1fish2fish Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 OK, after seeing pictures of NOONE's tank in Mexico I just had to have one for my desk at work. The trouble is that I did not want to spend $300 + to fly to mexico and buy one (though the trip would be nice). I was going to try and have my dad send me one since he's down there now, but I decided to see what I could do on my own. The following are pictures of what I came up with. the total cost of the tank has been about $12 so far, but I had the bottom and the divider material already and always have silicone and acrylic cement on hand. If I had bought hte bottom and divider I would estimate $22 perhaps, but that could be over-estimating. The rough tank after I glued the pieces together. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 From above after I made the tank divider for the refugium. i used a mirrored acrylic tile, sanded off the mirror around all edges to 1/8 inch and sealed it to a second piece of acrylic with acrylic cement. I didn't want the silver comming off due to water exposure. the fitting came with a Rio 200 pump, but I may use smaller Rio than that. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 Another shot from the diagonal. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 One final shot after I remembered to clean my nasty fingerprints off and decided to see what the lighting from my other tank looks like on it. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 That's it for now, but I will post as it progresses. The total volume is 3.5 liters including the refugium. the height is 6 inches and the width is about 7 3/4 inches if I remember correctly (I'll have to double check). I am looking at putting either a 32 or a 42 watt screw in curly 6500 k bulb and a 9 or 13 watt actinic to counteract the yellowness. The 42 watt would be a very tight fit and would end up lighting the refugium as well. I am also working on a < 1liter bowfront (including refugium( which will look almost identical, but will of course be much smaller. The 1 liter will be air driven since most powerhead are too strong and space is limited. Link to comment
movingshadow Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 dood you are my hero!!! Ever since seeing NOONE's tank I've wanted a picoreef like that too... It's just too damm bad that I would have no clue as to what I'm doing on a project like that... maybe you'll consider making to sell?! I have a 1+ Liter Picoreef going in a cubed vase with an aquaclear mini as HOB refugium and for flow. will post pics when I get around to it... Very nice work fish, looking forward to seeing more!!! Link to comment
LITTLEFISHEE Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 I want one too!! I love the idea of a divider for a fuge. Are you going to have a seperate light and leave lights on in the fuge 24hrs? Link to comment
kadaytar Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Heyy great looking Pico . I loved it , nice job my friend. What type of lighting are u planning to use?How did u cut those over flow holes and did u use silicone to attach the acrylic divider to glass or u used acrylic cement? I am curious alot how it is going to be when it is stocked. Kadir Link to comment
noone Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Originally posted by 1fish2fish OK, after seeing pictures of NOONE's tank in Mexico Hey man, very nice, i'm so glad with your tank, if you need something... only ask, please. Goog look Link to comment
plhsurfer Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Any concerns about using the mirror divider? Just curious. Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 That's just damn cute. I have a 1gl Kritter Keeper that's a bowfront, planning on setting it up as a pico for a couple of gulf pistol shrimp. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 I'm not too concerned about the mirrored divider. I actually made an acrylic sandwich to keep the backing out of contact with the salt water. I used my handy little dremel to sand the backing off about 1/8 inch from any edge (this includes the holes). I then used acrylic cement to glue a piece of regular acrylic to the back of the mirrored acrylic. Unfortunately this leaked on my initial testing so I remade the piece (sanded the edges again) and applied an even coating of silicon to the back of the mirror and attached another piece of acrylic. I forced any air bubbles near the edges out and then resealed the edges with a little more silicone. I then siliconed the piece into place. All holes were also made with my dremel. So basically the mirror backing should be safe. If salt water does come into contact with it the mirror will tarnish and the backing will lift. The metals in the backing probably wouldn't be too good for the animals. The bottom of the tank is also made of acrylic. It is much easier to cut the acrylic base to the curve than glass. All of the sides are glass. The sides are attached to the bottom with silicon. When doing this it is important to etch the acrylic with coarse sandpaper so that the silicone will get a good purchase. The divider did not need to be etched as it is not under as much pressure and there is also a brace in behind it. I am leaning towards a 42 watt screw in 6500 k pc and a 9 or 13 watt actinic pc. I doubt i'll be able to fit a border in to block of the refugium so I can have 24 hour light, but it is something that I am considering. A single 9 or 13 watt 50/50 for the refugim would be nice. In a day or so I should have my 1 L bowfront version put together. The damn things just keep getting smaller and smaller. The one liter will probably be lit by a coralife 10 watt screww in 50/50 pc over it (2 if I can cram them in there). I'll post some shots of the parts and the progress as it's built so you guys can get an idea of how it goes together (pretty basic though). Link to comment
Von digity Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 sweet, now I gotta build one. You could probly make a nice hood for it out of ABS plastic sheets, that you can find at hobby shops. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 That has some definite possibilities, though my plan was to make a wooden one similar to the one noone made. I was even considering milling some oak deadfall that I saw at teh side of the road. I guess we will see. hehe. I put water in it and tested it out with a Rio 200 today. It's abit too much flow and I had to throttle it way back. I may switch to a smaller model. The system seems to run quite well though. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 7, 2004 Author Share Posted March 7, 2004 As mentioned I was considering a 42 watt curlie screw in 6500k pc an a 9 or 13 watt pc. Does this seem like overkill for a 6" deep tank. I'm starting to think that it might actually limit what I keep as far as aything that might come from deeper water goes. Since the lights would be over the front half it would come to 51 or 55 watts / .6 gallons (the entire tank is 1 gallon, but the refugium takes up a decent portion of that). That is 85 to 91.6 watts/gallon. Does this seem a little extreme. Perhaps I should throttle it back to a 32 watt curly or a 27 watt quad. Any opinions? Link to comment
movingshadow Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 as long as animals are acclimated properly and your photoperiod isn't excessive, I'd go for it. think about it, you can get some nice pico sized sps frags in there... a nicely branched small acro frag in there will look like a huge mother colony Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 K just set it up with some sand and LR last night. Any comments or advice would be appreciated (even negative feedback hehe) Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 Right side view with refugium. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 And finally the REALLY tacky blue mirrored acrylic trim one of my co-workers thinks I should put on (notice that it is only taped in place). What do guys think? LIghts should arrive this week or next. I'm looking at going with two 13 watt 50/50's for now. Think it's enough light? Or should I go 1 50/50 and one 6500k ? Link to comment
Von digity Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Sweet. Make a matching canopy out of that stuff. Link to comment
movingshadow Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 hmmm, I'd go for something else... I second the tacky vote and say you should use something else tank looks great though!! Link to comment
digz Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 Great place for a TANG!!111!!111ONEONEONE That is teeny tiny. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 So I broke down and ordered my lights. I went for two 13 watt 50/50 retrofits from Hello Lights. I went with the retros because the reflectors will allow me to set them over my tank while I'm working on the hood. I'll just block them up on 1" strips of wood (with a plex cover ont he tank of course). When shopping for the smaller lights at hello Lights note tha the cost of the 9 and 13 watt ballast and bulb will run you about $1 less than if you just go for the retro, which comes witht he reflector. I had been talking about going with a 42 watt 6500 k and a 9 watt actinic, but I decided that since my water depth is at most 4 " I had considered doing a DIY job, but I weighed out the potential consequences. This tank is at work and I really want it to look as professional as possible. I also don't want to risk any fires (the boss frowns on that). I also noticed that many of the DIY methods will only save me about $10 max. I decided my time is worth more than that (even though I love to tinker). Anyways, I can't wait till they get here. Link to comment
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