The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I've been working on my 18 gallon tank and have been contemplating replacing the 36 watt PCs with a MH bulb... what to do with the PCs...??? I've always been into scale modeling (cars motorcycles etc...) and i've been oddly drawn to pico tanks lately... i've decided to build a scale, working replica of a 210 gallon reef tank... skimmer, overflow, canister filter, fuge, possibly a calc reactor, and even a scale stand and canopy... with tiny doors that open up to the fuge... the dimensions of the tank are as shown... the total volume is 3 US gallons... i know that is a little larger than most of the picos around, but with all the scaled equipment i think it deseves to be called a pico tank... Link to comment
kris_willard Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 sounds cool, cant wait to see it. Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 I've basicly designed the tank around my lighting... the pcs are 16 inches long... 72 watts in PCs over the main tank... or 36 watt 50/50 bulb (makes more sense right?) 9 watt above the fuge... Very dim LED moonlight... i may run a monitor cable to the back of the canopy and tank to run the lights... (remote ballasts) the same way Noone did his canopy... any ideas for a water pump? i was thinking of making a bolt-down sealed top for the fuge and running the whole system off one tiny pump... skimmer being right after the pump... Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 acrylic or glass? you choose!!! every one contribute now... Link to comment
kris_willard Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 well u could use a small powerhead as a pump. I got this little via-aqua in my 5.5 gal just for surfaceagitation and you can adjust the flow something like that might do the trick. Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 it'd look odd, as long as it isbeing a bowfront... pluss i've already got one BF tank... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=32301 the power head was my fisrt choice... kinda like a mag pump i guess (remember...scale) Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 man... you know it's late when your typing is slurred.... haha... more ideas as they come... please suggest away everyone... Link to comment
kris_willard Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 haha sorry typig with a cig in my hand... powerhead is super small Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 no meant me.. but whatever... so do you think acrylic...? Link to comment
kris_willard Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 It wouldbe much easierto work with IM. cutting/drilling glass is a *****. Link to comment
king_miku Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 glass much better over all. no scratches. lasts longer. if this is a long term project and if your putting alot of time and effort in it don't skimp and go for glass (even though it's more trouble to work with), IMHO of course. Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 IM? IMHO? i've never built a tank before so i don't knowwhat that means... is that a grade of glass or plastic?? Link to comment
Von digity Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Not to nitpick or anything, and sorry in advance but, the perspective in your rendering is like way off. Is that a software problem or something? Anyways, its a really neat idea. The only hard part is scaling down all the equipment like the co2 reactor (where you going to find an 1 inch CO2 bottle + regulator?) But definetly a cool idea. You could use like LEDs or something in little batwing reflectors. I dunno, I guess I'm looking at this in a model making point of view. How could you fit 72 watts of PC over a 3.3 gallon anyways? It's definetly going to add alot of heat. Plus PCs aren't really the same scale as the tank. Link to comment
The_Barbe-Hatten_Project Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 As far as the rendering.. i just used the 3d orbit in ACAD and exported the pic... sorry... I like the way you think (scale model)... 36watt pc is 16 in long and 2 in wide i figure two bulbs side by side couldn't be wider that 5.5 in... sure they're to scale... T-30 flurescents right? :-) i know they're not to scale but that would be like 24 watts per gallon... about like putting a 250w DE over a 12 gallon nano cube... haha... wow... i don't belive anyone has done that... like i said above i think i will just use one 36 watt 50/50 bulb... As for scaling everything down... i'll handle those problems as i go... i like to think i'm pretty creative... i want all the parts to function properly, but look as close to the real thing as possible... the scale of the lights will just have to be one exception... i do like the LED idea... but they are expensive and a pc and ballast are free eh? IMHO.... that's new to me.... :-) I think i could do a pretty clean silicon job with some glass... i get excited when i think of scaling down skimmers and calc reactors and what not... i've not been able to build a scale model in about 6 months, this project combines my new found love of Reef tanks and modeling... When it comes to the calc reactor i don't really have any experience with them, so i'll be doing a lot of research... any help would be appriciated... (just explaining, in detail, how they work would be great... Link to comment
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