But the chemicals can be safely removed by carbon right?
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
So i should probably mention that i heard about the GSP idea from my LFS: Premier Fish and Reef. Jake, one of the employees there, mentioned the idea and pointed out some examples. Well...today i went back to ditch Osama, my extremely aggressive arabian dottyback, and i discovered something amazing. Jake at PFR, is Jake Adams! Yes, the same Jake Adams as in the brittle star cast. LOL Small world. Next thing i know i will be bumping in to Veriann on the street. You are in Denver all the time, right V?
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
Because i knew everyone was dying in anticipation...
Stand down
Stand up
The entire thing can be taken down and set up in about 5 minutes. There are 12 bolts tightened by hand. They do not take any weight, just hold it vertically. I tested this earlier by placing weights on the top and pulling all the bolts out. Sure enough, it stands tall!
Why do i need to take it down? My wife and I will move at some point, hopefully back to one of the coasts, so i will have to lug this thing around. Well, that will be a lot easier if i can break into pieces first. Okay okay, we are not moving anytime soon, several years out perhaps, but it never hurts to plan a bit ahead.
Cats make great standards of measurement: The cat is shielding her eyes to hide her identity
The back is wide open to allow for air. I have some plywood cut to fit if it turns out to be too noisy, but i would like to give it the benefit of the doubt first. Oh, and the wood for the back is cut in slivers, so i can install it even when the tank is on top . Needless to say, it doesn't support any weight, just sits there.
Inside, I have 72" x 22" (182 cm x 56 cm) of space to work with. This is why the center is open. I am going to put a 20 gallon (75.7 liter) aquarium down on the bottom as part of the fuge (oh i have lots of plans for this part, trust me ). This will be for most of the marcoalgae and will be lit like an aquagarden display (offset with the display tank). The small 10 gallon (37.8 liter) hex i have now will be behind one of the doors used mostly for a quarantine and just some extra volume. The doors themselves are pretty large, 24" x 33" (61 cm x 84 cm) so it will be easy to get in and work...or play.
The dark, low-flow fuge (see the pdf on the first post) is probably going to be a 35 gallon (132.5 liter) sprayer tank. Yes, the white plastic tanks used to hold pesticides and herbicides...oh, obviously one that has not been used for that however . They make some narrow and tall; farm stores are so great. Oh, one cool thing about these: they already have a bulkhead in them (about 1 to 2 inches)! They also come with a large screw-on lid wide enough to get your hand into. You might have seen these at some LFSs, only in much much larger form. Check Froogle or ebay, they are all over the place for not much cash. The bulkhead is typically drilled on the bottom, but all you have to do is stack the thing on some bricks or blocks.
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
So i should probably mention that i heard about the GSP idea from my LFS: Premier Fish and Reef. Jake, one of the employees there, mentioned the idea and pointed out some examples. Well...today i went back to ditch Osama, my extremely aggressive arabian dottyback, and i discovered something amazing. Jake at PFR, is Jake Adams! Yes, the same Jake Adams as in the brittle star cast. LOL Small world. Next thing i know i will be bumping in to Veriann on the street. You are in Denver all the time, right V?
just watch your back Astrivian! You just may bump into me too!
Oh and here is the new critter for it, just got him:
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
It is so cool to see your tank taking shape. I love the idea of a stand that is easy to knock down. It would have made it much easier to get my set-up home. Nice firefish.
Okay, it has been quite some time since i was able to post on this again, but the next step has been made. Much of what i have been doing between this post and the last one is ordering the RODI, test kits, etc. Not many good pictures
But, that has now changed! I have some pictures of my custom built sump. Here is the first pic so you can get an idea of what i am talking about:
It is acrylic bent many many times to form all the funny angles along the perimeter (i just used a propane blow torch). The bends should make it much stronger, and hopefully prevent more leaks, than glue. Since i don't have any real saws, i had to cut all the acrylic by hand. Thus, the lines are not exactly straight. I made little braces to fit in the corners to help hold the thing together. I tested it out and it holds!
For a better idea of what it looks like (clear stuff doesn't show up in pictures really well) this image has lines around the sides:
The black lines mark the perimeter and walls of the sump. Due to space constraints, the skimmer will have to sit outside of it in a small bucket to catch any leaks. Believe it or not, the entire perimeter of the sump has only four glued joints, the rest of the corners are bent. The front (on the bottom of the pics) has a long eurobrace across the top to prevent bowing. As you can see from the text in the image (photoshop is so cool ) this part will be a DDSB (deep deep sand bed) with about 7" of sugar fine sand mixed with "miracle" mud and planted in seagrass and macroalgae. Check the pictures of the stand above; notice that huge opening between the two doors? That is where the front of the sump/fuge will be.
The white lines are my baffles. The first two are simply to form a pit into which i can put bags of activated carbon. I am going to use many small bags placed into the top, and pulled out of the bottom. This way i can remove the oldest by reaching in and yanking them from underneath, letting the entire stack fall one bag, and place a new one on top. Saves me from disturbing the entire stack by digging down from the top to the bottom--plus i can change out small amounts of carbon every week or so.
My in-laws bought me a Mag 24 for Xmas, so i will have some serious return power. Oh yea, i put that thing in the bathtub and made a fountain just to drive my wife nuts Fish toys are so fun!
The entire sump stands 24" (2 feet) tall and will hold roughly 50 gallons of water (minus all the sand, heaters, blah blah). I ordered my salt, pumps, bulkheads, and other toys last weekend. OH BOY !!
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
Great thread, Astrivian. This is the first time I've got to see/read it. Awesome job!
BTW - the photos did not show up, just little blue boxes with question marks inside. Broken link perhaps. or it could be my mac ... NEVER!
Also - going back to your first post, you mentioned that you may like to add some "reef safe butterflies". In my experience, there is no such thing. Every butterfly has the potential to go after certain corals, while leaving other alone. I say this because I gave up trying and decided to set up a 180 FOWLR for butterflies and angels (my favorite fish!) IMO, of course!
. Needless to say, it doesn't support any weight, just sits there.
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
