Ratvan's Old School Pico - Rockwall Pico v2

[A.m.P]

Been a joy to follow-along, I recently lost my grandmother to dementia, family and I actually moved down to help take care of her a while back.

 

Surge-tanks are definitely old-school lol, can't wait for a video of it in action.

Appreciate all the time you've put in for those reading and watching, looking forward to watching things keep moving forward.

[Ratvan]

Tank Upgraded

 

Still playing around with the Surge tank idea, but will likely be a long way off before I do much with it, I no longer have equipment for starters, and would need a second tank as well as something different as a stand....

 

 

[Clown79]

I like the tank, it looks great.

[Ratvan]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I like the tank, it looks great.

Thanks. It's nice to finally relax and watch a reef tank in the evenings. 

 

So Pico plans are afoot. The basic idea is this....

 

Pretty basic double fish stand. I do however want to increase the distance between the tanks. This should increase the power of the surge. I also wont have/need the cabinet underneath, so make that a small drawer for controllers, or mount on top? Dunno

 

I think I might be able to run the purge tank as a macroalgae tank/refugium of sorts. The size of the fittings means that I need to have something in the region of 2' drop before the sand is disturbed by the bell siphon. Im thinking more like 8-10".

 

This increase in height is making me think PAR38 bulb and SPS tank for the main display. I'll make a sort of canopy to hide the bulb and plumbing.

 

I can pick up a second tank for around £10 so this can run out pretty cheap. Might be a fun little Christmas project?

[Wonderboy]

Christmas? So you're saying that not only do many of us have to wait until the end of the year for presents, but now we have to wait for your surge tank build, too?

[Ratvan]

 

[A.m.P]

Love the idea of a double-display, intertidal-macro tank with all kinds of neat tidepool critters, and a tank below it with sps. I do not have enough thumbs up to express my approval.

[Wonderboy]

One of my first setups ever was a 20G long macro display that drained to a 37G mixed reef over a shared sump all built into a wall unit. Loved it, sold it, regret it. I know I'm going to have trouble waiting to see what you do  :]                ...actually I think I already am, it still just keeps loading....                  😂

[Ratvan]

On 10/30/2019 at 10:46 PM, Wonderboy said:

One of my first setups ever was a 20G long macro display that drained to a 37G mixed reef over a shared sump all built into a wall unit. Loved it, sold it, regret it. I know I'm going to have trouble waiting to see what you do  :]                ...actually I think I already am, it still just keeps loading....                  😂

Thats really cool do you have any photos or set up information at all, @Tigahboyhas shown me a shot of his Surge tank which is greatly appreciated. I think I more of less have a build list, will need to pick up a few things, drill a tank or two.

 

I can definitely get this built, the issue would be where it would be placed once constructed. Currently the only sticking point is the stand. Cant really be bothered to build my own (as I would have to beg and borrow tools) so looking at a pre made item that can be re purposed. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JVDNJ8B/ref=sspa_dk_detail_9?psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExNE84QjFEVzROUkw4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODQ3MzU4MldYTVFFUTFaR0dNWSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTEzNDQ0M0kyN1RBRlk2SUlENyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbDImYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

Got some charity shops nearby so will go hunting this weekend. 

 

Build Details so far

 

Display Tank:     12 Litre Kids Aquarium (L31x H19x W13) 2.6G

Surge Tank:        12 Litre Kids Aquarium (L31x H19x W13) 2.6G

Display Light:     Luxbird Black Box 168W

Surge Light:        Hydroponic Led Grow Light 24W (6500k)   

Powerhead:         Hydor Pico Evo 650 (180GPH)

Heater:                 50W Nano Adjustable Heater

Stand:                   BM 3 Drawer Side Table (Lokken Oak Finish) (L38x H60x W34)

 

ITEM	QUANTITY	PRICE
12 Litre Aquarium	2	£15.00
Luxbird Black Box	1	£90.00
Hydroponic Grow Light	1	£10.00
Hydor Pico Evo Mag 650	1	£20.00
50W Nano Adjustable	1	£15.00
Stand	1	£15.00
Total Cost of Build (RRP)		£180.00
Total Spend		£40.00

 

Plumbing

·         2x 20mm Bulkheads

·         2x 16mm PVC Hard Tube – 12”

·         3x 20mm Electric Conduit Pipes

 

[Wonderboy]

Sorry no photos anymore - lost them to an old PC... Can't recall too much other than it had power compacts over the reef and VHOs over the macro tank, pretty standard drilled to drain and return plumbing, still no mechanical filtration, c. taxifolia, codium, halimeda were the dominate macros. It was a really fun setup - it could even be the system that convinced me algaes should always be incorporated into the plan. Actually, since coming across bell syphons when building some aquaponics systems, I have long been contemplating building a type of surge system myself, but haven't been able to settle on specific attributes yet, or haven't needed to - either way, really been hoping to see yours before I have to make those kinds of decisions hahaha.

[Ratvan]

Guess I'll jump on the bandwagon too

 

Voting open

 

 

[debbeach13]

The end is here and I guess you made it. Congratulations! At first when I saw your final picture I almost typed a Ha Ha Ha and left it at that. That just didn't seem right after all 35 pages with so much back and forth and your final post needs more than that.  Now you have two other tanks. I am glad for what this contest and this forum have offered you in terms of support for your tanks and your life. You've come a long way baby. I hope you enjoy this hobby for many years. Good luck.

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

The end is here and I guess you made it. Congratulations! At first when I saw your final picture I almost typed a Ha Ha Ha and left it at that. That just didn't seem right after all 35 pages with so much back and forth and your final post needs more than that.  Now you have two other tanks. I am glad for what this contest and this forum have offered you in terms of support for your tanks and your life. You've come a long way baby. I hope you enjoy this hobby for many years. Good luck.

Thank you, not only for the comments on mine but on all the other participants. Its been nice to see a regular face on my thread throughout

 

Yeah I regret not waiting on a cleared shot to finish the competition but at the end of the day that it how it looked when i took it down. I'll be honest for the last two months (after I set up the larger system) I wanted to take it down so that I could concentrate on a single system but I am glad that I let the tank ride itself out. I have so many favourite looks that the tank went through and I wish i had tried to get back to one of those. I'm just glad the tank made it through tot eh end and I didn't lose too much livestock

 

I really do miss having this little Pico Desktop tank however. I think that I will bring it back into the office again at some point, either that or the Fluval Spec 3. Being honest that is probably my preferred option as I only need to pick up another pump (Hydor Evo Pico Mag) and I can get this up and running, also have a 18W Par38 Lamp that I want to try out and to see if i can get SPS running in the Pico. This means 3 Plug Sockets as opposed to 4 (Pico)

 

I had a lot of issues with flow in the Pico, and I think that I would better be able to control and avoid this issue in the little Spec. Looking like the new year before anything gets moved into the office. It will be shut down from 20.12.2019 until 06.01.2020 so dont really want to be setting up a system to move it multiple times in quick succession 

[Ratvan]

I'm still playing around with the actual surge tank, having issues with placing the tank somewhere where it can discharge into the Pico with enough height to sufficiently move water.

In the mean time I am very very tempted to start playing around with the Pico itself, at least the rockscape for the planned SPS tank.

 

I really regret taking this tank down, I thought I wouldn't miss it but my desk does look incredibly empty, I also miss watching Benny and his antics, I just barely see him or the Red Head Gobies since adding them to the larger system. Wish I had put at least one in the 5.5G Cube with Hantu or kept this going for a little while longer, who knows maybe the issues would have cleared up.  

 

I hope that i can sneak the tank back into the office next week so I cans tart playing properly, maybe build it into my "in tray" 

 

Tank: 2.5G Pets at Home Tank (12 Litre Kids Aquarium)

Light: Par38 Bulb 

Heater: 25W Submersible 

Pump: Hydor Pico Evo Mag-650

Filter: Hydro Ripple HR-450

ATO: eBay Float Valve ATO for Water Bottle

Stand: Custom Stand and light holder

 

Turnover: up to 115x Turnover (290GPH/2.5G)

 

Anywho, this lunch time I am off into town to have a look at some potential stands for this build. Hoping that I can find something for a decent price somewhere nearby that will not require a lot of  work on it to complete, maybe just some small strengthening work (plus drilling for plumbing)

[Ratvan]

Ok so have found and ordered a "Stand" the store only had a Demonstration Model, i wasn't allowed to buy this 😞 so have to wait.

 

However it is pretty much exactly what I want for the stand. 

Drawer matches dimensions of 168W Black Box with a couple of cm play

 

 

Enough space to fit the Pico Length ways and will give me a maximum of 15cm/6" between water level and light

I plan on Skimming the sides of the stand once complete, will leave the back off so that I can hide the equipment and rats nest of tables, also will be painted

I plan on hinging the Drawer front so the lighting controls cannot be seen from the outside, the Macro Display can sit atop the stand once complete and I have figured out plumbing

[Ratvan]

Oh and reinforce where the tank will sit on the bottom shelf

[Ratvan]

So I have been shopping for this Pico, I ordered a Larger HOB Filter, this one is large enough to be able to work as a refugium on this system. (Twice the size and power of previous), this one holds 1.1 Gallons of Water taking my little system up to 3.6G

 

As you can see the HOB filter comes with a couple of inserts containing Activated Carbon, I will strip and dump this (into another small bag and keep for later use) and can use these inserts as the base of my refugium build. 

 

 

Ordered some of this as well as I want to be able to disguise where the surge tank will enter and exit the Display and want to build up/hide as much as possible while also building up my biomedia filtration as well as nice places to mount corals. 

[Ratvan]

Next stage involves waiting for a delivery of Egg Crate , once received I can start work on the rocks that go into the tank. Going with a Rock Rubble Backwall effect

 

 

OLD PHOTOGRAPHS TO SHOW BACKWALL EFFECT - NOT THIS BUILD

 

 

Not going the foam and cement route this time, also Eggcrate will not cover the bottom of eh entire tank, just have enough base to provide stability, thinking about gluing some sand around the base of the rocks for the looks of it

[ECLS Reefer]

41 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Next stage involves waiting for a delivery of Egg Crate , once received I can start work on the rocks that go into the tank. Going with a Rock Rubble Backwall effect

 

 

Not going the foam and cement route this time, also Eggcrate will not cover the bottom of eh entire tank, just have enough base to provide stability, thinking about gluing some sand around the base of the rocks for the looks of it

What is the egg crate and foam going to do? 

[Ratvan]

Just now, Dirté Sanchez said:

What is the egg crate and foam going to do? 

Well carving the foam and adding cement in more than a few layers will give you a water proof and hardened fake rock wall that you can build outside of the aquarium and then slide in. Those pictures were from an old Vivarium that I built a waterfall feature into with a cat fountain pump. In a Freshwater set up this would also act as a bioloical filter but I'm not sure how this would work with saltwater, would assume a lot of Nitrate build up if I couldn't efficiently clean it. 

 

I'm not going this route but rather attaching rocks direct to the Eggcrate frame, I need an area where I can store, clean and return my pump easily without taking apart the tank, I also want the pump to draw water from the bottom of the tank to be dumped into the Macro tank to keep the tank clean. 

[ECLS Reefer]

41 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Well carving the foam and adding cement in more than a few layers will give you a water proof and hardened fake rock wall that you can build outside of the aquarium and then slide in. Those pictures were from an old Vivarium that I built a waterfall feature into with a cat fountain pump. In a Freshwater set up this would also act as a bioloical filter but I'm not sure how this would work with saltwater, would assume a lot of Nitrate build up if I couldn't efficiently clean it. 

 

I'm not going this route but rather attaching rocks direct to the Eggcrate frame, I need an area where I can store, clean and return my pump easily without taking apart the tank, I also want the pump to draw water from the bottom of the tank to be dumped into the Macro tank to keep the tank clean. 

Wow that’s some work but I bet it’ll be awesome to see!

[Ratvan]

4 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Wow that’s some work but I bet it’ll be awesome to see!

Thanks, been carving insulation foam for years. Mostly with Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It holds details really well, add small sand to a wet cement mix and looks like limestone

 

Example of Babylonian Terrain

 

I did have a F#cking huge Evil Dwarven Mine Complex somewhere (6' by 4' Gaming Board)

 

[Ratvan]

Well seems that Chinese Centimetres must be larger than elsewhere in the world, the purchased stand is too small to fit the tank internally (like I wanted to) so that is packed up and awaiting collection from the courier. So back to searching amazon for other options. 

 

This has potential, I think

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WOLTU-Kitchen-Shelves-Microwave-Freestanding/dp/B07R9THGST/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp?keywords=bathroom%2Bstorage&pd_rd_i=B07FVH59JJ&pd_rd_r=f35bf71f-fd13-4fd2-8829-83f39c0db6d7&pd_rd_w=BkAtl&pd_rd_wg=VM0VO&pf_rd_p=7dc56c0d-8a5f-4d97-9143-7233b106859a&pf_rd_r=VS94TSBZ5FBJCMR3AJ3H&qid=1573658398&s=diy&th=1

 

Maybe lose the bottom shelf to drop it to 60ish cm in height. More or less eye level with top tank then

[This guy is extra salty]

Lmao everything is larger in China 🇨🇳 😂

[Ratvan]

12 hours ago, This guy is extra salty said:

Lmao everything is larger in China 🇨🇳 😂

Not this sadly, oversize I can work with, undersized is just pointless. (Thats what she said)

 

Edit: I wonder if the Fluval Spec 3 will fit under there.....

2nd Edit: Nope