AquaticEngineer Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Wow that looks awesome! Definitely one of if not the best looking foam rock wall tanks i have seen yet. What are your stocking plans? sorry if I missed it at the beginning of the thread i just went straight to the sweet pics lol edit: I looked at the stocking plans and this tank is going to be amazing! Upper right hand shelf area of the tank will be packed with Giant Green Anemones and spot lighted with a dimmable par38. That will create a large shadow underneath it where I will keep most of my gorgonians, and other non photosynthetic inverts. There will be barnacle columns a few places covered with corynactis and leading up to the barnacles I put into the background to hide the returns of the closed loop. Far left hand side of foam rocks with be dominated in the upper areas by Aggregating anemones, also lit be a dimmable par38. Again, that will give me a shaded area under the rock ledges that will have corynactis near the barnacles, and some areas with colonies of Fringed Tube Worms. There will be a thin natural sand bottom that will have several different species of sand dwelling anemones. I left the large open space in the middle on purpose so I can try some different species of tall kelp coming up from the sand bed to the surface. The kelp will be lit with a 50w LED I made a while ago, and focused with a 30 degree optic so I can get all the light going down at the kelp and not onto the sides of the tank or the rock structures. Ummm, what else......oh yeah, blah blah blah, giant closed loop, blah blah blah, 8 gallon surge device, blah blah, 1 hp chiller, blah blah blah, auto feeder, blah blah blah, drip feeding live pyto and tigroprious californicus, blah blah blah, plumbed into a 110 gallon lobster tank for filtration that has a 1/2 horse built in coil chiller, UV filter, Protein Skimmer, mechanical / biological / chemical filtration. Link to comment
Justind823 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I was hoping to see some progress on this tank and man that looks awesome! Really fantastic work there. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 I was hoping to see some progress on this tank and man that looks awesome! Really fantastic work there. Thanks I think total I'm into it under $150. It definitely helps when you get the tank, stand, chiller, skimmer, and more external pumps than I know what to do with all for free Biggest cost has been the spray foam at $4.39 a can, I think once I was finally done I used about 30 cans. If I had planned a little more, and experimented a little less, I probably could have done it with about 20 cans though. Plus two 50lb bags of rock salt @ $6.28 a bag. Plumbing parts will be the next big expense, gott rummage through the boxes of stuff I have and see what I can salvage. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 8, 2011 Author Share Posted September 8, 2011 Well it looks like I only have a small handful of plumbing parts I need to get everything ready for water testing. I ended up having a lot more pieces than I thought I would just laying around in boxes out in the garage. Looks like Home Depot after work tomorrow, then I'll let you all know what the damage is. Should be under $30 total......hopefully...... Got the chiller in place under the stand, and the auto feeder as well. Both fit damn near perfect Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share Posted September 11, 2011 Well I went over budget on plumbing, spent $33 dollars. On the bottom right inside the stand you can see the massive chiller I got for free, bottom left is the mini fridge for the auto feeder. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 I can't wait to see the tank setup. You rock! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share Posted September 11, 2011 I can't wait to see the tank setup. You rock! Another $30 at Home Depot and I should be water testing it by tomorrow night while the concrete sets to level out the spot in the garage its going. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Water tested and 90% plumbed. Just gotta get it in place, plumb in the auto feeder, and hook it into the lobster tank now. Link to comment
Criley7 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 This thing is going to be awesome! Link to comment
Rabidgerbil38 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I love those barnicle worked into the rock, I wanna see this thing filled! Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 ..........I wanna see this thing filled! No doubt Building the auto feeder today, then moving everything into place. I may just skip laying a level concrete patch and just shim the tank so its level. I mean hell, its just a garage tank right? Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 More plumbing done today, built another auto feeder. I just have to paint a couple things, move it into place, and level out, then its ready to be filled and start cycling. Last pic shows the new auto feeder I had to make since the plumbing on the other one didn't work with this setup, plus side is the old auto feeder will fit perfect under my small indside coldwater tank Link to comment
TheUnfocusedOne Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Autofeeder in a mini fridge? Win. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Do you have a thread for the auto feeder? I really want to do one like this. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Do you have a thread for the auto feeder?I really want to do one like this. Heres a thread I put up over on Azoox.org for the first auto feeder I built. http://www.azoox.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=199 I used the same concept on the most recent one since it is the most cost effective design I have found. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Sweet, thank you. So what is on the outside of the refrigerator on the left? I am just a little confused on how it actually works. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 So looking at this picture, the water would flow in from the left, and at the T where the vinyl tubing goes in the parastaltic dosing pump will pull food from whatever container I put in the fridge (probably oyster feast) and inject it into the return line. The water continues on out of the fridge and into the tank which would lead to the second picture. The second picture down shows the line exiting the fridge and going up into a bulkhead on the side of the tank. I put ball valves on the line in case I need to take the chunk of line out from the fridge for cleaning or to remove the dosing pump for some reason. I will eventually install a venturi in place of the existing fitting that the doser is connected to. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 So are you running a separate pump or powerhead outside of the fridge? Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Yup, the tank is ran off of 2 external little giant pumps. The auto feeder is designed to be added inline on any system so long as you put it before the return into the tank. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 That is pretty cool! I will have to modify it since I don't have a sump or anything. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 So just a concern. Will the fridge be running all of the time because there is constantly water that is over 38 degrees running through it? Link to comment
Ezsharkman Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 When you gonna fill it.... I wanna see this bad boy up and running. Ok now i will shut up and get back to Silently following this thread Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 That is pretty cool! I will have to modify it since I don't have a sump or anything. Run a submersible pump over the side, down to the feeder and back up to the tank. Link to comment
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