Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]

[Kinetic]

you could try getting a piece of low-iron glass or even Diamante (sp?) to cover the tank. Since you have a basement setup, this shouldn't heat up your system very much at all. Also it won't take away as much as the eggcrate in terms of lighting if you go with low-iron. I heard Diamante is free of iron, much clearer than even Starphire, but too brittle to be used in holding a tank together. Being just a lid would be perfect though.

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks rdmpe definitely sucks to lose a fish. I moved 2 of the mangroves into the main section of the refugium and stuck them in the sand. I think I'm going to have to get a bit more sand what I have is not deep enough.

Thanks for the ideas Kinetic. I did not consider low-iron or Diamante. I will have to look into it. I may even be able to get a few hole drilled in the glass to let out some heat.

For now I made a couple lids out of eggcrate. Basically I cut the eggcrate to fit exactly into the holes on the top of the tank and then super glued a couple plexi pieces on to hold them in place. I ended up with a nice clean look but it does block a bit of light. Its not real bad and I think I will be able to live with it. They look pretty good, you can't see them unless you are standing up looking down at the tank.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. They should keep any jumpers in.

I would now recommend that everyone have some type of preventative measures in place to keep your fish in the tank.

 

[Lunchbucket]

sorry to hear about your jumpers. the eggcrate tops look great and i'm sure they are functional

Lunchbucket

 

[melev]

That looks good to me. Are you intentionally trying to get the fish to jump now, just to see them ricochet back into the water?

 

[Kinetic]

very clean job with the eggcrate. but your tank is so sleek, if it were up to me I'd definately invest in a piece of Diamante to accent the top of your tank. It's a non-canopy setup right? It's all about presentation, and shortcuts will only end up in later changing it. For aesthetic value, I think a piece of glass would be a very big upgrade. Even though the eggcrate looks great at the moment, you could picture it being covered with almost a completely transparent piece of glass. Sexy no? And cleaning would be easy, just lift, rinse, dry, and walla =) It'd keep out all salt creep into your room, however much there is.

I'm currently looking into a piece of diamante for my open top as well if I ever do get any jump prone fish.

 

[rdmpe]

I'm curious - salt creep in the house? I haven't noticed anything like that yet. Where would you see salt creep away from the tank?

I don't have any significant bubbles in the tank, so I don't think I'm getting much saltwater spray from that. Just wondering what I need to watch out for. I have a leather sofa right against the tank stand - I don't want to ruin the leather with salt! I clean it once in a while with some leather wipes to keep it conditioned and protected against the salt/uv/etc.

 

[melev]

Randy, keep up with that. I had a wall clock completely across the room rust on the top edges, when I took it down recently. I couldn't believe it. Another picture frame was dusty on top, and I wiped it off to find rust and the gold finish eaten away. Obviously it was more than dust, and had some salt in it.

The glass top might look pretty, but it will trap heat and we try to avoid that whenever possible. Glass also inhibits gas exchange that our tanks need. I think the eggcrate solution looks good and will work well.

 

[Kinetic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7558807#post7558807 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
The glass top might look pretty, but it will trap heat and we try to avoid that whenever possible. Glass also inhibits gas exchange that our tanks need. I think the eggcrate solution looks good and will work well.

would it be more than sufficient that he has a basement setup already with gas exchange etc?

I agree that it will trap more heat and not provide for enough gas exchange unless your basement setup compensates for that.

Maybe a glass top with a few small "vent" matrices drilled into it... who knows =)

 

[melev]

That's true, it should help.

Then again, that is like having a glass coffee table in a room full of toddlers. I'd not want the extra work of cleaning it off all the time, but you might not mind.

 

[Kinetic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7559744#post7559744 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
That's true, it should help.

Then again, that is like having a glass coffee table in a room full of toddlers. I'd not want the extra work of cleaning it off all the time, but you might not mind.

lol! =))

 

[DrBDC]

:lol:

We have 4 boys and about halfway through the 2nd one, we have a table that's just a frame w/o the glass. That is after fixing it 6 times.

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks everyone. I may try a glass lid at some point. My biggest worry about a glass lid is going to be heat. With my sump in the basement and big skimmer I'm not so worried about gas exchange.

If heat is a problem with a glass top I could always use the eggcrate lids in the warn months and the glass lid the rest of the time.

Has anyone every had fish jump through eggcrate?

The only salt build up I have noticed is on top of the tank in front of the overflow box where the water splashes. I don't have anything behind the tank so this is not a big deal. I have to wipe the top off once a week or so.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7556029#post7556029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
That looks good to me. Are you intentionally trying to get the fish to jump now, just to see them ricochet back into the water?

It would be a funny site to see LOL

 

[melev]

<i>Go ahead. Jump. I dare you. I double-dog dare you...!</i>

 

[Sinistard]

A few updates on my tank.

The Acro I added has started to STN around the base and brown out a bit. After testing my water I found the my Kdh was low, somewhere around 5. I had an older test kit that was way off. I have been adding buffer to the tank over the last 3 day and have it up to 9 now. I don't know for sure that this is the problem that is causing the STNing but it's a likely culprit. I hope the frag does not continue to STN but from what I have read it's likely to not make it. Another possibility for STNing is flat worms, I have not examined the frag closely but I hope that this is not the case.

I have that DIY kalk reactor that I need to get hooked up that I'm sure will help keep my ALK and Calcium the proper levels. I'm going to hook it up in line with my top off system that I don't have hooked up yet

My skimmer has started to pull some gunk out of the water. I have a very low bio-load for the volume of water, just to 2 little clowns so I don't expect to get to much out of it.

I did have a micro bubble problem that seem to be working it self out. I have a lot less bubbles in the tank now then I did just a couple weeks ago. This may be due to the skimmer breaking in.

The last thing that has happened is one of my American DJ power strips is having a problem. I think something shorted out in it. I was watching a movie one night and I noticed one of the clowns swimming in front of a CL outlet with no problems, this meant that I had a super clown fish that could swim in direct flow or my pump was not working. I checked it out and the pump was off, I flipped the switch off then back on and it tripped the breaker in the power strip as well as my GFCI outlet. I also noticed a burnt smell coming from the strip. I unplugged everything from it and plugged them directly into the wall for now. The strip is working now that I reset the breaker but I don't really trust it so I need to go out and get a new one. For some reason one of the switches that never had anything plugged into it is not working at all and it may be the problem.

Every thing else seems to be doing well, I have added a couple more corals to the tank from my nano and a few more pounds of LR to the fuge. That's it for now.

 

[Kinetic]

for the STN'ing frag, try to frag whatever parts of it are not STN'ing. That may help the remaining healthy pieces survive. THough it's already so small already. Try at least 1/2" sized frags.

 

[robster]

Great setup. I like how you put the sump in the basement. That is the way to go. Do you have any plans for that kalk reactor you made? Parts list, etc. Back when I ran an open top tank I got the mirrored type of egg crate from lowes. It didn't reduce the light as much as the plain white. Lastly, back when I ran an acrylic tank the salt creep all gathered under the top lip of the tank. I ended up having to keep a alage magnet on there to clean it daily because it was reducing the light that could pass through.

 

[Sinistard]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7623069#post7623069 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by robster
Great setup. I like how you put the sump in the basement. That is the way to go. Do you have any plans for that kalk reactor you made? Parts list, etc. Back when I ran an open top tank I got the mirrored type of egg crate from lowes. It didn't reduce the light as much as the plain white. Lastly, back when I ran an acrylic tank the salt creep all gathered under the top lip of the tank. I ended up having to keep a alage magnet on there to clean it daily because it was reducing the light that could pass through.

Thanks robster.

I may try the mirrored egg crate if I the white seems to have any negative effects on my corals. I plan to get a piece of glass and try that at some point to see if it gets to hot.

Thanks for the tip to use a algae magnet under the top I never though of that. I have just been wiping it with a wet paper towel. Did you have any problems with it scratching the acyclic since there is some dry salt build up?

I found the plans for the kalk reactor. Here is a picture of them. Click for a bigger image if you have any troubles reading the words. If you have any questions let me know.

 

[Milleme]

Great plans! This is just what iv'e been lookin' for. Im new to kalk reactors but have the general idea of how they work and what they do.

Could you tell me where all the tubings lead. Where do o. i. and h. on the plans lead to. Also can a reactor like this be fed by a RO reservor and then drip into the tank, so that you dont have to always refill it? Or im off on that?

BTW I love your tank and everything about it.

Thanx

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks Milleme.

There is a picture of how to set it up as well that shows what tubes go where. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow, it's getting late here and I need sleep

It's not the best idea to run it directly off a RO reserved because if your float switch or valve gets stuck you will end up with a ton of kalk and fresh water in you tank. There are a couple ways to feed your sump, you can use a dosing pump to feed it or gravity feed it. When I post the picture it will be more clear on the best ways to hook it up.

I also got a couple new additions to the tank. I'll try to get some pictures posted tomorrow.

 

[Sinistard]

Here is the diagram of how to install the kalk reactor.




One note you should have a timer on the pump regardless of what method you use. The timer should be set to come on 4 or 5 times a day and only stay on for a minute. The ball valve labeled O is used to drain some water and test it for proper PH. You should get a PH reading of around 12 from your kalk water and if it's lower set the timer to stir it an additional time.