Giannis86's 15g LPS Bowfront Nano - Euphyllia & Acan dominated

[Giannis86]

Hey folks,

After a few stressful days, i managed to get the 15g nano finished on time for my girls b-day. Everyone loved the tank so i'm very pleased with it.
Anyway enough talk, here is the info and pictures

EQUIPMENT
Tank: Wave Marine 60
Lighting: 2x Wave Solaris 18W 50/50PC (DIY LED CANOPY - ORDERING PARTS)
Water Movement: 1x Koralia Nano
Heating: 1x Eheim Jager 75W, 1x Eheim Jager 50W
Refugium: 5g, LS, LR, Chaetomorpha, 1x 11W Dennerle PC Nanolight, Eheim 1048 return (PICS SOON)
Overflow: DIY Acrylic Weir, Herbie Standpipes (WRITEUP AND PICS SOON!)
ATO: DIY Gravity Fed (ALMOST FINISHED , standby for pics)

LIVESTOCK
2x Amphiprion percula
1x Yasha Goby (Stonogobiops sp)
1x Randall's pistol shrimp (Alpheus randalli)
2x Blood shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
2x Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab (Clibanarius tricolor)
4x Nasarrius snails
3x Cerith snails

LPS
1x Euphyllia grabrescens
2x Euphyllia cristata
1x Euphyllia ancora
3x Acanthastrea lordhowensis (1 more to follow this week)

Zoanthids & Corallimorphs
2x Discosoma (blue and red)
2x Zoanthids
1x Protopalythoa

FEEDING
3x per day - Frozen Mysis, Frozen Artemia, OSI Marine Flakes
Target feeding the Acans 3x per week with Frozen Mysis

TO DO
DIY Gravity Fed ATO (WRITEUP ON THE WAY!)
DIY Overflow v3 (WRITEUP ON THE WAY!)
DIY LED or T5 lighting (WRITEUP ON THE WAY!)

Current FTS (8th February 2010)

Left Side - Euphyllia dominated

Right side - Acan dominated

 

[Giannis86]

LIVESTOCK

Percs

Yasha Goby

Yasha Goby & Randall's Shrimp

Blood shrimp just before acclimation

Blood Shrimps (w Flash)

Acanthastrea

Acanthastrea

Hammer Coral

Torch Coral

Grape Coral

 

[Giannis86]

Grape Coral

Discosoma

Discosoma

Zoanthids

Protopalythoa

 

[theyammieguy]

Very nice. I'd like to read about the DIY gravity fed ATO.

 

[Giannis86]

thanks!
I have been working on that since yesterday. Today i will be drilling some holes in the acrylic and glue the final piece in place. I have taken some pictures already and once its finished i will put the instructions together

 

[theyammieguy]

Good deal.

 

[kcballer]

i like how you seperated the tank. looks good

 

[Giannis86]

its been a while since i updated this thread but i have been busy, had/still having a vacation, etc.. Nonetheless here is a little update

DIY ACRYLIC OVERFLOW

The Design
Please take the time to carefully study the way the overflow works and how it is put together. I hope you will find my thoughts and tips into use.

Cutting the main piece.
To do this i attached my router on the bottom of a flat piece of wood using screws & bolts.
In order to make a straight cut, i nailed another piece of wood, about 10cm away from the blade, which i used as a guide.
Before cutting

After cutting
Note the wheel above the blade. This can be used to trace another surface.

A Cut edge
TIP: Make sure you don't pause while cutting the acrylic otherwise the blade will melt the edge (see picture below - the while spot). Luckily this can be fixed easily with light sanding of the edge. Note however that too much sanding can lead to an uneven edge which will be more difficult to glue later on).

Heating acrylic
I advise against the use of propane torches or gas stoves to heat up acrylic. I used a propane torch myself for my first 2 overflows with mixed results. I found that the torch would shoot flames for no reason, making air bubbles on the acrylic. Long story short, it is a stressful tool to use for this application.
Short thereafter i decided to buy a heat gun (see picture below) for 35euros. Let me start by telling you that this was probably the best value for money for all my diy projects so far along with the router. Using a heat gun allows for more control, it heats the acrylic evenly (no flames) and if used properly will yield nice bends without bubbles.

Bending acrylic
First of all, for the best results you need some clamps to keep your workpiece in place. Clamp the acrylic on your worktable (or wood sheet in my case). Ideally, if you are using a wooden worktable, you should put a piece of aluminum foil to protect it from burning. I must say that this is a must when using a propane torch but merely a precaution if using a heat gun. (nonetheless i didn't use any foil at all)
TIP: If exact measurements are important, you should take the length of acrylic required to make the bend into consideration. Generally i found that 0.5cm was all that was needed. For example, if you want a piece to to be 10cm long, you should heat it at 10.5cm.
Heat the acrylic from both sides (not necessary but will help with yielding a nicer bend, without bubbles) with the heat gun about 10-20cm away while holding the other end of the acrylic with your hand. Keep heating your workpiece until you feel that it has gotten very soft. Note that if you overheat it it will start forming bubbles - for this reason you should never stay on one spot with the heat gun. Just keep moving up and down for a couple of times, then heat the other side and then do the same thing all over again.

Making the middlemost bend
I found that the easiest way to make this bend it to heat a slightly larger area of the acrylic and fold it over something that has the same thickness at the one you are looking for. In my case, this was a flat piece of wood.
TIP: Make sure that if you are using a router to cut the acrylic, that the bend is slightly larger than the blade of the router. If it is not, you will not be able to use the router to cut the extra acrylic in the following steps.

Drilling holes for the drain pipes
First of all, i only had a hole saw for wood which did not seem to work good on acrylic, so i decided to make my own hole cutter from whatever tools i already had. I have to admit that this method of making holes is rather "ghetto" but it sure works nicely.
I started by making a hole on the wood. I also cut a "line" on the wood so that i could slide my acrylic piece in. Alternatively you might want to drill the holes first and then make the last bend (i forgot to do so lol). I then drilled a few small holes close to each other with my electric drill, resulting in a bigger hole that is just as big as the router blade. The wheel on the router bit, will trace the hole in the wood and cut the acrylic similarly (see 2nd & 3rd) picture below)
TIP: While drilling acrylic, take your time and let the tool do its job. If you apply a lot of pressure you will brake the acrylic.

 

[Giannis86]

Drilling a hole for priming the weir
Drill a hole and glue a plastic airhose connector on the weir.
Alternatively you can slide a piece of airhose through the opening of the overflow towards the top of the syphon part of the weir. Personally i prefer drilling a hole as the hose in the 2nd method tends to get out of place easily. On the other hand, you wont have to prime the overflow very often anyway.

The Glue & Applicator
To glue acrylic i decided to use Chloroform.
I put a bit of chloroform in small glass pot (one from JBL test kits) and added some acrylic shavings to form a thicker mixture.
For applying the glue, i used a cheap plastic syringe (buy several (2 should be enough for this project) as the glue will degrade the syringe after a while). Also buy a needle with a long tip as shown in the picture below.

Protective gear
Note that chloroform is nasty stuff and you should take all precautions and care when using it!
Work in a well ventilated area and/or use a respiratory mask with carbon filter, gloves and eye protection (double in my case LOL).
By the way, I might look like a crazy scientist on the photo but i swear i am not one;D

Pre-gluing preparations - The pins method of gluing
Place the 2 main parts on a flat piece of acrylic (slightly larger dimensions than the acrylic). Place thin pieces of wire between the flat acrylic and the bended acrylic as shown in the picture below.
TIP: Put some books on top of the acrylic to hold the workpiece in place when you remove the pins.

Gluing the acrylic
Fill the syringe with glue.
Apply the glue by gently pushing the syringe. Be fast though so that the glue doesn't dry out completely. You should see the glue flowing into the joint.
TIP: Apply the glue from the outer side of the overflow whenever possible, so that any left over glue can be routed away later on for a better visual result.
Let the glue sit for 30-60 seconds and then start pulling out the pins.
Let the workpiece dry for 4 hours.
Glue the other side using the same method and let it dry for 4 hours.
Glue the baffle in place, 1 side at a time. Let the glue dry for at least 20 minutes before doing each side.
Let the workpiece dry for a day or 2 so that joints reach maximum strength.

Check for bubbles in the joints
Large bubbles are likely to cause leaks and should be fixed. To fix them you can run an extra layer of glue where the bubbles are.
TIP: If the glue does not enter the joint, wait for 30-60 seconds, until the glue softens the acrylic. Then use the tip of the needle to poke holes in the joint where the bubbles are located. This should help the glue to flow in the joint easier.

Route the excess acrylic

Priming the weir
Fill the baffle with water.
Turn on the return pump from sump
Once water starts flowing in the overflow, suck the air out using the air-hose.
Close the air valve or place the end on the air hose in water so that no air can enter in the hose.
Alternatively you can connect the air-hose to a venturi to automatically suck any air that enters the weir.

Test for leaks

Assembly

 

[schg]

Badass overflow, very well done!

 

[Giannis86]

thanks a lot!
it seems to work great so far!
I also made the drain chamber large enough to accommodate some LR rubble. I am hoping that with time it will form a nice addition to my refugium in terms of the pod population of the tank

 

[theyammieguy]

How did you get chloroform?

 

[Giannis86]

i ordered it online from a labshop.
you could use weldon 4 with exact the same technique (using acrylic shavings to make a thicker mixture) or use Weldon 16

Actually I would have used weldon myself but i would have to let it ship overseas as they dont seem to sell it in Europe.another alternative for me was Acryfix 192, which seemed to cost more than chloroform, hence my choice for chloro