Does your wife sew Chad?

Hey Chad, do you plan on leaving up the leopard print blankie? I like it. You could call it the "Sexy Tank." me-owwwwww.

oh hey! this is my 69th post. huh, go figure.

Haha! Well that kind of worked into a bit of a valentines theme, but as I have mentioned, the jungle cat blanket is irrelevant - after all the money I've spent on the system so far... I'm sleeping on the couch anyways...

I would actually like to get black sheet that reaches ceiling to floor = like what they use in photo studios... just until I develop my basement.


No Ryan, Heather does not sew. Why, did you see I had the material and want something made up? That's funny 'cause you are the person that came to mind when I put it up.... whats that mean???



On a more serious note... does anyone know where I can find 45 degree elbows in 1" PVC? Rona used to have the best supply but not it seems like they have as few pieces as home depot. Maybe there isn't much of a demand anymore.

- Chad

I picked up some 1" 45's from the Home Depot at Glenmore last month.

Thanks Kari. I tried HD Shawnessey, but will head up there today.

- Chad

I thought for sure she must sew. Or is it you that is a master of the Singer?
Why else would you buy your underwear by the roll. :razz: :razz:

LOL :razz:

Well, I have almost everything I need except for a 1" union and maybe a little extra pvc pipe.
During the warm weather I put another coat of paint on the stand. I also drilled holes in the wooden tops and painted them with a marine resistant paint to try and preserve them.


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070225008.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070225010.jpg


Once I have all the plumbing pieces I am going to sand them down and paint them with krylon fusion.
There is this little voice of reason in my head and is telling me that I shouldn't have chosen black and the color of my stand... I am usually pretty anal about keeping things clean - but I've never had to account for every single drop of spilled water before.


- Chad

Gotta comment for a second...

Watch that plumbing for your closed loop - hard plumbing like that without any flex/vibration isolation in the plumbing - can lead to tank breakage. I snapped 2 tanks with plumbing that wasn't dissimilar to that. (and the harmonic vibrations don't help with keeping noise down)

Andy

Andy are you talking about the photos? The plumbing you see in the first pic is one of my return pipes and they will just hang over the top of the tank.

I do realize that I need to brace the pipe coming from the closed loop so that all that weight isn't sitting on the bulkhead. Because the glass is 1/2" thick, I'm not going to break the tank unless I really reefed on it (fortunately I have gotten in the habit of overbuilding tanks whenever there are bulkheads involved)... but a crack in that bulkhead would be equally catastrophic and would drain the tank down 2/3 of the way.
Thanks,

- Chad

That's exactly what I'm talking about... Even with 1/2" glass I'd be concerned - with such a short length of plumbing 'feeding' the pump - there's going to be a significant transfer of vibes/resonance from the pump to the bulkhead (thus to the glass). Temporarily plumb it in - fill the tank and run it - put your hand on the pane that feeds, and on the pump... You'll feel the vibration through both.

When you've got a couple feet (like often seen on big tanks) between the bulkhead and pump - that few feet of pvc acts as a vibration isolator; but in your setup there's nothing really there to isolate - you've got less than 6" which isn't enough 'free space' to have the same effect... I did the same as you have on my 7g bf even with careful plumbing of the closed loop - the vibration of the mag 3 alone was enough to snap the back glass corner to corner.

A small hunk of flex between the 90 and the union or between the union and the pump would go a long way.

Just my .02, not trying to criticize, just pointing out something I've learned in the past.

Western Pump is a good place to get the spa flex tubing. I second Andy's comments, always use short lengths of spa flex or even just vinyl tubing between bulkhead and pump, even if the vibrations aren't enough to crack glass, the flex pipes will absorb the vibrations and lessen that "hum" sound you'll get. :)

Oh I see, I thought you were talking about closed loop plumbing. What you are looking at in the photo is the sump and sump return pump. Luckily the closed loop and sump return plumbing to the display tank is each about 4' in length, plastic, and full of fluid (great qualities if you want to isolate vibes!). Unfortunately though I am cramped for space with the sump return pump. As you can see in the photo, the pump is on the very edge, almost hanging off of the stand - and that is after I cut down each of the PVC fittings by half with a hacksaw! There is no room for any tubing from the elbow to the pump (unless I took out the quick release union... I guess I could). Even if I put flex tubing from the bulkhead to the elbow there is so little free space that direction that the flex tubing would have to be so short there wouldn't be enough there to 'flex', the fittings would almost be touching each other.

Great ideas guys, and if there was another way of doing it, I would have. On past tanks I have even used a hosebarb on the sump bulkhead, and hosebarb on the pump, and 6" of hose between the two. It might be a little tough to visualize from the photo, but I don't have any extra room.
On the bright side, there isn't any unsprung weight on the bulkhead. I connected the pump to the bulkhead first and then siliconed and tightened the bulkhead down so that it set in the neutral position without any weight on it....

- Chad

Update
 

Well I scrapped the plan to bolt the closed loop pump to the underside of my stand - it would have been nice to be able to tuck it up out of the way, but it would have made it a lot harder to service the pump. Fortunately, I came up with a new plan that I am pretty excited about, despite being short on building materials... and tools.....
and technical skill :razz:

This is what it looks like now:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070301005.jpg

It should look good when it's done though.



Here is a shot of some of the plumbing that I have glued already (you can see both the returns that will come over the top of the tank):

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070301009.jpg


I was actually going to paint the plumbing today but I took my sump tank in to the local glass shop so they could measure and cut a baffle pane for me. They ended up keeping the tank until tomorrow and I can't finish my plumbing measurements and cuts without it.



- Chad

Update:

Here are a couple photos of the plumbing routed and test fitted. (The in-stand pics have a back background because I leaned a board against it for the photos - didn't want to hang that leopard blanket again :razz:.

It should give an idea of how things work:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070302001.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070302002.jpg



The sexy-silver Iwaki is the sump return and the red Coralife is running my closed loop.


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070302008.jpg



View from the back:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070302009.jpg


I just realized that I didn't have the other drain tube connected for this picture, sorry. The pipe on the left is my drain with ball valve (for Herbie method), the center pipe is connected to the closed loop bulkhead in the back wall of the display, and on the right (not pictured) will be my emergency drain pipe.

Cheers,

- Chad

Update:

Here is a shot of the underside of the bottom piece of the stand (the 5lb weight is just holding it down while the glue hardens):


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070303003.jpg


I am putting my power bar upside down on the underside of the stand so that I can route all my wires through the holes and then have the tank in the middle of the room with only one electrical cord connecting it to the wall. I glued the power bar inside a Tupperware container so that it will be impossible for any spilled water to get to it. I also bought a mountain bike tire tube and cut it into four lengths. I will lay the rubber strips along the frame rails and then lay the board on top of them (and the sump etc on top of that). I am expecting that it will provide some cushioning and prevent vibrations from being transferred to the stand (like a rubber mounted motorcycle engine?).
Sorry, that paragraph was probably confusing...


Yesterday I cleaned all my plumbing connections with pvc solvent and glued them together. Because of the diversity of my pieces, I had to buy pvc glue, abs glue, and abs to pvc glue! I still have three full jars if anyone needs - seriously.

Today I sanded, rinsed, dried and taped all my plumbing to get it ready for painting:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070303005.jpg



And ...............





.......here is the result:



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070303022.jpg


The bottom pipe is my intake from the closed loop bulkhead
The middle pipe is my sump return line
And the top pipe is my closed loop return line
Hope you like it.

And thanks to Andy for putting me onto abs fittings - it allowed me to turn a tighter corner from my closed loop bulkhead and fit my pipe within the frame.

Cheers!
- Chad

Well, I know people are still looking at the thread, so im just gonna keep on posting.

I did a rush job of turning the setup into an emergency holding tank yesterday:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070306017.jpg




Because I picked up a special guest. Everyone - I would like to introduce you to Mac:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070306011.jpg


I would like to thank the good follks a Gold aquariums for getting him in, and especially Tim for letting me know he was there. I was really glad to find that Mark still has a good supply of nutritious and delicious snails - I picked up a bag of them and Mac is smashing away as I type (the sound brings back good memories of when I had Ike).


Here he is showing off:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../070306027.jpg



- Chad

He's gorgeous !

Wow the colours are awesome. Makes me almost want to setup ("yet another") tank so I could keep one too!

Wow.. what a beauty.

A mantis tank looks like it would be lots of fun....


Do I ever hate this hobby. :razz:

Thanks guys!
The original plan for this tank didn't include a mantis. The idea was to have a soft coral garden that I could comfortably work in and prune. I guess I can still do that... just with an element of danger now. Seriously though, after keeping my first mantis I was smitten, they are easily the most rewarding animal that I have ever kept in this hobby (I've never had a puffer though... their owners seem pretty attached to them too).
I have always wanted a peacock but my past nanos were too small for one.

I guess my new goal is something like:

"devote vast sums of time and money to the keeping of a single, small, invertebrate"
:razz:

- Chad

Love the mantis!!!

Fantastic Chad.. time to invest in some gardening gloves.
I'd go for some stainless steel mesh meat cutting ones.. :lol:

wow even for a peacock mantis, that baby has gorgeous colours! My tank is all set up, i just need to find my own mantis... the search continues.

I feel obliged to ask though, how thick is the glass? Becaus a large full grown and angry peacock is capable of smashing glass. You could probably get away with unusually thick glass if you don't bother it from the outside. And i assume you know that a mantis might steal a few frags once in a while for its own home?

I notice in the mantis video that you have as many red flatworms as I do!

Looking good Chad!!

Thousands of dollars for a $30 animal....makes sense to me. Ask my octopus and mantis shrimp

Thanks Justin,
My tank is at least 1/2" thick. I usually overbuild tanks anyways because I prefer trimless, unbraced tanks so they need to be thicker. I'm not really worried - I don't have any experience with peacocks but from keeping a g. smithii I think that the glass break thing is kinda overhyped. It is really tough to find a real life, confirmed case, but the rumor goes through online forums like wildfire. I can see him putting chips in it if he really works at it but... the day it doesn't take him 15 tries to crack a 1mm thick snail shell is the day I start to worry a bit more.
Once in a while Ike stole birdsnest and digitata frags but that was only when I didn't provide enough building supplies. Just toss in some more LR rubble and shells and everything will be fine.
Best of luck with your search.

- Chad

Haha, I had those things forever.. but when I posted the video, another reefer pointed out that they were the dreaded flatworm. I borrowed some flatworm exit from Andy and nuked them all within the week. They actually didn't bother me... but, war is war :razz:

- Chad

LOL I knew you'd understand!

And thanks again for your help,

Cheers!

Okay, 1/2 an inch of glass will serve just fine. Just to warn ya, G. smithii stay much smaller. Peacocks are as interactive as smithii but bigger. You don't want to hand feed these bad boys. You should know too that you should watch out for shell rot. Peacocks are much more susceptible to it than smithii. Just make sure it has rubble and lr to make a nice dark burrow to escape light and supplement the frozen diet with selcon once in a while. If it ever develops shell rot let me know, Ill let you know what t do. You've had a mantis before so you probably know all this. Im just makin sure you know if you don't already.

yeah i agree I like the trimless look too. I made a 60 gal trimless acrylic recently.

Hey Chad , Looks like they finally got you behind bars :) :)
Is that for aiding and abetting that criminal mantis ?
..............................Dave

Right on thanks Justin. I am trying to feed a fair amount of live food but will be picking up some selcon for frozen krill and some iodine to dose the water. I will definitely get a hold of you.


Dave,
The only thing criminal is how much money I've spent so far - :razz:


- Chad

whoa whoa! stop there and back up a step. Why do you need iodine? Are you one of those people who believe mantids need iodine to molt? just to let you know, iodine dosing in a mantid (or another exoskeleton invert that molts) tank is NOT a good idea.

There is this false rumor going around that it helps a mantis molt. It actually forces premature molts from them. This is bad because there are things a mantis needs to do before a molt like reabsorb nutrients from the old shell and start growing a new one beneath it. Do that too often, it can kill a mantid. For the mantis' sake please don't dose it with iodine.

Ive only ever come accross one case where it seemed an iodine dose helped. But that was a special case where a peacock was ready to molt but was having trouble doing so.

Whoa... I almost dropped my glass of water when I read your post, it jumped out at me so much. I don't think I'm one of "those people".... I have just always heard that iodine is an essential element that that it is quickly depleted from mixed salt. I have heard that dosing iodine is necessary to maintain the level over time. But thanks for the heads up, I will be sure to look into it.

- Chad

No proble. I believe that the only case where iodine can be depleted is in a reef system, but even there im not sure. There is plenty of iodine in the salt mix, and if you feed the mantis crustaceans, frozen or live, it will get all the iodine it needs. There is absolutely no need to add iodine in my mind. If you're worried about depletion over time, I wouldn't so long as you do your regular water changes.

Well, this will be a reef when I'm done - I much prefer the look of a mantis in a reef over the sand + pvc-pipe-cave that make up some mantis tanks. Probably what I will do is test regularly for iodine to see where I am at.

_ Chad

yeah i think that would be the best plan of action. My own mantis tank (when i actually find the damn mantis) has a 2 inch sand bed and LR with rubble (small LR and empty shells) for the mantis to make its burrow. I don't like the unnatural look of bare pvc either.

Full of water and running
 

Here is a photo of the system now that I have it all up and running:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/0703091.jpg



Fortunately there are no vibrations that I can detect with my hand coming from the sump return pump... I think it is lucky that I looked a little harder and paid a little extra for the Japanese-motored Iwaki. Now the system is far from silent, the fans from both pumps are very noticeable... each one probably twice as loud as that fan in your computer - and maybe a higher pitched hum. I know there are some that strive for a slent sysytem but this isn't a problem for me - my nano design was all about downplaying and hiding equipment; however, this setup is about displaying and showcasing the equipment... bringing attention to all of the hardware and power it takes to maintain a single drop of ocean so far from its natural environment. Speaking of showcasing equipment, here are a few shots of the plumbing:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/0703093.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/0703092.jpg



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/0703094.jpg


There are a couple things about the setup that I would do differently if I had the chance. First of all I would make my skimmer chamber shorter so the water didn't have so far to fall. Secondly, I think my disconnect unions are too close to the effluent sides of the pumps - when they are wide open, I get a rattling sound in there that I think is cavitation due to the water going from the impeller (3/4" passage) and straight into the over-sized chamber (over 1") inside the unions. I have found that by closing the ball valve partway (probably closer to 3/4") I can eliminate the sound without decreasing output. I think if the over-sized unions were further from the pumps there wouldn't be a problem. The plumbing is enlarged to 1" in order to reduce friction and reduce the velocity from the return pipes - which is good because I have ran the head-loss calculator with my actual measurements and the total came to 1468gph of flow from both pumps. That makes an even 40x's turnover. (I said that the plumbing was 1" and then sized down to 3/4" at the pumps but actually my intake to the closed loop starts out at 1.5" to allow for a larger bulkhead screen that's less prone to plugging. It then goes down to 1" and then to 3/4" at the pump).

One last pic:


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...19/0703095.jpg


Hope you like,

- Chad

i like.

unorthodox approach to your display method. i like as well.

Thanks Justin,
I didn't have the sides on the stand in those pics... oh well... just have to take some more photos