AndyL's 5.5
 

Ok,

Sorry, no pictures of the tank today; got a few in the basement, but I'm just not going to get one cleaned up and ready to go tonight (busy arguing election results with the wife :mrgreen:) So this will really be a last minute thing :lol:

Here's where I'm starting - Grabbed a nasty broken AGA 5.5 yesterday, calipered the glass 2mm / 3/32"... Not going to survive what I intend- so I'll follow proper procedure, get ya a picture of a stock AGA 5.5g (although I can't fit my puppies into it). Going to rebuild tank out of 1/4" - adding 3" in length (for herbie overflow - display length will actually loose a bit down to 14 3/16").

Re-incarnation of tank:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...tsurgedims.jpg

Overall system (with stand):
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...rgecabinet.jpg

So why the huge stand you may ask?

Lots to squeeze in there... Surge Device (Likely carlson - borneman could be swapped in), Sump, Upside down DSB, Multitasking this - will also be acting as calcium reactor, been talking with a bio geek friend, CO2 will improve denitrification in DSB; CO2 + Aragonite = Calcium reactor... CO2 of course blows the budget - So I'm going to pull an old planted tank trick out of my tookus (google "DIY CO2") Question becomes, do I have to deduct the cost of the coke bottle (Full) or Empty (deposit - could of course argue it'll be recycled later thus no net cost :lol:) I'm just praying Food & additives covers me on sugar + yeast :biggrin: Stand also needs to fit lights (yet to be determined, I hear aquagiant closed shop - now I'm scrambling) May end up going 4x15w T8 for cost savings, but I'm going to build to allow for T5HO upgrade after... Oi vey, how the heck am I gonna run this with a single pump?

I'll bombard a little more tomorow...

Andy

Interesting... Curious to see how you plan to stay in your budget. lol

Wow sounds like the most complicated 5.5 I've every seen :razz:

Must be thinking ahead for upgrades after the contest.:wink:

Extensive use of Plumbing supplies + freebies... :) You had to know I had motive in mind when I was asking if EVERYTHING in the plumbing aisle @ Rona/HomeDespots was fair game :D

UDSB/CR will be made out of some really big PVC pipe, Media - well Aragonite Sand is a freebie. Sump & Surge tanks will be rubbermaid brand (3.97 and 2.98 respectively), rest is all plumbing parts (including bourneman surge - Toilet flush valves are plumbing parts). CO2 Generator - like I said, Coke bottle (1.19 worst case + air line + plumbing fittings) I await a ruling on sugar and yeast (In theory covered, if I needed I suppose I could dish out for Zeovit adatives which are little more than that)

About the worst will be the tank rebuild costs + a ~400gph @ 4' head pump; and lighting... Savings here is in having 1 pump drive everything (out of sump into UDSB - out of udsb into surge (dump into surge + dump into tank should remove most of the CO2; if not I have another one of those crazy pvc (freebie!) fixes in mind) Surge @ ~20 second intervals should cover flow adequately; especially given residual waves trapped in tank by bubbletrap.

$'s are going to be a bit tight for livestock, no fancy acans, or rare SPS... But I've got some idears; and I can't wait to see how some of the "plainer" (read cheap like borscht) sps will grow under true reef crest surge conditions...

:lol: I'll send you some links to some 2.5's that'll blow your mind :lol:

Ok, so here's the obligatory empty shot... Sorry, I tried to get pepper into the tank... But we realized she couldn't even wear it as a hat :lol: Thus I bribed her with a milkbone to pose...

Entry fee paypal'd to JD at some ungodly hour of the morning...

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...t/DSCF6840.jpg

Spent first $ on the project today... On a nice new 5.5g AGA to save me cleaning an old one up; Then I went down to Elite, begged pleaded and groveled with Colby - He'll be "rebuilding" the AGA in 1/4" glass (see first picture) and adding a eurobrace (I spent the night with nightmares about slosh - 2.5g test tank didn't reassure me - thus the last minute addition), we agreed to 60$, ETA 10 days. :shocked!:

So 190$ left... Luckily, this is where I budgeted to be at this point...

id like to see some of these!:mrgreen:

I'll see what I can do :) Most are bookmared on the old server; that I can't seem to break into for the life of me (forgot the damn password).

Same here :biggrin: