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It Begins AGIAN....100% custom 15g NANO.


EnderG60

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did you run it long enough to break in ?

 

you can make a pin wheel out of a bio-ball and they mount pretty easy into mj-1200's, I made one for my DIY skimmer and it worked out great, although, you do seem to have a lot of bubbles going on there. perhaps it is just a flow thing (ie. to much) and you should try and slow it down some, or raise the center tube up and inch or two..

 

-skeletor-

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Im still working on where and how to put this thing in the sump.

 

Do you have any pics or anything on how to do the pin wheel thing? Ive never heard of that.

 

and its got plent of power, the output valve is just barly closed to keep the water level right below the cup. It will start overflowing pretty easy.

 

and its been running for about 36 hours now with no change

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IT SKIMS!!

 

I put a control valve on the air intake and it seems to have helped ALOT, break in took longer then i though it would but the valved really helped too. Im even getting less bubbles in the tank

 

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anyway im not worried about that amount of bubbles due to how I will mount the skimmer in the sump(sponge should take care of all the bubbles)

 

and i have to put a small drain on the skimmer cup as well...no biggie

 

BUTTTTT Im still VERY unhappy with the amount of noise this rio is making.

 

So unless anyone has any suggestions on how to quiet down this rio im gonna get a maxijet with a turbo venturi addon and try that

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok I finally got the maxi-jet venturi thing going and its working just fine and still makes a bit of noise, but is MUCH quieter then the pos RIO.

 

I am also almost done with the new sump for my 58 and I finally got my work schedual changed so I can actually do stuff when im not in class!.

 

anyway Im still messing with the layout of my sump/fuge for this thing and from the looks of it I can either have a 1/2 gallon fuge and the pump for the skimmer in its own compartment before the fuge.

 

or i can just put the skimmer pump in the fuge and make it bigger which would end up being 1.25 gallons.

 

or i can just ditch the fuge all together and have a sump with lots of room.

 

Also for your consideration is this proposed layout of my return pump outlets. One nozzel blowing across the front toward the overflow and two blowing from the back toward the front of the tank. what ya think? (that will be running of a mag drive 5)

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The_Barbe-Hatten_Project

i like your ideas for flow... i don't want to tell you what to do, but since your considering not having a fuge at all i will anyway... my tank has been running great for 2-3 months no w/o even a filter pad, just a skimmer... correct me iff i'm wrong, but isn't a nano supposed to contain all the things that a fuge has... i know your thinking a couple of things... 1) "but a fuge is always lit..." 2) "you can't have macro in the display tank"...

 

answer to 1) - Isn't it a little un-natural for the sun to always be out in the real world? (don't get me wrong! fuges are great!!!!) but for a nano you can pack all the LR and LS in the tank you need to provide all the things that a fuge does w/o the hassel...

 

answer to 2) - macro, in my opinion, looks great in a nano (depending on the species of algae) and as long as you can manage to keep those tangs and such out of the tank, then it won't be eaten by the fish and inverts...

 

Just my thoughts, and that's the way they do it in germany... what are yall's i deas on this...?

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Im posting here to get ideas and feedback on stuff, so all opinions are welcome...wether or not i use em is another thing:P

 

Just for clarification here is my current tank's fuge and flow layout.

 

Flow is one micro jet powerhead and the return pump plumbed around to shoot from the front toward the back.

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and this is my current fuge(partition on the right was removed)

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my current setup has no fuge at all just a buttload of live rock in the main tank and bio balls...along with the carbon, phosgard and poly filter bits i use I have yet to see nitrates over 10(even wtih an eel and 2 fish in the tank and when one fish went missing)

 

my main reason for wanting a fuge is for Ph stability, my current tank has never gotten above a ph of 8.0...ever..so i was hoping a fuge with some macro would help that, and hell more live rock never hurt.....but if i dont I wont be that heart broken

 

as far as macro in the main tank goes....i though just as you did and put some in my 58...it looked nice and grew...and grew...and grew.

 

wound up having to prune it weekly, and then when i got sick of it and tried a few times to rip is all out...it just kept comming back....its horrible!!!! and if you put it in a nano your gonna be sorry...please take my word on that. I only got it under control with a tang..who ate about 3 lbs of the stuff in a week and eats every bit as soon as it starts to grow again.

 

but back on topic, any other suggestions on the fuge or flow layout?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Welp Finally got some time to finish up all the stuff for my 58g

 

you can check that out here

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=450571

 

and I also got a 150w chiller, which didnt do squat on my 58g so its gonna go on the new nano:

 

and since its rather large, and plumbing would suck I have decided to ditch the rear sump design for the new tank and go with a regular sump located in the stand.

 

Im gonna have to rework some stuff for the overflow layout and figure out how to fit the sump/fuge and chiller in the stand and all that, and then order whatever extra acrylic im gonna need.

 

but With this layout I will have a full 18g display tank and anywhere from a 5 to 10 gallon sump/fuge with a chiller;)

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can you show a picture of the air control valve on the skimmer? I've been checking a lot of different plans for a skimmer and I really like this design. thanks

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Its just a regulat T valve thing, you can get it at any pet supply shop for air line tubing.

 

and i might be selling that skimmer and making a different one since im going with a true sump now..

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  • 1 month later...

WOOHOO finally got some time off, and after much work redesigning stuff I got some stuff made.

 

Since i got a chiller pretty cheap I decided to go with a in stand sump and all that stuff. So I made a new auto top off container(to be used with a small power head) that will sit underneath the chiller.

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Now that takes up about 1/2 of the space in the stand so the actual sump will be about the same size.

 

Now the skimmer which you have already seen is also getting some modifications. Rather then using a venturi pump(because they make a buttload of noise) I am trying the skimmer with a 1/2 venturi off an old top phathom skimmer. It seems to be working well running off a rio800 so it should work better when i get the maxi-jet 1200 for it.

 

Now since I only have a 12x10" space for the sump that must house 3 pumps and filtration I designed the bio ball/filter media section to be tall and a seperate part. and here it is.

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So there will be floss on the top right, then under that any carbon, phosgard, poly filters whatever. then the left side is the trickel filter that will house .6 gallons of bio balls.

 

Next step is to get the rest of the 1/4" acrylic for the actual sump, and work out a layout for the overflow/return stuff in the main tank and get that all made.

 

Im hoping to only have woodworking stuff left after thanksgiving, so i can get that done durring winter break.

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The_Barbe-Hatten_Project

that's insanely nice... so there's an opening under the egg crate right? to let the water into the part of the sump that will hold the returns, skimmer, etc....

 

that's some really top-notch work man... it looks like it will work great... the only suggestion i have is to put a lip at the top of the overflow going into the trickle filter to ensure that the water flows into all the holes for even "trickling"... is that little clear plastic tube there to release air or something? what's up with that???

 

Again it looks great...

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actually on the other two tricklers i have made it flows very evenly. And actually yes that lil tube is to let air out. thats how good a seal it makes, plus its a nice handle too.

 

and its not egg crate, its the grate things they put over florecent lighting. 2x4 ft thing is like $10.

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uggg..this skimmer aint gonna work. Im gonna have to make a new oneX)

 

and i gata wait till i get the heater in so i can make sure everything will fit in the sump....

 

anyway im getting started on the tank, ill have some pics tomarrow

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Got started on the tank. Should be able to get it done tomarrow.

 

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Im thinking put a devider between the return and drain stuff and making the area around the return pipes a fuge. Some rock rubble, macro and a small light and bam. What ya think?

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actually the divider will be a lil further foward then it is in the pic. So that one pipe will only be covering about 1/4 of the surface.

 

Welp got held up doing thanksgiving crap today, but I got the holes drilled and the overflow/fuge divider made and put in. So all thats left is finish painting the pipeing,glue in the black back and the front, and the tank is done:)

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Blind Tree Frog
Originally posted by The_Barbe-Hatten_Project

Just my thoughts, and that's the way they do it in germany... what are yall's i deas on this...?

I'm actually thinking of doing this with the 55 Gallon tank I may redo. Basically I want something completely self contained (or at least, to see if it's possible). I might partition off a section or so for various reasons*, but mainly I am curious if I can do it.

 

 

 

* Like make an overflow box to put a SeaClone 100 in that I have laying around and for return flow, or possible partition off the back for a few inches for a Fuge just to hold whatever I can fit back there (Live rock wise).

 

Something like this (not to any known scale)

+------------------------------+|                              ||  +---------------------------++--+                           ||                              ||                              ||                              |+------------------------------+

(looks fine in courier, copy and paste it into notepad if it doesn't look good here.

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I wouldnt want to do that in a 55g simply because its only 12" deep to start with. In order to fit all that you would have to make the rear section at least 3 or 4" and that just doenst leave much room in the tank.

 

I would look into a 75g or something at least 18" deep to do that with a tank that size.

 

Plus I used to sell the simplicity plus tenicor tanks that have all the filtration in the back. And on large tanks its just not practical. If a pump goes out or you have to clean something its a royal PITA to get back there.

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Blind Tree Frog

I was thinking about that and that's why I keep getting it out of my head every time I look at the tank.

 

though if I partition off one end it might work fine. Just need to control what angle the tank is viewed at.

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Welp take is pretty much made. Just gata reorder the part for the top and get some black silicon to seal up the returns.

 

Holes drilled and ghetto bulb heads fitted, and divider with teeth installed.

 

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Test fitting painted parts

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When gluing books work well to add pressure to insure a seal. And hey using the appropriate books helps too:P

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Back bottom seal was kinda crappy so just to be sure I put in a bead of goop to make sure. This is how you make a good seal and keep a nice look. Put down the tape, run your glue, then remove the tape and you have a nice straight line of glue.

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Front installed

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Leak down testing.

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Thats all for a while now. I am going to order the rest of the acrylic for the top of the tank and the sump later. and Since I have a few tests and finals over the next 2 weeks im not gonna get much done on this. so your just gonna have to wait:P

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