CodeToad Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Well, I outgrew the 2.5 gallon and wanted more space but I still need to be portable since I am a traveling college student. The 2.5 is living happily with Bryan and Lee over at their LogicalReef store This summer I started my 5.5 gallon reef project. I'll get on with specs and pictures: Here is the stand and canopy I built. I keep the tank in my room so I decided to go with the door design again so I can close the doors and keep the fuge light from keeping me awake. I am using a Mag3 for a return pump hooked up to a SCWD. There is quite enough flow in there It's great. I have the display tank drilled at the bottom with a 1 inch drain and I am using 3/4 inch return plumbing. Here is a shot of the tank full and the doors closed: Here is a shot of my sump/refuge. I made the baffle system myself out of acrylic and silicone. The refuge light runs 24/7 and is a single 13W PC at 6500k. I have the light mounted on some chain so I can easily remove it or relocate it if I need to work on the sump: For lighting I went with the popular 70W Metal Halide many people here are using. I got the bulb from hellolights.com and a Aromat 5EU ballast and socket from Dr.Lamp. I like the Regent fixtures at home depot so I picked up the EQ300WL. I knew the socket wouldn't quite fit but since I had the socket from Dr.Lamp anyway so I just replaced the ceramic ends with the Dr.Lamp ones and everything fit in nicely. I also am using two 13W PC 03 actinic for my blue supplementation. Here is a shot of the SCWD and my plumbing, along with the thermally controlled fan: Here is a shot of the tank I took today. It is a single 7lb piece of fully cured Fiji live rock (single piece for easy transportation). I have about 3 pounds of sand just to look nice. You can see lots more pictures of my corals on my website, and I'd like to tank Bryan and Lee at TheLogicalReef for always making sure my tank looks sweet, you guys seriously are awesome! For cleanup I have 8 blue legged hermits and a bunch of stomatella snails. On with the picture: I have more stuff on my website www.toadpool.com. I'd love to hear what ya'll think about it Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Looking great!! Thoughtfully and tastfully done. Reminds me of Glazer's setups as well. sniff sniff Link to comment
onthefly Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Just when I get settled into thinking my 5.5 is done and I don't have to mess with it, someone comes along and tempts me! Very well done CT!!! Question, why the drain tube, instead of an overflow...noise? Gonna look killer when your stuff grows out!!!! Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 how is the thermally controlled fan controlled? ( no pun intended) are you using some sections of loc-line? Looks great! Link to comment
CodeToad Posted June 24, 2004 Author Share Posted June 24, 2004 Ox: Thanks I don't recall Glazer's setups. I just went with the stand idea I used on my 2.5 so it is portable for me. onthefly: At first I was going to do an overflow type setup similar to my 2.5 gallon but between the noise and amount of space it takes up, a drilled drain was the better option I think. Smokin: The fan is actually a PC fan, I learned about it here in the DIY section a while back. Enermax makes it. It has been working pretty well so far but I am thinking of getting an icecap fan to repalce this one along with a new more powerful heater as my next upgrades. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 man that is awesome! how tall is the whole thing (pic for size referance?). Do you go to school in SC or FL? Is that a small orange plate in the front on the sand? very cool setup. Link to comment
mapv281 Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 nicely done, this is something i've been looking to do when i have more $$$ Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 i really liek the lack of anythign but return in the tank. very clean. i was going to go SCQD for my upgrade- but decided to do a wave timer on the Maxijet random current mod instead. planning to use the locline on the sump and fuge for direct current placement Link to comment
CodeToad Posted June 25, 2004 Author Share Posted June 25, 2004 Spencerx: The whole thing is about 3 and 1/2 feet tall. I made sure to give myself lots of room in the stand, something I didn't do with my 2.5, so it would be easy to work in there. I also made the canopy 12 inches tall to help with cooling and give the MH some space. I go to school at Clemson SC, home is south FL That is indeed a small orange plate, it's about the size of a silver-dollar. Link to comment
CodeToad Posted June 25, 2004 Author Share Posted June 25, 2004 I didn't get a chance to take any size reference shots today, but here are some shots of some of the livestock in there Enjoy Link to comment
sdbeazley Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 lol, when i went to the logical reef I though they had just started that sweet tank! it looks awesome! I want a 2.5 like it Link to comment
digitallinx Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 awesome lookin setup.........luv the zoo's Link to comment
xien2000corp Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 thats a great setup! thanks, steve Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Matt, I've been thinking about adding a sump to my MB 7 at some point, but the overflow has always been my biggest concern. Did you just take a PVC pipe and drill holes in it as your drain? That's a great way to do it, if I interpret it correctly. I'd love to know if I"m right! Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 ReeferMonkey: There are many different ways to do the whole overflow thing. If you look at my 2.5 I didnt have that tank drilled at all. I decided to drill this tank since I would have such a turbulent and high flow enviornment with the SCWD and mag3 that I wanted to make sure my drain could keep up. I drilled the bottom of the tank and installed a bulkhead, then like you said, ran some PVC pipe straight up for the drain. Be careful you make the tube the right height, if you do it too high the water will overflow out of the top of the tank You will have to play with it a little to reduce the noise it makes (the nice flushing effect) but there are many ways to do it. Good luck! ~Matt Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 So what do you do about surface scum? Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 Well the surface of my tank is always being sucked down into the drain. It can then go through the fuge and I have been kicking the idea of a DIY protien skimmer around for a while now... Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 If you get a chance could you take a pic of your overflow near the surface? It would seem to me that unless the holes are really high up, you would still have some funk on the surface. I'm with you on the DIY protein skimmer. Once I move to follow a real job, I plan on getting a new setup for my MB 7 up with a new stand, sump, SCWD, and some sort of DIY skimmre. I've been watching RB/UTR's HOB designs but am thinkign I might try to DIY something like the Red Sea Airlift (or whatever it's called). Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 I didn't really drill any holes... What happens is you just cut the pipe to the right length, then the water goes up to the top of the pipe and drains down. If you drill holes in the pipe when power goes out the water will drain to the lowest hole which is no good. I can take some pictures later today or tommorow though Link to comment
xien2000corp Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 hey codetoad, if you take a pic of the open top could i have a picture taken of the back showing off the plumbing please? im making an mb7 and im basing my plumbing around a design very similar to yours. im wondering, do you use a ball valve or a check valve on your return? -steve Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 Steve, I cant really get a better picture of my plumbing because I don't have any room behind the tank. Here is the best shot I have: But it is a pretty simple design, if you have any questions feel free to catch me on AIM or drop me an e-mail. I don't use any valves in my system. I dont need a ball valve because I wanted to run my mag3 wide open with as little restriction as possible. That is also why I chose to drill the tank with a 1 inch bulkhead so I can handle alot of flow. I don't trust check valves so when power goes out the water drains to the top of the drain tube and that is it. I drilled a little pin hole in the return just beneath the water surface to break the siphon when power fails. My sump can hold the little extra water and there are no flooding issues Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 Here is a shot of the open top and the drain through the glass: Ignore the airline tubing, that was there for an experimant and I forgot to get rid of it... Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Thanks for the pics. What size are your return lines? 3/4"? Link to comment
CodeToad Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 Return line is 3/4 but I step it down to 1/2 right before it gets in the water to increase the velocity a little bit I snapped a few new shots today also: Better picture of my fungia: Lime Zoanthids: Link to comment
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