DIY Aquarium Start to Finish

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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9917662#post9917662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by oharaell
Doc was successfull in convincing me that it's actually the air movment, not really the ambient temp. that's important.

If I where you, i'd turn that icecap around so it's blowing down onto the water, instead of venting.

I bought one of those office fans and mounted in my stand, so I've got MASSIVE air movment in my stand-- Just did it after doc's post a few days ago...

My temp hasn't gotten about 78 since I did that!

Thanks doc!
Click to expand...

Can you post a pic of your canopy and cooling fan/s
Thanks
 
I don't have a canopy. It's open top.

I mounted a 4" office fan (from target) right in the front to the ceiling of the stand.

It's ugly as all heck, but it's easy to move (I just put a screw in and the fan has a hole that it hangs by).

Point is... get as much air hitting the surface of your water as you can.
 
Try your local yellow pages for plastics or acrylic suppliers. There are online suppliers for acrylic, but I don't know if any of them would sell small enough qtys of black for overflow covers.

I would agree that you will most likely need more air movement to keep that tank cool with the MH lamps. I have had good luck with a couple of clip monted fans blowing on the water surface and a few "silenx" fans pulling air out from above the MH's. (the silenx fans are WAY quieter and cheaper than ice caps).

So when are you going to start this system up?
 
You know, I'm quite disappointed in this thread. By its title I was expecting a thread where the entire tank and its components were DIY projects.

Your pictures were quite confusing and some captions and better sizing would have helped. I think they created much of the negativity for most of the thread.

As for the GFCI's, if they're well wired no problem. It's a great idea to have a separate one for every device if you're comfortable shelling out the bucks for them. You said you got them at a large discount, can you get that discount for others? :) 40 outlets really isn't overkill. I thought the plugs for the indicator lights was wasteful and bulky, is there a reason you didn't direct wire them? I can't see any reason to need to unplug them unless you're replacing a bulb and you could trip off that GFCI for a few minutes when you need to do that. Just saying I would have gone for 40 outlets instead of 20. And I'd scrap the coralife timers/strips. They're known to fail quickly.

I'd definitely cut back on the heaters. Just in the case one sticks on while you're not there and the tank really heats up. Now that the weather is getting warm again you should probably really look into a chiller.

I think you'll find out the streams will be too much for a 90g once it's filled with water. But since this will be a bare bottom tank essentially it may work out for you.

I know how much the traveling for work can damper having a reef tank. I've been on the road so much the last year I set one up in the apartment I had just for work for 6 months then it crashed while I was home for Christmas. Tank overheated after roommate unplugged all my pumps for me when they began to cavitate instead of filling up my ATO reservoir. Surprisingly all my corals lived, but all fish, shrimp, and emerald crabs bit the dust. Tank temp probably got up to 95. Corals are in a friend's tank and I don't have one right now. That may be the best for you since you'll only be around it 2 out of 7 days a week. If the traveling isn't permanent, you should probably wait to add livestock to the tank. You could do things the patient way unlike most reefers do and have a long cycle time. If anything goes wrong all you've lost is some microfauna you'd just reseed. Plus it would be interesting to see the progression of the hitchhikers on your rocks.
 
I have central air conditioning so the house stays pretty dry in the summer. My question goes to those that have the same conditions or live in very dry areas: How many gallons do you lose to evaporation per week when you cool the tank by blowing fans at the water?

I'm buying the parts to setup my first reef tank. Just wondering how big of an auto top off tank to buy. I'm hoping when it's setup I won't have to big of a problem with heat. But as I have been reading with HO lights and multiple pumps the heat can build up on you. Thx

Tony
 
I go through about 2 gallons a week in my 75 in florida. I keep my ac on from 78 day to about 74 at night. My lights are not crazy soo... How long do you want it to last? What type of colling are you going to have? I would say at least of 10. How big is your sump? 1 of my friends has a 20 for his 150 with a 55 sump. I'll see if I can find out how long it last. I have been trying to figure this same question myself for a 300 in wall. I am in the first stage my self just trying to pick all the equipment first...I was thinking of using a 33 gallon trash can. But then I found out its better to get better tank for water storage and use that for salt miking. Something about storing the ro water. So I am going to try and find a better tank for water storage.

Any updates??
 
AC will be set to around 70-71ish. I'm going to try and get away with evaporation cooling if it's needed. Won't know until I get it up and running...... eventually. :) My tank is 150Gal but will be using only 120Gal. Total sump/fuge setup will be around 40-50 Gallons. I'm still drawing out the plans. I have a new 10Gal sitting here that I was going to use for an earlier project that got pushed to the side when I got this tank. Will probably incorporate it somehow. Not sure if it's big enough for a top off reservoir.

Thx for the info. Please let me know if you find out how long it will last.

Tony
 
Thats perfect size for a qt tank. One big thing learned is just take your time. There are a lot of cool people onthese forums and tons of info.. Good luck.
 
I'd lose 6 gallons or so a week on my 29g. But That's with 325watts of MH and VHO supplement. And the humidity was quite high there... but so was the ambient temp. It'll just differ tank to tank depending on the setup and surroundings. You can't say exactly for sure until it's setup and seen. Even then it'll change time to time which is why it's important to have that ATO and watch params. You'll do fine with a 10 gallon for a while, but I think you'll probably want to get a larger reservoir in a short time. I like to have about 2 weeks worth of top off ready with all supplements added. Then check water params when it gets low and redo my math to add the right amount of supplements. I keep my top off aerated and moving with a small powerhead. And I easily kept my Ca near 500ppm all the time with this method and dow flake. Best of luck.
 
You went DIY crazy, lol. IMO way overdone and not pleasing to the eye. Looks more like a crazy scientist and his experiement. Reef aquariums should be nice to look at as well as functional.
 
UPdate

UPdate

I am very close to adding water. I need to home for at least 7 days in order to check for leaks heat problems ect.
 
I lose about 2 gallons a day on my 100g tank. I hooked my auto top off switch to my RO/DI unit and i never have to fill any tanks anymore. I love it as I put an emergency shut off float switch on it so if the first sticks and continues to fill the second one will get wet and shut it off before any damage is done. I am thinking of adding another float switch underwater so if the water gets too low and the first switch fails the one below it will trigger the auto top off.

I use two heaters that are each bairly able to keep the water at the correct temp on there own so if one shuts off the other can keep up and if one sticks on it won't cook the tank.

For vacations and any reason I am away I have one of my family members that works near my house or one of my neighbors check my tank and circuit interupters every day while they feed it. Its never a problem to find someone to take care of my tank as everyone loves to watch it. I have neighbors just waiting for me not to be home so they can watch the tank for as long as they want. Now if I could only come up with a way to automatically feed my tank frozen food and get one of those controllers that calls you when something is wrong I would not have to have anyone check on the tank for a week or more but at the moment thats not possible.
I only give my tank 10 min during the week days and 1 hour for testing and water changes during weekends. can't beat that
 
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