A pair of EcoWheel tanks in the making

[Putawaywet]

I got mine from Morgan over at IA as well.

That's strange because when I switched out both the original bulbs to the 55's (which I was told should have come with the lighting unit) the red algae started out-competing the green in a month or so.

Then when I decided to mix the bulbs I began getting the green stuff again.

Don't know if one type of algae is better than the other in regard to nutrient processing, but the green is way easier IMO to harvest than the fuzzy red stuff.

The only real bummer is both bulbs appear to grow corraline equally well

Brett

 

[matt & pam]

Brett,
Looks like you have a shallow sand bed. I was thinking of a 2-3 inch bed for my tank. Any thoughts whether a deeper sand bed would be helpful for overall stability of water chemistry?

anything happening in the other side of the tank?

Matt

 

[skylsdale]

Phewy on the 180 gal...I want to see the "other side." C'mon man...

 

[Putawaywet]

Skysdale -

Sorry about the delay but I'm in a holding pattern with the custom pieces I contracted out to DLM. They're suppossedly working on them, but..... I'm calling this week to get an update.

Also, I'm trying out IceCap's new spot pendant over the 90 gal so I just spent the evening working on the install for that. It's the lightweight 70w version so I think it's going to be real interesting to see how that works out. Regardless, it's a sweet setup so if even if it winds up being not everything I was hoping for I think the small tank folks are going to really like the thing.

matt & pam -

Wish I had an answer for you on the sandbed quandry but about all I can say is I have always used some form of substrate, and unless my thinking changes dramatically somewhere in the distant future, I more than likely always will.

Right now I'm running about an inch give or take, but have used up to 4" in the past on my previous tank. I've never been a devotee of of strict DSB deciplines so brand/depth is usually determined by what I'm trying to do with the tank.

One thing I will say is my salt and pepper sandbed has about run it's couse and I'm probably going to change it out sometime here soon. Primarily because of how dingy it's beginning to look. I know I started off singing it's praises, but over the past year the amount of rubble that has found it's way into the sandbed has made a pretty big dent on the nice clean look that it used to have. Also, I'm currently keeping a Dragon goby which thoroughly loves taking a big mouthful of sand and then sifting thru it while swimming upwards over the reef. Needless to say, I spend a good amount of time blowing sand off of my rocks and corals.

Think I'm going to try something a little more coarse.... perhaps a mix of #1 and #5 grade and even some larger sized rubble thrown in to mix it up.

Brett

 

[gstark]

Brett
have just recently joined this forum and was thrilled to find your account of the ecowheel system. Had always wondered if it worked . Thanks for sharing your experiences. Think I may use this type of system on my new tank. I'm thinking of remoteing the
scrubber to the greenhouse and plumb through the wall to the tank. Was thinking of a 150 to 200 gallon system for the main tank. Hate wasting all that glorious Florida sunshine between hurricanes lol.
Haven't read the whole account of your setup as yet Again thanks for sharing the experiences with it.
Hopefullu I'll be able to ask some intelligent questions in the near future lol.
One for right now. How do you access the old pix from the beginning of the thread??
Gary

 

[Putawaywet]

Hi Gary,

Glad to hear you are getting something useful out of all of this.

When I began considering going this route there was very little info out there (I did find find a few people who had them but you can only send so many emails before you feel like you're being a pest.)

As far as the pics I'm not sure what I can do about that. Several months back the site admin made the decision to discontinue allowing direct posting (uploading) of jpeg images to the board because they were bogging the site down. The unfortunate part was it was retroactive to all previous images that met that criteria and they were purged from existing threads.

Of course, those who linked direct to their gallery here, or outside picture hosting sites were/are not affected.

I've considered uploading all the pics to my gallery and then seeing if a mod can edit my previous posts to add in the links. My gut feeling is at the least, it's going to be a lot of work to try and communicate what pics go where and will prob take numerous pm's to make it happen .

So, until I can come up with a fix if there are any pics that you think you'd be particularly interested in feel free to speak up and I can email them to you.

Brett

 

[gstark]

Brett
I'm just sort of in the planning stages at the moment. have been out of SW for many years but the hurricanes called for some serious remodeling of the house. Have been thinking of setting up a marine tank and thought this might be a good opportunity to use some of the newer ideas into the setup.
Such as solar tubes ,ecowheel fitration and settling tanks as well as making my own live rock and the use of insulation foam.
My attached orchid house was badly damaged and will require complete overhaul. i could now use this as an area for the remote filtration area rather than my large vivaria and orchids.
Just getting ideas together on how to go about this where to locate things and deciding on what I want to keep. The solar tube idea particularly piqued my interest as the roof must be redone anyway. The main tank will probably be located in a walkin closet in the 150 to 200 gallon range. will probably build my own tank and systems.Figured if i'm going to do it might as well do it right.
Have started a notebook to gather ideas and assess the practicality of them. Really don't know what I'm specifly looking for at the moment.
I've heard many good things about the algae scrubber systems but this is the first actual discussion I've run accross.
I appreciate your help and I'm sure i will become a pest in the future lol.
gary

 

[Putawaywet]

While the EcoWheel filter can be remotely located I'm not sure if it can be THAT remotely located. You'll probably need to email Aquatic Engineers to see what Chris thinks of putting the filter out in the orchid house.

If the distance winds up being too great I think you'll probably need some kind of pressure pump to get back to the tank, and if that's the case, you're going to defeat the whole purpose of the EcoWheel. At that point, I'd say just setup a big ATS type of tray, use the sun to grow your algae and run a dump bucket or carlson type of surge to move water across the screens.

Brett

 

[gstark]

Hi
Thanks for the ideas.Actually it wouldn't be that remote as it
would be possible to have them back to back.Just a wall dividing them. The greenhouse is attached to the house on two sides.
Another problem I see is where to move my 4x8 foot paludarium. Don't think "tropical lowland " and 'reef" are compatible lol. I think I'd have to choose one or the other as space would be a problem.
I've always been a plant freak and and would love to culture some of the fantastic marine specie. As for the main tank I think
I'd like it for butterflies or angels rather than a reef setup,
Probably wouldn't need the solar tubes for this type of setup
anyway and maybe tie the systems together somehow for the benefit of both.
Just doing a lot of thinking right now. No big hurry as i can't even get an estimate on the house repairs until mid Cec..lol
Love the reef tanks but also love the butterflies and angels.

Once saw an 800 tank with 25 Moorish Idols in it along with a school of Heniochus WOW!! like looking into another world.
That would be a bit out of my bank account lol.But maybe the Walmart version?? lol
Gary

 

[matt & pam]

Brett,

Did you install the valve for water changes in your eco-wheel, or did a.e.? Does it stand out far from the edge, i.e., does it reach your door or is there plenty of clearance? Does is allow you to change a large amount of water, or are you limited to contents in the eco-wheel chamber?

Matt

 

[Putawaywet]

I added the valve myself. I drilled the EcoWheel tank and installed a bulkhead and then added a 3/4" Banjo ballvalve. All in all, it sticks out about 6"-7" which includes the 1" threaded stub that connects it to the bulkhead.

I also added a quick disconnect nipple on the outer end of the valve which adds another 1 1/2". The whole thing winds up being pretty close to the door but I think I still have like a 1/2" after it is closed.

Due to the way the system works I really can't do much more than drain the filter tank, but that's like 35-40 gals which is plenty for my needs. The part that sucks is I'm still draining into 5 gal buckets and then hauling them into the bathroom. This is then followed by siphoning my jugs of makeup water to refill the tank. A complete water change takes about 20 minutes. That remote saltwater holding tank and pump is still on my "to-do" list but getting closer to reality as time goes by

Brett

 

[Putawaywet]

If anyone is still interested I'll have a big update somewhere around Sunday or so. Not real Ecowheel specific, but a bunch of new stuff to show off.

Coming up will be the newly revamped 90 gal tank, installation of the new IceCap 70w MH spot pendant and ballast enclosure (I'll be writing a review on this for IceCap in the next week or so), a new 16 gal top off reservoir and poss a new built in hydro-vac/power washer combo that I'm in the process of finishing up.

However, given how long this thread is getting I'm thinking of starting a new thread to cover the redesign of the smaller tank and all the new stuff. If I decide to do that I'll post a link on this one and those that have an interest can follow it over.

Brett

 

[Zacrifice]

Deffinatly post an update.
I don't think this thread is getting all that long.
Post it here

I have still be watching your tank with interest, you need to make your self a website

 

[picture the reef]

Brett, No where near to long. I have followed this thread with much interest because of my personal interest in the Eco-Wheel. Have you been following the Acan thread? 120 pages and counting.

 

[matt & pam]

Brett,
Agree with others. Keep it coming on this thread.

Matt

 

[Putawaywet]

Greetings everyone,

As promised, the 90 gal Low-Light setup is history and a new incarnation now lives and breathes in itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s place.

But, before I show it to you I should probably recap for those of you who are just tuning in, or may have been following this thread for so long you have completely lost track of where we last left off.

When I initially setup my twin tank system the smaller of the 2 tanks sort of just transitioned (I couldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t decide what to do with it) into a low-light experiment for non-photosynthetic corals and other misc. filter feeding animals. Alas, while the tank appeared to start out with a grand and noble cause, it failed miserably in itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s attempts to achieve any resemblance of greatness, lacking even the faintest hint of what I had originally envisioned. Additionally, it quickly came to fruition just how labor intensive something like that really was. To be honest, I just didnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have the time or energy to operate such a hands on setup. Especially, having to split my time between that tank and a 180 gal reef.

So, earlier this year I started re-thinking my plans and began shopping for something that would meet the following criteria:

1) It had to be aesthetically pleasing to look at.
2) Needed to be visually different than what I was doing in the larger tank
3) Needed to be relatively simple to maintain.
4) Had to have a bit of a ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œwowââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ factor involved to feed my large ego J

Itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s been a long time in the works and taken many hours of fabricationââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ definitely a labor of love. However, on the same token, itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s taken my reefing skills down a road I never thought I would be capable of going. And you could almost say I enjoyed the tripââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. But I did learn a thing or two which I guess is a good thing.

So after many months of flapping my jaws itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s time to put my money where my mouth isââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦..

 

[Putawaywet]

May I now present my new pier piling biotope. (Although, youââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll have to excuse the poetic license I was forced to take with regard to animal selectionââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ they came with the tank)

 

[Putawaywet]

As youââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll remember, the basic tank dimensions are 24ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚w x 30ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚d x 30ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚h with 2 corner influent/effluent boxes taking up a good portion of the rear of the tank. In effect leaving me with a 24x24 cube. This put space at a premium and forced me to make sure I had all dimensions triple checked before I started the ball rolling.

The company who fabricated the basic piling was David L. Manwarren Corp. www.dlmanwarren.com/ out here in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca. Normally, these folks specialize in Public Aquarium and Zoo exhibits but they said they have been picking up more home hobbyist work in the last year or so. Although, I should probably mention that their prices are not for the feint of heart. These folks are the ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œwhoââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s whoââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ of professional fabricators and their prices definitely reflect that. But, like they always say ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œyou get what you pay forââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and their work is absolutely out of this world amazing. Not to mention they are some nicest people I have ever dealt with.

I was able to keep costs under some resemblance of control by requesting a basic piling sans any decorations. That made things a little easier on the checkbook. DLM corp. was more than happy to accommodate.

Not counting the initial delay getting this project off the ground their turn around was approximately 8 weeks from time of deposit to completion. (They happily offered me a tour and some great conversation when I swung by to pick it up. I also got to meet Teri, the artist who fabricated my piling, an added bonus.

 

[Putawaywet]

Once I got the basic piece home I went to work adding all the fine details. Some of you might remember a ways back in this thread the sewer pipe I detailed with barnacles and mussels? Well, I pretty much took what I learned there and transferred it to this project. During the time I was waiting for DLM to complete the insert I actually passed the time by making molds of some of the mussels I already had on hand. This was a pretty straightforward process of ordering the RTV rubber, preparing the masters and making the molds. Once I had a couple suitable molds I began making duplicates of the originals. Admittedly, at first, I thought this was going to be a pretty daunting process, but it really was a lot easier than I had originally thought. The clear casting resin is a 1-to-1 epoxy that sets in approximately 15 minutes. You color it with a small amount of pigment. Once I got my rhythm, so to speak, it only took a couple evenings at the dining room table to prep and mold some 3 dozen clusters of mussels. All in all, I think I spent about $200.00 in casting materials and I still have a good amount of material left over if I decide to do something in the future.

DLM corp. supplied the barnacles, which are relatively cheap in comparison to everything else (approx $7.00 for a sheet of several hundred) but they come in both clusters and singles and itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s quite the tedious chore to glue them all in place.

Installing everything was pretty easy, I merely boiled the castings in a pot of water on the stove for a few minutes to soften them and then hand formed them to the contours of the piling as they cooled. I attached them with JB Kwik (JB Weld) epoxy.

The rope came from a company that specializes in rope stanchions (those things that herd us humans like cattle at theme parks and concerts) and is actually made to look like hemp but is manufactured from nylon so itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s relatively inert.

Since I needed to scale this thing to fit such a small tank I had to take a little liberty with my sizing and I opted for the 1ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ diameter rope and made only 3 coils around the piling. Surprisingly, it took a full 10ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ of rope to get those 3 loops. The ends were secured in back with more JB Kwik epoxy.

Once I had everything glued in place (a couple days of work) I started in on the painting. A trip to my local craft supply store supplied me with a variety of water based acrylic paints (enamels are not compatible with epoxy resins). I had already downloaded a bunch of photos of mussels and barnacles from the Internet so I had a pretty good idea of the coloring I was shooting for. Still, it took a little trial and error to get things so they looked just right. The black pigmented mussels received a dry brushing of Bright White to bring out the highlights, followed by some dabs of Kelly Green, generic tan and Driftwood to simulate grunge which I hoped would give them some individuality. The barnacles were base coated white, then washed with a brown alcohol stain from my model building supply kit to fill in all the nooks and crannies. This left them with a heavy brown coloring that was softened with a dry brushing of Metallic Pearl White followed by just a ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œkissââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ of Bright White on all the high spots and edges. It took another 12 hours or so to complete all the painting but I think I got everything pretty dead on in regard to accuracy.

DLM was nice enough to supply me with some clear resin to be used as a topcoat and after all the paint had dried I gave the entire piece several coats to seal it and protect from future cleanings. Everything was then left to cure for 72 hours.

 

[Putawaywet]

The old rusted wheel is actually an off-the-shelf piece that they offer from their online catalog, itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s technically a handle from a shipââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s hatch but I think it looks cool nonetheless. (On a side note here these folks can make anything your imagination can dream upââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ from small bits of gears, pipes and other misc. junk, up thru sections of a shipââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s wooden decking, oil drumsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. all the way to a complete section of a sunken ship. They also offer ready-made rocks, corals, birds, monkeys, vinesââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ just about anything you might need if you were doing a zoo or aquarium exhibit.)

Getting the piling into my tank proved to be a little more work than originally anticipated. Remember how I mentioned earlier about triple checking everything? Well, it seems I somehow forgot to take all the decorations into consideration when I was taking my initial measurements. ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. Thereââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s really nothing like a half an hour of fighting, cajoling, and otherwise generally swearing at things around you to work up a real good sweat.

So, out comes the drill and jigsaw and I start tearing into the top of my acrylic tank. Anyone have any idea just how big of a mess you can make of a tank that is half filled with water and still contains all of itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s fish when you start hacking into it with a power tools? Yeah, I knowââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. I was trying to make life easier on them and myself by hoping to just drop this thing in place around them. Didnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t happen. Nope! Not even in the slightest. So there I am sawing and swearing while my fish are being rained on by little white bits of plastic (ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œoh look, how cuteââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ they think itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s foodââ"šÂ¬Ã‚). Needless to say, it was not a very enjoyable afternoon.

A short while later I had managed to enlarge the top opening, grind the edges into some resemblance of straightness, and sand everything smooth. Actually, much to my shock, it looks pretty darn good and with the exception of no flame polishing along the edge itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s pretty close to OEM. Yes I know I just voided my Tenecor warranty, but itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s Ã"šÃ‚½Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚ acrylic and itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s a 90 gal cube for crying out loud. I followed the contours of what was already there and just made things a bit bigger so Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m quite confident Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll be able to sleep at night.

Once I got the piling lowered into place I took a quick head count to make sure none of my fish had darted inside the thing before I slid it into itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s final position.

I had long ago made the decision to remove my salt and pepper mix of Tahitian Moon sand so that had already been siphoned out and stored in a plastic trashcan earlier that morning. I replaced this with a mixture of #3 & #5 grade aragonite reef sand, filling in around the piling as I went. I left my egg crate in place that was originally installed under the rockwork and just set the piling atop that.

The plants are some new releases by Fancyplants (red sargassum something or other) and actually look surprisingly realistic. In all honesty, I think they add that finishing touch.

I knew going into this project that lighting the tank was going to be a bit of a challenge. My initial thoughts were that I wanted enough light to grow some basic corals (zoos, mushrooms, Xenia perhaps even some gorgs) but not so much light that I would be constantly fighting coralline on all the resin inserts.

I found my answer with IceCapââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s new MH spot pendant that they released back in early summer. What a real nice piece of work. Compact, functional, and packaged in a pretty sweet looking mix of stainless and powder coated blue paint. I opted for the 70w 6500k bulb, which at first seemed way too yellow for my liking after all my years of reefing, but really is a pretty decent representation of mid-day shallow water sunlight. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have access to a light meter but the old eyeball meter says I am getting surprisingly good penetration thru 30ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ of water. The initial spread of light turned out to be larger than anticipated, but I employed a trick I learned working a the Long Beach aquarium and placed a couple of 1x4ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s on top of the tank to control the light spread. Down the road Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll probably work out something more permanent, perhaps a piece of black acrylic appropriately shaped, but in the short term the wood gets the job done. It actually is a pretty realistic effect as the contrast between light and dark really builds on the illusion of sunlight sneaking past some crack or broken board to light up a small area under the pier. I actually get about an 8ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ cylinder of light running from the top to bottom of the tank like some kind of SciFi special effect.

Here's a shot the sort of shows the re-directed lighting