So long story short...my best friends cousin gets sent off to jail for a long time, we raid his apartment because the landlord is going to throw it all out since he can't pay rent, and I inherit an oldschool big screen tv and a coffee table fish tank. Thought it might be kind of a cool project. I have thrown around a few ideas as to how to do it but definitely looking for more. It was always set up as a freshwater so this is going to be a big change. It had a HOB filter that was nasty as hell so I'm scrapping that and starting fresh. Originally I was going to see if I could run a canister filter or some sort of sump to under the end table by the couch but was going to be hard to have water lines running and not be seen or messed up in anyway. So I decided to do an all in one type setup. Here's the description. It's an elongated octagon, all acrylic, with a glass top. each side has about a one and a half inch gap under the glass.
Click to view attachment
The plan for filtration will be to have a false wall in the end. I already have an MJ1200 that will hopefully take care of flow...might have to get a K nano or something to go along with it for the other side. In total, I think it's technically a 28 gallon tank. The outer dimensions are 38x20x10. If I put a false wall in this end Click to view attachment
And Leave enough space for the filtration I think I will be able to get 3 compartments for a nice AIO. If anyone has any other suggestions or for how to set up the compartments, let me know.
The other interesting aspect to this will be the lighting...I don't really want to have anything sitting on top of the coffee table since it will be used for coffee table type stuff. Already realizing that I might not be able to do a reef tank but even for a FOWLR I'd like to have it well lit.


AAAAAANywayssss....just looking for another point of view. See if anyone else has seen these set up for salt water or has any ideas of how to do so. Seemed like a fun and challenging project.

submersilbe led's

a reef is out of the question, but could be a really cool fowlr

Will you be adding a protein skimmer in that conpartment?

I was also going to suggest LED's for your lighting. It's about your only option (if you want a reef tank). If done right that thing will look pretty cool.

Aw man, what I could do with one of those...

Yeah I'm starting to think either a seahorse tank (my girlfriend would love it) or possibly a dwarf lionfish tank. But I have a piece of acrylic cut for the end. All I could find was clear so I'm just going to spray it black with krylon fusion. Now I just have to figure out exactly how I'm going to put the baffles inside the wall. Click to view attachment
The space I have is kind of a strange shape...thinking about just making it into three triangles. Still have to see exactly how much room I need for the MJ1200. Should the return be towards the bottom of the tank pointed up or should I stick with it towards the top of the tank for surface movement? My tank is somewhat round...so I don't want to get a tornado effect going at all.
Click to view attachment
There's a really rough drawing I did in paint to sort of figure out general shapes. No dimensions used though.

Unfortunately high power LEDs are probably out of the question simply due to cost and the fact that I suck at soldering/electronic equipment in general. If I have enough room I'd like to add a protein skimmer in the middle compartment. I know they make a few nano skimmers like the Tunze but I don't know dimensions. I can always cut another piece of acrylic and cut that one for baffles. I got it for dirt cheap almost so I'm not worried about that. Just trying to make the display as large as possible. anyone know the dimensions on those skimmers? and how large of a tank they can handle? time to research....

And originally this thing was lit from underneath by a strip light with just some colored glass in the bottom. Probably looked pretty cool for goldfish. I was actually thinking about those LED rope lights to go around the inside of the top but not sure if I could direct those into the tank well enough. I don't want the light to just be going all over the entire room.

Also...what are my best bets for filtration as far as chemical and biological? Any suggestions there and how I should set up my back compartments? Thanks for everything so far guys!

Are you planning on putting live rock in there? If you did that you may not need any type of canister filter or anything. Possible turn the back change into a fuge with some filter floss and some chatoe or something. (along with a return pump.

What about drillingthe bottom wall of the tank and making the return pump pump water up through the bottom of the sand bed (using a nosel of course)?

From what I've read those real small protein skimmers are hit or miss. It's been awhile since I researched them but most of the small protein skimmers for nano reefs don't get good reviews (although I think I read that the oceanic ones for biocubes were okay). Would a HOB protein skimmer fit on this thing?

wow what i would do with that.... u live in a house? Unfinished basement? Drill the bottom of it.... put in the overflow in the middle and the return out of the middle and sump in basement....

Reef out of the question? Why? Get a nice track lighting or some fancy hanging lights and use
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=623

Ive always wanted one of those but not untill new house...

Yes I will have live rock. Probably transfer some over from my 55gallon plus buy some more at the lfs. Hopefully have about 30 lbs. My plan with the back wall was to make it into some sort of fuge or something. I really want to try to avoid drilling the main tank though but I do like where you're going since there's about a 4 inch space under the tank. My only worry about an HOB skimmer would be the amount of space between the tank and the top glass of the coffee table. There's not even 2 inches so that severely limits that. Plus I'm trying to keep it as clean as possible since there's not much room to hide anything. It's in the middle of my living room so I even have to find a way to hide the cords from view.


Given the chance, what would you guys do with this thing? Just wondering if there is some completely different direction that I could go with it that I'm not seeing. Lalani, you seemed intrigued by it. It's just one of those things that fell into my lap...I'd feel bad if I didn't turn it into something unique. Doesn't seem like anyone else has really seen it before.

Unfortunately it's an apartment...so that's not really an option. Besides...living in Florida we don't really know what basements are. But the apartment aspect also makes the track lighting difficult too. this is why my lighting options are extremely limited. I don't mind mounting something small under the glass but I would only have about 3 inch clearance from the water. AHHH I'm thinking too hard...it hurts....

you could maybe get t5's and have 2 on either side and angle them inwards so that you can still see top down.

That actually popped into my head about the same time you said it. I just measured and I have room for a single 20" on each side if I wanted it to still be decently visible from the top. I would have to find a retrofit kit probably and see if I could make it look decent with not being in anything. And have to be careful how close it would be to the water...it would literally be like an inch or less away from water surface.

if your not keeping coral in there, you have enough daylight from the pics u posted for a FO setup. another option would be to hang a pendant from the ceiling, kinda like a chandelear (sp?) over a dining table. just use a retractable setup so you can raise/lower the pendant as needed

Just came up with the most genius idea ever...I can just add little rubber spacers between the glass and tank.....duhhh...

also if you're gonna have corals you are gonna need more flow than a mj1200 and k-nano in something that long and wide

I'm not really interested in corals for this tank so I'm not worried about flow. just the MJ gives me about 10x turnover. If I decide on sea horses or something I wont want much flow anyway. Sticking with a FOWLR for now I think

Yeah I see what you're saying about the protein skimmer. You may have to physically have it inside your overflow.

I wasn't talking about drilling the tank itself but drilling the false wall and running the return through that and then angling the nossel up into the main tank (you could conceal some of the piping with your sand bed as well). Does that make sense? I have the idea in my head but I'm not quite sure how to describe it.

I see what you're saying about the return. That actually sounds like a really cool idea. Might give it some more water flow as well. I saw someone on here with one of the pico tanks that had the waterfall down all of the sides...forgot what those tanks are called but definitely a cool effect. Will probably help circulate the water just a little better too...and give better surface movement depending on how I diffuse the flow coming out. Thanks for this idea...definitely something I will have to try! Any other ideas feel free to keep them coming. My girlfriend and I were actually at the lfs today and saw a fu-man-chu lionfish and some sort of dwarf snowflake eel and thought that might be a cool pair to throw in here. Would definitely have to have strong filtration but sounds like a cool idea to set my cup of coffee down on top of something badass like that in the morning haha. Seriously though...this is just beginning so I am open to any changes that might interest me. Thanks

Sell it to me? lol

Drill a hole in the top and grow a nice big mangrove tree in your living room.

Have you seent he LED's on this guys tank?

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=202470

They may work for you too.

If i were you id make it into a reef. I would run a false wall with fuge, skimmer, and filter floss. As far as lighting i would use some leds mounted around the tank so they shine in. Just some simple aluminum tubing with the led bulbs mounted to it and have it all under the glass table top. Or sell it to me lol. Just my $.02

How about putting a sump "box" in the middle of the tank instead of on one end. Make it out of glass and silicone it in. Then put a nice bowl, doily or some other decoration on the top of the coffee table in the middle to hide the sump "box' from the top view.Have you figured out how you are going to run electricity to this thing. You could drill (if the bottom isn't tempered) some type of bulkhead and run the electic lines out the bottom to the piece of furniture nearest a wall, cover with a rug and your done.

I would go FOWLR and skip the lights except maybe some low power LED's for night viewing. With a decent amount of LR and limited fish you wouldn't need much of a filter system other then decent circulation.

OR as a second idea .................... split off a 1/3 of the tank to be show style refugium........ but I still like my first idea better

As it stands now, I plan on building a false wall in the corner nearest the couch...least visible area. Then I'll put filter floss and my return pump there. I like the idea of running the return under the sand to the middle of the tank to have it come out there. My only curiosity is if I want to try and run a protein skimmer or just some carbon and whatnot. Anyone know a good skimmer that would fit? Trying to stay at least somewhat low budget just so I can spend more money on my 55. But the cords will just run under my couch to the plug behind it. Hopefully be updating tomorrow with some pics. Somehow actually have two days off this week...

If I don't use a skimmer in the middle chamber, what do you suggest I use? Chaeto? Activated carbon? Live rock rubble? Haven't set up one of these AIO tanks before...

Still waiting on the damn MJ1200 to get here. Starting to piss me off waiting for it...can't get the false wall in there until I see how much room I'm going to need....more updates as soon as I get that though

Looking around at trying to diy an airstone skimmer...seems pretty straightforward. Have an extra air pump laying around somewhere so I'll see what I can come up with. Anyone have any good links to some good diy nano-skimmers using airstones?

I think if you don't put a skimmer in their you're going to have to do weekly water changes. A lot of people do it that way; but personally I'd get aggravated having to do a water change every week.

Seahorse tank would work perfectly. They don't require (and can't have) a lot of flow. You could just use a sandbed, some liverock, and a whole bunch of mangroves. Natural lighting in a well lit room would be more than enough to keep a setup like that going, and you could get away with a smaller pump. You wouldn't have to dose anything, just do a weekly 10% water change. Water changes would be super easy. Just take the top of the table off, scoop 5g out of there with a bucket, and pour in (slowly) 5g pre-mixed water. If you get a ton of mangroves and a DSB, that would be enough nutrient export for a few seahorses. You could also do pipefish. These species (seahorses and pipefish) need a lower temp tank, though, between 60-70F i think. So if you keep your home around 70, it would work great, but a small chiller would buy you extra insurance for these delicate species.

You'd have to feed them live copepods, so be sure to stack some LR up to give the copepods a breeding ground, and maybe use some chaeto in there as well.

I would imagine evap condensation would fog the top of the table most of the time. Not sure how you're going to get around that.

If you plan on a seahorse tank, be sure to do your research.

As becact stated, you will want to make sure your temps are kept lower than what you have your reef tank at. For my seahorse tank, I needed to buy a chiller (and I live in Michigan). The temp in my tank is at 74 +/-2degrees which is right on for the species of seahorse I have. Some species would be better in temps even lower than that, so choose wisely.

Also, from what I've learned, seahorses do well in tanks that are 3 times the extended verticle height of their bodies as they love to swim.

Don't plan on a seahorse tank thinking filtration will be less important than it is with a reef or fowlr setup. As seahorses are often very messy eaters, good filtration and a balanced CUC is a must.

I like the tank....and am a little jealous.
Mark

Well I think the seahorse tank is even out. First off, I researched them and learned that you really need a tall tank. This is definitely a low tank...only going to have about 9" depth after sandbed. Looking at either a dwarf lionfish or a small eel. Been loving the fu-man-chu lions. We'll see. I finally got the MJ1200. Going to run 3 compartments. First is going to be mostly mechanical filtration, the second will be decent sized fuge with some chaeto probably, and then the third will be the pump. I'm going to run tubing from the pump to the middle of the tank for the output, since it's a long slender shape. That way I get a lot better flow and not much stagnant water. I'll use some live rock rubble in the fuge and then probably about 25-30 lbs live rock piled up in the middle. As for lights I found some LED strips used for under cabinets that are waterproof. Should only be like 30 bucks or so. I dunno...it's starting to come together, still up for any ideas though. I'll get more pics up whenever I get a chance.

So no Protein Skimmer?

How necessary do you think it will be? And is there a reasonably priced unit for the size of my tank? I definitely have room for a small one but I've heard a lot of things about the nano-skimmers being very ineffective.

Haha what miketr, like a 10 footer?! LOL. What about if you got like a remote control storage box, and make a false bottom and mount LEDS on the bottom of the box. Then itll be directly in the middle of the tank, or you can move it to where you like. Or mod a wooden ashtray, anything that youd normally leave on your coffee table? Feasible?

Like take the bottom off of this
http://www.touchofclass.com/product/y418-001.do?code=CMS06

Actually thikning about it now, you might get a spotlight effect...I guess you can get 2 holders haha...

You should get a pipefish

You should not get a pipefish

This is an interesting concept, i have a few ideas. For one thing you'll want the water level to be perfectly flush with the glass at the top so you can see down without ripple refraction. Make sure you level the tank for this to work. Install some kind of an autotopoff that'll recognize when the water goes below the top of the tank, possibly using IR LEDS and a computer. For lighting, just conceal LED lighting (don't even need more than 10 bulbs) under the tanks bottom and don't add sand. For stocking i would do multiple schools of chromis. Pink, Yellow, Blue.

>:(

Pics?

If there is space between the glass top and the water surface the eel will constantly be carpet surfing. You need some sort of sealed tank for an eel.

There are small spaces about an inch high around the tank between the glass and the tank but I've had an eel before... I know the precautions to sealing up a tank well. I would just take some mesh and cover the holes up. I've heard many things about pipefish too, and although very interesting...definitely a delicate fish. So far, it seems the fish I'm most interested in is the fu-man-chu and a snowflake eel or something of the sort. The reason for no pics lately is because I haven't had any updates. I've done a lot of planning out as far as how the chambers in the back are going but just haven't gotten time to get the pieces together.

Hey, quick question to anyone out there...what would be the best sealant to use for gluing the pieces of acrylic together? My next day off is tuesday so I will probably be able to get the entire false wall and everything built. Maybe even get water test and sand in there. Definitely have more pic updates as that comes along. And I really like the idea of some sort of fake object to sit on the coffee table with lights...my only issue there would be having the electric cords running on top of the glass. I found some under cabinet LED's that leave plenty of space between them and the water if I mount them under the glass so I will probably go that route. The barebottom idea is interesting...but I'm a sandy kinda guy. How much harder does youre filtration system have to work with a barebottom tank? Then I could even get some T-5's under the tank...

I know if you go to like ACE hardware (or other hardware stores) there is a sealant that is specifically designed for aquariums (I believe its called aquarium sealant but don't quote me on that). It's a little expensive and I've heard other people on here say there is a generic kind that you can buy that has the same ingredients but is not called "aquarium" sealant. I'm not sure which route I would go, being that I'm OCD I'd probably end up going with the aquarium sealant even though it is more expensive (as apposed to the generic…just for my own peace of mind).

Hell yea! .. more like 5 foot though.. and bushy so you can light the tank by hanging some LEDs from it like a christmas tree. In all seriousness I think you should get an external pump that you can sit beside the tank and plumb the bottom like the following pic.

Wow, that's definitely a very cool idea to disperse the flow for a seahorse tank and the like, haven't seen anything like it before but I'm already starting to set up the walls in the back for the chambers. So far things are painted, just waiting for them to sit for awhile so I can silicone them in. I wound up picking up some GE silicone 1 from the store which I've done plenty of research for saying that it will work fine. Can't wait to update with some pictures once I get the wall in!

Alright...in the process of gluing in the walls...what a PITA process...guess it could be worse. Can't wait until it cures to do a water test. Finally starting to see why everyone else gets so excited when they build a tank. (this is my first diy anything when it comes to tanks.) Everything in my 55g is pretty standard although after this, definitely wanting to do a custom sump now..

Hopefully I will have pictures up soon. Once this dries enough to hold together better I'll snap some photos for everyone

So I was looking around for an option for lighting this beast and stumbled across this....

LED light panel

It says it's only 1.25" deep, so it would fit perfect. I know it's not powerful but I'll bet it would light the tank up nice. And I already decided I'm not going to go with corals for this tank. Strictly a FOWLR tank. Opinions?

Non-photosynthetic?

So I snapped a few pictures of the back...or rather side of the tank. I decided to have the overflow and the return pump sections blacked out but leave the refugium section clear and open so I don't have to have a seperate light for chaeto or whatever I use. It will be more of a display refugium. Everything is siliconed in and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to do a freshwater test to make sure everything works fine. I'm going to use some sponge filter material over the overflow hole. Things are a bit rough due to my basic tools (utility knife and a $10 dremel) but overall everything seemed to come out pretty solid and straight. There was only one gap that needed a little extra silicone but it's not even noticeable.

Click to view attachment

damn, those pictures looked a lot better on my phone...Click to view attachment

Sweet

Oh and I also added another baffle in the refugium so I can have a sand bed in there. Anyone have any suggestions for filter material in the first chamber? I'm thinking of using some eggcrate or something to create removable shelves for different media. What are other people running in there AIO's? Just trying to get some feedback. Water test will be this afternoon...wish me luck!

I like it.

Are you planning on having a sand bed (b/c you'd have to alter that piping idea that was presented earlier in the thread if you wanted to have sand).

Have you checked out SteveT's media baskets to hold some of your filter media in the back section?

Look a coffee fish tank for sale with lights http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/fuo/1419237144.html