andru24 Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 So I have an extra 5G Eclipse Hex tank that is no longer being used. I am planning on turning it into a more BioCube-like all-in-one. Instead of having the filtration in the tiny little hood I am going to add on a 3"-4" chamber on one of the sides using acrylic. See pics. Looking for suggestions/comments/ideas... Plan as of right now: Mini-jet 606 pump black sand (good brand?) stealth heater Chambers will have polyfloss, chaeto and chemipure/purigen -AJ Original Proposed tank design New Design Link to comment
PBUEHH Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 better then what i had on mine and it did rather well... your post was vague other then saying what you where going to do with your spare tank.. care to elaborate? Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 Trying to figure out 1) if this DIY add-on seems like a decent plan for the tank and 2) what to house in it once it's done. I was thinking about a dwarf seahorse tank but am not sure I am ready to commit to the feeding requirements. So I guess I am just looking for inspiration in what other people might try to use this setup for. Still vague, but I guess I am just "fishin" for ideas. -AJ Link to comment
Kraylen Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 This is gonna be awesome, I have this same tank sitting in my garage and I use it to mix SW in... Ive been debating the same thing you are planning, or.. use it as a fuge for a nano application. Link to comment
PBUEHH Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 when I had mine there where monties and zoas, i originally planned to have a mantis shrimp but everyone who had em suddenly never talked to me again .... i had 3 inches of sand and maybe even 10lbs of rock, but I can go overboard sometimes... how do you plan on lighting it? that was my biggest problem, it was so very narrow. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 70w halide from fishneedit would be AWESOME over that thing. Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 I was actually considering going full bore DIY and trying out the LED Pendant that I saw on here recently. I think that could be pretty sweet. Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 So I got the Hex Eclipse 5 tank cut today. Basically sliced off one side along a plane. Was a little tricky but I think the cut is straight and smooth enough that it will seal up well. I also was able to get the 4 sides and middle divider of my back chambers cut, including the teeth for the overflow. I'll be cutting the bottom tomorrow. (pics later) Now I need to figure out how I want to layout the chambers, width, height, etc. Part of this is figuring out what pump I should use. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good solid pump/powerhead for this tank that will create enough flow that no other powerheads will be necessary? Once I figure out the pump I can get my chambers layed out. -AJ Link to comment
PSYS Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 ...sounds like it's gonna be an awesome project!! Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 MJ 600 w/ Hydor-Flo rotating deflector? This tank is a pretty awesome idea . I could see it being an awesome sexy tank or maybe a tank for a mated pair of small goby? Green-banded gobies are pretty great. Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 i was lookin at minijet pumps today........mybe will work for you....smalll foot print, flow...i dunno Link to comment
Carinya Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I dont have a pump suggestion but inhabitants: a ricordea garden with an anemone shrimp OR a mantis tank (N. wennerae, probably) OR do the dwarf seahorse thing (seems you know about the feeding, but it'd still be cool. just guard your overflow teeth) LED pendant for sure Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 i was lookin at minijet pumps today........mybe will work for you....smalll foot print, flow...i dunno Good call. I am thinking I am going to go with the Mini-Jet 606. It's small and has adjustable flow from 80-150GPH so I should be able to tweak it just right. -AJ I dont have a pump suggestion but inhabitants: a ricordea garden with an anemone shrimp OR a mantis tank (N. wennerae, probably) OR do the dwarf seahorse thing (seems you know about the feeding, but it'd still be cool. just guard your overflow teeth) LED pendant for sure Ricordea garden would be pretty cool. I was actually thinking of making this into sort of mountain rockscape dead center with frogspawn/torch/hammer at the top, surround by zoas, rics, etc. That shrimp looks dope, I'll have to consider it. Mantis shrimp kind of scare me, and I think I am ruling out the seahorse thing just due to the extra feeding requirements. -AJ Link to comment
andru24 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Pics as promised Eclipse Hex 5 with one side sliced off. With new back wall attached... amazingly it holds water... hooray! Next step is to finish the back chambers then I am going to have alot of fun sanding the hell out of the Eclipse hex part of the tank. This tank was really scratched up from before and I didn't help matters as I was cutting off the one side. Any recommendations on a good procedure for sanding acrylic to clear? -AJ Link to comment
andru24 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 So I have started the sanding process on the hex tank. Decided it was easier to do now before I got the rest of the back chambers completed. I started with coarse 60 grit sandpaper (dry) in the areas where there were deeper scratches. Then went over the whole thing with 220 grit dry, and then 400 grit wet. I am going to go over it one more time with 600 grit wet and then buff. So far it is looking pretty good: alot smoother and looking like frosted glass at the moment. I am starting to gather all the other stuff I will need for the tank. I've decided on a mini-jet 606 for the pump. I think I want to go with black sand in this tank. Can anyone recommend a good brand of black sand? And a good place to purchase said sand? How about a good place to order nice looking live rock in small quantities? LFS has nothing but ugly LR. -AJ I'll post some pics of the tanks progress later on, I am also redoing my sketchup pics with a different arrangement for the back chambers. Link to comment
andru24 Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Sketchup pics of new proposed back chambers. Basically increased back chamber to a 5" depth. The two closest chambers to the display tank are 2" deep and will house the heater and the pump (Mini-Jet 606). The chamber on the left will also act as a surface skimmer. The furthest back chamber will be about 3" x 6" and will house the polyfloss, chemipure, and chaeto. I plan to create a custom media basket (ala StevieT) for this area. Let me know if anyone sees any issues with the way I have this laid out. -AJ Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I'd say you might want to have the flow go through the bottom of your surface skimmer area to let your heater do it's thing better. Otherwise the water in it would stagnate. Maybe use the first chamber as your floss and chemipure chamber and have the chaeto and the heater be in the main back chamber. Just a suggestion. Looks great though! I'll be following along. Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 I think I want to go with black sand in this tank. Can anyone recommend a good brand of black sand? And a good place to purchase said sand? seachem "grey coast" its almost black, and it buffers some, id dig the bag out and give you specs on it, but its in my kids room and he's asleep now.....where to get it? i dunno i bought mine from petsmart....yeah i know corperate, but the LFS didnt have it at the time Link to comment
andru24 Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 I'd say you might want to have the flow go through the bottom of your surface skimmer area to let your heater do it's thing better. Otherwise the water in it would stagnate. Maybe use the first chamber as your floss and chemipure chamber and have the chaeto and the heater be in the main back chamber. Just a suggestion. Agreed about the stagnant flow in that chamber, I may try to add some slits further down below the existing slits to get some water flow in the bottom of that chamber. Here's my latest plan. The new white areas are going to be a removable media rack that allows me to get to the chaeto in the bottom. -AJ Link to comment
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