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Hawke's Pico Lamp


c_k_kuehne

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Hawke's Pico Lamp -- Where Function Meets Form -- Hopefully

 

c_k_kuehne's Pico Methodology Build Thread

 

Hawke is my son, he is 10 years old. This will be his tank in the end.

 

 

Equipment

 

  • Glass Vase Tank -- 7 x 7 x 7 = 1.5 gallons.
  • AquaClear 20 w/ extended water ramp.
  • JBJ ATO until I get a SL2 module.
  • Hydor Theo 50w heater.
  • Silent Air B11 battery powered air pump.
  • Reefkeeper Lite

 

Livestock

 

  • 1 lb. Fiji LR
  • SM Kenya Tree Frag

 

Full Picture and then Current FTS as of March, 2010

 

FA-09.JPG

 

March2010.JPG

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Here is my initial parts. Should be an interesting build if I can get it all worked out.

 

Besides a vivid imagination :wacko: what do we have pictured.

 

  • Tank 7 x 7 x 7 = 1.5 gallons
  • AquaClear 20
  • LED's
  • JBJ ATO
  • Lamp Parts
  • Wood
  • Different Adhesives
  • Plumbing Parts
  • Paint
  • Salt

 

InitialParts.JPG

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I didn't scare you away did I -- J/K ;)

 

Lol, no.

The more creative and innovative thinkers there are in the contest, the more interesting it will be.

I love it when ppl try a new or "outside the box" approach to Reefing, especially if it works.

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Well I started playing with the parts. The AC 20 is a perfect match for this tank. It allows me enough space beside it to have a float switch. The heater will be below it. I will have a false wall in front of everything to stabilize the lamp part and also hide all the equipment.

 

The actual display volume should end up around 4 7/8 x 7 x 7 or a little under 1 gallon (counting less the water from the lip of tank). Basically when all is said and done there will be about 1.5 gallons of water in the entire system. :scarry:

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OK I modded my AC 20 media basket. I added some netting to enclose the bottom section. I packed that section with very porous LR rubble. I know this goes against basic reef keeping standards (nitrate factory) but the tank is so small and will have so little LR I figured I needed to have some more. By adding the netting I can easily pull the media basket out and rinse the bottom LR section in SW to flush out the detritus and then put it back in. This process will should take less then a min if I have some SW made up. At the same time I will rinse out the sponge. I will do this once or twice a week.

 

The middle area will have a 1/2 pouch of purigen.

 

MediaBasket.JPG

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Thats an awefully small total volume for a reef. Watching intently. I will say, I am going a larger volume than that. I am trying to squeeze as much volume as possible to try for the most stable. Wife and I picked a tank design tonight. Well ok, she picked the one she liked. I had 4 cutouts on the table tonight. Will see how it goes. I have time yet. No worries. Mark

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Looking good. I thought about starting a 0.5g tank... but hmm. Glad you are going on the small side. This should be an interesting build.

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Nitrate trap ftl. :(

 

With the way he's designed it, if he rinses it out weekly I think he'll be okay, esp. since he has 2 things on top of the rubble to catch debris before it can even get to the rubble compartment.

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Might have to do another small mod to that. Grower found out the hard way that those Aquaclears force water down in their compartment and there is actually a gap below what your rubble sits on. I've already modded my baffle in mine to cover that gap so the water shouldn't stir up what I plan on putting in mine. :bling: I may use some aquarium silicone to seal it so that water is forced to flow into the middle area that's open.

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With the way he's designed it, if he rinses it out weekly I think he'll be okay,

 

Not sure everyone reads the posts just checks out the pictures and comments as I full recognized the nitrate factory issue and attempted to design this to overcome that issue.

 

Either way with this size tank there is only going to be 1 small piece of LR in the tank. This added an extra 1/4 lb of LR which should help with the biological filtration end of the game as long as I keep it clean. Should be easy enough to rinse on a weekly basis.

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Might have to do another small mod to that. Grower found out the hard way that those Aquaclears force water down in their compartment and there is actually a gap below what your rubble sits on.

 

Yes that is the way all AC filters are designed. They did this to force some water to go down and then back up through the bottom media section. That is fine with me as I want decent flow through the rubble.

 

I understand some people might not want that depending on how they utilize the bottom section of the media basket.

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Here is the false wall which will hide the equipment (Heater, HOB, ATO) and lamp rod. This is not an overflow. The water will go in through the gated opening, up into the HOB and then the HOB ramp will come back out over the top. Water level in tank will be just slightly below the top lip of the false wall.

 

FalseWall.JPG

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The opening screen have you mounted it solid yet?I would put a bead of silicone around the opening on the backside of the wall where you cant see it from the front then just lay the screen into the silicone.What did you make the false wall out of?I cut mine out of a black plastic crayon box.lol

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Here is the false wall which will hide the equipment (Heater, HOB, ATO) and lamp rod. This is not an overflow. The water will go in through the gated opening, up into the HOB and then the HOB ramp will come back out over the top. Water level in tank will be just slightly below the top lip of the false wall.

 

FalseWall.JPG

 

For some reason I just can't visualize this.

:scratches head and looks flummoxed:

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The opening screen have you mounted it solid yet?I would put a bead of silicone around the opening on the backside of the wall where you cant see it from the front then just lay the screen into the silicone.What did you make the false wall out of?I cut mine out of a black plastic crayon box.lol

 

The screen is custom cut and fitted so it can be easily removed and cleaned then put back in. The side edges of the screen bend in and then behind the wall to hold it in place. Actually I made 2 so I can pop one out then put the other one in place while I clean the 1st one.

 

That was cut from a piece of 12" diameter tubing and cutting it sucked. I broke 3 or 4 teeth off my miter saw and 1 or 2 teeth off my table saw :angry: It's 5/16" thick and really sturdy which I needed as it has to help support the lamp rod insert. Also the bow of the curve will give me the proper room behind it for the lamp rod insert.

 

For some reason I just can't visualize this.

:scratches head and looks flummoxed:

 

:haha: Once I get it farther along it'll hit yea and you'll understand -- sort of hard to explain until I get more finished.

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With the way he's designed it, if he rinses it out weekly I think he'll be okay, esp. since he has 2 things on top of the rubble to catch debris before it can even get to the rubble compartment.

 

Oh i see how it could work....

 

I wanna see how it does work. :D

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Oh i see how it could work....

 

I wanna see how it does work. :D

Rubble just tends to collect crap and doesn't do whole lot of actual filtering. The amount of theoretical filtration gained does not outweigh the possible nitrate trap IMO. -_-

 

Good luck with it anyway! It should be OK if it's cleaned often.

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