Our first reef, 10g Nano, (Verde-bay) in Charleston SC

[snowlancer2720]

nice work with the tank so far, its really coming along nicely! just a word of caution though with the ato, i tried doing the same thing, but it seemed that my switch would get stuck sometimes, and not fill, make sure to watch it for a few days to make sure it works before the vacation

[airman_verde04]

Cool man....loving all of your DIY work. So I'm assuming that the air pump is going to pump air into the juice container, increase the pressure in there, and thus push the water out the other end? Just make sure that there is enough power for it push the water up and out of the bottle and up and over the top of your tank.

 

you got it!! I call it the super soaker theory, I tested it this morning, it works great! now I'm just waiting on the float switch. anyways, I didn't like the way I glued the tubes into the cap, so I've put them together, the free movement was causing the tubes to break the seals.. I think this will last a lot longer, its gluing now.

 

nice work with the tank so far, its really coming along nicely! just a word of caution though with the ato, i tried doing the same thing, but it seemed that my switch would get stuck sometimes, and not fill, make sure to watch it for a few days to make sure it works before the vacation

 

hey snow, where did you get your float switch from? I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to mount the float when I get it.

[airman_verde04]

good morning Nano-reef world!! ok, so this morning I tested out the pump-a-bilty of my ATO set up, it works great!! now I just have to wait for the float switch to get here some time at the end of the week, then It will be finished. more to come..

 

Up close on the top of the reservoir water holding compartment

Testing!! Testing!!!

LET THERE BE WATER!!

[Mr. Fosi]

Looks good.

 

It's fun to make a functioning DIY project isn't it?

 

BTW, you know you're fish don't see mirrored surfaces from the inside of the tank, right? Because they are in the water, they see the same refractive effect we do from outside the tank.

[HankB]

good morning Nano-reef world!! ok, so this morning I tested out the pump-a-bilty of my ATO set up, it works great!!

 

I have a question for both you and Mr. Fosi.

 

When the air pump shuts off, does it depressurize the reservoir or does water continue to flow for some time. I really like the philosophy of air over water operation, but I wonder if it would tend to overshoot on a large reservoir when the volume is mostly air.

 

Also I'll pass something else along. I've had difficulty maintaining seals of tubing in juice bottle lids because everything I've tried does not bond to it (This is DIY CO2 on a FW tank and with a one-way valve, pressure requirements are higher.) Anyway, the bulkhead fittings referenced here could help: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#6

 

thanks,

hank

[Mr. Fosi]

When the air pump shuts off, does it depressurize the reservoir or does water continue to flow for some time.

 

Mine holds the pressure so the water does flow for a bit after the pump shuts off.

 

I really like the philosophy of air over water operation, but I wonder if it would tend to overshoot on a large reservoir when the volume is mostly air.

 

Yes it does. I have a 7g reservoir and when it gets down to the latter half of the volume, it tends to overshoot some. It wasn't a huge problem in my 20L setup because the head pressure created by the height and the length of the tube was just less than the air pump could push. The flow was slow and it didn't run for long after the airpump shut off. This is not the case on my new system that is quite a bit shorter.

 

This is a reason that I have been thinking about changing my ATO's mode of operation. I have two extra caps for my carboy, so I was thinking of rigging another setup based off a powerhead. I could also crank down the rheostat on my pump but I think it might be time to move to a more conventional topoff since I now have a sump to mix the water well before it hits the display.

 

Also I'll pass something else along. I've had difficulty maintaining seals of tubing in juice bottle lids because everything I've tried does not bond to it...

 

Those bulkheads are the bomb but loctite's GOOP knock-off adheres to the cap fairly well and silicone works too if you sand around the holes where you plan to apply it.

[airman_verde04]

IF I think I know what you all are talking about, when I did the pump test, after I turned the pump off, it would keep pumping water till all the pressure was out of the bottle. I think it will be a normal thing..

[airman_verde04]

Looks good.

 

It's fun to make a functioning DIY project isn't it?

 

BTW, you know you're fish don't see mirrored surfaces from the inside of the tank, right? Because they are in the water, they see the same refractive effect we do from outside the tank.

 

Thanks Mr. Fosi! I've been having alot of fun doing them, and really its more of a I dont have the money to spend on some of the stuff that you buy, I mean I looked at a ATO system online! its like $89 for the ATO system, then you still have to buy a water pump.. I'm just around $40 I think, or 30.. I dont know, but its not much.

[airman_verde04]

WOOHOO!! Just got the float switch, I have no idea how I'm going to mount it to the tank, but I shall see.. maybe my friend at work can help manufacture something.. more too come

[GrandpaFeathers]

yaaay

[airman_verde04]

Ok everyone, I didn't get to get as many detailed pictures of the finished job, but this is what I got, test the switch, seems to work just fine.. lets see how it does overnight.. I'm also mixing my own water for the first time, alittle nervous of what the turn out is going to be. I'm using instant Ocean this time around, but once that little mix for 10g is finished, I'm ordering reef salt by seachem or rea sea coral pro, I think they are both are more so what I need, but I got this little box for 5bucks, so for my first 5 water changes (since I only do 2 gallons at a time) this shall do. anyways.. on to the pictures!! first off.. ATO completed.

 

Here she is!! the switch got here fast!! I was very surprised!

here is after I sodered the wires to the battery pump to the float switch, cant really see it too well, sorry

I like keeping things clean, so I drilled a hole for the wired to come out for the float switch

I wasn't to thrilled with the idea of making my own hanger for this float switch, so I actually got one of those two tube air line hanger things from the pet shop, I had to drill out one side a little wider so the threads on the float switch would fit, and then I glued it down, its nice and steady, I hope its snail proof.

here from the top.. it worked out perfectly so I can hold both water line and switch wire together!

 

and thats it!! tonight will be the first unchaperoned test of the ATO, I'm a little nervous but I trust my work and the switch and pump to do just fine without my supervision.

 

ANNDD!! just for fun, here is my 2 gallon water mixing station!

see the pump in action!

From the side!!

 

tomorrow is water change day.. so we shall see how it goes.. I'm sure all will be well.. I'll give an update on my water mixing skills tomorrow.

[divecj5]

Heck yeah David. Great job man.....very nicely done. Glad to know that there is someone close by with some DIY tank skills. Looks clean and sleek.

 

I'm sure your first waterchange will go perfectly....just make sure to take it slow, bring the water up to temperature and salinity and go from there. Believe me, it will become old hat before too long. I just did a 4 gallon change on my tank this morning before leaving for work. After mixing it up last night, it took me all of about 5 minutes

 

PM if you have any problems and you can give me a call if you get stuck at some point.

[Mr. Fosi]

Clever use of that gang valve as a floatswitch bracket.

[airman_verde04]

Clever use of that gang valve as a floatswitch bracket.

Thanks Mr. Fosi,

 

anyways.. UGG!! not a happy camper, I thought I used a 1/2cup measuring cup last night for the salt mixing.. well, I used a 1/3.. not happy.. I guess I wont be doing a water change till after work tonight.. I just added some salt mix.. hopefully that will fix the 1.016 specific gravity I had..

[singmealullaby]

that ato setup looks great. it has such a small profile.

[airman_verde04]

hey folks, we're getting ready for some coral here in a few months.. so I wanted our rocks to be set up right for it.. I'll put the only view and the new view.. tell me if you all like it or not..

 

OLD

NEW

[divecj5]

Did you just tilt the big base rock toward the front more? I can't really tell that much of a difference really. I like your scape the way it is and should be perfect for corals.

[soundman]

The new scape looks better. It looks like you turned the top piece of rock 180 degrees. It lets more light down to the lower areas and gives you more places to mount corals. Good work.

[varanus37]

+1. The new 'scape definitely offers more spots to place corals where they'll receive light. It also just looks kewl with nothing on it. That must be a good start. If you can just have good looking rocks you're set. Tank crashes and the corals die? Eh, I've got sweet looking rocks.

 

Good job on the 'scape and good luck with the tank.

 

Bill

[airman_verde04]

yeah.. thanks everyone.. I did tilt the rock towards the front more.. I'm starting to plan what coral I'm going to put in there. Im going to keep it coral-lite, I already have one rock on the left thats becoming invaded by xeina, and want to keep it that way.. and if my shroom makes it through the fraging I had to do (because he decided to detach himself from his home!! I want the rock he is on covered in shrooms.. and I have my one zoa I want to frag and move somewhere. I dont know where yet.. anyhoo..

[baugherb]

lookin awesome.... I like the aquascaping....

[divecj5]

Hey David. So how did the tank fair while you were gone on vacation? Did you guys have a good time for the 4th?

 

Hope all is well on your slice of the reef.

[airman_verde04]

hey everyone, well My tank survived our first vacation away, I need to figure out what is causing my ATO to stay on and over fill every once in a while, but I haven't had any messes yet, so I just dont want the change in salinity, but I will have to figure it out later.. anyways, here are a few pictures of tanks around DC's national Aquariums, and the National Zoo. I missed the tanks that had at the National museum of natural history, my friend said they had a bunch of these bubble tank things and one with a bunch of cleaner shrimps.. thought the National Aquarium was a big waist of time, I've seen better and more tanks at a fish shop, the zoo on the other hand had some really nice tanks going for them, not to mention the big lab with all the frag tanks, I forgot to take pictures there. oh well, maybe next time.

 

here is the reef tank with simulated waves crashing above at the national zoo, really cool.

here is the crazy big torch I think.. in the same tank, it was about the size of 2 basketballs.

Here is the other tank at the Zoo, it was just a coral tank, really great coloring.. they had a mantis shrimp separated on the other side of the tank..

here is this zoa colony in the coral tank, just had such an awesome pink color to it..

here are some star polyps I think, I just love green colors in tanks.. I just need to get some for myself

 

thats about it, I'm eventually going to wiring my new moonlights up, I'll update when I get around to it.

 

 

 

here is one of the reef tanks at the National Aquarium, they didn't have any real corals that were worth photos, not to mention they only had one small tank with a couple softies, (LAME) but I really like the rock scaping

[Carolinapico]

Cool pics. I love that torch!

[divecj5]

Awesome....that Torch, or is it an Elegance Coral, is amazing. Crazy how big it is and I can only imagine how it looked swaying in that turbulent flow.

 

The offer is still out there on the Green Star Polyps if you want some. I can frag you some any time you want and just meet you up at Tideline or something. Just let me know.