Check Out My Daughter's 58

[davelin315]

Not being one to ever say no to my daughter, I bought her a 58RR tank a month ago after setting out to buy a 20-30 gallon tank. After digging out old equipment and having friends send me things that I gave them a few years back when I broke down my 125 to move to this area from Chicago, I ended up installing a Little Giant 4MDQX on the system which basically created a whirlpool in the tank. So, I put the sump on hold (after going the cheapy route and buying a plastic file from Staples) and run the pump about every 3-5 days to keep the water from getting stagnant (I'm probably actually causing water chemistry problems, but it's only got a few jaw fish, a clean up crew, and a couple of banded shrimp to go along with some great rock I've got). Anyway, I had already planned on a surge device somewhat similar to what I have on my Eclipse 1 tanks, so I decided that it was time to actually build the surge so that I could use the pump (kind of backwards thinking, normally you buy the pump so that you can use the surge, not build a surge so that the pump can be used...).

 

I started with 1/4" acrylic which I have never before worked with and basically built a tank that sits on top of the 58. It is 35 1/4" long and sits on the lip of the tank. It is 6" deep and 12" high, but the bottom of it is about 3-4" above the bottom of the acrylic to accomodate plumbing. It's got two baffles in it and a tiny brace at the top, each made of 1/8" plexiglass. There are three 1" bulkheads drilled into the bottom of the surge, one on the far left and the other two on the far right with the middle staying empty for a refugium when I get something to actually put in it.

 

Anyway, after planning, cutting, cutting again, and cutting again, I used PVC cement to slop the pieces together and then used some acrylic weld to make the contraption water tight. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it doesn't leak and I'm pretty sure if I ever build something again I've got the hang of doing a quality job and understand a lot more about the strength of acrylic.

 

Here are some pictures of the set up, with the surge (Carlson) on the left in approximately a 2 gallon chamber, and the feed and overflow (Durso standpipe) on the right. It hasn't had a test on the tank yet as I need to make some water to fill it up, but it was tested on the kitchen sink and seemed to work just fine. I'll post pictures of it when it is actually running to show how it works.

 

For now, here's pictures of it after initial testing was completed and assembly was done.

 

Sitting on the kitchen floor after testing was done in the kitchen sink.

 

It fits! The first time I cut the pieces I realized I cut them 1/4" too long and trimmed them without re-testing. Thank goodness it's nice and snug!

 

Another shot of it on top. You can see the evidence that the room belongs to a little girl. Not that I don't like rainbows and appreciate how appropriate one is above a fish tank with the lighting and all, but not my first choice of decorations.

 

Here's where the water comes in and also where it overflows back into the tank via the Durso standpipe. On the test run, it was whisper quiet. We'll see how it does on the tank itself.

 

Here's the left side where the surge is. The tube draped across is not part of the system, it's the hose from my RO/DI unit as I top off the water and add some to fill up the surge. I'll have to balance out the salinity tomorrow when it's filled.

 

This is the center chamber. The first baffle (going from right to left) which separates the plumbing from this area is mounted slightly above the bottom of the chamber. This allows the water to flow underneath instead of over, allowing better flow through for whatever I put in the refugium area. On the left side, the baffle is glued to the bottom as well, but since it's the same size as the other one, it's also a bit lower since it's touching. The water flows over this into the surge chamber. This keeps the refugium filled as well as limits the amount of water that is introduced at one time into the tank to prevent overflowing problems. The chamber only takes about 1-2 seconds to empty out when it is surging, so the rapid introduction of a couple of gallons of water could easily result in a puddle problem...

 

By the way, the most recent microscope photos in the Education Forum in the Floris Reef Tank thread are pulled from this tank. That includes the hydroid, the banded coral shrimp frye, and the cyanobacteria.

[michaelg]

wow- any detailed plans on making it work? Looks like a basic carlson design, but given the nice way it fits on the tank. Ever consider making these as a side business?

[davelin315]

Since it's the first one, no, have never thought about it. But, if it works, I'd be more than happy to make some for other people. It's not as complicated as I thought it would be. I've got some detailed "chicken scratch" plans, but other than that, most of it went on in my head.

[davelin315]

If you're in the members section, I posted in the Education Forum a couple of pictures of cyano magnified 200x (it was a tiny bit floating around on top of this tank). Well, thanks to Keith Melvill from over on Reef Central I now have video of how it moves around. He hosted the cyano video clip which can be found here: Creepy Moving Cyano - Magnified 200x. No wonder it can take a tank over so quickly!

[davelin315]

Bumped for Steveoutlaw.

[davelin315]

Sad day, I broke down this tank. Over the past few days I removed the rock and the inhabitants and then tonight I drained the water out and removed all of the sand. The tank is now in my driveway waiting to be cleaned up (not sure yet what I'll do with it, possibly plumb it into the 300 now that I'm getting closer to setting it up, put it into storage, sell it, who knows...) and the only remaining hint of a tank in the room, other than the stand which I'm going to bring down tomorrow, is a bunch of salt creep that fell onto the floor, some damage to the paint behind the tank, and a distinctly gross fish smell in the upstairs! The guts of the system are all in the basement, with the sand being kept healthy in a 50 gallon rubbermaid trough with only a couple of inches of water running through the sump for my 300 and the rock joining the rest of the rock that's cooking and waiting for the big tank to be ready.

 

Out of curiosity, though, anyone ever use something like this for a QT tank? It would seem to be too fancy for that, given the fact that it's got an overflow. I know that it won't work for a frag tank since it's so deep, so we'll just have to see what I end up using it for. I do know, though, that I probably won't be using the surge on it anymore unless I set it up again as a display tank hooked into the other one.

[lanman]

Sad day, I broke down this tank. Over the past few days I removed the rock and the inhabitants and then tonight I drained the water out and removed all of the sand. The tank is now in my driveway waiting to be cleaned up (not sure yet what I'll do with it, possibly plumb it into the 300 now that I'm getting closer to setting it up, put it into storage, sell it, who knows...) and the only remaining hint of a tank in the room, other than the stand which I'm going to bring down tomorrow, is a bunch of salt creep that fell onto the floor, some damage to the paint behind the tank, and a distinctly gross fish smell in the upstairs! The guts of the system are all in the basement, with the sand being kept healthy in a 50 gallon rubbermaid trough with only a couple of inches of water running through the sump for my 300 and the rock joining the rest of the rock that's cooking and waiting for the big tank to be ready.

 

Out of curiosity, though, anyone ever use something like this for a QT tank? It would seem to be too fancy for that, given the fact that it's got an overflow. I know that it won't work for a frag tank since it's so deep, so we'll just have to see what I end up using it for. I do know, though, that I probably won't be using the surge on it anymore unless I set it up again as a display tank hooked into the other one.

Dave - did that surge device keep on working, and stay together all through the couple of years you had it set up? Did it do a good job? Seems simple enough - I'm guessing it empties into the tank using a siphon action. Did it cause a burst of air bubbles at the same time?

 

I don't think a 58 would be a bad choice for a frag tank. Now a 45 is DEEP; a 58 is just deep. I have short arms, and I can reach to the bottom of my 58. When I had the 45 set up, I almost had to take a swim to get anything off the bottom.

 

bob

[jason the filter freak]

What about setting up a stratified shelving system using egg crate in that tank?

[jamesbuf]

Where did you find the designs for this? I've never come across it in my readings on here or RC. I assume it fills all the way up then empties out all at once? Pretty interesting.

[davelin315]

It's my own design. Only the one chamber fills up and empties. The center chamber is for a refugium and macro algae and the other chamber is a hospital tank/acclimation area for new guys. It worked very well with the exception of the one time I had a seam split open (my own fault because I didn't brace it - first foray into acrylic solvents). It was easily fixed, though, and it worked just fine. It did shoot some bubbles into the tank, but not microbubbles and it was not much different from a wave crashing anyway, which is what it was supposed to do.

[lanman]

It's my own design. Only the one chamber fills up and empties. The center chamber is for a refugium and macro algae and the other chamber is a hospital tank/acclimation area for new guys. It worked very well with the exception of the one time I had a seam split open (my own fault because I didn't brace it - first foray into acrylic solvents). It was easily fixed, though, and it worked just fine. It did shoot some bubbles into the tank, but not microbubbles and it was not much different from a wave crashing anyway, which is what it was supposed to do.

 

Cool - definitely an idea; width and depth of box would determine how big the 'wave' was going to be, too. Size of pump filling the chamber would determine frequency of wave, etc. Very simple, straight-forward design. I like it.

 

bob

[dschflier]

Dave do you still use a surge device. I am looking at different ones people have made and am considering adding a small one to my main tank if I can fit it. Reviving an old thread

[lanman]

Was there ever a video posted??

 

bob

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I was expecting a Chevy

[davelin315]

I had a video of it and someone hosted it for me, but I'm fairly certain that I don't know where it is any longer. I sold the tank and surge device to another member here a couple of years ago, don't remember who, though.

 

The surge worked really well and although I don't use one on my tank today, I have considered making one on more than one occasion. I think these are great for tanks. I have also considered putting them onto my frag trays instead of using what I use now which is constant flow with some alternating current from a SCWD.