gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 How about this one for size...LOL This came to me while wandering thru the flea market one weekend.....lol I found this gum ball maching with a nice shaped glass top and clear plastic base. The only metal parts were the coin device and the central shaft that clamped the top to the base. I took out all the metal and drilled many tiny holes thru the middle divider that separated the base from the glass top. Then drilled a 1" hole in the middle of the same divider for the air lift tube I put in to lift the water from the lower compartment to the upper. The upper bubble (approx 1 gal.) is glass and will have about 3 inches of arragonite/sand in it. The lower compartment is plastic and siliconed to a 1/4" plexi base plate for stability (the plate replacing the cast iron base that inserted up into the base). I made a small 3" by 5" phlenum out of a plastic top of a candy box (mmmm good) and drilled a crapload of tiny holes in that for the flow. The air lift will lift 2 inches out of the water (tried in my larger tank) and has a top on it allowing the air to go out the top and water down around this special top (old vapor lock from my wine making wine kit). Below are some pics I took aas I made it...hope you like it. FL Bob Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 Here it is together somewhate...on my car That's Edna my 66 volvo in the background. Fl Bob Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 This shows the inner air lift tube.... The water flows from the bottom phlenum tho the top of the upper ball. FL Bob Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 I found a 1/2 " glass test tube I could slide down the center of the 1" air lift to get my moonlite down to the lower tank. Gonna use 6 4K white LED's and 6 8K white LED's in the same tube to see if LED's will make things grow. They have a 30 degree angle of light. I have a small pigmy Octo I'm gonna put in this. He eats small fish from my hand now...comes right to me at night and grabs it....awsome!! It's running now with LR and DBS from my Isolation tank and salt water from the same. FL Bob Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 ha ha awesome...ive had this idea floatig around the inside of my head for a while but never did it! im excited to see someone do it so now if i do i dont have to do trial and error. thanks for setting htis up and sharing...now get some water in it! Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 oops i posted too soon...looks awesome Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 Look closer...there is LR growing in it...got a 40 compac light on it from outside. FL Bob Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Man that is very cool, Need to find a good neat lighting solution. Shoot me some pics of the lights.. Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Man, I've been wondering when someone was going to do that. It's only a matter of time before we see the Garfeild Fishbowl Nano Reef. Suh-weet. -Sumbel. Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 I call around different manufacturers to ask about LED's and found one that made some white ones in the 4000 mcd range and also diff ones in the 8ooo mcd range. They sent me 6 of each free to try out on this project to see if they will make SPF's and muchrooms grow. I'll keep ya posted! FL Bob Link to comment
TiGs Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 That's tight. What kind of livestock are thinking about? Link to comment
gololf Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 I have a pigmy octo that might be nice in there. He needs to come out of my 55...as he eats me out of snails and hermits!! He now eats out of my hand at night tho...really awsome feeling...them little suckers. Hasn't bitten me yet..lol I have one snail and one hermit in the bubble and some LR with spunge and various things growing on it...gonna put some mushrooms I have on a small rock in it tonight when I get home. Soft corals will be the best with 4000 to 8000 mcd LED's I think. FL Bob Link to comment
ryz Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 one word......WOW! You must feel great doing that all by yourslef. haha great work. Keep us informed of your progress. Be sure to post pics of the completed nano. Link to comment
wallywaltt Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 you did you contact on LED's? Im trying to find more info about LED's. Whats the ideal mcd range, and what does mcd stand for? Link to comment
gololf Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 Not sure what the mcd stands for...but it is suppost to mean the frequency range of the light output......corals and algea and other photo sythetic organism need certain light frequencies of light to make their food...thus giving off beneficial byproducts to other organisms. Anemonaes and algea living in symbiosys...the algea giving off sugars and the pink color to them. The red color range form the sun is absorbed and/or dispursed into the ocean within a few feet of the surface...only the blue and violets reach the lower depths. The LED's should do good in Nano tanks as they are receiving the light from less than a foot away mostly....so get the reds too. I think you need to get LED's that have a range of at least 4000 to 10000 mcd (Kelvin) My bubble gum tank is only 12"n Diameter...lol So the LED's will be spaced around the top facing inwards in a string. I will solder 2 together (in parallel) to a 100 Ohm resistor so will have 6 double LED lights around the top. They have a 30 degree spread of their light from the bulb. I might see if I can find some very small reflectors for each of them. FL Bob Link to comment
smaug Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 mcd is milli candela and has nothing to do with color just brightness. the color is in wavelength nm(nanometers). Smaug Link to comment
Armadildo Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 have fun cleaning that nice idea, I give you an A for effort, but not very pratical for a reef. Much more suited to be a hooka. Link to comment
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