Tank Journal Archive

[Buddy]

Hey suckers make some room for me in here! I wasn't going to start this journal yet but due to huge demand... well, one request, here it is...
After setting up my nano to see if I could hack the salt water world, the bug has bitten hard! I decided on this size tank a while ago and if I saw one pop up for sale somewhere I would grab it. Well this happened a lot sooner than I thought and I got a good deal on a tank and cabinet (never been wet!).
I put up a request on the Victoria forums to help pick up the tank and had a lot of offers. rockerpeller and his bros gave me a hand to shift the tank with my work van.

So at the moment the tank is in my shed and probably won't be set up until I move house or decide to set it up here, which isn't ideal since I am renting here and not on a concrete floor. I could set it up in the shed but I woudn't see the tank much and it would be a pain heating/cooling it. Since it's in there it will give me a chance to get the sump, plumbing etc set up and collect the equipment over the coming months.

 

[Buddy]

Display System:

Initial Fill Date: Early 2013

Display Tank Dimensions: 6x2.5x2

Display Lighting: DIY LED

Stand: Wooden stand with four front doors and a handy side door, stained in 'black japan'

Hood or Rimless: Wooden hood, stained to match the stand

Sump Design: 4x18x18 Refugium | Return | Skimmer

Filtration: Live rock...

Support systems:

NSW or ASW: NSW

Display Water circulation: 2x tunze 6105 with 6205 shrouds + Vortech backup

Return Pump: Laguna 6000

Skimmer: Bubble Magus BM220-CS2

Evaporation Top Up: Tunze ATO

 

[Sarg]

Now you can get that Coral Beauty ;)

The ehiem Compacs are a nice pump, and the price of Illumagics has dropped conciderably if you like that brand.

Look forward to updates, hopefully you add fish a little quicker than you did for the nano lol

 

[Buddy]

I am too worried about a dwarf angel munching on my corals :mad: I have a Eheim Compact on my nano and its really nice. Would the 5000 be enough on a tank this big? Was thinking something a little bigger. Well I am planning on adding my existing fish and letting them settle for a couple/few months before I add anything else. I'd love a Blue Throat Trigger or even a pair. Maybe it will take me 3 years to stock this tank? LOL

 

[Buddy]

Just thinking of some ideas for the plumbing and sump when I get some time to do it.
Here is a picture of my corner overflow, as you can see it only has two holes and I am guessing that it is set up for one drain and one return? I'd much rather have at least two drains or even three which is the same as my current set-up. I also dont want a return going back over the top of the tank.

I am thinking either..
Make the overflow bigger and drill more holes, or
Use the two holes for the drain and drill a hole just outside the overflow for a return pipe (should be easy enough to hide the pipe)
Use the two holes for the drain and return back over the top of the tank which I will do if I have to.

Now on to the sump. I have a side door on the cabinet which will allow an 18" wide tank to slide in, so I am thinking a 4x18"x? with three sections. Left to right refugium-return-skimmer. The main drain to the skimmer and the other drain to the refugium. On my nano I have a section for live rock rubble and sand but I think its just collecting gunk and not really helping much. Should I have a section for a DSB or LR rubble?

 

[Buddy]

Today I had a tinker with the cabinet and started to build the floor in to it. I just need to cut the board and it will be done. This is for the picture nazis :p Not much to see though!

 

[Sarg]

Maybe you could build another weir at the other end the same size with another syphon and a return?? It would give you better surface skimming thats for sure!

 

[Buddy]

I can't get that to work with this tank Sarg, there is bracing going over most of the tank especially on the other side. The weir is in a bit of a crappy spot because of the bracing so I think I will modify it.

In the pic you can see the left hand side of the weir is directly under the bracing which gives me bugger all room for the overflow comb. Also it looks to me like the top of the weir is too high. I think I will pull the wier out and change the dimensions slightly.

 

[Buddy]

Got the floor finished today.

 

[Buddy]

I pulled out the weir last night and it was surprisingly easy since I have never pulled apart siliconed glass before. I just slid a stanley knife over every edge but didn't go all the way to the glass, then I got some fishing line and ran it down in the join of the glass to separate the rest of the silicone and remove the weir. Then just slid the blade down the glass to remove the rest of the silicone.
After that I drilled another hole in the bottom of the tank for my return line. Drilling holes is so easy! I used my crappy cordless drill and a cheap ebay glass hole saw and plenty of water, it took about 10 mins to cut through the 12mm glass and that was taking it slowly. I practiced on some 6mm glass I had and I drilled two holes about 10mm from each other with no problems. I am going to have the return come up inside the weir and either go through or over the comb in to the tank. You can see all of the glass dust mixed with the water over the bottom of the tank. No cracks, just to lazy to clean it for now!

 

[Sarg]

Nice, the new Melbourne glass drilling man ;)

 

[chimaera]

Very nice job on the drilling!

 

[Buddy]

Nice, the new Melbourne glass drilling man ;)

If I can do it, anyone can do it :p

Here is a couple of things I have collected so far..

Tunze 7095 controller with two 6105's that have got 6205 shrouds and the vortech backup.
I had it all set up today with a bucket of water and vinegar and everything works well. Having a fiddle with all the different modes on the controller was pretty cool, there is so much it can do.

 

[chimaera]

Nice one. I might invest in a battery backup one day ...

 

[Buddy]

Nice one. I might invest in a battery backup one day ...

I'd hate to lose my livestock just because the tank had no power for a day! I am only going to run one pump off the backup to maximise how long it runs for. It's possible to piggy back another battery to the vortech backup to make it run longer.

Another tiny update, I got my return pump today. Its a Laguna 6000 which uses 80w to run. I wanted to see how loud it was so I tested it in a plastic tub and it's as close to silent as a pump is gonna get so i'm pretty happy about that. Its minimum water depth is 200mm so that makes it easy deciding the height of the water in my return section.

 

[Synodontis]

Exciting, It's all starting to come together now mate. Those holes look well done too, Sarg is right, when you need a hole drilled in Melbourne, call Buddy lol.

 

[Buddy]

Sure i'll drill your glass, the cracks are free of charge!
I like being able to slowly work on the tank and not spending a heap of money at once trying to get it running ASAP. It gives me a chance to do everything properly too. When I get my skimmer I will make the sump and after that I will probably finish the weir. I reckon I'll leave the lights until last.

 

[Buddy]

Got my skimmer, a Bubble Magus BM220CS with the Eheim 1260 pump.
Here is the standard skimmer next to drink wank pic

I got a standard 4x18x18 tank for my sump and chucked it on this old crappy stand I had to make it easier to work on

 

[chimaera]

What layout are you planning of the sump?

 

[Buddy]

What layout are you planning of the sump?

Not quite sure yet, ill put up a post for ideas. I am thinking three section Refugium - Return - Skimmer/Inlet
Ill have slower flow going to the refugium and draining in to the return.
Thinking of maybe splitting the refugium in half and using the other half for frags or sandbed or mantis section...