ReefDreamz Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 why not put the pump in the fuge?? Why did you come to that conculsion? Meaning with a 4 gal display, I would assume that space is at a premium in the display.... Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 Well two reasons. 1. Im trying to keep the cost down and got a free small pump to use. 2. I wanted the water to enter the fuge at the very top to run down a bunch of LR rubble. Then up the other side filled with Cheato. This allowed me to fill the fuge with as much as possable. Plus it seemed the easiest to do. The pump has a venturi input that if left unplugged the head pressure causes water to come out the hole. I figured this would be a good way to get some water movement behind the rock wall. this is the nicest thing i've ever seen. I'd hate to see ya start over just to add a bit to the height, are you going to paint it once its done? that will cover up any addition of height. great job on the overflow lip tho. I might paint the one side to keep the fuge light from entering the display. but I want to leave all the rest exposed because I think its cool looking. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Pretty cool little DIY here. I must say that your acrylic work looks good (I'm not an expert, but it looks nice!). Must be a pretty small pump eh? Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 Pretty cool little DIY here. I must say that your acrylic work looks good (I'm not an expert, but it looks nice!). Must be a pretty small pump eh? Thanks, yeah the pu,p says its only 180 L/hr on it. Its only about 2"x2"x1" in size. Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 Well did a leak test and all went well, Except for when I put it on the tank. Go figure. Drained it and fixed the leak. Reinstalled and its officially up and running. Still need to fill it with LR rubble. I have some but going to add it slowly as its been in a bucket in the garage for a month or so. With a pump and heater. But still dont want to take any chances of shocking the tank. Here is a couple pics. Going to let it be for a few days and add some more LR. Still need to come up with a holder for the fuge light. Link to comment
kmwheel Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 looks nice, similar to mine. i'm surprised not many people have made these before, glad to see some other good diys out there. I made a hob fuge out of a 1.5 gal upg cube and integrated an energizer from a hob filter with the intake. it has skimmer area, baffles for hydor mini and fuge that is over half of the cube. i'll have to upload some finished pictures, but here are some in progress ones from after first water test. only suggestion i have for you is to add a lip to the end of the output of the fuge, not necessary, but it makes it silent. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/421033...ef61eb457_b.jpg Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 I looked into doing that with a old HOB filter and using its pump and tube only. Yours looks good. please upload some more in use pics. I couldnt get it to look right to me. I like that idea. The output is dead silent. It doesnt fall straight down. And it ends under water. Even if it did make noise my wife likes the sound. its in our office. Now I need to start on my DIY skimmer for it. Not sure if I want to do a air stone driven one or a mini recirc skimmer. Link to comment
kmwheel Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 you should get one of these bad boys http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/420957...d6ce0d758_b.jpg Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 What kind is it? What brand? Any more info please Link to comment
Llamaguy Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Looks like an Aquatic Life Mini http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLife_Int...IPSISVS-vi.html Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 That looks like a nice skimmer and would fit into my fuge. But kinda takes the DIY fun out of it. Resonable price too. Link to comment
kmwheel Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 nope, it's a tmc v2skim nano. I would diy on everything if I had to pay for equipment as well. http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/aquarium/v2skim-nano.asp Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 Anybody used this skimmer? Had good or bad reviews for it? Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 freggin' RAD build, man!!! sooper clean!! Link to comment
ReefDreamz Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 How did you build the "lip/return thing" I got some acrylic and a dremel for Christmas... now Im thinking maybe..... Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 How did you build the "lip/return thing" I got some acrylic and a dremel for Christmas... now Im thinking maybe..... if you read throgh the opening post (maybe didnt say) I cut two slots to form the opening. Then took a heat gun and slowly heated the area up that I wanted to form. Heat is slowly or it will start to bubble the acrylic. Then set it on the end of the table and bent it over by hand. If you make it to hot it will just crease it. So every few seconds try moving it and see how it bends. Then once it bends form it over almost 180 degrees and hold it there till it starts to harden up again. Be careful you may need to have gloves on as it gets vry hot and stays hot for a bit. Oh also dont use a dremel to cut the slots. you will never get a straight cut and a dremel tends to melt more than cut. I used a table saw, but next time I would use a jig saw. Link to comment
showjyr Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Just came across this and thought it was pretty cool, you'll love the extra volume and space it gives you. I had this set up for a little over a year....same basic design. Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 I like that out put design also. Im planning on redueing mine here in a few days or so. May have to steal that design. It looks like it gives real good surface agitation. Link to comment
quicknik Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Hi, Great, i always wonder how you guys manage to process acrylic that accurate. Could you provide me with some detail pictures of the part where the water enters the fuge? Cheers, Nikolas Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 You can have it done a few ways. You can have the pump in the main tank pumping water into the fuge, you can have the pump in the fuge sucking the water out of the main display. Or you can like in another thread have the pump in the fuge pumping water out of one section into the next and have a U tube going from the section with the pump tot he display tank. Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Well its been a year already. Time sure fly's. Tank has been through a few changes. But still doing real good. My design is going to go through a major change here hopefully next weekend. Having the pump in the tank allows it to get clogged too easy. The pipe going from pump to fuse is too small and algae builds up too fast and slows the flow. I want to get the pump out of the tank and into the fuge. I want it bigger and have areas in it for media and filter floss to keep debris out of the LR in the fuge. And keep it cleaner overall. So far though I am very happy with how it has worked over the last year. Here are a few pictures of the tank. Working on trading a few rocks to make room for corals I have sitting in the sand. My gobie has been in there over a year now and is happy. Eating well. The clowns have been in there for over 3 months now and are eating good and seem very happy. Don't rip me for having them in there, hard to say no to a 2.5 year old daughter, water changes are 1-2 times a week at 1-2 gallons each time. Fish get pellets every day as its easy to control how much they get and what gets waisted. And I feed a combo or rods and cyclopeeze 1 time a week for corals. Hopefully I can get to building new fuge this upcoming weekend. Been real busy on weekends lately. Hope you like it so far, i know I do. Link to comment
Lingwendil Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Nice? What light are you using? Link to comment
Stephensx04 Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Evil's Par 38 from Nanotuners. 60 degree optics Link to comment
mmcguffi Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking good and keep us updated! Subscribed Link to comment
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