yardboy Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 A buddy gave me two 10 gal tanks, I busted the bottom out of one and replaced with a piece of 1/4" so I could drill it out with a Dremel, then made a overflow and Durso with stuff from HD. Sump is the other 10 gal, with a baffle made from the plexi left from the overflow. Return pump is a "HaHa", Hydor nano pump, rated at 145gpm, but measures with 2 feet head at 60gph. Overflow "chamber" is a piece of 4"PVC with slots to allow water flow into refugium section. Lighting by "Ye Olde LOA 65W floodlight." Background is, uhhh, back yard! Tank's been going for two months with no signs of micro, interesting how macro can outcompete. Initial water for system was water change from larger tank. No skimmer, maybe never? Fancy stand entirely of 2X4's. Big heater was only because of sudden coldsnap and tank by window. Later I'll get a smaller heater and put in overflow. Waiting for ballast to run 70W DIY with Regal light. Right now kinda funny looking with tank I look at on bottom, only rock on top. Various and sundry macros and other inhabitants. Spaghetti worm making himself at home Link to comment
MGXsport Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Looking nice! Why don't you put the heater in the fuge instead? Link to comment
evilknieval69 Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Thats a fresh tank mate, well done Link to comment
yardboy Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Looking nice! Why don't you put the heater in the fuge instead? A heater in the sump would disturb the symmetrical aesthetics of the refugium biotope. and there is room to place it in the overflow. With the durso I don't have to worry about losing the water in the overflow chamber and damaging the heater. It's also the highest flow area for good heat exchange. Do you foresee any problems I've missed? Link to comment
wav3form Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 A heater in the sump would disturb the symmetrical aesthetics of the refugium biotope. and there is room to place it in the overflow. With the durso I don't have to worry about losing the water in the overflow chamber and damaging the heater. It's also the highest flow area for good heat exchange. Do you foresee any problems I've missed? I don't see any problems but "symmetrical aesthetics of the refugium biotope"? Kinda nerdy. Link to comment
YeahitsK Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Nothing ghetto about that, looks like you knew what you were doing. What's going on with the area in the sump where the overflow empties into the baffle? Is that to quiet down the water draining into the sump? Does it work well? Link to comment
MGXsport Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 A heater in the sump would disturb the symmetrical aesthetics of the refugium biotope. and there is room to place it in the overflow. With the durso I don't have to worry about losing the water in the overflow chamber and damaging the heater. It's also the highest flow area for good heat exchange. Do you foresee any problems I've missed? Haha just suggesting it would look just a little better out of view of the display tank. Link to comment
yardboy Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Nothing ghetto about that, looks like you knew what you were doing. What's going on with the area in the sump where the overflow empties into the baffle? Is that to quiet down the water draining into the sump? Does it work well? I'm really poor on proper names for things, so pardon me if I don't quite know which area you are referring to. The overflow empties into a 4" piece of PVC, the purpose of which is to a)quieten the overflow, eliminate microbubbles, c) provide mechanical filtration, via filter socks, when desired, d) chemical filtration, bags of carbon, phosphate remover, organic removers, etc., can be placed there to do their job, if needed. The baffle with eggcrate on top separates the refugium from the pump compartment (and it'll be where the heater will go too ) That jive line about symmetrics was just that, but thanks for the compliment. Nerdy is the new cool, as I'm sure you know. I bought a completely submersible 50W heater and put it right under where the water falls into the pump compartment, realized that would be where greatest flow occurs. The ballast for the display 70W MH is stuck in a truck a few miles down the road from me, so more time to think of what I want to do in the upper display. Thinking Zen, as in, opposite of cluttered. Link to comment
PhatSOB Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 nice looking setup, I will add that the 4" PVC that the durso drains into is also to prevent everything in the fuge from getting disturbed by the flow from the main tank, the pvc acts as an overflow. Link to comment
herostar Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Nice setup, I like the DIY style you're going with. It's also the highest flow area for good heat exchange. Do you foresee any problems I've missed? Yes. If the water is flowing too fast over the heater it will never end up heating the water because contact time is too small. I'm going to second putting it in the refugium. But, if it ain't broke, don't fix it Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Yes. If the water is flowing too fast over the heater it will never end up heating the water because contact time is too small. Not. The heater is transferring heat into the water regardless of the flow speed. Link to comment
kappa Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Damn, I love the simplicity of your fuge. Good job, you have ten thumbs up from me. Link to comment
yardboy Posted December 11, 2006 Author Share Posted December 11, 2006 I've been in a major move with my large system, the 10 gallon display that the refugium is hooked up too has had to suffer as a refugee camp for a few days while I made the move. Everything is back to normal and the 70W light is hooked up. Updates later. Thanks for checking it out. I placed the heater under the refugium overflow, in the return pump space. Flow runs over the whole length of the heater, and even with the temp outside in the twenties and the tank right beside the window, it stays a nice 79 in the tank and refugium. Link to comment
Turbo5oh Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 any good pointers on cutting the teeth in the display over flow? how do know how deep to cut them so the water level will stay above the black rim? i plan to do something similair with a 15 tall Link to comment
coppycatt Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Always remember...............you, your coral, and your wife, are the only ones you have to please. Other than that, get as getto as possible to save money. (which pleases the wife which is very important) and make sure to please the coral. (that's where the money should go) and be consistant in every aspect of everything to do with the tank. I think it is great. Link to comment
yardboy Posted December 13, 2006 Author Share Posted December 13, 2006 Turbo, truthfully I did it by trial and error. The top of the overflow I kept above the bottom of the black trim so that worst case the water would just go over the top of the overflow. I measured what the size of teeth on other tanks I have and scaled it down due to the smaller tank and cut the teeth with a Dremel. First attempt the teeth were too narrow and the water just flowed right over the top of the overflow, not through the teeth. Opened the teeth up a bit and got flow through them. Mainly, just don't overcut them, then try it to make sure they'll work, and modify if necessary! Thanks for the words coppy. My wife and family are definitely priority one, thank goodness they are interested in the tanks too. Tickles me to see my seventeen y/o daughter yacking on the phone (like they are prone to do) while cleaning the glass with a magnetic scraper, or sitting with her b/f on the bench in front of the display talking away. Reminds me of when I was courting my future wife, we did the exact same thing, just in front of a smaller tank! Link to comment
BasementJungle Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Will you get any good natural sunlight exposure through that window? Link to comment
yardboy Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 In the morning the sun shines directly in on the tank for about an hour, but with the angle of light through the atmosphere, going through the glass, and for such a short duration, I don't think it is of much help. I've put a 70W metal halide over it, but it's on a limited time, as there are no permanent residents in the upper tank as of yet. Has anyone ever used mylar film as a reflector? There is a lot of light spillage around the edges of the LOA refugium light, and wondered what I could do to reduce it. Seems running a strip of reflective mylar around the edge of the light might help, but don't know if it gets too hot or not. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 If you hold mylar up to a light, you'll see that it usually isn't thick enough to reflect all the light and some passes through. I am sure that it would be better than nothing, though. Since this is a "ghetto beauty", why not tinfoil? It doesn't let any light through, it tranferres heat pretty effectively, it holds the shape you form it into, and it is easy to replace without spending $$ for mylar balloons. Link to comment
yardboy Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 Good idea Mr. Fosi, but I've always avoided tinfoil due to it's interaction with saltwater. Besides, wouldn't it be "more ghetto" to scavenge a busted mylar balloon from the dumpster?! Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 ...wouldn't it be "more ghetto" to scavenge a busted mylar balloon from the dumpster?! I suppose it would. Link to comment
svvad Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 If you really wanna go ghetto U have to use the inside of potato chips bags Cheers Link to comment
scarf_ace1981 Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 you've done a great job. Link to comment
yardboy Posted December 18, 2006 Author Share Posted December 18, 2006 As I may have mentioned earlier, this little tank was a refugee camp for a week, while I moved my large display. Imagine what a real refugee camp must look like after everyone leaves, "shudder" and you can picture this little tank. Frags of a frogspawn got brown jelly infection, Xenia disintegrated. It was a mess. Through it all the refugium plugged on, I may pay later because the caulerpa went wild as did the Chaetomorpha, sand may have picked up a heavy load of nutrients. I broke down the display, cleaned it out, did a complete water change and set it back up. Got my Craftsman 500W halogen retro'ed with ballastwise MH ballast and a 14000K AstraLux 70W bulb. More "Ghettobeauty" canopy, not quite finished, still needs a front panel and a coat of "Severe Weather" paint from Lowe's. Link to comment
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