CoRPS Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Mock up: Beginning assembly: I cut the teeth out with the table saw, worked out perfectly! Hoping to be done putting it together by tonight. I tested the weld-on on some scrap acrylic I had, and it took a while to set. After about an hour it was strong enough to take the clamps off but not strong enough to put any stress on it. This morning I stress tested it (about 12hrs of cure) and the acrylic broke before the bond. Which is great. But the cure time is pretty damn long! Anyway, will post updates as they happen Link to comment
JBM Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 really nifty design. i really like that! Have fun & be patient. All good things will come. A rock wall on the false wall could be nice! Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Yeah, it's not touching water until at least Thursday. I was more worried about the cure times for being able to move it around to add all the sides and baffles. I've already got all the sides up, going to start the baffles in about a half hour. Link to comment
Thristan Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Glad to hear that you found the weld on #3 everything looks good so far Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 I actually had to get it shipped from Hawaii! Only costed $10 shipped from a guy on RC though Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Mounted baffles. Waiting a half hour and then doing the other side. Should be cured by tomorrow and will get siliconed into tank either late tonight or tomorrow. Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Mounting in tank tomorrow. Going to give either 24 or 48hrs (not sure yet) to cure. And then I'm doing a water test. Link to comment
tyty22 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 its looking good! i would deffinitly add a rock wall it will give you a great aquascape that you can customize exactly the way you want. which is nice in such skinny tanks where you have less then 12 inches to work with, at the same time you have 12 inches in height to fill Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Hey tyty did you use silicone to mount the false wall to the glass? If so how sturdy is it? Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Also, the only thing keeping me from going rock wall is that I'm nervous with little or no LR I may have filtration issues. Seeing as how I'm only going to have chaeto and MAYBE LR rubble (I've heard this could be a bad thing). I'm asking a guy who set up a 220g reef with a ginormous rockwall and no LR what he does. I'm not planning on getting a skimmer either. This could get interesting. If all else fails I'll just stack LR on the back wall Link to comment
JBM Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 you know, in time even base rock will become live rock. but you dont really need rock at all to have a good tank! I had kept a Fish only tank for a little over 2 years with little to no problems. Only using a rather large canister filter & a medium depth sand bed. no skimmer no other form of filtration ( i was a noob then.) The real key is to stay ontop of your water changes. But you know this already. :-P Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 I don't want it to be a FO tank though. I'm going softy/LPS and maybe SPS down the line. I'm thinking I can maybe just get a bunch of LR rubble and connect it to the eggcrate without Link to comment
tyty22 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 silicone to the glass seems to work pretty well. you can still use lr just incorporate it into the eggcrate Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 tyty, I won't be able to use LR on the eggcrate becuase I need to let it cure outside of water for like 2 or 3 days. By then everything would be long dead. Alright. Got the wall painted and installed. Goign to wait between 24 and 48hrs for the silicone to cure. Or until I don't smell the vinegar. We'll see. Here's the test fit: Here's about 5m after siliconing: Link to comment
bustaphoto Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 that beats my 2.5 all day!! very clean, can't wait to see some water in there Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 It's not as clean as it looks tbh. The silicone job is pretty shabby. Still debating whether I should make a eggcrate/foam/rockwall or just a regular LR pile like a normal person. I think my next project: DIY Acrylic planted betta tank. I made this about a month ago, I want to replace it with something bigger and maybe 2 or 3 of the plants. Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 Ok, just got done water testing it. Everything went pretty good. There is one leak on the outer false wall. But, it doesn't effect anything, so I'm not even sure if I'm going to fix it. The only thing I could do is add silicone, and silicone doesn't stick very well to acrylic, it kind of just flakes off. And it would look pretty unsightly. I guess I will wait and get some suggestions from you guys. Anyway, now I'm deciding if I want to use sand or bare bottom. If I go barebottom I think I want to have a zoanthid mat! I don't know we'll see. Any suggestions? Link to comment
tyty22 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 why don't you just silicone the inside of it. it will work good enough Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 Can't get my fingers in there. At all. It's about 1" of space. Edit: Just thought I'd update. I've started chiseling some limestone I've got. Going to go tomorrow to pick up some eggcrate and maybe the foam, not sure if I'll need it as I can chisel the limestone to whatever size I'd like. Anyway, I'll post some pictures as they happen. Link to comment
Thristan Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Looking real good. use a knife or stick with silcone on it to get to the inside of the false wall to seal it. Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 Picking up the supplies for the rock wall in about an hour and starting it today. Hopefully will be done today or tomorrow. Wish me luck guys! Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 Alright. Here comes the rock wall spoiler. Started constructing it today but it's Friday so I'm going to go out and act like someone my age. Tell me how you like it! Not sure if those pillars are going to have a plate type rock on the top or if it's just going to be a regular pillar. You tell me what you think! Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 Quick update: Hope to finish by sunday Link to comment
CoRPS Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 Not going to get finished this weekend, here's the next update: Link to comment
reefer123 Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 dude this is gnarly. cant wait to see finished product. a hot pink zoo mat would b just nasty! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.