TyTy's 20AIO

[tyty22]

Fish

Both clown fish are in

 

i added the black saddle clown today and they both seemed to liven up. i guess they missed each other

 

i also added a small group of button polyps to test and see how they react to the change and light.

they must be ok because the were opened after an hour or so. i have to layers of screen right now in a couple days i will remove one and then the other on

 

 

also i had two minor issues with the setup

 

the first was i started testing out my fuge light and found it really spilled over into the display. so i needed to fix that. i remember seeing someone on here velrco a light to the back of the tank so thats exactly what i did.

it works fairly well with little light spilling into the display.

the second problem occured last night. i went to top off the tank and i noticed that the filter box looked wierd. with a closer look i found that one side of the box broke off and the wall was bowing quit a bit to i made a little brace for it just for the night.

then today i made two braces out of acrylic and drained the tank just enough to glue them in and fix the filter box.

 

all seems to be good

[Kylebeano]

Your build is impressive, very nice craftsmanship! Makes me want to make one as well lol

I do have a question though, I have an aquapod and would like to make the back like yours, mine has an underflow as well, but im afraid that putting LR rubble in mine would build up a lot of debris on the bottom, Do you have any problem with anything at the bottom of your fuge?

[tyty22]

ya there is some debris on the bottom of the fuge but it doesn't seem to be a problem. but i could be wrong. if so, it wouldn't be hard to stick the siphon tube down there to suck it up during waterchanges

[tyty22]

I guess its time for an update.

 

well sorry to say not much has changed the tank is pretty much in neutral.

this week im planning on doing a water change and moving more coral over from my aquapod.

 

here are some pictures i took, the tank is pretty much empty but oh well.

ID please these just keep growing there pretty cool actually lol

I CAN SEE YOU

fuge with brace

[JonathanS]

good craftsmanship, i wish you could build me a stand, mini sump, and canopy for a 2.5g setup.

[tyty22]

haha i need to build a canopy for my 5.5 gallon

 

where are you located in new york

[td92467]

I was wondering,how is this tank doing? I was thinking of doing the same thing with my 29 gal.I dont have any room for a sump,so this built in fuge,sounds Like a good idea!!

[tyty22]

its going great. almost everything about the tank is perfect

 

The only two things not perfect so far are

i should have used thicker acrylic, maybe 1/4inch instead of 1/8inch, since i need to add a brace to help support the false wall.

and

i could have made the acrylic go above the tank lip, but its not a big deal.

 

Today

i started mixing up some fresh saltwater and im going to do a water change tomorrow and transfer some more coral over from my aquapod. i need to get all my coral moved in order to start my contest tank that i need to have running by the 17th

 

Also i have been thinking about rebuilding a new hood for the tank. it just looks way to big in person and i don't like it at all.

 

so hopefully when i get some money, im going to build either a new canopy or im going to make a DIY light fixture out of aluminum or something. but either way i want to get 2 24inch t5 for actinics. i miss the blue look i get from my aquapod. i also am going to lower the light to maybe 7-8 inchs from the water. im leaning towards making a hanging fixture where i can adjust the light height.

 

what are your opinions? (both with have 1-175watt mh , 2-24watt t5s , moon light)

new DIY fixture

or

new smaller canopy 7-8 inchs tall

or

insert your idea here

 

well sorry to disappoint you but i have no pictures to post.

but i will try and take some tommorow during the coral tranfser. maybe i will post a step by step instructions on my process of tranfsering coral.

[td92467]

Glad to hear everything is going well,As far as the lighting questions,I really don't have any experience with mh lighting right now.I am going to use a 30in. 2-65 watt sattelite fixture on my 29.I dont plan on keeping much more than some softies,zoas, mushrooms etc.I will most likely up grade to mh,after i have it running for a while.Anyway,thanks for the update,I am going to get started on my build,so wish me luck!!! Oh ya! ,I wanted to ask about painting the plastic,I assume you used Krylon Fusion,I never painted any thing inside the tank before,so I was wondering how that worked out!!

[tyty22]

do you already have the pc fixture? if not you might be better off buying mh or t5's in the begining.

 

another thing if i were to do this all over again i probably would spend the extra money and buy a 24inch tek fixture. metal halide really doesn't have many lighting color options compared to t5's plus metal halides run very hot and from what i know t5's run very cool.

 

but i hope when i retro 2 t5's i can get the both of two worlds.

 

as for the paint i did use krylon fusion and all is good. but i would recomend just using 1/4 inch black arylic it would your world much easier

[tyty22]

did a water change and transfered some button polyps torch coral and hammer coral.

 

i also added a shelf in the stand, and added loc line to the return output. the return was like a jet so the loc line split the flow and made it wider.

 

 

my new light fixture might look something like this

[td92467]

Looks great,Nice idea with the light.Do you plan on adding a protien skimmer? I've seen where some have made the surface skimmer,as an extra chamber,then they put a PS in the compartment behined it,wich would actually turn out a little larger than yours is,But if you don't need a PS,then everything should be great! These are things i'm trying to work out in my plans,before I start my build!

[tyty22]

i might add a ps someday if i get a good deal on one. but next on my priority list are 2-24 t5s.

 

i have no expierence with ps. so i never really looked into buying one.

[hcsceo]

Lookin good. Take some better pics of those corals you wanted ID'd. When I first saw them my brain said Aiptasia but after looking at them a few more times I don't think so. Get a better pic better to be safe then sorry. I fought those little buggers for a few months and wouldn't want to do it again.

 

Steve

[tyty22]

they deffinitly not Aiptasia, thats why i asked. i have alot of Aiptasia in my aquapod so im positive they're not. they look pretty cool and multiply like zoas. i try getting a picture later.

[CoRPS]

tyty22, I'm thinking about doing a tank just like yours. I have a few questions though. Are you satisfied with the amount of room for the fuge/sump? What tools did you use to cut out the false wall? What method did you use to make it fit perfectly? If you could change one thing with the design what would it be? The 2x24w T5 will be your only light source or will you continue to use the MH light you have? If you're sticking with just the T5, what will it be powerful enough for in terms of coral in a 20L?

 

Do you have any more pictures of the build process?

 

Sorry for all the questions I just don't want to miss something if/when I decide to build this thing!

 

Edit: I'm sure I'll have more questions by the time you answer these

[tyty22]

haha ok ill give it my best.

 

im not sure about the fuge yet as all i have in it right now is some lr rubble but it seems to be a good. my only problem with the fuge is getting a light that doesn't shine in the display.

 

for the false wall i used a razor blade and a strait edge. and sanded it down until it was perfect.

for the filter slits i used a router and table. but there are many ways to do it.

 

if i could change anything.

i would use black acrylic and black silicone for the false wall.

And if possible i would have gotten a used 24inch tek t5 fixture. just for the color options.

 

 

as for lighting

i want to get 2-24watt t5's to add as actinics. so i will still be using the mh.

 

if you just use t5's. with 4-24 watt ho t5's with independent reflectors (like the tek fixture) you would be able to keep almost anything

 

i don't have any more build pictures sorry.

 

good luck

[CoRPS]

Thanks for that man

 

What acrylic thickness did you use? A razor blade was able to cut through it?! Why didn't you just use a razor blade to cut the teeth out?

 

Is there a formula to find out how much room you need for teeth depending on how big of a return pump you use?

[tyty22]

i used 1/8inch but i recomend you use 1/4inch because i had to add a brace due to the false wall bowing.

 

the way i cut the acrylic is the razor blade scribe method.

what you do is measure your first cut out

then place a strait endge on your cut line

then with a very sharp razer brade you cut into or scribe a strait line repeating the cut a couple times to get a deep cut

then you flip the sheet of acrylic over so the cut is faceing down

then you lay down a strait piece of wood on top of it just behind the cut

then kneel on it with all you wait and quickly pull the acrylic up and it should break prefectly strait along your scribe

 

and then

and then

and then

and then

and then

 

and for the filter teeth ... just guess... over esitmate you can always cover some up.

[Marteen]

Very nice tank I'm thinking of doing something like this for a 10 gal.

[CoRPS]

tyty one more quick question for you.

 

How mcuh did you spend on your 20L? I was always under the impression that people were buying these things for ~$20 from Petco. I just took a trip down there to get one and they were selling it for $45! That's insane!

 

Let me know man! Thanks!

[tyty22]

i got mine at petsmart for 25 bucks. i also went to petco to check out the prices and they where like $35

[East1]

tyty one more quick question for you.

 

How mcuh did you spend on your 20L? I was always under the impression that people were buying these things for ~$20 from Petco. I just took a trip down there to get one and they were selling it for $45! That's insane!

 

Let me know man! Thanks!

u guys are bare lucky man

here i got my 20 for 60$

and my 10 for the same at a rip off shop(i had credit from returinin a skimmer and he gave me a powerhead, heater and therm free)

[CoRPS]

Any updates?!

[tyty22]

yes updates

 

sadly i lost my black saddleback for unknow reasons.

 

i did add a cap and some zoas a while back the cap is growing great althought the zoas have yet to grow one more pylop.

 

when i bought it

about 3 weeks later

crappy zoa picture

any id's? they look kinda like egale eyes

 

also i lowered the light to about 10 inches from 12 this week end everything seems happy. if all is well this week i will lower it to 9inches