Thanks guys. If you don't mind loud then this system is quite efficient. However if you have the ceiling height, you can totally build this as a "reef ready" with two overflow boxes in the corners made of plywood and rubbered with holes in the bottom leading to the respective barrels, make a standpipe, etc. This would likely also put the viewing window in a much more desirable eye level, mine is tough to see any fish but bottom dwellers, which is no big deal for me because I'll only have rays in there.
8x4x3 Plywood Fun, bunch of pics
- Thread starter davenmandy
- Start date
Great build mate!only rays...for now
Can I ask why you have the water overflowing on the left hand side toward the outlet pipes? Or is that just the way it looks in the pic.
Thanks Jim. It was built that way solely for space purposes, the room I have this in is tiny so that left only a couple options. One of the options was to do a coast to coast along the back, but if I did that I would have had to turn it sideways in the room, and the room is exactly 103" long so that would mean if I wanted to get to the back of the tank where the filter is I would have to weasel under the cinder block stand because there would be no room to get around it. There is venting running across the ceiling as well, so I could not build the tank higher to stick the filtration under the tank. This only left the sides, so I have the powerhead and output pointed towards that side and the water drains very shortly on the left side of the tank when facing it. So 2 of the pipes you see drain into the k1 and 2 drain into the wet/dry, through the totes of filter floss of course, and those two barrels are not connected. I guess I could have made the overflow box along the back and just ran piping to the sides, but that did not seem space effective both on the inside of the tank, along the 1 foot portion behind it that I can barely fit in, plus a longer run for the drains.
One cool thing is now it is running maybe a month or whatever and I already have some snails which is cool. Probably from the old seeded media but still neat. Arowana is now eating like a champ in there.
One cool thing is now it is running maybe a month or whatever and I already have some snails which is cool. Probably from the old seeded media but still neat. Arowana is now eating like a champ in there.
Thanks Dave. So its an overflow then?
Why not just bulkheads in the side of the tank set at the desired water level height?
Just trying to learn as I would love to try something like this one day.
Truth be told I don't have a smart answer for you Jim. A) thought it would be quieter, B) another place to put a pre-filter or in my case some ceramic rings to make sure they are getting good contact for cycling purposes early on, C) power outage issues make it so that I lose only about 7 gallons plus what's in the box, D) it does pretty well skimming the top without the weir as it is about 1/4" or so overflowing, E) easy way to set the water level before you fill while you are still working, F) just to see how it works lol. I can lie and say it worked out exactly as planned if you like lol... My 400 has 2x 2" bulkheads in either corner without the box, quite noisy, so I thought I would see how something different works. Would be REALLY easy to have made these standing boxes in the corners and make them reef ready for herbie/beananimal style as all you need is the plywood and rubber, and maybe a couple extra screws, and then your holes in the bottom. May have been hard to rubber the inside if you go that way so I would probably suggest pre-rubbering 2 coats and 2 coats primarily along the seams afterwards. This would, however, take away from the bottom surface areas for rays, which are my primary focus, plus I couldn't get filtration out of my stand anyway.
BTW, for the price of the cinder blocks I very likely could have made a nice lumber stand, I just really didn't feel like building more than I had to. May have been a bit more expensive with the lumber but not much, unless you have a good cinder block guy haha.
BTW, for the price of the cinder blocks I very likely could have made a nice lumber stand, I just really didn't feel like building more than I had to. May have been a bit more expensive with the lumber but not much, unless you have a good cinder block guy haha.
Thanks for the info Dave
I will go with answer D lol !! Best of luck with your projects.Thanks Jim, hope to get a msg from you one day saying you are starting to look into something like this, it's fun and cost effective if you aren't one for aesthetics of the tank. And if you are, drop another $1000 and drape in in solid oak :O
My hands are not meant for detailed work, I do not have amazing precision or dexterity and that's why I think liquid rubber was the best for me. There are tons of ways including epoxy, fiberglass, pond armor, etc. this could have been sealed. I have heard that the liquid rubber turns brown over time, I am not sure about longevity versus fiberglass, exoxy, or marine grade paint or whatever, but if I recall correctly King Joey did his with LR as well, so I am sure he has a comparison to reference. Being water based made it nice because you can sit in the tank while rubbering.
My hands are not meant for detailed work, I do not have amazing precision or dexterity and that's why I think liquid rubber was the best for me. There are tons of ways including epoxy, fiberglass, pond armor, etc. this could have been sealed. I have heard that the liquid rubber turns brown over time, I am not sure about longevity versus fiberglass, exoxy, or marine grade paint or whatever, but if I recall correctly King Joey did his with LR as well, so I am sure he has a comparison to reference. Being water based made it nice because you can sit in the tank while rubbering.
I have some ideas on how to tweak the overflow to make it quieter. I just have to think it threw and make sure it will work. Dave do you have 4 extra 2" 90° and some airline tubing
If you where making the corner overflows for a herbie, me personally, I would make them out of glass and 3m5200 them to the liquid rubber just because it would be easier to install and work with. Actually I think 3m5200 will even stick to acrylic
