Amphitrite Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 March FTS - The line in the sand has been drawn In the beginning...... Conversation of a husband and wife: Husband says "Do you realize how much this project is going to cost?" Wife interprets "Scavenge what you can and have everything else sent to work to save on shipping expenses" Hence......the beginning of Mt. Wannahockaloogie Official entry pic forthcoming upon completion of eviction! Link to comment
rickjg Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 . . . Conversation of a husband and wife: Husband says "Do you realize how much this project is going to cost?" Wife interprets "Scavenge what you can and have everything else sent to work to save on shipping expenses" Hence......the beginning of Mt. Wannahockaloogie Official entry pic forthcoming upon completion of eviction! I had to read your tank name twice ... I'm slow today, can't remember yesterday & maybe I'll be better tomorrow ... or not Link to comment
Jacobnano Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Very cool! Finding Nemo reference Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 Yeah, it's amazing how many people don't "know" Finding Nemo - you can imagine some of the crazy looks I've received when discussing it in a store Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 lol! this will be really great, I just know it Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Love the eviction notice Link to comment
Growerguy Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Poor FW getting pushed to the side... Kidding welcome to the contest! Love you're thread/tank name. Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 No FTS tonight! Although a colleague was able to provide the pregnant platy and her guppie friends with government housing, the tank was scratched terribly. So it's back to the drawing board....which is designing a custom hex Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 Poor FW getting pushed to the side... Kidding welcome to the contest! Love you're thread/tank name. Believe it or not, I think they like their new tank better and since there is surely a law about not having an empty fish tank I think the acrylic hex will now be the tadpole morph tank I have to say, the tank name comes from working with elementary students. To them, Finding Nemo is a classic and as I started discussing this contest with my CIA (and partner in crime), the selective hearing mechanisms in their ears kicked "on". Suddenly, this is a classroom project, they are actually problem-solving/thinking outside the box and we have the board covered with ideas and plans. They are learning and don't even realize it - my kind of project!!! So, what the final "blue-print" will be, not sure - but Mt. Wannahockaloogie is definatley part of it. Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 They are learning and don't even realize it - my kind of project!!! That's how it is with Hawke and his tank. He now knows how to set and mess with the controller. How to check salinity and do a water change. Along the way he is also learning about different corals and their lighting requirements and also the nitrogen cycle. Although he was there along the way helping with the build I especially had him help with the final assembly so he knew exactly what it takes to make it a complete system. Plus he loves finding the little critters and showing me them and even saving one from going down the sink and putting it back in the tank Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Someone really needs to send out a memo to all the lfs to inform them that dry rock rubble does not have the same monetary value as gold nuggets! I finally found a local reefer who had some...of course the kids at school can't believe I'd pay for rock when I can get it for free out of the creek! Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 I have to say that Mt. Wannahockaloogie has morphed more times than a tadpole into a frog; therefore, I have been a "tad" reluctant to post my plans. Mt. Wannahockaloogie has now met "The Other Side of the Mountain"! Since my students have become so actively interested in the design of this tank, I decided to introduce said peanut gallery to the pathagorean theorem After several models, we discovered we could have a regular hex tank with 8" sides and 8" in height. This gives us a tank size of approx. 5.76 gallons, but our sump (Mt. Wannahockaloogie) is a 4.5" diameter cylindar with a height of 7", thus displacing .49 gallons of water from the tank (5.76 - .49 = 5.27 gallons). Mt. Wannahockaloogie will reside on a "lazy susan" type base and rotate slowly (using a slip ring for power). Being an extremely visual person, I drew out a "floor plan" of sorts. One side of the "Mountain" will be daylight/shallow water reef and the other side will be night/deep water reef. Red disc's are blue led's; yellow disc's are white....haven't quite decided if I'm going to use that many white's. There will be some frags from the same colony on both sides of the mountain....... Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Looks good glad your pathagorean thoerum calculations worked out to be basically the same size as the Volume Calculator. I guess that's sort of a proof to both methods of calculating a hex tank volume. Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Looks good glad your pathagorean thoerum calculations worked out to be basically the same size as the Volume Calculator. I guess that's sort of a proof to both methods of calculating a hex tank volume. Yep, Yep, Yep! Thanks for the online calculator! It's an awesome resource. Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 Although I took a half day off work this week to pick up the glass and silicone for the tank, I haven't had much time to work on it. However, I did have the foresight to pick up an extra piece of glass for the bottom just in case cutting it doesn't go so well the first time around My slip ring came in the mail today and as I sit here with all its parts in my hand, one thing has become blatantly obvious: building a pico can be like shopping for a bathing suit; the less there is, the more it costs! Link to comment
Billdemart Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 Love the name. Can't wait to see it. Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 Love the name. Can't wait to see it. Me too! I just hope it works out "for real" like I have it out planned in my head....somehow, I doubt it. Needless to say, I have had to do lots of consulting for this project and have elicited many looks of exasperation from people - especially my husband. Do I have to describe the look he gave me when he told me that I wouldn't be able to find a motor that would turn the tank slow enough, and I responded with, "couldn't you put a NASCAR thingy on it, you know, that thing that makes them go slow?" Link to comment
rickjg Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 Mt. Wannahockaloogie will reside on a "lazy susan" type base and rotate slowly (using a slip ring for power). . . . I'm really interested in your plan to use a lazy susan w/ slip ring power. I had tossed around the idea of making my cylinder pico rotate, but never came up with a plan that would work with my drilled bottom supply & return lines. Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 I'm really interested in your plan to use a lazy susan w/ slip ring power. I had tossed around the idea of making my cylinder pico rotate, but never came up with a plan that would work with my drilled bottom supply & return lines. The kids at school gave me the idea of using a slip ring by suggesting the use of a rotating Christmas tree stand. It has certainly been a challenge, but we decided to go with an all-in-one so the filter and sump will rotate with the tank. If you rotated your canister filter with your tank, it might be possible. I love the idea of 360 viewing and my original plan was to use a cylinder, but I couldn't find a glass vase/cylinder around here that I liked, or large enough. Link to comment
rickjg Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 The kids at school gave me the idea of using a slip ring by suggesting the use of a rotating Christmas tree stand. It has certainly been a challenge, but we decided to go with an all-in-one so the filter and sump will rotate with the tank. If you rotated your canister filter with your tank, it might be possible. I love the idea of 360 viewing and my original plan was to use a cylinder, but I couldn't find a glass vase/cylinder around here that I liked, or large enough. I hadn't considered using an Xmas tree stand .... .... http://shop.christmascentral.com/items/ite...?itemid=6227407 Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 I hadn't considered using an Xmas tree stand .... .... http://shop.christmascentral.com/items/ite...?itemid=6227407 We considered those. Saw them on ebay. When consulting my husband, he thought they would not last so we went searching for a better solution. Came up with this: Slip Ring The slip ring unit was about $50 and the connector was $13 x 2 plus some shipping, it came to $83 total. Seems like alot for such a small thing, my husband is still complaining. He thought it would last much longer though. The company said somewhere on the order of 10+ years. They are designed for fast rotation so going that slow should prolong its service life. Found a motor on ebay that is 12v and a max of 30rpm, power that down by not driving it at max current and that goes down, now also couple that with the diameter of the lazy susan and we might get to where I want to be. If not, I will make my husband fix it Link to comment
rickjg Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 We considered those. Saw them on ebay. When consulting my husband, he thought they would not last so we went searching for a better solution. Came up with this: Slip Ring The slip ring unit was about $50 and the connector was $13 x 2 plus some shipping, it came to $83 total. Seems like alot for such a small thing, my husband is still complaining. He thought it would last much longer though. The company said somewhere on the order of 10+ years. They are designed for fast rotation so going that slow should prolong its service life. Found a motor on ebay that is 12v and a max of 30rpm, power that down by not driving it at max current and that goes down, now also couple that with the diameter of the lazy susan and we might get to where I want to be. If not, I will make my husband fix it I'm looking forward to seeing your tank "in action", maybe on youtube? Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 I'm really interested in your plan to use a lazy susan w/ slip ring power. I had tossed around the idea of making my cylinder pico rotate, but never came up with a plan that would work with my drilled bottom supply & return lines. Yea problem is they make rotating slip rings for electric (fairly cheap) --- they also make them for liquid (hydraulics on heavy equipment) but I bet they are way more high dollar. Amphitrite --- after many exhaustive talks with your husband this will be a totally kewl build. You actually have 3 ways of turning down the rpm so between them you should be able to get the speed right. And if you use an adjustable power supply as the final speed adjustment then you should be able to dial in the exact speed to make it look totally kewl. P.S. --- If you win we split the prize -- tell your husband I said so --- to many boring days at work, discussing this with him via txt messages Link to comment
Amphitrite Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 I'm looking forward to seeing your tank "in action", maybe on youtube? Most certainly...but I have to get the thing built first. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.