reefwars 2012 nano contest entry

[Enigma]

I'm sure everything will be documented most excellently.

But, "smack talk" is still encouraged . . . yes?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Enigma

But, "smack talk" is still encouraged . . . yes?

oh you better believe it lol , thats why i havnt really posted anything im waiting for some good ideas to steal

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by reefwars

oh you better believe it lol , thats why i havnt really posted anything im waiting for some good ideas to steal

That's why I am waiting until the deadline to post anything

[Nano]

Originally Posted by The Grizz

That's why I am waiting until the deadline to post anything

What are you using for a tank? any chance its that one I gave you? It needs some glory :P

[reefwars]

this is the tank i am using it was origionally built as a freshwater resevoir for my ato but i am neverous of ato's so its never been set up , just collected dust untill now.


the tank is 6.5g and the dimensions are 8.5 " long x 8.5" wide x 20" high


i had filled the tank before drilling to even make sure it still held water and im glad to say it does


heres a pic of the fill:






i then decided to drill the tank in the back right corner for a 3/4" bulkhead










the tank sits dry now waiting for the plumbing to be assembled to the sump, all the plumbing will be clear vinyl tubing , and a small bit of pvc.






next post: stand choice

[reefwars]

nexxt i had to choose a stand and lucky me i have this lamp that is juusssssssst shy of the tanks dimensions, the stand is a square lamp almost the exact same size as the tank . it has a shade and is built out of wood but needed to be painted so i painted it black.


basically this is the lamp i had taken off the shade so i can paint it.




the shade has an asia type design on it and is white it slips down into the wooden frame.







and yes the light does actually work:










next i painted the stand black and added some egg crate which is what the tank will sit on, the egg crate still needs to be painted black before the saltwater fill and plumbing happens:


not the best pic in the world but trust me 100% improvement lol







now with the stand painted and the tank drilled i got to making the pedastel for inside the tank



next postedestal build

[reefwars]

so with a tank so tall i didnt really want to be dealing with the hassels of liverock so i decided to do a pedestal tank basically a tank inside a tank seperate from all the corals.



here is what i came up with:


first the empty tanks, i decided to just use the one pedestal and not the small one added on top for now:P




my tall diy pestal made from scrap glass at my house:








the idea is to center this tank filled with rock inside the display tank


next came to filling this with rock, i had to use my grinder and diamond wheel to cut the rock in shapes i wanted and so everything fit together....no chance of toppling and plus this "pillar" is going to be removable at any time for cleaning etc.


i chose 3 pieces of rock from my liverock tank:






these piece were akward and weirdly shaped.......so i played god and made them how i wanted them:










i then stacked them inside the "pillar" and siliconed them into place so they could not fall back or out of place, the silicone is in places you cannot see from the front of the tank:





















now with the insides of the tank done for rock i got to thinking how im going to feed some of these corals so i got to building a diy feeder using a media reactor and a modified majijet.



next post: diy auto feeder

[Boxboy]

Wow, Thats super cool looking I wanna see livestock in there..

[reefwars]

although i am capable of numerous daily feedings by hand i decided to do an diy autofeeder for the corals. the diy feeder is a large media reactor with the guts hauled out and a maxi jet trimmed down to fit inside the chamber , the maxijet feeds the tank from the chamber and is controlled via a valve for a consistant drip.


i have been able to set the drip as low as 1 drip every 7sec , i am entertaing the idea now to " t " off the maxi jet to keep the food stirred up or figure out something else.


the reactor will be drained daily and rinsed as part of my maintanance.



here she is:P


reactor still in working condition....such a shame lol













next i hauled out the guts and media items










now of course when i first went to fit a maxi jet inside the chamber this was the result:






so i hauled out the cutter:






and trimmed some weight off it so it fit snug and the input didnt get restricted once inside.

fits like a glove





ok so then had to plumb the maxi jet to the output of the reactor

















ran the cord out the output of the reactor






the reactir will drip food into a powerhead pointed down from the top of the tank.so far its doing well in its trial runs , we will see once livestock gets added how well it feeds then:P

[reefwars]

the tank has a back made from privacy glass to give a hazzy looking back ground, its see through but makes looking through seem like its in deepwater , so after hearing about the shadow box's i decided to put something behind the tank for an odd look.

i have a fake tree it staands just slighty taller then the nps tank , and all the branches are movable and bendable , and so this tree will be the background of the tank and i will purchase some smaller plants or shrubs for around the tank bottom .......kinda like a rainforest background:P


heres some pics , it hides the reactor feeder very well and any plumbing going back into the tank, plus it hides the sump and any other ugly things we try to hide up with pretty stands lol












with a background idea in tow , a tank drilled and ready to go , some helpfull gadgets and doodads made i decided......what am i gonna do for a sump??



next post sump build