Fish's 2gal starfire cube. Pictures inside.

[ninjafish]

I guess I will have to wait a bit and see if his personality reveals itself to me.

 

Mushroom, what is your other hobby? I can't figure out what the avatar is.

 

 

- Chad

[bradbane]

im thinking about doing this with a 5.5g AGA, i can drill through the desk it's going to be on. i can fit a 12" cube beneath it as a 7.5g sump. i don't know much about plumbing, what would you guys recommend? what size pipe should i use for the drain and return? what pump to get the water back into the tank? any advice?

[deacon hemp]

Bradbane,id use the cube as the display and the 5.5 as the sump.Better yet cube display and do what fish did and plumb it to a canister filter?

 

 

edit: sorry fish fer hijacking,your mantis is awsome ive had the same type as you before and they really are full of personality! you'll love him.

[bradbane]

deacon hemp, the 5.5 would fit better on my desk, but i may do that. either way, how do i do the plumbing haha? i might look into a canister filter like fish did, but i'm trying to do this on a budget . any advice fish or anyone else? not trying to hijack your thread or anything, just wondering how i can repeat your success! your tank is beautiful.

[deacon hemp]

Brad the canister is probably cheaper and easier,just drill the bottom two holes,put bulkheads on there and your canister filter hooks right up i asume?.You just have to find the right size bulkhead,and a canister filter in your budget and your laughing.I would also like to see this setup on a bigger tank to see if it works aswell as fish's? anybody else tried yet?

[bradbane]

oh ok, it just clicked. i see how it works now . thanks guys. i am going to try this with a 5.5g, when i start getting everything together ill make a thread.

[mushroom head]

Fish,my other hobby is robot building. My avatar is my favorite robot,its called KILLER BEE and its a nano sumo robot.

[ninjafish]

Good call Deacon. Brad, a cannister filter isn't just a neat way of doing it, it is the only way of doing it if you are going to have the bulkheads in the bottom of the tank. I you wanted to use a sump, your overflow would have to be at the surface of the water and that means - no 360 degree visibility.

My plans are to upgrade to a 12" cube (7.5gal) near the end of the year. I am wheeling a deal to pick up a larger capacity eheim (2026) to run it and besides that, I already have everything i need.

Mushroom Head, "nano killer robots"? That sounds like a hobby I could get into as well!

Cheers,

 

- Chad

[ninjafish]

Update,

Ike is more brave every day and spands a lot of time wandering around his tank. I am filming some footage to make a new video featuring the mantis. A mantis attack in the movie would be really sweet but for some reason, Ike is not showing any interest in the snailsin his tank. I think I will try and pick up another couple hermits...

 

- Chad

[mushroom head]

Hey fish,nano sumo robots have to fit in a 2.5cm cube or a 1inch cube. They have line sensors to detect the sumo ring. Once they detect it they try to move away from it and not touch it. They also have object sensors to detect there enemy. Once the object sensor detects the other robot the robot charges at it and trys to push it out of the ring.

[hyewiz]

WoW! this is one hell of a display, I guess its not for first timer like me

I wish i can have something like it in my room.

cheers great work

[ninjafish]

Mushroom,

Wow, that is smaller than I thought - I would really like to watch somthing like that...

 

Hyewiz,

Thanks man!

 

Here is my newest video:

 

http://www.102tech.com/fish/mantis.wmv

 

Enjoy!

 

- Chad

[Brian da lion]

Ah the mantis shrimp, so hideous, and yet so beautiful. Nice video btw.

[mushroom head]

Hey fish,here are some videos of them,,,, http://www.solarbotics.net/gallery/RoboMaxx2/MVI_1295

[ninjafish]

Thanks for the link. Now that is cool!

[mushroom head]

Hehe,yeah. I hope i can make a nano sumo robot soon(or mabey after im done a few of my tanks). When i make one i will send a pic and a video to you!

[ninjafish]

Mushroom, I will follow up with you to make sure you do

 

 

Update:

 

Update:

 

I am replacing the eheim 2222 cannister filter with an eheim 2128 pro II. The new cannister has some better connections but the main advantage is that it will has an extra media basket and three times the volume!

Last night I drilled the hole for the pond light wiring:

 

 

 

 

I used a small piece of the electrical cord to make the hole just barely big enough. The tighter I can make the fit, the less I will have to depend on the silicone to keep it water proof.

 

 

 

Obviously, going from a filter with an output of 132gph to one with an output of 280gph is a pretty big change. Especially when the tank is only 2gals . I had planned on cutting down the impellor blades on the new filter to reduce the flow, but fortunately eheim - bless their hearts - saved me the trouble. Here you can see the 2128 impellor wearing the blades from the 2222 - a prefect fit!

 

 

 

Updates to follow in the next couple days.

 

- Chad

[ninjafish]

Also,

 

I just found out that my thread on Reef Central was nominated for Thread of the Month!

 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...392#post5631392

 

 

- Chad

[ninjafish]

Hello gang!

The switch to the new filter went off without a hitch (and only a small amount of spilled water). Fortunately I was able to attach the new filter hoses to the bulkheads without having to drain the tank - and catch the mantis .

 

Here is a pic of the new and improved fiter next to the old one:

 

 

 

 

This one has 1.58gallons of volume compared to the old one that only had 0.5gal.

 

 

After connecting the hoses, I threaded the pond light electrical cord through the drilled hole and then sealed it with silicone. I put my LR rubble into the bottom media basket and the chaeto in the middle. The top basket is still empty but I am curing more LR rubble to add there. The chaeto lights go down through a hole I cut in the bottom of the top basket and sit like probes right in amongst the chaeto. The reason that I wanted the chaeto in the middle basket is so that even if it grows faster than I prune it, it wont grow up into the impellor. Here is another pic of the two filters with the lights on:

 

 

 

 

 

After the silicone dried, I closed it all up and plugged it in...

Yes! The modded impellor works like a charm and my 2128 cannister filter now provides the same amount of flow to the tank that my 2222 did. If (when!) I go to a larger cube (12"?), I will just put the stock impellor blades back on.

What do you think?

 

- Chad

[mushroom head]

Very nice! Im making a 8" cube to! If you dont mind me asking how much did the new canister filter cost you?

[shao-lin nano]

Hey fish, any particular reason you used the ehim filters...would any cannister filter work in a similar way?

 

Congrats on being nominated for thread of the month.

[ninjafish]

Thanks you guys! To answer both questions, I got this last filter as a gift from a good friend who I helped sell his system. I am really impressed with eheim filters in terms of quality but this modification would work with any canister filter!

 

Cheers,

- Chad

[ninjafish]

Here are a couple more pics of Ike:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why, but I can't seem to get that guy in focus

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a recent full tank shot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like the pics. I am planning on upgrading to a 12" cube in the coming weeks. I will keep you posted!

Cheers,

 

- Chad

[shao-lin nano]

Looks like you have a little flat worm problem. Becareful of them dying and relasing toxins into your small tank.

[icenine]

Looks like you have a little flat worm problem. Becareful of them dying and relasing toxins into your small tank.

 

 

 

shao-lin, very observant.... I looked at this postand did not notice the flat worms till your response. I was too fixated on the magnificent shrimp to notice the pests. I'm sure fish will make them gone during the upgrade to a 12g.