upcomming plywood build.

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surfpalmsncycads

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2010
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whittier ca
i need some ideas and opinions.
almost finished moving some tanks to the other side of the fishroom. ive decided to go smaller so i can fit 2 extra tank racks.
plywood will be 8 feet long 3 feet deep and 30 inches tall. viewing window will be 24 inches tall and almost 8 feet long.
i have a 100 gallon sump so far im using for just bio and ill be adding a 50 gallon for mech that dumps into it.

few questions
whats the best submersable pump/s that have a low operating cost? roughly around 1600-2000 gph
what thickness of glass? i cant seem to use those glass calculators
where can i buy matrix or extremely porus ceramic from? in bulk!
whats a semi fine filter sock i can use? i dont want to change daily lol

any comments constructive or not are welcome
bust my balls whenever you see fit
ideas, suggestions
stock will be:

10 in female mana
12 in male mota
10 in female rbk
10 in male dovii hybrid
11 in male istlanum
8 in male tetracanthus
10 in male pike
7 in female jd
6 in female odo
 
For a pump if it must be submersible look at the quiet one pumps, I've had nothign but success with them and they have a low watt draw and aren't crazy expensive. If you can make it an external pump (much better) look at the Reeflo Snapper 96w draw with 2300gph. Uh for bio media I went to the local landscaping place and bought one, my sand- white play sand for $4 a 50lb bag! and 2 50 lb bags of crushed up lava rock for $5 a bag. It's highly porous, doesn't leech anything into the water and makes an awesome bio media for wet/drys. For glass thickness if you are going glass you can do 1/2" for that height. For a filter sock have you considered using sterilite drawer towers for your wet/dry tower? You can use the 1 or 2 top smaller drawers and layer it with Micron filter pads and use the 2 bottom bigger drawers with the lava rock bio media, it's what I did with my build and the filter is amazing, my water is always crystal clear. Good luck with your build!
 
i was considering the drawers and ive seen them being used. i might just do that. have the final drawer drain into the sump. how big are the lava rock pieces? ive never seen them crushed up like that. i can get huge bags of pumice. the pieces are small like 12 the size of an m&m. im not sure how the water flow would be through it. its very porus too. i use it in my plants. thanks for the help. id like to be prepared so i can finish the project in a decent amount of time
 
surfpalmsncycads said:
plywood will be 8 feet long 3 feet deep and 30 inches tall. viewing window will be 24 inches tall and almost 8 feet long.

what thickness of glass?
Click to expand...

Thickness will primarily be determined by how far it is from fill level down to the bottom of the glass.

So are your saying the glass will be 24" tall and the viewing area cutout will be around 20" tall with a 2" overlap? Or will the viewing area be 24" tall and the glass itself around 28" tall?

Will the glass be centered in the 30" height or will it be up towards the top?
 
The lava rock was various sizes, the smallest being about the size of a penny the largest about the size of a 50 cent piece. It's used in flower beds I believe, but works even better as a bio bed :)
 
Myself and monster peacocks have current builds going on right now in dyi section. Check em out if your interested. My plywood build is full fiberglass coverage inside, monster p is rubberized.

Sent from my LG-P509
 
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