sillycupid Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Looks absolutely gorgeous. Whether you cut the over flow or not, it will still look nice. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 I did end up cutting the overflow down a little. And by a little I mean around 2 or 3 millimeters. That was just enough that I can put the pump on low and still put the lid on without it sucking the water up to it. If I ramp the pump up any, it fills the tank too much. I was actually surprised that I could run it full blast and still keep water in the tank. I got some more work done today. I finished painting (and by finished I mean that I'm leaving it half assed lol). Trimmed down the overflow. Finalized my scape. I also managed to get silicone in the tank, so now there's a large smear on a back wall. Sad face. Hopefully I can scrape it out without killing the acrylic. If not, I'm sure some gsp will cover it fine. So hows about some pics? One for comparison so you can see the size of the tank. Others for my final scape. Disregard the dirty sides. It's clean now. And disregard the dusty, cat hair covered desk. Its virtually impossible to keep a black glass desk really clean in the country with cats in the house. Not happening. The tank is under my par38 in the last 3 pics. 50/50 in the first. Link to comment
Ckent42 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 That's awesome! This is coming out great! Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Thanks! I was thinking, instead of cycling this, I think I'll just drop my rock into my 15 for a while and let it seed in there. Probably get some purple on it. That stuff grows like crazy in my tank. Link to comment
Ckent42 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 That would work. Have you considered adding a square to the top to close off the pump area, to help with the evaporation? And just leaving a little notch for the power cord? Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Yeah I've thought about that. The problem is that the cord on this pump is very rigid and that would be a tiny piece of acrylic with almost no weight. The sump is around 1.25x1.5 inch at the top. I'd have to keep it taped down at all times. Link to comment
Belac Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 How about velcro straps insted of tape. Probably wouldn't look any better, but you wouldn't have to peel off the tape every time you needed in there either. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Hmm, good idea. I might even have some laying around. Link to comment
x3thelast Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 holy buckets! cant wait to see it stocked up! Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 I may have a temporary change of direction for this tank. I recently acquired a baby pistol shrimp. By baby I'm talking around 3-4mm long. It's been living in a Betta cup for going on 3 days now and I think this would be the perfect thing to raise it up in. The tank is wet now. Instead of seeding it in my 15 I just used some biozyme so I can get the little pistol in it asap. You can see in this picture just how small the tank is compared to my 2 gallon spec. If I had to guess I'd say it holds around 1 3/4 cups of water. Maybe. It's sharing the light with my spec. Hopefully I can raise it. I have some cyclops to feed it with. I can't tell for sure, but if I get the light just right on it it looks like a tiger. Link to comment
sfdanksta650 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Dude I love this!!! Sorry but I might have to copy you! Gonna fallow this for sure! Link to comment
markkazdad Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Thanks for posting the pictures showing the scale of the tank. When the thread first started I thought this was the same tank as the Aquarius 2 / Aqua Scene 2 (marketed under different brands, but all made by Koller). Is yours the BettaTank in this catalog, page 28: Koller Catalog? If so, it says it has "interlocking capabilities". Great job on the customization. Subscribed. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 This is it although the packaging is different now. These are only interlocking in the sense that they can stack on one another. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001F95NK2 I'm going to have to come up with a cheap DIY ato. I left for 7 hours and with the lid left on enough water evaporated to leave the pump running dry. That means I'll have to turn it off tonight and most of tomorrow until I get off work and make something for it. I've also found another problem. I have this on my desk. The desk isn't rock solid by any means. Every little bump throws off the tank if the lid is on. It causes the water to suction to the lid which pulls enough out of the sump to make the pump run dry. The only solution I can come up with is to lower the overflow even more and drop the water level. Either that or find somewhere else to put the tank. Link to comment
markkazdad Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I'm going to have to come up with a cheap DIY ato. I left for 7 hours and with the lid left on enough water evaporated to leave the pump running dry. That means I'll have to turn it off tonight and most of tomorrow until I get off work and make something for it. I've also found another problem. I have this on my desk. The desk isn't rock solid by any means. Every little bump throws off the tank if the lid is on. It causes the water to suction to the lid which pulls enough out of the sump to make the pump run dry. The only solution I can come up with is to lower the overflow even more and drop the water level. Either that or find somewhere else to put the tank. You could make the overflow deeper. The pump is displacing most of the water volume of the overflow. If you drop the water level to solve the surface tension problem, that may reduce the available water in the overflow enough to make it even more sensitive to water level. If the overflow is permanently attached to the side, you could either add another chamber on the bottom and drill some holes through the original chamber, or make another deeper chamber on an adjacent panel and connect the two chambers with some tubing. I guess maybe you could "interlock" an identical tank on top for an ATO reservoir. The only other thing I can think of is to reduce the flow of the pump. Maybe. I'm more of an idea guy than a builder. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 I think I might rig something with a coke bottle. Cheap and effective. The flow on the pump is as low as it can go. The only thing lower is "off". Link to comment
markkazdad Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I think I might rig something with a coke bottle. Cheap and effective. The flow on the pump is as low as it can go. The only thing lower is "off". If the pump comes apart, you might be able to remove or reduce the size of some of the impellers. Or, you could poke some holes lower than the overflow slots between the tank and the overflow. That should let more water flow in without reducing the tank level. Link to comment
sillycupid Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 DIY ATO: what I use is an inverted water bottle. Fill it up to the brim, place stretchable plastic over the top, flip it, place it in the water, and take off the plastic. Once the water level goes below the opening of the bottle, a bubble will enter the bottle and release enough fresh water into the tank to replace the evaporation. Of course you'll have to find something to hold the bottle inverted at a specific height. I use egg crate. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 DIY ATO: what I use is an inverted water bottle. Fill it up to the brim, place stretchable plastic over the top, flip it, place it in the water, and take off the plastic. Once the water level goes below the opening of the bottle, a bubble will enter the bottle and release enough fresh water into the tank to replace the evaporation. Of course you'll have to find something to hold the bottle inverted at a specific height. I use egg crate. I'm doing something that uses the same principle. A bottle/jug at a higher elevation with airline tubing running down to the tank. Since my spec is right beside it I'll be using a t split and run it to both tanks. Link to comment
sillycupid Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I would not put a tee. If a bubble goes up from the spec, the water will fall into both tanks. If a bubble goes up from the betta hex, the water will fall into both tanks. I would run an individual line from both tanks directly to the bottle/jug. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Ah, I didn't even think of that. The tank is on a temporary hold at the moment. The outlet I had the pump plugged into spazzed out. Right now its just sitting there, not doing anything :-( Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Ah, I didn't even think of that. The tank is on a temporary hold at the moment. The outlet I had the pump plugged into spazzed out. Right now its just sitting there, not doing anything :-( what ever happened to this tank? Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 this is a wonderful tank...great vision and a great platform to build from. hopefully its still around! Link to comment
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