thecowkid Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 L the fires fully stoked now. Y R U not postin pichurs? You shoulda told me you needed a sump. I've got an old one I would have let you have for a good price. Link to comment
Kimberly63 Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, I'm too excited not to talk now!!!Hubby just came back from our storage space with the canopy from my original "nano" tank back in '93 that I will be using on this tank. He also came back with an old acrylic sump that I'd been looking for and hadn't been able to find. It's so exciting to finally see this coming together!!!! Yay! This weekend perhaps...? Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Some days Weetie is chasing down her tank dreams... other days....... Today she's kinda... Starting to come together Lisa! Great to see too! Link to comment
SPerry Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 What is the egg crate behind the overflow teeth for? Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Some days Weetie is chasing down her tank dreams... other days....... Today she's kinda... Starting to come together Lisa! Great to see too! Cheez, WARN me before you do that, willya pls??? I almost wet myself from laughing too hard!!! It's funny cuz it's so true tho! What is the egg crate behind the overflow teeth for? I had cowkid do that specifically for me so that I would be able to put a Poly-Filter there that the water will have to travel through as it goes over the overflow. I'll try to post a better pic later, so you can get a better idea of how it's sposta function. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Yay! This weekend perhaps...? Not sure if I'll get it all the way done this weekend or now. I will certainly be working on it though!!! The canopy has been sitting in storage for a while and needs to be treated for mildew in a couple of spots. Need to repaint the inside of it as well, get a new handle, stuff like that. Also, I has a question. I want to do a Display Refugium that sits next to the tank, not beneath it. I just got a nice heavy-duty bookcase from Walmart that I thought would allow me to have the refugium sit lower than the display so that I could utilize gravity for the plumbing and stuff. When I got home I discovered that the bookcase is the exact same height as the stand for the display, so they'd be on the same level. I was thinking of using a 15L or a 10g for the refugium, which is 10" high, I believe. The 30g display is 16" high. Would I be able to utilize the slight difference in height to still do a gravity fed overflow? (Hope that made sense) In other words, could I have a 1" overflow approximately 14" or so high on the display drain into a 10" tall refugium that sat right next to it? Anyone have some good ideas or suggestions on how to make this work? I need to figure this out before I can really get going, cause it affects where I drill the holes. Link to comment
thecowkid Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Oh come on you know every minute that you can spare you will burn on this tank. Yer qshun answer. Yes you could utilize the slight tank height diff. The only thing that will affect is the speed of the flow. The higher the supply the faster it will flow. SOOOO could you or could you not raise the fuge via using a few boards. If you were to make a small frame outta wood that would raise the fuge upta the heigh you wanna. Then paint/stain it to match the tanks trim, or the stand. jp Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Oh come on you know every minute that you can spare you will burn on this tank. Yer qshun answer. Yes you could utilize the slight tank height diff. The only thing that will affect is the speed of the flow. The higher the supply the faster it will flow. SOOOO could you or could you not raise the fuge via using a few boards. If you were to make a small frame outta wood that would raise the fuge upta the heigh you wanna. Then paint/stain it to match the tanks trim, or the stand. jp I also have to think about where to drill the hole in relation to where the water level behind the false wall will be as far where the overflow teeth come down to. Did that make sense? I kinda wanted to have the display be higher than the refugium cause of the strenght of my return pump. It's a Quiet One 2200, rated at 580-590 gph, depending who you listen to. If the display is lower and the QO 2200 pumps into a 10-15g refugium, the flow would probably be too strong. If the 580 gph return pump is pumping into the 30g display, it would be much better. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Here's another thought, and this one may sound a little weird. What if I used a 20H for the display refugium and drilled a hole in both the display and refugium at exactly the same height and plumbed them together, straight across. I'm thinking I would need to use some Flex Tubing between them so that there wouldn't be any stress on either tank due to minute height differences. Could something like that work? Still using the Quiet One 2200 for the return pump to the display, of course. Link to comment
thecowkid Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 LOL its late and that makes my head wanna asplode. I need a picture of how you wanna have the tanks sitting b4 I even begin to give you any plumbing advise. I am a pichur person, words just comfuza me. Esp when I just got done layin hardwood floor. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Bump for answers from the Morning Crowd. Link to comment
SPerry Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 A 15L is 13" tall so that wouldnt work unless you elevated the display. A 10g is 12" tall so that might work but it would be close. Put the bulkhead just below the tank trim of the display and see if it has enough room for the edge of the fuge to sit under it. You could always raise the display a lil by putting a 1" piece of wood under it. something like this Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Thank you Scott! Would drilling a hole for the bulkhead that close to the top of the tank be asking for a crack? Would doing it this way decrease the flow, as thecowkid suggested? My bulkheads have a large outer diameter, so I'm getting ready to hold it up to the tank, overflow and trim and measure it to see what is possible. Link to comment
spanko Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Bear with an old man's memory here but isn't what Scott suggested similar to what BibleSue did with her unofficial tank contest fuge and display? If so how did that work for her, and will you be okay with it? Link to comment
SPerry Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 My tanks have the returns drilled that high with no problem. The amount of flow will depend on your return pump. Since the drain will be at the top of the water level behind the false wall the amount pumped in will be what drains out. Also when your return pump is turned off the display will drain down to where the bulkhead is. In your case the display will drain down to the overflow teeth and then the area behind the false wall will drain to the bulkhead. Anyway if you have the drain low in the display you will have to keep less water in the fuge to avoid flooding. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Bear with an old man's memory here but isn't what Scott suggested similar to what BibleSue did with her unofficial tank contest fuge and display?If so how did that work for her, and will you be okay with it? Pretty good memory for an old man, I had actually forgotten that myself! And yes, you are correct, it is similar. In her case it worked fine except that she had a lot of salt creep cause instead of having a bulkhead with a "downspout" she had a simple pipe coming out of the higher tank and the water just splashed into the lower tank. In my case, that wouldn't be an issue cause I can have the water from the higher tank come out below the water level in the lower tank. I hope that made sense. I took some pics of how the bulkhead would be situated in relation to the overflow from the false wall. In these pics, the bulkhead is 13" high and would be overflowing into a 12" high tank, so it would be close as SPerry said. I'm sorry these aren't the best quality pics, they were a little difficult to take. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 So is this design a go then? Well does it look workable to you? I guess I'm just a little nervous cause I've never done anything like this before. I have to have it right the first time, cause if I mess it up, I don't have the money to go out and buy another 30g tank. I'm also not sure if setting it up this way will make filtration through the little box behind the overflow less efficient. That little box is designed so that I can put a Poly-Filter there and the water will be forced through the pad before it can flow out through the bulkhead. Link to comment
spanko Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 To me the biggest concern would not be the mechanics as I think it will work fine. However the footprint of the total system is going to be fairly large, okay if you have the space. I guess I'll go back to Sue's, did you like the looks and the space it took up? Was one tank behind the other any advantage over having them on top of each other? Would seem to me that the tank in back would be at best hard to view but if you don't plan on it being any type of "display" so to speak (shrugs) Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 They wouldn't be behind one another, they would be next to each other and the Refugium would be fully viewable. I actually don't have a ton of space, but with the way this would work out I think it would be okay space-wise. Right now I'm thinking I like this, but would love to hear more input or constructive criticism from anyone who hasn't chimed in yet. Link to comment
spanko Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Next to each other with a viewable "display" fuge is a great idea IMO. Spanko.................................out! Link to comment
SPerry Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 The other way to do this would be to have the fuge higher than the display via a board under it or have a tank taller than the display. Then if anything cracked while drilling it would be the fuge which would prob be easier to replace. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 They wouldn't be behind one another, they would be next to each other and the Refugium would be fully viewable.I actually don't have a ton of space, but with the way this would work out I think it would be okay space-wise. Right now I'm thinking I like this, but would love to hear more input or constructive criticism from anyone who hasn't chimed in yet. ....processing input..... Link to comment
Cam198 Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I can't wait to see it up and running! Link to comment
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