Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 After about 5 months i finally decided to give up on the now fully encrusted with coralline 5 Hex-Eclipse. nice lil tank but impossible to scrape algae and not the plastic! so this 10 hex was born. i had a piece of black acrylic cut to size for use as an internal overflow. drilled it in two places for return lines. siliconed it into position and attached return bulkheads and fittings along with return pumps-originally two Dolphin 115s-that were intermitently very loud. i went back to my all time favorite minijets-for their adjustablity, silence and past good experiences. in the "sump/internal overflow" (tank is not driled) with the minijets is a Jalli 50W titanium heater. i may install cameron's auto top off as well, but am considering building a small surge device, with which it would not be compatible. the tank will be open top with a 175W 10K Ushio suspended in a PFO pendant. i may add a clamp light or DIY some kind of actinic supplemention but am not really worried about it right now i built a cheapo but functional stand from 2x3s and a target 3-drawer rolling cart/organizer-stores all my crapo! anyways, i'll post the tank pics l8r but since i had time here at work i wanted to spit all this out. i added a couple 13, 14 lbs of nature's ocean pseudo-LS to about 10 i already had to create a 3" sand bed-kinda according to calfo who mentions 3" as a minimum for denitrification, but am less concerned about its functionality than its appearance honestly. my critters all seem to enjoy this stuff and its not fine as dust, cloudifying (dictionary check, copyright glazer) my tank everytime an astrea takes a tumble. at the very least the sand bed will raise up me clams, getting them a lil better light. all the rock (plus a couple more lbs worth) you'll see in the pics later was in my 5 Hex. i'd estimate that i have near 10 lbs in this tank-maybe more. its well established (couple years in my tanks) and i know it can handle the bio demands i'll put on it. anyways...here's a pic of my pendant-i suspect more nanos will employ this pup! oh and here's the link to more info on it... http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...e=Pendantshells Link to comment
Crakeur Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 that is a nice fixture. I am toying with the idea of increasing my tank size as well. The problem is I love the bow front and I don't want to have to spend much more money on better lights (which I would do, even though I would have sufficient light - I'm just prone to overdoing it whenever the option arises). Perhaps a second bow, somehow connected to the first. gotta think this out a bit. gotta run it by the wife, gotta gotta gotta. Can't wait to see pics of the new tank. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 thanks crakeur, how's the babe?! what do you think about back-to-back 7 bows, forming a semi-mutilated circle? i'm all about abusing artistic license and using tanks in wierd ways, sorry! overdoing it i have no clue what you're talking about (this is the third AND FINAL light setup (first halide, raise tha roof!) i've bought for this tank-and i aquascaped it yesterday! doh!) BTW PFO makes a sweet pendant much like this with a super silent fan and 2x28W PC Actinics! gawd, it's beautiful-but its a couple inches bigger than my tank is wide-so it would look plain silly! Link to comment
glazer Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Damn buddy... LIGHT IT UP! Woohoo! Clamp light? What the... Isn't that pendant meant to/able to have PC's fitted into it? I know I'd definitely go that route if'n you feel the need for bluey lights. And here I have been accused of being a tease, sheesh...lol Whatevvvvvver with the empty light shell...SHOW me the tank! Link to comment
Crakeur Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I don't care about how the lights look over the tank, it's what they do to the tank that matters. Hell, in the summer, the lights are skewed on an angle so I can hang my chiller on the side of the tank. Agreed that back to back would be nice but that wouldn't work in the corner that I have the tank in. side by side bows, like a pair of boobs! that's what I'm thinking Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 you pig! :woot: Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 yeah i hear ya on function over form-there were many factors that lead me to switch over. the first couple hoods were PCs and underpowered i think for such a deep tank and will be put to good use elsewhere. but when the second one broke down during installation that was the final straw. and yeah that pc equipped model was beautiful but it would have lit up half our bedroom. that and one of the reasons for switching tanks was to get away from the constant drone of muffin fans. we'll see though, may need one afterall, but at least i have the light i've always wanted-fer my corals of course! Link to comment
cjm033 Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 lol if you have the 2 mini bows next to eachother you can change the name from mini bow to the "mini boob" haha,Chris Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 that means i'm big time! right? so here's some of the pics i promised earlier with a couple pics of the yet to arrive halide pendant tomorrow-hopefully! first one here is a top view of the tank post silicone job but empty. shows you the two return lines-kinda! Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 here's the tank setup and the DIY target rolling cart stand-i can wheel it out from under the tank-plus the drawers pull out-works pretty snappy! Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 ok here's the side/sump view shot. you can see the two pHs at botton-throttled down minijet 404 returns via loc-line spraybar "buried" in rock work. wide open 606 returns via the nozzle at top right. the heaters in there too and eventually i'll prolly have the top-off switch operating. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 whaddya'll think of the aquascaping? Link to comment
glazer Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Nice job Rich! Great lookin', um pile...lol Really though that is some nice looking rock. Great job on hiding the pumps and equipment... looks nice an cleeeeeean. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Man that looks great!!:woot: Thats not clean thats supa clean. That MH is going to look great over it, I can already see the perfect spot for a clam. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 tanx guys, i'm psyched about it too! can't wait for the pendant to arrive! tg Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 cool tank...more pics please Lunchbucket Link to comment
Rocket_155 Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 Great clean looking tank, yes more pics. What do you plan to stock it with? Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 24, 2003 Author Share Posted January 24, 2003 thanks guys:blush: seeing as the rock is carry-over from the old 5 hex which had a bunch of mushrooms, some of bryan's famous zoos and a grip of other softy stuff, some of that will still be around, but lower in the tank so they don't get burnt. also got this encrusting gorgonian that i can't kill, so that'll prolly be everywhere-lunch did toyfreak ever stick you with this stuff? i have a squamosa in a PC lit tank now and depending on his development he may move-over to make that a zoo only tank. i think i'll try a maxima or two once things get established and prolly a mess of SPS and some cute lil LPS, we'll see though! i have to figure out some kind of wave simulation for this tank. i have a small tsunami that'll alternate two powerheads or i have the squid still in the box but i'd like to keep this looking clean, ya know. i was thinking about a small surge device but that squelches the auto top off and well open top and all she's evaporating quick so that won't work. i could prolly still drill another hole, like top left in the acrylic and put in another powerhead return to alternate with the guy in the upper right, whaddya'll think? tg Link to comment
reefriot Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 very kewl idea for a hex tank. makes a nice built in sump. how wide is the pendant going to be front to back on the tank? you could do a nice staging of corals on the rock. maybe glue a few tabling acros up near the top then put zoo's and mushrooms in the midlle with leathers and others on the bottom. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 24, 2003 Author Share Posted January 24, 2003 the pendant is 13.25" across (tank 14.5" at widest pint) and 10.5" deep (tank is 12.5" but the internal overfow cuts it down to prolly 10". i reeaaaaallllly wanna have a couple table tops near the top but also with a couple more branchy guys (like a turquoise stag!) at the very top. seems to me the table tops would work awesome around the top perimeter of the rockwork-kinda like those fungi that grow "around" trees. they'd prolly also give enough shade for the diversity to be a real option! sweeeet! Link to comment
scruz Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 your hex is going to be tight. not too many people do hex's. I like how you have the intank sump. the nice think about hex's is that they look classy, kind of like show pieces or a piece of furniture. also, it also give you interesting rock possibilities. the thing i like about my tank is that it is so deep. i think it is 26" deep or close to that. here is my 55 gallon hex and has no sump. lit by 4x65 power compacts: Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 24, 2003 Author Share Posted January 24, 2003 nice tank scruz! start a thread with all kinds of pics and specs eh? tg Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 25, 2003 Author Share Posted January 25, 2003 thanks djm! it'll look alot more cooler when i get a light on it, doh! that $10 i should have spent for saturday delivery is looking better than ever, gawd poverty blows! brown can kiss my ___, wish more people/businesses shipped priority mail-IME Fedex and UPS are alright-FOR ME TO POOP ON!-i get priority mail packages faster, cheaper, and in better shape! tg Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.