macro tank for 10g

[flaunt]

Right now I'm using a Pengiun mini hob with the filter media removed and a few pieces of LR with razor caluerpa as a mini-macro growing tank. I have an Azoo palmlight (7w PC clip on light) on it 24/7. I've had it set up for almost a month now and I'm seeing pretty good growth in the caluerpa, but I'd like to have some more room for it to grow as the space inside the filter is small.

 

Basically what I want is something that I can make using parts that I already have, that will be about 1 gallon in size, and will hang on the back of the tank. I don't want to have it sitting underneath or above the main aquarium since that involves plumbing that I don't want to deal with. So, this is what I have in mind: I've got a diamond-shaped plastic betta aquarium that holds about 1 gallon of water. The flat back part of this tank is 7" long. The penguin filter is 4 1/2" long. I was thinking I'd go ahead and utilize the pengiun filter's plumbing and overflow and just attach this little tank to the back of it with silicone. I would first cut a chunk out of the back of the filter compartment, and an equal-sized chunk out of the back of the plastic tank. The difference in the lengths of the filter and the plastic tank will leave 1 1/4" of the tank on each side unattached to the filter. Of course I would be sure to line up the tops of the filter and tank before siliconing.

 

My questions are:

1) how long and deep should the cuts in the filter compartment & plastic tank be, or does it not matter much?

2) what would be the max weight i could put into the tank to ensure it stays held onto the filter and doesn't cause the main aquarium to spring a leak on the backside?

[Salim]

I have no idea if this will work or not, but it's an idea for you to ponder.

 

Set the 1g behind the 10g, then hang the HOB on the big tank so that the bottom is inside the 1g. whack the bottom off your HOB and cut the lid of the 1g to fit the HOB and sililicone the lid to the 1g and the HOB to the lid.

 

Did that make any sense? Basically what I was thinking is extending the HOB down so that it rests on the stand instead of being suspended on the back of the tank.

 

Good Luck

Salim

[flaunt]

Thanks Salim, that's a really interesting idea that I'll have to think about. I think it would be a lot more sturdy if i could put the hob directly into the 1g, but i'm not sure about completely submerging the impeller and the power cord; I'd have to look into that some more. I guess i could cut a hole in the bottom of the 1g, put the hob through the hole, then cut out the back of the hob instead of the bottom and silicone everything together. This would provide a lot more surface area between the two pieces that are glued together. I still need to think more about it. Thanks.

[Spencerx]

i was thinking of doing something similar. How would you return the water to the main tank??

[tgrupert]

I was thinking about doingf the same thing with a emperor 400. thgey have a huge area for some sort of mud. I desided to go withqa ten gallon fuge instead. since the floor is much bigger it canproduce much more life. i think a really easy way to do this is get one of those clear plastic thigs that the pets stores use when they get fish out of the tanks before they put them in the baggies. I havn't figures out an elegant way to get the water in and out.