20 gallon long all in one

[tyty22]

success!!! well pretty much

 

i setup the tank and filled it with water. it pretty much leveled it self out with some shims in the front.

 

There is one small leak in the bottom left hand corner of the false wall but that is easily fixed with a dab of silicone once i empty it

and the rock guard in the fuge leaks in one corner again one dab and were done!!!

 

so its almost time for Salt water!!!!!!!!!

 

also the mj 1200 really moves the water well all alone it gives the tank some really good flow.

 

but i was hoping for some more flow from the koralia nano. im sure it moves the water well but i can't really tell without some coral in there. its just so soft but you can see it moving the bubbles well out of its path. we'll see how well it works later on i won't give up on in just yet.

 

oh and i made a curtian type thing for like 10 bucks to hide the back of the stand

[hcsceo]

HAHAHAHA nice. DIY all the way, you gotta love it. The waterflow looks great. As far as the ATO... 1.25 might get you two days max of ATO with 20 gallons. That type of ATO works well as long as the container you use to hold the water is very ridged and air tight. I made one from a cylinder of acrylic once and it was more hassle than it was worth. Make sure you check out this stuff..

 

DIY ATO Kits

 

I'd use a toms aqualifter with it.

[disaster999]

that hood is bigger than the tank :o

[tyty22]

HAHAHAHA nice. DIY all the way, you gotta love it. The waterflow looks great. As far as the ATO... 1.25 might get you two days max of ATO with 20 gallons. That type of ATO works well as long as the container you use to hold the water is very ridged and air tight. I made one from a cylinder of acrylic once and it was more hassle than it was worth. Make sure you check out this stuff..

 

DIY ATO Kits

 

I'd use a toms aqualifter with it.

 

Thanks im waiting for the silicone patch ups to dry so i can finally start the tank

 

as for the ATO i was just looking for a very...VERY cheap and EASY DIY.

That kit looks nice but i have seen one some one posted about here but i forget who where and what it was called... haha well it was blue and like 29 bucks all assembled.

 

I personally really don't like the idea of me diying something that deals with electicity going into water... scares me.

 

i think i may look around for a cheap water jug that will either fit on or in my canopy and make one like i talked about before.

i will test and test and test to make sure it won't fail on me. and if i can get it to work,then great!

but if i can't oh well atleast i will have only spent a couple bucks.

 

but in the end if all fails i may either spend the money on a jbj auto top off or just stick with the ol' bucket.

 

which is not so bad because i have a RO water storage bin in my closet, i made out of a ten gallon rubber maid bin a couple fittings from lowes, a ball vavel and barbed fittings and all works nice i made a little stand for it and i just fill it with RO water from our RO unit down stairs ever once in a while. i use it to fill buckets for water changes

it works nice ill post some pictures if you what.

[tyty22]

well im pretty much stuck right now i just need some lr. and i can't seem to find any good deals

[thapatient]

wicked build bro, gonna be nice when you get it fully set up.

[tyty22]

Thanks.

 

Im mixing saltwater in it right now and im going to the LFS to get LR and LS. This way i get to pick out my own rock.

[HankB]

i have been thinking .... about an diy auto top off. i had planed on adding a auto top off to the tank later on when i had some extra money.

BUt tonight i got to thinking. if im correct the solana aquarium has a simple top off which is just an over turned bottle filled with fw water and when display water evaporates the water drops below the bottles nozzle the bottle empties until the bottles nozzle seals up again.

Please correct me if im wrong

but can someone point out the pros and cons of this method

 

I'm working on just such a device. For lack of a better term, I'm calling it the vacuum break gravity fed ATO.

 

My biggest concern is keeping everything above the surface of the water completely sealed as any leaks there will result in all of the water draining into the tank.

 

I've got it testing by keeping the water level constant in a plastic container next to the kitchen sink. With a little more testing, I'll have enough confidence in it to put it on a real tank. The concept is simple and I'm just working out implementation details. I suppose I should start a thread on it.

 

-hank

[evilc66]

Sounds like the snapple tea jar ATO.

[HankB]

Sounds like the snapple tea jar ATO.

 

Like http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65554 ?

 

Yes, very similar. Too bad my earlier searches didn't find that one. Thanks for pointing that out. That's interesting. Very similar to my idea except it uses two tubes instead of one. I'll have to think about that and see if it offers any advantages. Off the top of my head, it looks like there are additional places where air could leak, but it might be easier to refill.

 

thanks,

hank

[tyty22]

I started a thread for my tank over in the members section

my tank thread

 

Hank i would like to see this idea really work so i will be flowing you thread. i may work on one myself but im having a hard time finding a good container. i found 2 that might work but just don't fit my tank well. ill keep trying.

 

these containers are the same brand as a1rabbit's but i didn't find the one he had which i believe would have been perfect.

 

2 gallon

1 1/4 gallon