new pico plans...inspired by Fish

[NanoBob]

What does everybody think of this design. I would like to have the display rotate, but I am not sure how to handle that yet. Comments and advise please:

 

Dimensions are 8.5" diameter 5.5" tall. bulkheads through the bottom to filter in stand are just barely visible.

[coralbuff]

Cool Idea Bob!

I like the rotation thing!

Maybee a micro size gearmotor with about 3600:1 ratio. They use them in vending machines etc. I thought about one of those color wheel devices used for ponds as a posability also. I know the colorwheel things are on ebay. A micro gearmotor will require some internet searching. I know they are made in a/c and d/c.

 

Good Luck,

 

coralbuff

[ADough]

Having these rotate is a difficult purposal. I've thought about doing one myself. The easiest imo would be to have only the rock rotate inside th cylinder. Or if you were to rotate the entire cylinder I think all components should be stationary off the backside not touching the cylinder itself. An external pump with flow-bar intake and out-take and a pendant light.

[coralbuff]

Adough is adressing the main challenge how to have plumbing and such rotate with the tank. the pendant light is a great idea or to keep things compact you could attach a light wired through lock line or flexable substitute to the box part of the unit. Perhaps along with the plumbing and put a partition in front or around them to hide evrything.

 

coralbuff

[mickey85]

or, what about a canister filter with the tank exhaust in the bottom with a swivel coupling, and hang the return on the side of the tank?

[robmacy]

if you hard-plumb the pipes and can secure the pump to the bottom of the return and rotate the whole display unit, you could place the pipes in the center of a deep/wide sump. as long as the water level remains above the two pipes in the sump you should be able to pull it off. just my 2 cents.

[NanoBob]

Thanks for all the input. Good ideas all. What I was thinking was to hard pipe the outlet and the return into a canister filter and rotate the whole thing. The biggest issue with doing that is all of the electrical has to rotate as well. Which isn't a huge problem until you consider the plug into the outlet.

 

I am in no hurry so keep the ideas a comin'

 

Bob

[Pili]

you might want to up the diameter of the cylinder or change it to a cube shape because the distortion on a cylinder that small will probebly be pretty bad.

[shao-lin nano]

Great ideas Bob, too bad we're not local to eachother or else we could work on it together. I've been thinking a lot about a system like this too. Maybe we can turn it into some sort of competition and see who get's it done faster and better....our own little contest

 

Let me know if you want to brainstorm.

 

Any idea what the display is going to be made of? Acrylic probably, right? Know of any online vendors with good pricing for a cylinder of that size?

[p.o.t.u.s]

cool...but the since the sides are all curved, the view will be distorted...just something to think about.

[NanoBob]

Shao:

 

I am not going to get into a modding contest with you, I'll get blown away!

Acrylic is the way to go, unless I can find a glass or even crystal bowl. I haven't researched that far yet.

 

I am not sure about distortion... agian I need to do some searching. I have a crsytal salad bowl about the size I am talking about and there isn't any problem with distortion, but we'll see.

 

Bob

[ninjafish]

Bob,

THis is a great looking plan and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

I found that the local industrial plastics shop sells acrylic cylinders by the foot and you can get it in 10" diameter. That would be a good way to go optically.

As for what we discussed about a rotating tank, the following is some ideas that I put forward in another thread. It has been a while since I have researched this stuff so I don't know how current it is, but hopefully there is some good info.

You might be particularily interested in the electrical coupler that I found:

 

 

 

As for your project of a cylinder tank on a turntable - I am really excited to see how it goes!!! Infact my current setup is only a concession that I made to my wife - my real plans were an acrylic cylinder tank on a motorized turtable that slowly rotated by its self.

My plan was to have the tank on a table attched to a lazy susan bearing http://www.awsc-online.com/ContentL_a.htm which was also connected to a hanging basket or harness under the counter. I would bolt a servo or stepper motor http://www.alltronics.com/stepper_motors.htm to the underside of the counter and have the driveshaft sticking up through a hole to make contact with a spur gear http://www.qtcgears.com/RFQ/default...s/KHK114_2.html attached to the bottom of the turntable. The motor would rotate the lazy susan w/ tank and also the basket underneath that held the cannister filter. The electrical cord for the cannister filter and pond lights would stick out of the bottom of the basket where it would be connected to my power sourse via a rotating coupler http://www.power-delivery.com/photos.php

As I said, a rotating cylinder tank was my dream and I am really excited to see how it works out for you. If you have the werewithall to make it motorized, well then I hope some of the research I did can be put to good use . I think you will find that a rotating inlet/outlet plumbing connecter will be very difficult (if not impossible!). Your best bet is to have the whole setup turn and only worry about rotating your power sourse. In that case, the electrical coupler will probably still be your answer whether you go motorized or hand-powered.

I look forward to seeing how it goes!

 

Hope something in there helps. As I said, it has been a long time since I researched this stuff but I think you may find better answers to the "motorized turntable" question on non-reef board. I personally tapped into the forums and sites that deal with building battle robots. They seem to have a wealth of info on the subject!!!

 

Cheers,

 

- Chad

[NanoBob]

Fish:

 

Thanks for the info. It should put me on the right path. If I have time I will model my idea for the plumbing and filter setup.

 

Bob

[formerly icyuodd/icyoud2]

a friend of mine has a tank like this. his is an octagon tankand heres what he did to get it to rotate.

 

he purchased an old record player (belt drive) i know he had to change the pullies around, but its very effective. (flea market find-$3) it was torn apart and retro fit to his stand. but you'd never know it was a record player. if im not mistaken, thiers a lazy sue bearing incorparated also ($10 home depot) ill get the specifics, next time i speak with him. as for the pluming, he uses a canaster filter.

his actual pluming is two 3/4" pvc pipes fixed to the stand. they come up from the stand 1/2 higher than the top of the tank, and back down inside the tank(2 upside down u's) the tubing stays stationary, the tank turns. the 2 pipes inside the tank are side by side. hes attached a black acrylic plate to the front of them(almost as large as one of the tanks panels) it hides the pluming, and gives the illusion of a black background.his heater is also attached to the acrylic plate, with the wiring fastened to his pluming. its awesome! the top of the tank looks something like this

 

hth

[NanoBob]

Anyone know of a good acrylic supplier? I am having a hard time finding anyone locally. The only place I did find quoted me $168.00 for a 10" dia x 6" tall 1/8" thick cylinder. That seems like a lot.

 

Bob

[coralbuff]

Hi Bob,

That sounds outragious to me too! Where are you located?

There is place on the web called TAP Plastics They have all kinds of stuff and seem to be reasonable.

 

Talk soon,

 

Coralbuff

 

PS check the thread on my bookshelf pico I would like to see what you think.

[ejls2]

You mean something like this?

 

 

 

I've been in the design phase for months but I only got it set up a few days ago due to parts shortages.

 

My thread is in the pico comp in case you fancy a look.

 

Paul at FCA will sort you a cylinder tank like mine for not very much. Give him a ring (he's away till monday I think).

 

The acrylic does distort around the edges as you view it so it makes it look as though there's less rock around it than there actually is. It also gives you a bit of a magnified effect when you look straight in. I like it, some may not.

 

As for the plumbing, I "borrowed" Chad's idea and used an Eheim plumbed as closed loop. However it is easy to use a regular fuge as long as you don't mind the central overflow. Dynamic Sealing do a range of unions which are suitable if your budget is a bit bigger than mine was any you want to be able to rotate it infinitely but most of their standard ones don't have good enough anodising to resist the saltwater. You need a custom jobbie.

 

PM me if you want an ideas or help,

 

Ed

[NanoBob]

Ed,

 

Very nice! That's almost exactly what I want to do. I did find a cylinder for about $30.00 (10" dia x 5" x 1/4"). The only difference in my idea is everything, but the tank will be under the stand. I haven't had time to work out all of the kinks yet. Work really eats my extra time up, not to mention 4 kids and a wife

 

thanks for the info and I am sure I will be in touch,

Bob

[ejls2]

No probs

 

Everything on mine is under a stand too, it's just not on in that photo (I got the size wrong so I'm having to have it re-cut). The stand'd only about 3.5" tall and the tubing goes underneath the table the stand sits on to a modified canister filter.

 

HTH

Ed

[coralbuff]

Hey Bob,

Any progress on this yet?

I am anxiously awaiting your artful creation.

Thanks,

coralbuff

[chuck22689]

if everything is going to under the stand you could try to build an enclosed track for the electrical im no expert and dont want anybody to get hurt but if you designed it like a slot car track where the power goes to the track and is piced up by a brush that way you could power your pumps without having to worry about cords getting tangeld up couse youd have to be verry carfull but you could always lock the stand so people dont get in it