Blu pico v2.0

[herranton]

I tend to change this first post a lot. It will contain all the info about the tank. I will also include the updates in the thread. Eventually, this will look a bit more professional. Right now I just want to get the thread going.

 

I got the tank in the mail yesterday. I got home late so I started unboxing it at about 11:45pm.

Unboxing:

The packaging from Big Al's was good. I doubt UPS could have damaged it if they wanted to.

 

The Packaging from Toms left a lot to be desired though. And, upon closer inspection, it appears that the box has been opened before. Its always a bad sign when your "new" product is sealed with scotch gift wrapping tape instead of the heavy duty stuff the manufactures use. If you look close, you can see the original tape is still there, just under the scotch tape.

 

After opening the box for the tank, surprise!, either the packaging was incomplete or Toms didn't do a very good job of designing the Styrofoam. They seemed to focus on how to get all the accessories into the box and neglected the tank itself. [edit] I guess someone took the tank out of the box sometime after it left the manufacturer and before it got to me, then didn't repack it correctly. I might talk to Big Al's about this.

 

After inspecting everything, it seemed to be good. I should have gone to bed at this point, but I decided to try out the light. It is not horrible, and it seems to be designed fairly well.

 

Then I put it on the tank.

 

Scratches!!!! The packaging should have included some Styrofoam around the outside of the tank to protect it from rubbing the box. I am not too happy with Toms at this point. I'm not exactly mad about it though because I will inevitably scratch the tank anyway and now I wont feel as bad when I do scratch it the first time.

 

I am pleased with the build quality of the tank for the price. I like the shape of it too. The filter is bigger than I expected and the light seems well built. I also like how it includes a top. With a tank this size, evaporation will be a problem and most manufactures just let you sort it out yourself. Its too bad they didn't put that much thought into the packaging.

 

If I get some time later, I might lay out a plan for this tank. Right now, I'm kinda busy at work.

[nickjqz]

Looks good! Too bad about the scratching though.

[endolith]

Have you thought about buffing the scratches out? I remember reading a guide on how to do that here.

[herranton]

Have you thought about buffing the scratches out? I remember reading a guide on how to do that here.

I thought about that. For a $40 tank, its not really worth the time. If it were a big tank, I probably would wetsand the heck out of it with progressively finer sandpaper until I got to like 2000 grit. Maybe if my stand turns out better than I expect it to, I will make the tank look nice too.

[metrokat]

yup, mine came with scratches on the rim and also, of all places, the underneath of the tank.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Wow,

 

I'm impressed on your documentation process, pictures and detail explanation of each finding... I was the same way when I created a thread on a build...

 

Regarding the scratches:

 

I have to deal with that on a constant basis, as I am a dealer for an Acrylic company, all my tanks are viable for superficial scratches.

 

Now, here's the key to not worry.

 

If the tank has small tiny scratches on the inside that are not deep, you will be okay. As soon as you fill up the tank with water, they will disappear or virtually be impossible to see, unless you angle your eye in such a way that you try to find it.

 

On the flip side, if it's on the outside, OUCH!!! You will not get rid of it and it's a sore to see.

 

I have only started operating since Oct 1 and my mom was my first customer. She ordered Kit#4 and I sent her 2 lbs of live rock and I had it wrapped in several bags air tight. To save space I placed it inside the 2 gallon tank with the live sand, in case it opened during transit.

 

End result, was my mom had several small scratches on the inside of her tank and a couple of deep ones. The UPS route, had shifted so much it scuffed up the inside and the rocks went through the plastic.

 

I was really bummed that this would happen and to my poor mom. And I quickly sent her out a new one, and she went with the Blue and will keep the Black one for fish.

 

Since this was my first trial run with shipping, I ship with bubble wrap around my acrylic and place absolutely nothing inside.

 

When TruVu hands them over to me, they are wrapped up in plastic as you saw in the pictures and then I have to re-inspect them and place our Micro-Reefs sticker on them.

 

All the acrylic tanks regardless of how careful you are even from the assembly line, come with very small nicks, very superficial on the sides.

 

They are rejected if the scratches are deep or there are any scratches on the face of the tank.

 

So, what does this all mean?

 

You should not be able to see those scuffs on the top of the tank once the water is in. Be extra careful not to stack live rock up in the front of your tank, also when you clean it, don't let sand get caught up between your Nano/mag cleaner.

 

And be very careful on the outside, if you scratch it, it will stay there.

 

Remember though, it's a gorgeous look compared to glass if it's done right and you are careful.

 

I see you went with two hydors, nice...

 

MG

[Woogalie]

Dont think this is the fault of TOMS... perhaps it is the dealer you bought it from. Mine came with molded styrofoam on the outside of the tank and that kept it from rubbing the cardboard box.

 

my Limpet has scratched my tank up all crazy in the front so... i think we all gonna have scratches lol

[herranton]

Wow,

 

I'm impressed on your documentation process, pictures and detail explanation of each finding... I was the same way when I created a thread on a build...

I am a pretty detailed person when I want to document something. I have a thread over on Pumphaven documenting the teardown and rebuild of my Pump it Up machine(think DDR, but better) There are probably over 500 photos on the thread. Pump haven thread(I'm pretty proud of it, so I pimp it when I can)

 

 

Dont think this is the fault of TOMS... perhaps it is the dealer you bought it from. Mine came with molded styrofoam on the outside of the tank and that kept it from rubbing the cardboard box.

 

my Limpet has scratched my tank up all crazy in the front so... i think we all gonna have scratches lol

I was wondering about that. It looked like something should be in there. I will update my post so it doesn't look like I am blaming Toms.

[herranton]

Ok, this post is going to suck and seem and unfinished. I have done some work on the tank, stand and lights, but I don’t have pics of all of it. Once it gets late, I start to forget to take pics.

 

The light:

I started with this:

It’s a pot from Ikea.

The bottom plate is about ¼ to 3/8ths of an inch thick and will hopefully make a good heatsink. If not, I have lowish profile cpu heatsink and fan that will be epoxy’d to the pot.

Then I started cutting it up.

First, I knocked the handles off. They were spot welded in place. They came off pretty easy with a screwdriver and a hammer though. I scratched the #### outa the first one though. That can be the back.

Next I drilled some holes in the bottom of the pot. I drilled four small holes for the wire hangers and one for the led power wires. I was using tools at my friends work. They have a decent drill press and some pretty badass bits. With a bit of WD40, the bit cut through the stainless like butter. I took a video too.(hopefully it works)Click the second pic!

 

With the pot drilled, I started soldering leds. I didn’t attach them to the heatsink first because it would be impossible to solder them once in the pot. Even with my lackluster skills, it came out pretty nice. I only messed up a couple of times. Although, if you ask my friend (who is an EE), it still looked like ####.

 

Me: How’s this?

EE: Do it again.

Me: Why? It looks fine.

EE: It will fail, do it again. It needs to be shiny, like I showed you.

Me: Fine…ouch….####….oww….Damn it, whys’ it gotta be so hot.

 

I have tiny little red marks all over my thumbs and index fingers from picking stuff up to examine it before it cooled. The tips of my thumbs have no feeling. I was using a really nice Hakko 951 iron. It doesn’t cool down like a regular iron. It pretty much just stays at whatever temperature you set it at. It also helps that the desk I was doing it at is set up for soldering. Everything is in the exact right spot. The last time I tried something like this; it was much more difficult because I was sitting at the kitchen table. Having the right tools really helps.

 

I settled on 4 RBs, 2 NW, 1 Cyan, 1 actinicish, and 1 red. With each color on their own individual buckpuck. I’m not sure how high I will hang it yet. I wanted it at the ceiling but I can’t find optics for the actinic led. I might just getting 60º optics for the RB and NW and leaving the others without. They are purely for aesthetics anyway and I think that this little tank will not be short in the par dept. The leds will be recessed about 7 inches in the fixture, so that should control the light spill. I will post pics in a few days when I finish the fixture.

 

I started working on the stand too. a couple weeks ago, I picked up one of those 4x4 Expidit cube shelves from Ikea. The tank will be on top and the sump will be in the lower left. Top off in the lower right will all the ‘lectric’s in the upper right. The upper left will be the light for the fuge and the plumbing for the sump.

 

 

I cut out a bit of the middle upright to fit in the DJ switch panel. I don’t know why I didn’t get a finished pic, but here it is in progress.(got the pic) You can also see the hole through the left shelf for the sump plumbing and light. The sump will be a Finnex 4 gallon. and will be mostly a display fuge with a bit of live rock and a aquaticlife 115 skimmers, or whatever the heck they are called. I am hopping that the fuge will produce enough pods so I can get a mandarin, JK, still paying attention.

 

 

I also prepped the tank for paint. I will paint as soon as I can think of a place warm enough to do it. Ignore the perfectly round blue tape cutouts that took forever to make, I will be drilling the bottom, so those will be removed. :cry:

 

 

Thanks for reading; any comments/criticism is appreciated ::

 

Nathan

[metrokat]

DAMN!

[castiel]

Is anyone running a book on the Walmart contest? I would like to place a bet ...

[herranton]

Is anyone running a book on the Walmart contest? I would like to place a bet ...

Thanks

 

I have an inside tip for you though. I have a bad habit of not finishing what I start.

Hopefully, this time will be different. I'm pretty pumped about this little tank.

[streetsong]

Wow! Someone is bringing their "A" game!

[tam]

very nice herr! i expect to see more pics after the weekend!

[pbjelly]

Wow! This is gonna be sweeeeet!

[ReiningChick]

Your doing a fantastic job!! I can't wait to see more pics

[herranton]

Thanks everyone!

 

:pressure: :sweat:

[Fnard]

looking like a nice job. why did you decide to drill the bottom? i would think that would be a lil more intrusive than being on the back, unless you have something planned.

[iball1804]

Oh gosh.

 

Drilled 2 gallon tank? What are you thinking?

 

JK it's gonna be great! Keep the updates coming!

[Squared]

this is cool, herry. following

[herranton]

PICTURES!!!!!

 

I cant finish the light until Monday evening because all of the stuff is at my friends work. Here are a couple of teaser pics.

 

 

The first thing that I did today was paint the tank. I decided that I would paint the rim that goes around the bottom of the tank black too. Then I started waiting. While waiting, I decided to mod my skimmer. All I really did was replace the tube that feeds air to the pump with a longer tube. Here are some disassembly pics(ignore the grimy stuff, last time I broke down a tank, I had very little time. everything will be cleaned):

 

 

After its apart, you have to remove the little black thing that lets air into the skimmer and then enlarge the hole that it was in. I used drill bits for this process. I started with a small bit that nearly fit into the black piece and then used progressively larger bits. I think I started with a 3/32nd and worked my way up to a 3/16th. Somewhere along the way the black piece fell out., the pics will explain it better

 

 

After that, reassemble everything and pop a valve on the end, and you're done.

 

Went to Home Depot to buy plumbing stuff. I cut down the fittings so they would fit in the tank better. If you will be working with PVC for even a short amount of time, getting a PVC cutter like the one in the pic.

 

Then the tank was dry:

 

So I started drilling.

 

I started by drilling two tiny pilot holes for the hole saw. I didn't use a drill for the entire process. I turned the bits by hands. I was worried about heating up the plastic. Each hole took about 45 minutes. Click on the Last pic for a video of me drilling.

Drilled the stand:

I was interested in how the corrugated wood from Ikea worked

 

Durso plumbing mock up.

 

Thats it for tonight. I started some other stuff, but it got too loud and I didn't want to wake up the neighbors. More tomorrow.

 

Nathan

[Cintax]

Nice work

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

I am way impressed...

[metrokat]

I'm done for.

[herranton]

I did a little more work to the stand yesterday. I built a divider for the upper right cube so I can the mount controllers on it, and then hide the wiring in the back. Since I will be sleeping in the same room as the tank, I made some doors out of hardboard from Home Depot. They are just velcro’d to the front because there will be no room to open them once my bed is in the room. It looks pretty decent. Hopefully the doors will keep the room pretty dark, The Reef Keeper and the Vortech control box can be really bright.