68G cube becomes a 95G Reef :)

GreenSpottedPuffer · #1 12-02-2008, 05:12 AM

Nice Leopard!

Its a Gargoyle. The cats actually doesn't seem to want to eat it. He had a chance once and doesn't. In that last pic he is meowing and the gecko talks back with some very strange noises.

Im not kidding...they communicate. I thought it was just a coincidence at first but then I realized when the cat (only the little one though) lays by his terrarium, the gecko will come out and see him. Sometimes making weird noises.

So weird.

Keri · #2 12-02-2008, 05:16 AM

Very neat... my husband had a bunch of cresteds before I met him....till the cat got into them

I keep the reptiles downstairs where the cats can't go because Mr Pickles (Drew's cat) is just a little bit evil.

(My cat, of course, is perfect lol)

GreenSpottedPuffer · #3 12-02-2008, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keri

Very neat... my husband had a bunch of cresteds before I met him....till the cat got into them

I keep the reptiles downstairs where the cats can't go because Mr Pickles (Drew's cat) is just a little bit evil.

(My cat, of course, is perfect lol)

Oh no...I would hate to see what my cats would do to him if I did leave them alone together for a while

The little grey and white cat is mine and the big one is my fiances. I am not even going to try to pretend my cat is perfect. He is a little terror. My fiances cat is really close to prefect I think though. She says its because she raised him

GreenSpottedPuffer · #4 12-02-2008, 05:30 AM

So this is my small version of the overflow.

Nothing fancy but since its right up near the top trim of the tank, you barely notice it. So much nicer IMO than having a huger overflow box. I wouldn't do this in a bigger tank or with a large return pump though. This along with a gate valve regulated drain would be ideal. I didn't have a second hole drilled though for an emergency drain so I couldn't go with the gate valve safely.

Hopefully it will work out like this though!

GreenSpottedPuffer · #5 12-02-2008, 05:31 AM

Actually this is a good picture. I put the return Loc Line Plumbing beside it for size reference.

lastlight · #6 12-02-2008, 05:32 AM

Never seen an overflow done like that! Not too invasive and looks cool too. Guess it can't be married with a Herbie really...that method brought me TOTAL silence when I finally got my gate valve perfect.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 12-02-2008, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

Never seen an overflow done like that! Not too invasive and looks cool too. Guess it can't be married with a Herbie really...that method brought me TOTAL silence when I finally got my gate valve perfect.

Yes it can. You need a second hole though that is just a bare pipe extending up just above where the PVC overflow skims water. So it will only kick in if the water rises up too high in the display. Just like in a normal overflow box except this emergency drain is separate from the main overflow.

Does that make sense?

Basically the emergency drain can be anywhere as long as it leads back to the sump and is above the water level of the main drain.

It has been done by a guy on RC on a 180G tank (I think). He says its dead silent and he has a coast to coast overflow. Not really seen in the tank.

I wish I had the second hole! That is my favorite way to plumb a tank by far. It really is dead silent.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #8 12-02-2008, 05:58 AM

The lights.

I just made a simple box to retrofit lights I already had. Dual 400 watt Metal Halide and 2 - 24 watt Actinic T5's.

Overkill for a shallow tank but so far so good. I love them and my corals really seem to be happier than ever. I am running the 14K bulbs 8 hours a day and Pure Actinics 12.

Originally I hung the fixture from the ceiling but I felt uneasy because it is a bit heavy and the ceiling is concrete. Getting a good anchor in it was hard. Oh and ceilings are 14' tall in my place so the cables were really long and just didn't look right.

I rigged up a way to use the fixture I built though in a unique way. I will post pics soon of how I did it. I absolutely did not want a canopy this time.

Anyone have any ideas for reflectors to replace those ones? It would need to be something that has the same footprint to fit where those ones are. They are not great and I want to chnage them eventually.

lastlight · #9 12-02-2008, 06:13 AM

Yeah I was referring to your lack of a second hole sorry should have mentioned that. 14 foot ceilings does make it tough. can you mount the canopy to the wall so it cantilevers out over the tank? I was going to do this but the wife vetoed and made me go the fixture route...

GreenSpottedPuffer · #10 12-02-2008, 05:19 AM

Plumbing the tank...has been a huge pain!

I wish I had decided right away to go with a sump. Plumbing it full of water has been terrible.

I did not want to take up space with an overflow box, nor drain the tank, so I got an idea from someone on RC to use a PVC overflow. In my case ABS since I like using ABS.

This is the idea. The people who have tried it absolutely seem to love it. I am not going to go coast to coast like this (only about a foot) but same idea.

I have mine done but not running yet. The problem I am trying to solve is noise. The guys who used this method have found ways to keep the thing silent but most of their idea will not work for me for various reasons.

So far with mine, I have the PVC overflow, bulkhead, "T" (drain and a way for air to escape), then down to a few 90's and to the sump. What I am trying to figure out is how to have the water enter the sump.

I will take pics since its hard to follow along with just words but I think I may have another "T" on the end of the drain plumbing right at the water surface to release any air from the water before it hits the sump.

I know people do this...does anyone have any pics? How quiet is this?