mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 This thread is about my 5 gallon long acrylic tank build, from scratch. Yes I am actually going to build the tank itself. I just got into reefing and started my first tank, an Evolve 2, a few weeks ago and fell in love with a 12 gallon long tank I saw here on NR. So I decided to build my own but smaller. Here are my initial CAD models, tell me what you guys think! Since it is a long tank and therefore flow throughout will be an issue, I plan on running two small sumps, one at each end of the tank. This is what each sump will look like. Although it is hard to see in the first picture, each sump will look like this from the back; the flows from the sumps work with each other. Each powerhead outlet flow points towards the opposing sumps' intake. Top View I don't have everything planned out yet, but the tank should run $40 in acrylic and will be cut out on a laser cutter on campus here. I plan on running two identical power heads (80GPH Aquatop?) with Purigen in each (would running a different media in each be better i.e. Purigen in one and chaeto in the other?) Lights, undecided Stocking, undecided Oh and on the topic title, I'm a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, hence the DIY. Link to comment
Angel<3Nanos Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Does this mean double ATO??? Link to comment
Wes1984 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Very nice idea! Liking the concept. Should work really well. Shouldnt need two top ups as each side will decrease the same rate etc as the water level drops. As for sumps, it depend what/how you want to run the tank. You could use the one side to run a skimmer and heater etc, and the otherside run the purigen and carbon or whatever else you wanted to. You could also have chaeto in the one side. Plenty of options. Looking forward to seeing this one develop. Link to comment
bdevillier19 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Looks like a cool project. The only thing I see is the lower intake grates. IMO they take away from the surface skimming abilities of the upper grate because liquid finds level and if it can enter down below then the top doesn't do much. Kinda defeats the purpose of the over flow. I have a fluval spec v and it has a small lower intake and with it open the tank had no surface skimming. Once I plugged it everything worked great. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Looks like a cool project. The only thing I see is the lower intake grates. IMO they take away from the surface skimming abilities of the upper grate because liquid finds level and if it can enter down below then the top doesn't do much. Kinda defeats the purpose of the over flow. I have a fluval spec v and it has a small lower intake and with it open the tank had no surface skimming. Once I plugged it everything worked great. I thought so too, but I saw this intake design on one of the PicO Aquariums 20gallon model. And just realized I put that first sump partition by the intakes in wrong, it should have a gap at the top, not the bottom as it is now, and the second partition should have a gap at the bottom, not the top as it is now. Link to comment
bdevillier19 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I often wondered that myself about the pico aquariums. Such a beautiful tank but I've had 3 tanks with lower intakes and all 3 didn't function like I thought they should. If it doesn't work you could always drain the tank and glue a thin piece of acrylic over the lower intake. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 I often wondered that myself about the pico aquariums. Such a beautiful tank but I've had 3 tanks with lower intakes and all 3 didn't function like I thought they should. If it doesn't work you could always drain the tank and glue a thin piece of acrylic over the lower intake. I know most tanks have at least a small intake placed low to allow an equilibrium in water level between the sump and the display so that if evap brings the water level below the top intake, water can still enter the sump and prevent your pump from frying out. The sump in my Spec II is set up this way, just with a very small intake placed low rather than what I have designed. I might just change the design so there is a small intake like that on this sump wall. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Does this mean double ATO??? No ATO. Although its not shown here, I plan on having a lid that runs tight to the tank to eliminate evap altogether. Link to comment
Angel<3Nanos Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Shouldnt need two top ups as each side will decrease the same rate etc as the water level drops. Lmao was being sarcastic man! Link to comment
rapfohl Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Very cool idea. I love the idea of AIO tanks with nice clean display areas. I miss being in college and being able to have access to SolidWorks and a nice laser printer. Link to comment
GTi Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 No ATO. Although its not shown here, I plan on having a lid that runs tight to the tank to eliminate evap altogether. Consider gas exchange. If you run a skimmer, it will take care of it but if you aren't, a well-fitting lid won't allow for much gas exchange which would be bad. Neat project! Link to comment
eTrain Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Consider gas exchange. If you run a skimmer, it will take care of it but if you aren't, a well-fitting lid won't allow for much gas exchange which would be bad. Neat project! +1 Are the sumps going to be clear? Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted April 6, 2014 Author Share Posted April 6, 2014 Sumps will most likely be clear, I just painted them blue in the renders to highlight them. Link to comment
Mpy Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 With solid fitting lids you will need to watch temperatures pretty closely, as they could become rather high. Link to comment
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