RocketEngineer's 30g

Another question: For those folks with a conch, does it move around the tank a lot or stay in one place? Mine hasn't moved except to bury itself in the sand. It eyes stick up out of the sand and last night I saw its mouth working the top of the sand bed but it never really moved from where I put it in the tank.
 
Since I know at least one person is interested, I will describe my DIY PVC overflow. My design is based on this thread but I have made some changes.

$15 PVC Overflow Thread

Now, for my version. Since I don't have any pics I made a nice pretty solid model.

148629diy_overflow_30g.jpg

Components:
(1) 1" Cross
(1) 1" Plug
(2) 1" Pipes ~ 2.5" Long
(2) 1" to 3/4" Elbow Adapter
(2) Drain Pipes 3/4" X 5" Long
(4) 3/4" Elbows
(6) 3/4" Street Elbows
(4) Siphon Pipes 3/4" X 8" Long
(2) 3/4" Tee
(2) 3/4" Plugs
(2) Overflow Pipes 3/4" X 7" Long

Not Shown:
(2) Airline check valves
(1) 1" pipe ~ 3" long
(1) 1" Slip X FPT Adapter
(1) 1" MPT X Barb adapter
(1) 1" Vinyl drain pipe

So, to put it all together, I did things in stages to keep things square. First I glued the street elbows into the regular elbows and tees, pressing the glued pieces hard against my work table to make sure they were square. I then fitted the short 1" pipes into the cross. While that dried, I drilled the holes in the 3/4" plugs for the check valves by stating with a drill I knew was too small and stepping up one drill size at a time. Initially, I didn't have any super glue so I just press fit the check valves into place until I had the glue. Otherwise I would have glued them in at this point. Next, I glued the two siphon pipes into the tee and elbow. Then the 1" X 3/4" elbow adapters were glued to the cross making sure they were square and glued the 1" adapter to the bottom of the cross. I also glued the drain and overflow pipes into their two elbows so that the street elbow drained into the regular elbow.

Now, to keep things square I used the edge of my computer desk as it was just about the right width. I first glued each half together, first the parts inside the tank to the siphon pipe, then the drain pipe to the pipe coming out of the tee. Closing in on the end, I used the desk to connect the two wings to the center cross and made sure everything was square. Finally, I glued the 3/4" plugs with the check valves in place and screwed in the 1" barb adapter.

One item I didn't glue in place was the 1" plug. By resting the plug on the cross, I can not hear the draining water over the other sounds such as the skimmer and return pumps. Otherwise, you can glue this in and then drill a hole for airline tubing and a valve to fine tune the drain.

SO How do you fill this dang thing? WELL, I raised the end of the drain line until it was even with the top of the cross and then poured water into the drain pipe until I had filled the bottom of both sides of the siphon pipes. I had already attached a short length of airline to the check valve and by pulling on that airline with a 10mL syringe, I was able to pull all the air out of the tee.

Now, with the drain pipe running to the sump, I turned the valve on the return line to about halfway closed and started up the pump. I then adjusted the valve until I get a nice smooth cone of water flowing across the top of the overflow pipes and down into the overflow.

This overflow works because the siphon pipe ends remain submerged. The water drains down to the bottom of the cross both inside and outside of the tank. When the return pump starts, the rising water level allows water to drain into the overflow pipes, where it then gets carried by the siphon pipes over the rim of the tank and then drains through the cross and into the sump.

Every day or so I use the syringe to empty the air out of the top of the tees. I typically pull 10mL per day but I feel that there is more then enough extra room should I miss a day or two.

Simple, easy to make and inexpensive. Oh yeah, and IT WORKS!
 
Well today I took a trip to Dr. Mac's and picked up a pair of Home Bred Ocellaris Clownfish. Here are a couple pics.

148629Clowns_Added.jpg


148629Clowns_Again.jpg


The female's middle band is broken at the same place on both sides. The male is about half the size of the female. Its very nice to have some movement in the tank other then the snails working the rocks and the glass.

How soon after introduction do people feed their first fish? Any help there would be appreciated.
 
Well, the clowns are doing good. They are swimming all over the tank and appear to like cyclo-peze above the other foods.

I spotted what I think is a bristle worm. I know some people do radical things to get rid of them, but I want to know if I catch it and put it into the sump, would that be a good idea?
 
gary faulkner,
I have seen enough horror stories to be convinced not to handle LR bare handed. I went out and bought a box of latex gloves even before I bought the rock. Better safe then sorry.
 
Well its been a month since I last posted so I figured I would let everyone see where the tank is at and to ask a few questions.

First, the pics:
Female Clownfish. In this shot you can see the broken middle bar quite well.
148629Clown_Female.jpg


One of my best hermit crab shots. It was down in front so really easy to take a photo.
148629Hermit.jpg


This shot shows the range of colors that are all over the tank.
148629Tank_Shot.jpg


And a picture of one of FIVE feather dusters.
148629Feather_Duser.jpg


SO My questions:
1) Every so often my feather dusters get a fuzzy halo around the tube. Any one have any idea what that is?

2) I have a problem with what I think is diatoms. My sand bed is covered with a film of brown/gold that is easily broken up and only occurs in some areas of the sand. Any idea how to get rid of it? Carbon, Poly-filter maybe? Lets here some ideas.

Thanks for the input and sorry for the small pic size.

RocketEngineer
 
Well, its been over a month. I still have diatoms but they are not nearly as bad. Yesterday I picked up a small reflector and set up to incorporate some cheato into the sump. Today, I went to Dr. Mac's and picked up some cheato, LR rubble, and LS. Now all I need is a small pump to tumble the cheato and we will see how things work out.

And now onto the pics.
A small white starfish (brittle?) that was climbing the wall of the sump.
StarfishSmall.jpg


Some sponges that love the rock in the center of the tank.
Sponge.jpg


A total of six of these guys in the rock on the right side of the tank.
FeatherDuster.jpg


Enjoy.
 
A quick thought on the air you're syringing out of your siphon(s)...

I've read where you can drill a small hole in the very top of the sipon (where the air collects), and attach an air-line tube there with the other end of the air-line going to the venturi port on a powerhead. Theory being that the powerhead will pull the bit of air out on a constant basis (so you don't have to babysit it). It will also re-start the siphon after a power loss, once the power returns. A quick search on here should give you much better information than I can if it's something you think would work for you.

Thanks for posting all your progress as your tank grows! I'm still setting mine up and am always curious to see how things go for others in the early days.

-S
 
looks great!! after getting back on the forums, i can't wait to finalize my build, maybe i'll do the start to finish thing as well.

Hell of a job rocket.

the "halo" around the feather duster tube is a sign of growth. and i would also suggest some research on the conch. i've heard many horror stories of them being coral eaters.
 
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somewherre, I have thought of that. Its one way of managing the siphon. The way I went was to break down for a $12 Aqualifter. It works quite well and I have no problems with it keeping a siphon.

darkclamz, Thanks for the info about the feather dusters. I couldn't find anything about the phenomenon so its good to know its a positive scenario rather then a problem. Since I don't plan on any major corals for a good while, the conch eating corals isn't an issue. I have noticed that it can reach about 2-3 inches up the rock so I can see how that would be a potential problem.

tmantaylor18, For now, the tank is going to stay a FOWLR. If all goes well, my LFS should be getting some new small fish two weeks from now. I hope to add a gobbie and a small reef-safe wrasse. Eventually, I will upgrade to two 60W T5 on the IceCap 660 that I have on my other tank. Then I will see what I can keep.
 
Ok, question:Small (1/8" or less) red snail-like creatures on the chaeto. Red Nudibranchs? Red Bugs? Any ideas? Very hard to take a good picture because they are so small.
 
Well, I now have a ton of the little red slug things in the cheato. For now I am just going to let them go to town. Oh, and I spotted this on the rubble I got.

CoralID1.jpg


Any ideas? Let me know what you think about leaving it in the sump or moving it into the display.
 
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