Redesign of auto topoff about 4/5 of a gallon

[TheCurriculum]

Going to redo my auto top off plan

I made a cheapie out of a 1 liter bottle and a $3 air pump works fine but continues to push a little extra out once the pump turns off due to the bottle expanding.

 

I've read enough post of people complaining about this that I'm going to curb it now.

 

I just finished building my tank coverhood (will post a pic tonight)

I still need to putty, sand, Dark cherry wood stain, and spar varnish to protect it.

I was just going to get a nice hard container and run it from the floor up to the desk.

Then I figured I have the room on my desk to store it and this way I will never forgot to add water to the top off unit before I leave work for the weekend.

 

Here’s a pic of the rough design

Will be the same height as the current tank.

Open on front 3 side’s maybe all 4 sides.

Air pump will be stored in the hood.

This should give a nice clean desktop appearance

Top of acrylic will be drilled and a screw lid added.

Will tap holes for input and output lines

 

Question? Are my calculations close on the amount of water?

I pulled the conversions off the site in the picture

6x3.5x9" = .8 gallons

 

 

[DSparks]

Hey Curric, just read your other thread on the stand design for you 2.5. Here's a thought, probably what I would do now that I have your design in my head.

 

I would build an enclosed area on the other side of the hood to match the enclosure you have for your HOS filter. This would give you an area to hide the auto-top off right with your tank. I know it might call for a redesign of your tank stand, but I personally love trying to make everything into a neat little package.

I hope you dont mind, I may steal this idea for myself

[TheCurriculum]

Wouldn't mind at all. Hey feel free to use the tank layout. I was actually curious to see how the layout would be taken in general.

So far I've gotten a few good responses THK'S

 

For the current project I'm going to keep as is and have the auto top off to the right of the tank

 

Here's the thread with what the tank currenlty looks like

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=24328

 

Plan of action

Redo stain current tank to gloss black.

Build Auto Top off

Build base plate for top off and tank

 

The tank and auto top off will sit on a 3/4" base plate that will be routed underneath. The top off line will run through the base plate up into the stand this way no lines are visible.

 

The top off pump, heater, HOB and lights will also run under the stand and exit at one location behind or to the side. This will give a nice clean presentation

 

 

 

I almost built it with the top off water supply to the right of the tank but I may bring this setup home and set in on my bar. This way three sides are visible and the lines of the tanktop off are still clean. Though I'm still toying with making a left right standhood. I'm going to wind up making a few of these for friends once I work out all the kinks and improve a little on my building skills.

 

I wanted nano, I wanted something unique, I wanted to keep that damn I like doing this feeling. So far I think I've done an alright job.