I'm for sure buying one of those standard AGA 2.5 gallon tank they sell at petsmart this weekend. Does anyone have any plans on how to make a false wall for it? Also how strong of a power head should I use as the return pump. Sorry for posting so many topics. I've finally made my mind up about what size pico. Now I'm just waiting for my BC14!!

Its actually not all to hard. For mine i went to Ace Hardware and picked up a sheet of 1/4 plexi glass. You probably can go smaller like 3/16 or 1/8. Then use a jig saw/dremmel/what ever you have and cut to fit. Pick up some aquarium grade silicone and silicone into place. On mine i did add a center brace/baffle that went from the top to about 1.5 inches up from the bottom also. And make sure to drill a hole for your pump before installing.

And as far as power head you wouldnt need much. Probably about 50-60 gph would be fine.

Petsmart usually carries marine land aquarium sealant for $6. Ask around its usually next to the tanks

Thanks. I've made a sketch up of the way I want the tank. I'll upload it tommorow.

here is a 2.5 AIO i built earlier this year for ideas









lmk if u need any help doing it. we are all happy to help

I just cut my false wall. i was wondering wats the best way to cut the slits for the overflow? its 1/4" acrylic.
I used a circular saw to cut out my wall but thats to bulky to cut slits percisly.

i cut the teeth on mine with a table saw. you could do it with circular saw. just clamp it to a table upside down.
how many teeth are on ur blade?

You could use a dremel or router

Watch how big you cut them because they do effect your display water level

i cant remember off hand. the teeth are very fine tho. its a blade made for plastic and it cut my false wall pretty nice.

how do i upload a Google SketchUp file?

easy save it as a jpeg image on ur photo bucket and then put in the image code

thanks. Will do it as soon as I get out of the shower

shorten the teeth or your display water level will be very low.
your display level will always be about 1/4 above your overflow point.
If you want longer teeth like in the drawing you need to add a baffle to set the display height.

Well the teeth will not really be that long. That's just a quick sketch. How long should the teeth be? Also what do you think of the rest of it?

Looks good to me. I like the dual media trays.
It's really hard to say because the width of the teeth and GPH on the pump come into play too.
You could make the teeth large and make the baffle flow over not under using the baffle as your set height.
You could also try cutting down about 3/4" to 1" and see what that gets you. If your not too picky this isn't a big deal but I think a good display should have a waterline just over a 1/4" below the top 1/2" max.

Thanks. I'm gonna try to make like a mini media rack that can come out of the tank to change media

very good idea, it makes life a lot easier.

thats what im doin too!

i think im guna make mine 3 chambers 1 media rack, 2nd mini fuge with rubble and cheato, 3rd is pump and heater

because it is ur first build . i would suggest cutting the teeth long because a low DT water level is better then an overflow of water

Thanks. How long should the teeth be? What is a DT water level?

dispay tank = DT so the display side. i would agree with cd 3/4-1" should be fine

ok. im buying the tank and such today. hopefully ordering the light also

the wall is drying. gonna cut teeth and outlet later.

drying?

yeah. The middle wall between the chambers. But I pulled it apart then cut the holes and teeth. I re-siliconed it and is drying now.

What type of plastic is that and where did you get it. Oh ya cool pico tank!

I think he got from an old laptop table. If I remember correctly

actually that is ABS plastic that i get from action plastics. they make replacement dashes door jams etc.. for jc whitney. i am friends with the owner so i can buy it at cost. there was a build similar to this a while back where the builder used plastic from around the house. i believe the wall was a laptop table. think that was a 5.5 though.




oh ok . i thought u meant like paint was drying

oh ok. Yeah I think it as a 5.5. It was textured the same as your plastic. So hopefully I'll water test it tomorrow night

sweet! gl with the WT

Silicone is only good for glass to glass applications. Although it will bond and hold plastic/acrylic initially --- eventually that bond will come loose and down the road you will have problems. Sometimes it's 6 months -- sometimes it's 5 years but eventually it will not hold and come loose on the plastic side.

Like many others I have been there and done that before and won't ever try that again.

Since you don't have a real critical application it will not be a major issue when it comes loose.

Actually I have given up on the AIO pico :/. My bro tried to help and smeared siliocone all over the tank and now I'm just going with the regular pico. I have a 70gph powerhead in now and a HOB filter going. I'm going to let it run all night. Gonna turn the hob into a fuge/sump. Or I also have a spare 1 gallon laying around that I could use as a sump. How would I do that exactly? Put a pump in the 1g going to the pico and have a pipe going to the 1g?

So what do y'all think of me quitting the AiO

*sigh*



"woosah, woosah, woosah."








Pretty much sums up my opinion.

boooooooooooooooooooo!!!! just clean that crap off and try again!

well the thing is i cut the plastic too small and i dont have anymore :/ and i already have a HOB and everything for a regular pico

Was it black or clear?

clear

I have been thinking of building an AIO but using glass to separate the chambers. It can be drilled for a return. A hole could be made for the overflow with a plastic grate in it. What do you guys think? All so This is the skimmer I would use ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9rzoObV0bM ). It would be in the overflow chamber where the level never changes. What lights do you plan to use?

they sell small pieces of acrylic at lowes for 2.00 8x10

really?? Hmmmmmmm....

yup regular acrylic and lexan. the lexan is 3.00 though. its in the hardware isle where they cut glass and make screens. if you give them measurements they will even cut it for free

I didn't know that. Thanks. Maybe the aio is back in business

YGPM

Thanks for the offer deli

No problem...Whatever gets it up and running

ok wtf? sup wid the build ? deli building you a wall?

I'm wondering the same thing. he was supposed to send me $10 to cover shipping it and I haven't heard anything in a few days. Where you at

Hey all. I'm back. Deli is shipping me the wall tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some LR in it this weekend!!