My 5.5 gal mantis nano/pico

[lanman]

Perhaps my internet connection is going bad again - but I can't get the pictures downloaded... Will try again later!

 

Sounds like a good project, though.

 

bob

[jason the filter freak]

Perhaps my internet connection is going bad again - but I can't get the pictures downloaded... Will try again later!

 

Sounds like a good project, though.

 

bob

 

Nothings wrong on this end. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey well time for some more updates. It's starting to look like a tank

 

I didn't have any sort of electric saw availble to me on hand so all cutting of wood was done by hand with a backsaw.

 

Here's my stand and canopy progress for the day. Googles and mask came in handy let me tell you.

 

 

Both the stand and canopy have rescessed cuts in them courtsey of paticence and a dremel tool

 

 

 

 

To make it look clean I counter drilled all the holes, I'll use wood filler over the screws later

 

 

I had an assistant today too

 

 

She didn't really do much except take pics

 

My solution for saw dust

 

 

Some of the screws were a bit too long, but I wasn't about to wait like a normal human being and go to Home Depot tomorrow and wait on finishing my project... out came the cutting disk.

 

 

 

Dremeling for the rescessed bottom

 

 

 

These were to be the side braces for the bottom, the front and back were dremeled directly out of the board.

 

 

Cutting away sharp screw points

And Viola! She's almost done, here's a preview

 

Ok I have to be up at 6 am for work so off to bed I go. Let me know what you guys think so far.

[jamesbuf]

Job well done.

 

After you're done work today, use some of that money to get a hairycut you hippie!!

[trble81]

Here's a dumb question, did you toss a level on top of that thing to see if it's level? I only ask because the second to last picture you have up there makes it look not level (it could just be the angle of the picture, though).

 

Also, I'd like to suggest you wear a cup while working on this project because there was a pic of you sitting on the chair with the drill in your lap and the bit pointing at your "business".

[bigJPDC]

Dude you rock, this thread should be pinned. You better finish up soon so you can get your shirt washed.

[Oprah Wrangler]

I am following along and you rock

[bigJPDC]

where are the updates?

[vaironman]

where are the updates?

I am also a fan on this thread. Jason, you rock! Very nice project!

[jason the filter freak]

I ran out of momenteum, encouragement, and funds all about the same time. I'm going to finish it though. I swear! How many watts does any one think I need to do softies, will 24 watts be sufficent, or shoudl I go with 48 or 72?

[davelin315]

In a 5 gallon tank I think you'll be fine with minimal lighting and softies. I used dual 9 watt fixtures on an eclipse 6 gallon tank (or is it 5...) and it was plenty of lighting for keeping simple softies. Of course, with more lighting comes more variety, but I thought this was primarily a mantis tank?

 

Oh, and way back when I mentioned the microbubbles getting sucked into the pump, have you run this at all with saltwater? Remember, the denser water will form smaller bubbles that may creep into your system. I think you could easily fix this (if it does actually become a problem) by messing with the pump orientation or the baffles.

 

Get some funds, boy! Time to post some more pictures!

[jason the filter freak]

Ready? Here goes.... so I was thinking having a turn over rate of 60 times an hour, or once perminute... not enough for a 5.5 gallon. So i went out pump shopping today, and found this beauty... I just have to figure out how to hook it up.

 

Anyone have a thought on how to make this work?

How does 655 times perhour sound for turn over?

 

Ok so here's the slow but ongoing progress

 

 

 

 

Here's the underside of the top, with a spring loaded magnetic catch release. No need for a handle to open the top

 

 

I recessed the hinges into the top

 

Here's a top down view

 

Going to glue the joints for extra strenght

 

Ok thats all for now

[jason the filter freak]

Huh.... well some how I thought there'd be a reaction to the update... also I've started thinking the last thing I need around the house, is another saltwater tank. So dending on interest this will be up for sale/auction upon completion.

[davelin315]

Patience, if you build it, the replies will come...

 

My thoughts on the hood are that the magnetic spring catch will rust and that the piece of board you have on the top will warp. I'm not certain of this, but the magnetic door latches on my 58 stand showed some minimal signs of rust because I had a sump in the stand that was not covered and yours is so far completely closed with lights on the way.

 

The wood itself, it's so thin and absorbent (looks to be the same stuff that they put into the tops of boxes to cover them and keep them from getting piereced - basically a single layer of plywood) that it will soak up that moisture and that'll cause it to bend.

 

One other thing, you might really improve the look and feel of the tank (especially since you counter sunk the screws) by running a router over the edges of the tank and rounding them or putting some sort of pattern on there. That would help to hide your seams a bit as well.

 

Oh, and when are you changing your name to Jason the Flow Freak?

[jason the filter freak]

i was going to waterproof the wood all of it on the underside of the hood, as well as add a spine to the top. Also ... if I had a router. I'd be all over it... alas I don't. Also I'm going to add something later on that will take care of anything inside the hood from rusting... but thats a surprise . The flow freak... has a nice ring to it.

 

 

Patience, if you build it, the replies will come...

 

My thoughts on the hood are that the magnetic spring catch will rust and that the piece of board you have on the top will warp. I'm not certain of this, but the magnetic door latches on my 58 stand showed some minimal signs of rust because I had a sump in the stand that was not covered and yours is so far completely closed with lights on the way.

 

The wood itself, it's so thin and absorbent (looks to be the same stuff that they put into the tops of boxes to cover them and keep them from getting piereced - basically a single layer of plywood) that it will soak up that moisture and that'll cause it to bend.

 

One other thing, you might really improve the look and feel of the tank (especially since you counter sunk the screws) by running a router over the edges of the tank and rounding them or putting some sort of pattern on there. That would help to hide your seams a bit as well.

 

Oh, and when are you changing your name to Jason the Flow Freak?

[treesprite]

Jason,

what did you use to heat the acrylic so that you could curve it?

Edited June 11, 2007 by treesprite

[jason the filter freak]

Jason,

what did you use to heat the acrylic so that you could curve it?

 

A heat gun, kinda like a hair dryer from H-E-double hocky sticks. We used it previously to melt the adheasive to remove flooring.

[bigJPDC]

When is laundry day?

[jason the filter freak]

After much debating, I've decide I'm going to veneer the project rather than dealing with stain and wood filler and such, where's a good place to get the stuff and whats the best way to make it bond to pine?

[bigJPDC]

I think it's fine just the way it is. Just spray paint Jason Lives on it and add three coats of shellac.

 

Also, last night I finished my nano hood with integrated ATO, not sure if you have room to add ATO to the project scope.

[treesprite]

When is laundry day?

 

 

I was wondering that myself

[jason the filter freak]

I think it's fine just the way it is. Just spray paint Jason Lives on it and add three coats of shellac.

 

Also, last night I finished my nano hood with integrated ATO, not sure if you have room to add ATO to the project scope.

 

I was considering something like this, the ato would olny be about 10 oz. How did you do it? YOu have pics?

[bigJPDC]

No pics yet. Basically, I clamped the float switch assembly to the hood crossbar in one corner, and routed the ATO supply line in through the other back corner, using 1/4" quick connects. As the supply line sits above the water line, to prevent siphoning, you only really notice the float switch, in the snail guard. Behind the scenes you can use any type or size of reservoir for the RO\DI water. It took me two trips to Radio Shack to find the right relay, because Radio Shack sucks.

[toastiireefs]

cool project im impressed

[jason the filter freak]

Thanks sara, hopefully I'll be finishing this up completely in the next couple of weeks

[jason the filter freak]

I've been getting alot of reaction to having 300-ish GPH of flow through on this tank. Any input to perhaps switching 2 or maybe 3 of my outputs to the hydor rotating deflectors. I might get closer to about 100 ish GPH flow though but a lot more diverse flow. Any thoughts here?