R_P's 120 build!

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
The closet thing fish related he's getting from Santa is carbon.
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Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
Been reading up on bio-pellets, which is the filtration I'm going to use (and a skimmer of course), and it seems lower flow is better. It doesn't spur cyano or cause rtn. By what I'm reading, you don't need to tumble at all. Brahs, is this for real?

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Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
Ok, not doing pellets. I'm still up in the air about filtration though. I want a sump with a little fuge, but I'm not sure how to divide a 10g tank appropriately. I saw the build thread from calvin###, from scmas, algae scrubber and was intrigued. But with such a small space, I'd find it difficult to work on.

Plans changed and instead I'm doing a cube, actually won it at the swap. Thanks Scott. I realize I need to drill it, but I'm debating on the location. I could do the bottom or one of the sides. I've have terrible luck with DIY overflows, so I'd like to avoid that. I was actually thinking about a center overflow, kinda like ryan, only circular.

I'm debating doing a bb tank.

Lights-I plan on keeping a nem and Zs & Ps. I was actually thinking about getting a dimmable fixture from reefkoi or one of these http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/36--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html. I love DIY, and would like to imitate some EcoTech lights.

Fish-I'm kinda up in the air with this. A pair of bangaiis would be nice, so would a wrasse or two. With my luck with wrasse though, it's debatable. Also, I don't plan on putting a lid on here.

Controller-I don't think I'm doing a tank without one anymore. This time I'm thinking ReefAngel though. Anyone have one, have experience with one? I really like the fact that's it's basically an arduino.

Have I left anything out? Do you see a flaw in my thinking?
 

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
Did my first drawing in SketchUp, my sump mock up. This is going to be a 10g divided up into chambers, maybe. I'm thinking of a little fug, see drawing, with a DSB and cheato or some other macro. Skimmer will be a HOB, so I'm not really worried about that footprint.



 

dvenson

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
one issue you may have with that small of a sump is keeping the water level high enough in the return chamber. i would suggest using an ATO.
 

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
I was thinking of doing kalk in the topoff as well. Some flaws with my water source. I read up on DI only water and it only removes the minerals, leaving behind the phosphate, nitrate, silicates. would it be fair to assume a carbon prefilter would absorb what the DI won't?
 

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
My first attempt at plumbing! Water comes in via the split drain line, there will be a ball valve controlling the flow through the refugium. For the time being, there will be LR in the first and chamber before the baffles. The fug will be the side chamber. There will be eggcrate between the first and second baffle to hold carbon/purigen/whatever else. The return chamber worries me a bit since it will be small, the ATO float switch will be in there, but that still leaves a small chance for error. I was planning on a gravity fed ATO with some kalk in it. Anyone know how I will be able to cut the teeth in the glass? Dremel? Scissors? Do I need to cut the teeth separate and silicone them in place? If so, I'm sure I can come up with a better plan.




 

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
Tank is up and running, still deciding rockwork. The issue I'm having is space. This is not like running a 120 with loads of space. The current dilemma is my ato. I ran out of space in the stand. I have a ledge behind the tank, not very big though. It's a window ledge. I don't have space beside the stand. My evap is roughly 1 gal/day. Another issue is I'm leaving for 5 days tomorrow. The gf is forgetful and don't think she'll top off very much. Can I build something to put somewhere longterm? My bigger concern is for the short term though.
 

projectx

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
If you do the one where you split the lamp cord and put in a float switch, youll need to put a relay in as well. I dont know how many float switches i fused together as the start up draw was greater than they could handle.
 
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