curvilinear II_the Pico.Reef

[rickjg]

I was wondering how you were going to do the LR with the center water lines. Looking sweet.

Thanks c_k_

Having everything centered in the tank is not the most aesthetically pleasing, so I'm trying to be a bit asymmetrical with the LR.

[.Newman.]

wishing you best of luck to pull that all off. if sand gets through the LR that would be problematic, good luck!

[rickjg]

wishing you best of luck to pull that all off. if sand gets through the LR that would be problematic, good luck!

The Hydor flo and return both are both easily removable and I have a trusty turkey baster to blast or suck out any sand that gets blown into the wrong place ...

[Amphitrite]

The 1st thing I did when I got home was start drilling holes thru the rock for the Hydor flo and the return.

Rick, Would you be so kind as to share with the class how exactly you made the round holes in your rocks? This has given me many good ideas and thoughts. Thanks in advance.

[rickjg]

Rick, Would you be so kind as to share with the class how exactly you made the round holes in your rocks? This has given me many good ideas and thoughts. Thanks in advance.

I had bought 1" glass hole saw which I used to drill the supply and return line holes in the tank

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-inch-1-DIAMOND-COATE...=item4148df797e

I just used the same hole saw to drill holes thru the live rock. Once I drilled thru the rock I found the sides of hole saw also worked really well to grind away the sides of the hole to make the hole much larger than 1". It's a really messy job because the LR is basically wet all the way thru, so the result of grinding is something like wet cement instead of dust.

I have a old drill press that I bought at a yard sale for a few dollars that works really well for jobs like this, but you could use a cordless drill too.

[rickjg]

the real question is how he is going to do sand

wishing you best of luck to pull that all off. if sand gets through the LR that would be problematic, good luck!

Hello "'.Newman.'"

 

After some thought I made mods to the Hydor flo so I could add sand without trying to use epoxy to seal the LR to the base of the tank.

I removed the collar ring from the Hydor flo and I made a plastic sleeve which slides onto the base. The plastic sleeve will fit inside the hole in the LR and also helps to prevent the LR from contacting with the Hydor flo.

The plastic sleeve will keep sand out of the Hydor flo which should extend the life of the plastic gears. My Hydor flo has enough blow back at the base to discourage partials from getting inside the sleeve. The return I just raised.

 

-Rick

[.Newman.]

just call me Newman, I hate the "."s I have to put around my username..

 

nice solution!

now lets see it work

[c_k_kuehne]

Hello "'.Newman.'"

 

After some thought I made mods to the Hydor flo so I could add sand without trying to use epoxy to seal the LR to the base of the tank.

I removed the collar ring from the Hydor flo and I made a plastic sleeve which slides onto the base. The plastic sleeve will fit inside the hole in the LR and also helps to prevent the LR from contacting with the Hydor flo.

The plastic sleeve will keep sand out of the Hydor flo which should extend the life of the plastic gears. My Hydor flo has enough blow back at the base to discourage partials from getting inside the sleeve. The return I just raised.

 

-Rick

 

Way kewl DIY solution. I like when people think outside the box to get a problem solved.

[rickjg]

just call me Newman, I hate the "."s I have to put around my username..

 

nice solution!

now lets see it work

I was attempting a Seinfeld reference to the way Jerry greeted Newman ... Hello "'.Newman.'" ... It's hard to get language nuances across on message boards.

[.Newman.]

oooooo, right right that has been done before lol.

once again the dots threw me off in your comment so I didn't catch the nuance

[rickjg]

I added sand, still a little cloudy, but it will clear up in a few hours.

Had to show off my new black NimbleNano mag cleaner too.

 

Here's the sand I used. If you like sugar sand this stuff works great ...

 

Had to use a standard LED to take pics, my camera will not adjust to the blue LED's in Evils66's Par38.

 

-Rick

[.Newman.]

lol you're gonna have 1000ppm+ of calcium in no time! rofl

I was too cheap to get the black one, so I got the clear one

[Amphitrite]

I had bought 1" glass hole saw which I used to drill the supply and return line holes in the tank

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-inch-1-DIAMOND-COATE...=item4148df797e

I just used the same hole saw to drill holes thru the live rock. Once I drilled thru the rock I found the sides of hole saw also worked really well to grind away the sides of the hole to make the hole much larger than 1". It's a really messy job because the LR is basely wet all the way thru, so the result of grinding is something like wet cement instead of dust.

I have a old drill press that I bought at a yard sale for a few dollars that works really well for jobs like this, but you could use a cordless drill too.

 

Thanks a million! I wondered if the glass drill bit would work. I'm still trying to decide how I'm going to construct the mountain.....it'll take two weeks to get the drill bit I need or two weeks for the silicone to set....patience - right?

[rickjg]

Thanks a million! I wondered if the glass drill bit would work. I'm still trying to decide how I'm going to construct the mountain.....it'll take two weeks to get the drill bit I need or two weeks for the silicone to set....patience - right?

I'm not too hot on the silicone idea, takes a minimum of 48 hours to cure out of the water. That's going to impact your live rock. Reef epoxy putty would be a much easier on the LR.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Boston_Aqua_Far...-FIMTEP-vi.html

[Amphitrite]

I'm not too hot on the silicone idea, takes a minimum of 48 hours to cure out of the water. That's going to impact your live rock. Reef epoxy putty would be a much easier on the LR.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Boston_Aqua_Far...-FIMTEP-vi.html

That was a smokin' tank thread you lead me to...which has caused the wheels to turn some more..and maybe in a different direction! My initial idea of silicone vs. epoxy putty was due to the overall appearance of the "volcano". That's why I have all the rock rubble. The silicone is black Dow Corning 795 and has a 2 week cure time, but has extremely good adhesive properties (again rock rubble vs. live rock so other than wearing on my patience, no big deal). I'm off to sand some glass and think some more.....

[rickjg]

I couldn't resist adding a coral, so I added a Bird of Paradise (Seriatopora) frag to see how it will do.

 

 

Bird of Paradise

[brandon429]

rick you know what I was just thinking of? regarding the production/management of coralline in picos like we've discussed if this is an acrylic tank you'd totally want to run a lower ion setup huh, coralline nearly ruins acrylic after a few years...I w go re read to see if this is glass or acrylic the thought just came to mind how to control the longevity and scratching in an acrylic reef by -not- dosing it glad we talked about that

B

[rickjg]

rick you know what I was just thinking of? regarding the production/management of coralline in picos like we've discussed if this is an acrylic tank you'd totally want to run a lower ion setup huh, coralline nearly ruins acrylic after a few years...I w go re read to see if this is glass or acrylic the thought just came to mind how to control the longevity and scratching in an acrylic reef by -not- dosing it glad we talked about that

B

Hey Brandon,

 

No doubt that dosing with 2-part will make coralline go crazy, so by only doing water changes and no dosing you can help control coralline to mostly the LR. I've run my NC6 for years with no dosing and it did help to keep coralline in check. After several years there is only a small amount growing on the plastic background around the return. My intent when I set up the NC6 was to run a lower calcium setup because I was dissatisfied with the looks of having coralline growing completely over the black plastic background on my previous tank.

 

That said, this pico is a glass tank I am going to dose 2-part because I plan on mostly SPS under LEDs, and I have no exposed plastic parts other than the supply and return.........

[rickjg]

When I opened up the PAR 38 to switch from the stock 40 degree optics to 60 degree optics I decided I wanted to do a little bit of DIY and leave off the chrome trim piece that hold the optics into the lamp to increase air flow thru the light fixture. I used some double sided sticky tape around the outside of the white trim that holds the optics and it seems to be holding up so far.

 

The heat rising off the LEDs create a nice chimney affect thru the light fixture to help with the cooling.

[.Newman.]

that looks cool...

[Amphitrite]

How's the tank?

[rickjg]

How's the tank?

It's kind of in limbo right now. I was planning on setting up the tank in my new office, but it's on the 2nd floor and I'm not thrilled with hauling water up and down the stairs. The 2nd problem is my heater was apparently suck on all the time and the 1st time we had some warm weather it toasted the tank. I only had a couple of frags in the tank so it was not a great loss. Right now the tank is cycling again while I decide were it's going to land. With my great 20-20 hindsight I can see I should have hooked up my chiller (which is sitting in the closet) and plugged the heater into the chiller controller ...

[Giga]

wow totally awesome

[rickjg]

Well after my over-heating disaster I kind of went on hiatus for a while. The live-rock is cycling in a bucket and I'm playing with some ideas on how to hookup everything, including a chiller, and keep it as clean looking as possible. Right now my home office/spare bedroom is a mess with parts laying everywhere. I have to keep the door closed most of the time to keep the spouse complaints minimized. Luckily no guests have arrived needing the spare bedroom since I started this project, or I would have to do some serious cleanup work.

 

[c_k_kuehne]

Two steps forward and one set back is how these things get done. I am sure you will figure it. You have plenty of time before Aug 31st.