burrito Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 so after having a nanocube and a 2.5g a few years ago in college, i am back to start a new tank.(both the others were sold after various dorm room move hassles) RIP so with the inspiration of others on the forum i have decided to do a 5.5g rimless AIO. i've never done a DIY project before but i figured what the hell. ill be documenting this with as many pictures as possible, and im sure ill ask the advice of many of you all in the process. Hardware 5.5g tank from petco 18' nova extreme 2x18 Theo heater 50w Maxi-jet 600 API test kit Coralife thermometer Acrylic sheets(Home depot) aquarium sealer oopss safety first kids! all cleaned up cutting the false wall spray paint(kyrlon fusion) i suck at silicone i have a lot of clean up when it dries ok. 1 HUGE!!!!! oversight was i forgot to drill the hole for the PH. any ideas how i can go about making a hole with the false wall in place already? can i water test it tomorrow? or is it too early. Link to comment
showjyr Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Take something metal and heat it up....melt a hole in the acrylic. Tada you have a hole You should be able to water test tomorrow. Link to comment
burrito Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 love your avy. im mesmerized.... anyway i have a dremel tool with some attachments. would that be too much force causing the silicone seals to break? Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 love your avy. im mesmerized.... anyway i have a dremel tool with some attachments. would that be too much force causing the silicone seals to break? I'd just heat up the correct sized drill bit on the gas hob and press it against the plastic you'll be cool. Make sure you heat it up enough though, if not it will look bit gash. Link to comment
PSYS Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Looks like it'll be a nice build... Link to comment
burrito Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 so i heated up a 3/8th drill bit and made a nice hole that way, then filed with sand paper untill the hole was just big enough for the maxijet. if there is any water leak with the maxijet hole should i silicone it or would that be shooting myself in the foot later on. pics once the paint on the sides dries up Link to comment
burrito Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 i still have to clean up a bit but its done Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 NICE. I would like an open top like that but in uk pico's are unheard of so i have had to settle for a 6g freshwater tank that has a lid and compact t5s. Came on a sweet stand though so can't complain too much! what you planning on stocking? Link to comment
burrito Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 ok so the PH hole is great and i did another water test with it on. its a MaxiJet 600. as you can see in the pictures below, the flow is too much for comfort, even after i added 2 more slits(with a hot knife at this point which ruined the look of the teeth but oh well) so my question is, to bring the water level down about 1cm do i make the slits deeper(they come down about an inch right now)? wider? or will spliting the output hole with some locline into 2 heads reduce the flow enough to bring the water level down. like shown. also do hardware stores carry locline? so any ideas? Link to comment
disaster999 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 i think braking off every other teeth to let more water in would be the easiest solution for you without taking apart the false wall to cut the teethes again. Link to comment
adolfo425 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Very sweet looking tank you got there. Can't wait to see it stocked. Adolfo Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I agree with snapping every other off, or you could physically remove some water until you are happy with the water level. I'd drain the tank. Snap and file the teeth Then refil the tank without turning the power head on let it fill the chambers then turn the powerhead on and fill untill you are happy with the water level. Are you putting a lid on this? I love seeing tanks filled to the brim. I'm lucky that my tank is framed in acrylic so i can fill to this border and still have some space to the top of the tank decreasing the likelyhood of having any livestock jump out. Link to comment
CoRPS Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Was it a pain in the ass to remove the trim? It looks so much nicer without it! Link to comment
burrito Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 so i made the teeth wider and flow is great, water stays about 1/2 a cm from the rim. looks good. sand rock and water go in tomorrow!!! as far as stocking, im thinking sps and zoas. mabye some sexy shrimp or a pistol goby combo(is the tank too small for a goby?) Link to comment
burrito Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 and we have rock sand and water!!!! requisite cloudy tank pics water is just under the rim, im a little worried though about something getting caught in the skimmer... i may just snap a tooth or 2 off just to be safe. Link to comment
burrito Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 cleared up photos. the flash photos are a bit truer to what the tank looks like. should i have much of a cycle if i used live sand, NSW, and LR from a very established tank. the LR was out of water for mabye 5 minutes. Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 nice rock dude. I'm going to get some more next week. I saw a peice with a few shrooms on it in my lfs, think i might see if i can get him break the rock up a bit for me so i can get a couple kilo off him. Link to comment
burrito Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 so the tank is no more i came home from work to find a giant crack along one whole panel, and half the water on the floor. fish and inverts survived and all was quickly moved (aka thrown in) to a new 5aga. my sps are dead as they were exposed to air for who knows how long. and my rock were half exposed to air as well. i have everything back in the new tank. is the rock gonna cause a huge spike in ammonia? i was able to salvage about 2 gallons worth of of water and all the sand. any suggestions or advice? im kinda bummed right now. also, the tank lighting was upgraded to a 20" 70w sunpod. is there any chance that the light fixture caused the tank to crack(its heavier) or just bad luck. i will post pics of everything (new FTS from before the crack, cracked tank shots, and new tank later today) Link to comment
Discofruit Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I'm so sorry to hear it cracked! Do you have a cat? Kitty could have gone hunting while you were away... accidentally leaning on the tank. Maybe that's why the tanks have rims... Also, forgot to ask, but where on the build was the crack? Could you post a picture? Knowing where the crack was will help us figure out what went wrong. Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Oh no!!! It looked so good! Sorry to hear about the tank... You could always go up to 10 gallon.. Link to comment
burrito Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 so heres the update with photos. the tank before the crack last FTS the cracked tank :mad: and its new temp home RIP old tank any ideas that caused the tank to crack. could it have been the sunpod? i dont have any pic of the old tank with the sunpod. should i build a new 10g ? Link to comment
Discofruit Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I've heard that mantis shrimp can crack glass... Link to comment
enigma70x7 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I read somewhere that extruded acrylic like the stuff from most hardware stores actually absorbs a small amount of water and can expand and crack small tanks if your false wall is a really tight fit. Link to comment
Jamo Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I read somewhere that extruded acrylic like the stuff from most hardware stores actually absorbs a small amount of water and can expand and crack small tanks if your false wall is a really tight fit. I've heard of this, i've read that people make the acrylic a few mm short either side to allow for movement into the sealant or the use of particular types of plastic. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.