to keep the salt off the carpet. Actually, I'm surprised it has taken this long for this to become an issue because when I first received the tanks I noticed that the holes appeared to be just a bit oversized in relation to the diameter of the bulkheads that were included. Not grossly oversized.... but enough that it caught my attention as I was installing them.
I'm also discovering (much to my frustration) that my collection of Intermatic digital lamps timers leave something to be desired in regards to long-term reliability. Even more so than the older models that I used on the last tank. It seems that several times a month I have a timer that locks up and starts flashing "no op" on the display, leaving one or more pieces of equipment (specifically my lights) stuck in either the on or off position. This then necessitates direct human intervention of the manual override variety. (Several well placed, and somewhat purposeful whacks with a rubber mallet) Surprisingly, this technique not only does an adequate job of addressing my elevated levels of aggression, but also somehow manages to fix the timer issues a good majority of the time. Unfortunately, the remainder of the time I am left with no choice but to swap out the stubborn unit with one of the backups I have now been forced to keep on hand. At last count I have about 4 that I have been unable to 'persuade' into working properly and sometime in the near future I plan to send them back to Intermatic in the hopes they might offer up some replacements in the name of good customer service.
Lastly, I had been finding myself frequently confused (which probably isn't really any big surprise to some of you) as to why my EcoWheel was stopping it's rotation when the water level of the tank was showing to still be at the appropriate mark. Well... apparently I had not really been paying very close attention to the overflow grating on the effluent boxes because over the last year they had become clogged with mini brittle stars, encrusting worms, and coralline and such. So, as water evaporated the level dropped in the filter but not the tanks due to the backup from the clogged grating. Once I figured out the problem a quick cleaning with a stiff brush solved my dilemma. (BTW, for those of you who keep firearms you might be surprised to learn that a (new) .38/.357 stainless Tornado brush on the end of a cleaning rod makes short work of those overflow cutouts.)
Fish:
Happy to report everyone is happy and accounted for. No signs disease or other adverse health issues. My blue-eyed cardinals are fat and happy and still schooling when the mood strikes them. My Pajama Cardinals have grown considerably and seem to have settled into some sort of agreeable hierarchy.
Inverts:
Unfortunately, I lost my coral banded shrimp a couple weeks back. No warning signs - just woke up one day and he wasn't out. Had him for about 3 years, give or take, and while he occasionally came up missing a main claw every 2nd or 3rd molt, he gave me several trouble free years of enjoyment. Anyone know what the life span is on these guys?
One very cool thing that I had the chance to observe was a mass spawning of my mini brittle stars. It occurred during one of my hydrocleaning sessions and I was completely amazed at how many of the little guys/girls came ambling out to sow their wild oates. It all started with a few dozen little buggers spewing a little puff of ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œsmokeââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and then kinda snowballed for the next half hour. They were not only crawling atop all of my corals, but hanging from the branches of my gorgs as well.
Corals:
Lots to report here. First and foremost, I lost both my blueberry gorgs in the low-light tank. Which isn't really a huge surprise since it seemed to coincide with the time when I stopped adding my powdered food supplements. (I didn't intentionally stop, just got kind of busy, which then led to my becoming a bit lax with my water changes and I decided not to temp the water quality gods by adding copious amounts of additional nutrients.
On a related topic though, I can safely attest to the fact that one can be relatively secure in the belief that this kind of system will continue to function quite well if you ever find yourself in a position that you are able to perform only basic maintenance for any extended period of time. Because that is exactly the position I found myself in shortly after the first of the year. For approximately 2 or 3 months I became severely bogged down with other obligations and lost the forward momentum I previously had going with the tank. And as a result, I performed only a few rudimentary water changes, the bare minimum of feedings and RO top offs, as well as incredibly sporadic algae harvests. There was no water testing, no addition of powdered food supplements, nor (warning, reckless behavior ahead) any measuring of liquid supplements.... just a squirt here and there according to how I felt the tank was doing. And in spite of my best inattention, I only saw the loss of the blueberry gorgs. And, while that might not have been the sole variable that contributed to their demise, I'm sure it probably didn't help their delicate situation any.
My (purple??) plating Montipora so commonly referred to as a M.Capricornis (the one I fragged shortly after the demise of the mother colony) is doing splendidly and has grown from a thumbnail sized piece to well over 6" in diameter in the 8 or so months that I have had it. It has a nice deep green coloration and is branching out in numerous flat plates that are a far cry from the funnel-like shape that the mother colony came in with.
Additionally, it's neighbor (purple tipped Acropora) is growing well and has doubled in size. Actually, both are growing so well that they have begun to encroach upon each other's space with early indications giving the nod to the Acropora as the more dominant of the two.
A bright green Acro (???) that was kind of languishing and really wasn't sitting in the most ideal of locations received a bit of a facelift. I cut away the majority of the dead skeleton near the base, split the remaining portion onto 2 halves and epoxied them in two separate locations of the tank. Itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s been a couple weeks now and so far so good. Hopefully they'll take a liking to their new home.
For most of the last year I have been on the lookout for an orange Montipora and about a month ago the opportunity presented itself at my LFS. Unfortunately, given that this one has been growing in the same funnel type of shape as the other, my expectations are not incredibly high for a smooth and trouble free acclimation. For the short term I'm keeping a close eye on it, but given that the other one took so well to fragging I'm entertaining the thought of breaking it up and distributing it to various areas around the tank. It's incredibly beautiful as is, but seeing as I have no idea as to the environmental conditions that caused it to take on it's intriguing shape, I have no alternative but to use the other one as an indicator as to what the most appropriate shape is for my tank conditions. Obviously, if I see any signs of bleaching or RTN I'll definitely have at it. But I have to admit, the idea of a half dozen colonies of an orange SPS growing throughout my tank is quite the tease.
My gorgs are still holding their own with the bronze ones doing pretty good considering what they have gone through. Although the smaller ones seem to have the largest growth spurt compared to the two bigger ones who really donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t readily appear to have grown much as all. However, nearly all bare spots have recovered and they look healthy in spite of the fact that all are just a tad bit smaller than when they were first introduced to the tank.
My knobby sea rod (???) is doing really well and there are two new branches measuring approx. 2ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ each that have sprouted up in the last couple months.
Overall, the system is still doing well and nearly everything is functioning as designed. As of the last update I have had no mechanical breakdowns, failures or any other major life-altering issues that have had to be dealt with. This includes the Tenecor tanks, the EcoWheel system itself, or the custom cabinetry that houses it all. However, that's not to say there haven't been a few speed bumps along the way that managed to rear their ugly heads.
First off, I recently noticed some rather offensive salt creep sitting on the carpet of my 90 gal cabinet. Apparently, the bulkhead of the influent box is seeping just enough to cause a noticeable buildup. I imagine at some point I will need to address this, but for the short term I just set a towel down to keep the salt off the carpet. Actually, I'm surprised it has taken this long for this to become an issue because when I first received the tanks I noticed that the holes appeared to be just a bit oversized in relation to the diameter of the bulkheads that were included. Not grossly oversized.... but enough that it caught my attention as I was installing them.
I'm also discovering (much to my frustration) that my collection of Intermatic digital lamps timers leave something to be desired in regards to long-term reliability. Even more so than the older models that I used on the last tank. It seems that several times a month I have a timer that locks up and starts flashing "no op" on the display, leaving one or more pieces of equipment (specifically my lights) stuck in either the on or off position. This then necessitates direct human intervention of the manual override variety. (Several well placed, and somewhat purposeful whacks with a rubber mallet) Surprisingly, this technique not only does an adequate job of addressing my elevated levels of aggression, but also somehow manages to fix the timer issues a good majority of the time. Unfortunately, the remainder of the time I am left with no choice but to swap out the stubborn unit with one of the backups I have now been forced to keep on hand. At last count I have about 4 that I have been unable to 'persuade' into working properly and sometime in the near future I plan to send them back to Intermatic in the hopes they might offer up some replacements in the name of good customer service.
Lastly, I had been finding myself frequently confused (which probably isn't really any big surprise to some of you) as to why my EcoWheel was stopping it's rotation when the water level of the tank was showing to still be at the appropriate mark. Well... apparently I had not really been paying very close attention to the overflow grating on the effluent boxes because over the last year they had become clogged with mini brittle stars, encrusting worms, and coralline and such. So, as water evaporated the level dropped in the filter but not the tanks due to the backup from the clogged grating. Once I figured out the problem a quick cleaning with a stiff brush solved my dilemma. (BTW, for those of you who keep firearms you might be surprised to learn that a (new) .38/.357 stainless Tornado brush on the end of a cleaning rod makes short work of those overflow cutouts.)
Fish:
Happy to report everyone is happy and accounted for. No signs disease or other adverse health issues. My blue-eyed cardinals are fat and happy and still schooling when the mood strikes them. My Pajama Cardinals have grown considerably and seem to have settled into some sort of agreeable hierarchy.
Inverts:
Unfortunately, I lost my coral banded shrimp a couple weeks back. No warning signs - just woke up one day and he wasn't out. Had him for about 3 years, give or take, and while he occasionally came up missing a main claw every 2nd or 3rd molt, he gave me several trouble free years of enjoyment. Anyone know what the life span is on these guys?
One very cool thing that I had the chance to observe was a mass spawning of my mini brittle stars. It occurred during one of my hydrocleaning sessions and I was completely amazed at how many of the little guys/girls came ambling out to sow their wild oates. It all started with a few dozen little buggers spewing a little puff of ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œsmokeââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and then kinda snowballed for the next half hour. They were not only crawling atop all of my corals, but hanging from the branches of my gorgs as well.
Corals:
Lots to report here. First and foremost, I lost both my blueberry gorgs in the low-light tank. Which isn't really a huge surprise since it seemed to coincide with the time when I stopped adding my powdered food supplements. (I didn't intentionally stop, just got kind of busy, which then led to my becoming a bit lax with my water changes and I decided not to temp the water quality gods by adding copious amounts of additional nutrients.
On a related topic though, I can safely attest to the fact that one can be relatively secure in the belief that this kind of system will continue to function quite well if you ever find yourself in a position that you are able to perform only basic maintenance for any extended period of time. Because that is exactly the position I found myself in shortly after the first of the year. For approximately 2 or 3 months I became severely bogged down with other obligations and lost the forward momentum I previously had going with the tank. And as a result, I performed only a few rudimentary water changes, the bare minimum of feedings and RO top offs, as well as incredibly sporadic algae harvests. There was no water testing, no addition of powdered food supplements, nor (warning, reckless behavior ahead) any measuring of liquid supplements.... just a squirt here and there according to how I felt the tank was doing. And in spite of my best inattention, I only saw the loss of the blueberry gorgs. And, while that might not have been the sole variable that contributed to their demise, I'm sure it probably didn't help their delicate situation any.
My (purple??) plating Montipora so commonly referred to as a M.Capricornis (the one I fragged shortly after the demise of the mother colony) is doing splendidly and has grown from a thumbnail sized piece to well over 6" in diameter in the 8 or so months that I have had it. It has a nice deep green coloration and is branching out in numerous flat plates that are a far cry from the funnel-like shape that the mother colony came in with.
Additionally, it's neighbor (purple tipped Acropora) is growing well and has doubled in size. Actually, both are growing so well that they have begun to encroach upon each other's space with early indications giving the nod to the Acropora as the more dominant of the two.
A bright green Acro (???) that was kind of languishing and really wasn't sitting in the most ideal of locations received a bit of a facelift. I cut away the majority of the dead skeleton near the base, split the remaining portion onto 2 halves and epoxied them in two separate locations of the tank. Itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s been a couple weeks now and so far so good. Hopefully they'll take a liking to their new home.
For most of the last year I have been on the lookout for an orange Montipora and about a month ago the opportunity presented itself at my LFS. Unfortunately, given that this one has been growing in the same funnel type of shape as the other, my expectations are not incredibly high for a smooth and trouble free acclimation. For the short term I'm keeping a close eye on it, but given that the other one took so well to fragging I'm entertaining the thought of breaking it up and distributing it to various areas around the tank. It's incredibly beautiful as is, but seeing as I have no idea as to the environmental conditions that caused it to take on it's intriguing shape, I have no alternative but to use the other one as an indicator as to what the most appropriate shape is for my tank conditions. Obviously, if I see any signs of bleaching or RTN I'll definitely have at it. But I have to admit, the idea of a half dozen colonies of an orange SPS growing throughout my tank is quite the tease.
My gorgs are still holding their own with the bronze ones doing pretty good considering what they have gone through. Although the smaller ones seem to have the largest growth spurt compared to the two bigger ones who really donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t readily appear to have grown much as all. However, nearly all bare spots have recovered and they look healthy in spite of the fact that all are just a tad bit smaller than when they were first introduced to the tank.
My knobby sea rod (???) is doing really well and there are two new branches measuring approx. 2ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ each that have sprouted up in the last couple months.
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New stuff:
I finally found a solution to being unable to tile under the tank prior to it being setup. I just went around it. I basically just cut out the carpet around the front and ends of the tank and started laying tile. Surprisingly it turned out really well and unless you sneak a peek behind the tank where you can still see a bit of carpet, you'd never know it wasn't actually sitting on the tile. Although I have to confess that I cheated a bit and practiced on a smaller area in the bedroom where the old tank had trashed the existing carpet just to make sure that I wasn't in over my head. Unfortunately, I think I just shot myself in the foot because after I finished the living room I suddenly began to realize how cheesy the old linoleum looks in the master bathroom. Looks like there's going to be yet another Home Depot trip in my not so distant future
I also added a constant drip-feeding system to both tanks (yet to be used) and Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m hoping to try them out in a few weeks. They're basically brine shrimp/rotifer hatching towers (originally purchased last year from Aquatic Ecosystems for a live food culture setup) and with a little bit of work I was able to suspend them from the inside of the canopies so they drip directly into the influent boxes. I basically just inverted their acrylic stand so instead of sitting atop it, the hatching cone hangs from it. I then cut an access hole in the top of the canopy so I can fill them or remove the tower for cleaning and filling. The only thing I have left to do is to tap into the PVC air feed so I can setup a little valve and length of rigid airline for some bubble action. Once it's all finished all I'll have to do is dump my milkshake into the top of the hopper, turn on the aeration and walk away while my supplements slowly drip into the tank over the course of a couple hours. At least that's the plan, only time will tell.
Also, I did a major cleaning last weekend with several lengthy periods of hydro-blasting blasting via a handheld powerhead to get in all the nooks and crannies. I also hung two HOT canister filters with the pleated micron filters to catch all the crud I stirred up - which surprisingly, turned out to be a considerable amount of crud. And after seeing how much brown gunk went down the drain I decided that it might be a good idea to do this on a somewhat monthly basis. However, what I found to be most interesting was how fast the tank was able to recover from the unexpected storm. When I finally finished it was nearly around midnight and the tank was pretty murky, including a fine layer of detritus sitting atop all of my corals and tons of those little spider web things strung all over the place. Yet, a mere 8 hours later, by the time the lights had come on, the tank looked as clean as could be. It never ceases to amaze me how nature has a way of rebounding from adverse conditions.
I finally found a solution to being unable to tile under the tank prior to it being setup. I just went around it. I basically just cut out the carpet around the front and ends of the tank and started laying tile. Surprisingly it turned out really well and unless you sneak a peek behind the tank where you can still see a bit of carpet, you'd never know it wasn't actually sitting on the tile. Although I have to confess that I cheated a bit and practiced on a smaller area in the bedroom where the old tank had trashed the existing carpet just to make sure that I wasn't in over my head. Unfortunately, I think I just shot myself in the foot because after I finished the living room I suddenly began to realize how cheesy the old linoleum looks in the master bathroom. Looks like there's going to be yet another Home Depot trip in my not so distant future
I also added a constant drip-feeding system to both tanks (yet to be used) and Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m hoping to try them out in a few weeks. They're basically brine shrimp/rotifer hatching towers (originally purchased last year from Aquatic Ecosystems for a live food culture setup) and with a little bit of work I was able to suspend them from the inside of the canopies so they drip directly into the influent boxes. I basically just inverted their acrylic stand so instead of sitting atop it, the hatching cone hangs from it. I then cut an access hole in the top of the canopy so I can fill them or remove the tower for cleaning and filling. The only thing I have left to do is to tap into the PVC air feed so I can setup a little valve and length of rigid airline for some bubble action. Once it's all finished all I'll have to do is dump my milkshake into the top of the hopper, turn on the aeration and walk away while my supplements slowly drip into the tank over the course of a couple hours. At least that's the plan, only time will tell.
Also, I did a major cleaning last weekend with several lengthy periods of hydro-blasting blasting via a handheld powerhead to get in all the nooks and crannies. I also hung two HOT canister filters with the pleated micron filters to catch all the crud I stirred up - which surprisingly, turned out to be a considerable amount of crud. And after seeing how much brown gunk went down the drain I decided that it might be a good idea to do this on a somewhat monthly basis. However, what I found to be most interesting was how fast the tank was able to recover from the unexpected storm. When I finally finished it was nearly around midnight and the tank was pretty murky, including a fine layer of detritus sitting atop all of my corals and tons of those little spider web things strung all over the place. Yet, a mere 8 hours later, by the time the lights had come on, the tank looked as clean as could be. It never ceases to amaze me how nature has a way of rebounding from adverse conditions.
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I also picked up a decent looking zoo rock that had some yellows, browns and orange polyps along with some organ pipe thrown in for accent. The price was right and I kinda like to orange zoos, so I guess everything else came along for the ride so to speak.
And here's a shot of that plating Montipora back around February just to give you an idea of the growth I'm seeing. If you scroll back up to the pics of the brittle star spawn you'll see the same Montipora from a few weeks ago which has now grown into the adjacent purple-tipped Acropora. The white spot is where the two actually touch and while I know the bare spot looks kinda large, it's actually recovered quite a bit this week and is about half the size as it appears in the pic up above
And here's a shot of that plating Montipora back around February just to give you an idea of the growth I'm seeing. If you scroll back up to the pics of the brittle star spawn you'll see the same Montipora from a few weeks ago which has now grown into the adjacent purple-tipped Acropora. The white spot is where the two actually touch and while I know the bare spot looks kinda large, it's actually recovered quite a bit this week and is about half the size as it appears in the pic up above
The low-light tank:
Well folks, as much as I know some of you might be a bit dissappointed, I must confess that this tank sits exactly the same as it did at the time of my last update. And as much as it probably won't come as a real surprise to some of you, I have changed my mind yet again as to how it is going to be finished.
Long gone is the original idea of a pinnacle rising up to the surface of the water. Yes indeed, the pinnacle in no longer in the works, I have long since given up on that one.
Also gone are cave-like walls covered in rock and decorated with various non-photosynthetic animals such as tunicates and the like. Yep, hasta la vista on that as well!
And lastly, as much as it pains me to say this, gone is the whole idea of the low-light tank itself, if for no other reason than the never-ending labor involved in maintaining something of this magnitude. This past year has afforded me the opportunity to get a feel for the labor that is required of a system of this size and I have finally come to realize that I just don't have the time or energy to devote to keeping things that derive their nutritional requirements solely from the passing water. Things that require meticulous water quality, things that can whither away to absolute nothingness in the span of a few short days. And as intriguing as this idea still sounds, human nature being what it is, I 've evaluated my abilities and energies and have come to understand that it would be only a matter of time before the excitement wore off and I found myself stuck in the day-to day drudgery of micromanaging an incredibly fragile ecosystem. So, I am saying my goodbyes to that idea and moving on.
However, out of the darkness comes light in the form of something new. And this time around you have my promise that I will see it through to the end. Actually, I have already taken steps to making it happen and with a little bit of luck I will have a finished tank in a couple months.
But first, a little background on my idea.....
My idea hinges on something visually attractive, yet relatively easy on the maintenance. It also had to be something rather unique and not often seen in home aquaria as I suffer from this overwhelming desire to take the path less traveled. I wanted color, uniqueness, interest, and if nothing else, a pleasing and good looking display that would compliment the beauty of my reef tank on the opposite end.
However, until everything starts to come together I am unable to offer anything more then a few pics of one component of the project. But I will tell you the specifics on what you are seeing in the pics
Well folks, as much as I know some of you might be a bit dissappointed, I must confess that this tank sits exactly the same as it did at the time of my last update. And as much as it probably won't come as a real surprise to some of you, I have changed my mind yet again as to how it is going to be finished.
Long gone is the original idea of a pinnacle rising up to the surface of the water. Yes indeed, the pinnacle in no longer in the works, I have long since given up on that one.
Also gone are cave-like walls covered in rock and decorated with various non-photosynthetic animals such as tunicates and the like. Yep, hasta la vista on that as well!
And lastly, as much as it pains me to say this, gone is the whole idea of the low-light tank itself, if for no other reason than the never-ending labor involved in maintaining something of this magnitude. This past year has afforded me the opportunity to get a feel for the labor that is required of a system of this size and I have finally come to realize that I just don't have the time or energy to devote to keeping things that derive their nutritional requirements solely from the passing water. Things that require meticulous water quality, things that can whither away to absolute nothingness in the span of a few short days. And as intriguing as this idea still sounds, human nature being what it is, I 've evaluated my abilities and energies and have come to understand that it would be only a matter of time before the excitement wore off and I found myself stuck in the day-to day drudgery of micromanaging an incredibly fragile ecosystem. So, I am saying my goodbyes to that idea and moving on.
However, out of the darkness comes light in the form of something new. And this time around you have my promise that I will see it through to the end. Actually, I have already taken steps to making it happen and with a little bit of luck I will have a finished tank in a couple months.
But first, a little background on my idea.....
My idea hinges on something visually attractive, yet relatively easy on the maintenance. It also had to be something rather unique and not often seen in home aquaria as I suffer from this overwhelming desire to take the path less traveled. I wanted color, uniqueness, interest, and if nothing else, a pleasing and good looking display that would compliment the beauty of my reef tank on the opposite end.
However, until everything starts to come together I am unable to offer anything more then a few pics of one component of the project. But I will tell you the specifics on what you are seeing in the pics
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon something at my LFS that stirred my imagination. It wasn't all that noticible at first, nor was it even sitting in an area that I even pay much attention to when I frequent the locale. Nope! It was actually sitting on the highest shelf in an off-traveled corner directly above where one would find the plastic pirate ships and annimated treasure chests.
But nonetheless it caught my eye because I had seen nothing like it and I decided that it warranted a closer look.
And in a few seconds what I found myself examining was one of those molded plastic or resin tank decorations made to look like an old pipe ...an old cast iron sewer pipe if you will, and it had obviously been made to appear as thoguh it had seen some better days because it had tons of molded in character.
However, even though it had good character, some pretty good molding quality and a small bit of coloring, it was pretty bare in it's former self and wasn't really anything to write home about. But I bought it because I thought it had some potential.
Then, a few days later I started fomulating my plan and I jumped on the computer to start researching my new project. I quickly found a company (local no less) that specializes in public aquarium and zoo exhibit fabrication and ordered up a bunch of urethane castings that looked like what I wanted.
Unfortunately, the nice painted castings on the website arrived unpainted leaving me with a lot more work than I had originally planned.
Now, I'm not any formally trained artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can paint a pretty mean model airplane or tank, and actually have some pretty good basic skills in weathering and distressing minitures. So, I decided to just jump in and start tearing it up.
The first step was to remove the molded in fake rock base the thing sat on. This was easily accomplished with a cutoff wheel in a dremel tool. However, this left a pretty ragged base that needed a lot of work. So, I cut out a couple acrylic circles from some scrap plastic I had laying around and started epoxying it to the base. After that I started massaging in some 2-part aquastick to fill in the gaps and covered the outside of the buildup with some JB weld that I textured with the help of a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil. After that I stated gluing on the individual accent pieces. A couple 8-10 hours later, out came the paints. A few paint washes of rust here, a little dab of color there, and before I knew it the thing was starting to look pretty realistic. The last step in the process will be a thin coating of clear resin to protect the paint and give it a good durable outer coating.
I think I have approx $100.00 invested, which isn't all that bad considering what I would have paid to have a professional fabricate something like this for me. Overall, I'm incredibly happy with the results.
Here's the finshed product......
......Ok, that's about all I have for now, but another vacation is approaching and not only do I have a ton of misc. work to do on the system itself, but I need to get hopping on the rest of my new project so I can hurry up and see the finished product
Regards,
Brett
But nonetheless it caught my eye because I had seen nothing like it and I decided that it warranted a closer look.
And in a few seconds what I found myself examining was one of those molded plastic or resin tank decorations made to look like an old pipe ...an old cast iron sewer pipe if you will, and it had obviously been made to appear as thoguh it had seen some better days because it had tons of molded in character.
However, even though it had good character, some pretty good molding quality and a small bit of coloring, it was pretty bare in it's former self and wasn't really anything to write home about. But I bought it because I thought it had some potential.
Then, a few days later I started fomulating my plan and I jumped on the computer to start researching my new project. I quickly found a company (local no less) that specializes in public aquarium and zoo exhibit fabrication and ordered up a bunch of urethane castings that looked like what I wanted.
Unfortunately, the nice painted castings on the website arrived unpainted leaving me with a lot more work than I had originally planned.
Now, I'm not any formally trained artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can paint a pretty mean model airplane or tank, and actually have some pretty good basic skills in weathering and distressing minitures. So, I decided to just jump in and start tearing it up.
The first step was to remove the molded in fake rock base the thing sat on. This was easily accomplished with a cutoff wheel in a dremel tool. However, this left a pretty ragged base that needed a lot of work. So, I cut out a couple acrylic circles from some scrap plastic I had laying around and started epoxying it to the base. After that I started massaging in some 2-part aquastick to fill in the gaps and covered the outside of the buildup with some JB weld that I textured with the help of a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil. After that I stated gluing on the individual accent pieces. A couple 8-10 hours later, out came the paints. A few paint washes of rust here, a little dab of color there, and before I knew it the thing was starting to look pretty realistic. The last step in the process will be a thin coating of clear resin to protect the paint and give it a good durable outer coating.
I think I have approx $100.00 invested, which isn't all that bad considering what I would have paid to have a professional fabricate something like this for me. Overall, I'm incredibly happy with the results.
Here's the finshed product......
......Ok, that's about all I have for now, but another vacation is approaching and not only do I have a ton of misc. work to do on the system itself, but I need to get hopping on the rest of my new project so I can hurry up and see the finished product
Regards,
Brett
Last edited:
Flatlander
Premium Member
Thanks for the updates Brett. The 180 is "lookin good". 
Nice work on the castings, Brett!
D.L. Manwarren has some great stuff. They did our touchpools, and it was an experience to watch all these talented people crawling all over the wet cement, carving and shaping it into real-looking rockwork. Nice folks, too.
Cant wait to see your "new" tank!
We had a "junk" tank that represented a wharf wall, and we had bottles, a tire, pilings, etc in it. It was a very cool tank with tons of life.
Have fun!
Chris
D.L. Manwarren has some great stuff. They did our touchpools, and it was an experience to watch all these talented people crawling all over the wet cement, carving and shaping it into real-looking rockwork. Nice folks, too.
Cant wait to see your "new" tank!
We had a "junk" tank that represented a wharf wall, and we had bottles, a tire, pilings, etc in it. It was a very cool tank with tons of life.
Have fun!
Chris
Flatlander: thanks - I'm planning on some full tankshots after I have a chance to clean the walls in a couple / three weeks. It's been almost 6 months since I've taken anything besides closeups.
Chris: LBAOP has something like that as well and it's really an amazing tank that I feel is totally underrated. There must be 50 fish and inverts in there but you only see about 1/3 of them at any one time because they are always blending in with all that junk.
I actually got the chance to vistit DLM and it's a pretty impressive place. Numerous Rock castings in various stages of completion sitting nearly everywhere, shipwreck parts stacked in all the out of the way corners. And we're talking full sized repro ship hatches complete with hinges, handles, portholes etc. Not to mention that thier showroom has tons of pics of all the work they have done over the last 30 years. Pretty much a who's who of public aquariums and zoos.
Brett
Chris: LBAOP has something like that as well and it's really an amazing tank that I feel is totally underrated. There must be 50 fish and inverts in there but you only see about 1/3 of them at any one time because they are always blending in with all that junk.
I actually got the chance to vistit DLM and it's a pretty impressive place. Numerous Rock castings in various stages of completion sitting nearly everywhere, shipwreck parts stacked in all the out of the way corners. And we're talking full sized repro ship hatches complete with hinges, handles, portholes etc. Not to mention that thier showroom has tons of pics of all the work they have done over the last 30 years. Pretty much a who's who of public aquariums and zoos.
Brett
DLM is definitely one of the better companies out there doing artificial structures.,
BTW, I have some of those barnacles you have It was cool watching them paint on the coralline algae. Just acrylic paint, dabbed on, with white on the edges- looks real! (Til the brown turf grew over it from the bay water)
Get busy on that tank!
BTW, I have some of those barnacles you have
It was cool watching them paint on the coralline algae. Just acrylic paint, dabbed on, with white on the edges- looks real! (Til the brown turf grew over it from the bay water)Get busy on that tank!
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