Rcpilot - 29g Frag Tank

[project5k]

6-9 months, alrighty, thats some good news, i was afraid it would take a lot longer than that...

after i get my lights upgraded, and reconfigure my flow some, then i'm definately gonna wanna talk again about an order.. but i think i should take care of thoes things first...

 

[Smitty]

Hey Rc...you've outdone yourself...the tank looks really good...congrats.

 

[Rcpilot]

Thanks Smitty. I kinda think it's ugly. It's just a bare bottom, scratched 29g tank.

When I look at it, all I see is $$$$$$$$$ signs. :mrgreen:

So my original budget of $50 is completely blown to hell. I added it up the other day:

The tank was free and so was the sump.
Plumbing was about $150
PVC glue and pipe $20
175w ballast and mogul $40
65w PC ballasts $12
65w PC actinic bulb $22 (already had one here - needed 2, so only bought one)
Tube of aquarium silicone $4
Glass baffles $16
175w MH bulb $20
Used Mag 7 $40

All together - thats about $350 - $400

 

[Smitty]

Lol...money aint ugly though.

 

[Bifferwine]

I hear ya. I spent a pretty penny on the ricordea fraglets that I bought for my 10 gallon contest tank. Fraglets, because the polyps are smaller than what I would consider a frag :( I probably have about 30 different polyps in there now, all different color morphs.

I've been force feeding them every 2 days, and many of them have started to split and grow extra mouths in a matter of weeks, which is phenomenal growth for ricordeas. In my old tank, and I had them for years and they never grew or spread.

I'm hoping that when the contest is over, I can move all my ricordea into a large tank and breed them for money. Try to make back a fraction of the cash that I have blown on this hobby over the years.

 

[parrotchute]

RC, looks great - no surprise there, tho!!

 

[Rcpilot]

Change of plans:

My wife has slowly killed off all but 1 fish in her freshwater. She doesn't understand the concept of regular water changes - I'm sure the trates in there were 100+

So I told her - Look, you done killed all of them 'cept one damn guppy. Put the poor sap in a 1g fish bowl and gimme that 20H tank so's I can use it for my refugium on the farm.

She said YES!!!!!

Sooooooo, I drained it, dumped all the rocks and ridiculous decorations - tossed the fish in a bowl. I'm gonna remove that baffle in my 20L sump and increase the return size from about 4g up to 7.5g. That should reduce the effects of evaporation. I need an auto top off - but just no time or $$ to do it right now.

I'm going to set the 20H sideways and drill a hole in the side. The stand is 24" wide, so the 20H (24x12) will sit right next to it on the ground. The 20H is taller than the current 20L sump. So with a hole drilled up high on the back wall - (now the side wall) - it will drain right over the top of the skimmer compartment and directly into the return section.


........... I'm off to drill another hole. :mrgreen:

 

[Ted]

UMMM huh? I cant picture what you are doing. The tanks gonna be on it side. Hows the water gonna stay in it? Or is the 20h going to be in the 20L? Interesting idea if it would fit.

 

[Rcpilot]

Ta - Daaa!! :bounce:

So the old HOB refugium comes off. The 20L sump has a baffle on the right side that will come out. The new refugium overflow pipe runs across the front of the 20L sump and dumps in on the right side - far away from the return pump.

 

[Rcpilot]

So how long does it take pvc glue to dry before I can fire the tank back up? My tank is tore apart and I'm gluing up pvc pipe so how long do I have to wait?

 

[Bifferwine]

Oh like 15 minutes is what I waited. It dries very quickly.

 

[dcantucson]

32 days Rc. :shock: :mrgreen:

 

[yote]

It actually cures in about a minute.But the fumes will linger for 15 or 20/
Thats a good looking set up Rc.

 

[Rcpilot]

Okay, got it up and running. I took 60lbs of dry, fine aragonite sand and dumped it in the 20H. The sand bed is right at 6" deep. IMO thats a nice size DSB. 24W x12L x6H

Took the 10lbs of live sand out of the old 10g frag tank (it's been pumping with a heater and little HOB power filter). Seeded the new refugium by dumping the sand into 3 piles. I read an article that said you should not spread out live sand - simply dump it into piles.

At first, the 3/4" pipe wasn't flowing out the new Tee and into the refugium. I bought the wrong kind of Tee (straight Tee instead of a branching Tee) and the water was simply rushing right past the 3/4" tap - taking the path of least resistance. I had to go out this morning and buy a 1.5" ball valve and put it downstream. I shut that a bit so the water would slow down and back up in the main overflow line. That got the water flowing out the 3/4" line and into the refugium. Works great now. :mrgreen:

 

[Rcpilot]

More pics:

 

[yote]

Looks like it ought to work great Rc.
BTW
I thought you was a sheetmetal man,not a plumber? :mrgreen:

 

[Rcpilot]

Looks like it ought to work great Rc.

Thanks buddy! :Cheers:

BTW
I thought you was a sheetmetal man,not a plumber? :mrgreen:

HEY!! HEY!! :fechten2: Them's fightin' words!!! I ain't no turd herder!! :pooh:

But I do know how to use a sawzall and some PVC glue. Thats all ya need to know about plumbing, right? Oh yeah - and don't chew your finger nails!! :shock:

 

[daugherty]

you have a great setup there rc

 

[Rcpilot]

Thanks. I got to thinking about it last night and I was like - HEY!!!! 29g farm with a 20L sump and a 20H fuge? Thats 40g worth of sump and refugium!! Sumptin don't add up here.................. Shouldn't I have about 100g worth of farm for a sump and fuge this big? :12:

I'm gonna take a look into my crystal ball - 6 months down the road - yup just as I suspected -- NO NITRATES!! :mrgreen:

 

[daugherty]

Thanks. I got to thinking about it last night and I was like - HEY!!!! 29g farm with a 20L sump and a 20H fuge? Thats 40g worth of sump and refugium!! Sumptin don't add up here.................. Shouldn't I have about 100g worth of farm for a sump and fuge this big? :12:

I'm gonna take a look into my crystal ball - 6 months down the road - yup just as I suspected -- NO NITRATES!! :mrgreen:

you are thinking on the right level there i sump is almost as big as my tank is but it makes the water very stable chemicaly and temp wise. when i get a bigger tank i am going to hook the 75 up in my basement and the larger tank up stairs to a large sump in the basement. i have thinking about one of those 150-200gal stock tanks for a sump