[Custom] rickjg

[rickjg]

2X7

 

I thought I better get my entry in before the deadline

just in case I actually get some spare time for a project.

MGD has become a tradition for tank planning,

providing lubrication for the brain cells.

I have two old 7 gallon cubes lying around that would make a good project.

I want to stack the tanks with the top tank working as a fuge with bottom lighting.

The bottom tank would hold liverock & corals,

but I’m undecided on lighting for the bottom tank.

Maybe 70 watt DIY MH Pendant,

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...&hl=70+watt

maybe LEDs or a combo of both LEDs & MH.

I want to pump water up from the bottom tank to the top fuge tank

with gravity overflow back down to the coral tank for water flow.

I'm hoping this will keep a steady flow of pods moving down to feed corals.

I would also like to setup a small scale surge system to enhance turbulence,

but that might require an additional sump.

 

There are still a lot of butts in my planning at this stage,

might require one more MGD.

-Rick

[supernip]

wow another contest? nice! The custom category is really heated this time. You're one of the entries Im anticipating most. Good luck old timer

[crrichey]

So which one will be the display?

[rickjg]

So which one will be the display?

The tank that looks the best will be the display

Actually the bottom tank will be display & the top tank will be the fuge.

 

-Rick

[Rene]

Wow, neat concept!

 

Is that the stand you'll be using for the double-tank system?

[Fishfreak218]

woah... i loved your nanocube 6.. cant wait to see this project come along..

[rickjg]

Wow, neat concept!

 

Is that the stand you'll be using for the double-tank system?

I just set the tanks on the old computer stand to take pics,

it's not sturdy enough to hold the tanks with water.

[Obsessed Reefer]

O man. Ricks in it. Everybody else should just.... well I'll be nice and say " Everybody else should hope for a miracle"

 

lol

 

Loved your NC6

 

Cant wait for this.

 

 

Jesse

[rickjg]

The way my schedule looks it will be Thanksgiving before I even get to start on mods.

[Rene]

That should even the playing field for the rest of us

 

I mean, how sad...

[Obsessed Reefer]

 

THANKSGIVING!!!

 

How come?

[rickjg]

I’m just bumping this so other entrants don’t think I’ve totally abandoned my project. I was slow out of the gate & now I’ve run into difficulties making the project function the way I had envisioned. If I have to go to Plan C, I may never get it running by the deadline.

Wish me luck (or not).

-Rick

[rickjg]

Plan A - 2x7

I decided against stacking the two 7 gallon cubes, it just didn’t appeal to me that much when I started really playing around with the idea. The fuge area was too large & fuges are not that attractive.

 

Plan B - Nano Surge

Well I thought up my crazy Plan B - Nano Surge using a Borneman Surge over Thanksgiving weekend. A Borneman Surge uses a toilet flush valve for the surge devise. I rounded up all the parts from my local HD & and started testing with a couple of five gallon buckets in the backyard. The backyard testing was very positive & I was able to get a nice almost bubble free 16 OZ surge by adding an in-line plug with a ½” hole and using a dishwasher drain to pull off the bubbles before the water went into the tank. I moved forward with making up the needed tank parts. I dropped by a store that sells acrylic & plastic and bought some cut-offs & weld-On #16 for my project. I used black plastic to make up a new back chamber with an elevated fuge to hold the Borneman Surge. I used a heat strip to bend the back chamber plastic into shape, which turned out to be far harder than I had planned, my acrylic & plastic skills are a little on the rough side to say the least. The tall back chamber will work really well to provide a mounting location for my DIY spot light 70 watt MH lighting.

 

Here is a pic of the front of the new tall back chamber with elevated fuge.

I’m going to use a surface skimmer from a NC24

 

The back chamber is turned backwards in the tank just to take a pic

 

 

I used blue acrylic to form the elevated fuge in the back chamber.

 

 

 

Here is the completed Borneman Surge from the backside with clear acrylic covering the elevated fuge.

 

 

I also cut out a black plastic bottom for the tank

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately with a couple hours of testing I have not been able to make the flush valve actually flush with any regularity, the float has a hard time popping the flush valve open. There is a very small window of adjustment between where the flush valve will re-seat itself after a surge & still pull open again for the next surge. Sometimes the float pulls it open, but more often the water just overflows the flush valve. Flush valves just were not designed to operate with a float.

 

I think I will be moving on to Plan C, which I will remove the float & place a fuge light above the elevated fuge for Cheato & pods with a gravity overflow to the tank. The flush valve makes for a very nice overflow & I can manually pull the flush valve occasionally for the “big surge” to flush some pods into the tank.

 

The really bad news is that there is no way I’m ever going to get this tank completed & stocked by the contest deadline,......so I’ll post the tank in a different forum when I finally get it going.

 

Goodbye for now and good luck to the other contestants.

-Rick

[Obsessed Reefer]

HOLY CRAP!! This is the Rude Goldberg of Nano's. Nice looking. Too bad it wont be ready for the contest.

[rickjg]

HOLY CRAP!! This is the Rude Goldberg of Nano's. Nice looking. Too bad it wont be ready for the contest.

Yea, just a little "outside the box"

 

-Rick