Kayla's Nano! (complete with illustrations!)

[lukegegory]

OHH and BTW you can get special silicon thats adheres to acryllic, its made especially for tank construction, you may have to look hard for it, can't remember the brand name.

[Flame]

Really nice tank. Great start

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by lukegegory

OHH and BTW you can get special silicon thats adheres to acryllic, its made especially for tank construction, you may have to look hard for it, can't remember the brand name.

not that i do not believe you, but if this were true than there would be tanks that are all acrylic except for the front piece which would be glass. i would buy one of these tanks in a heartbeat. imagine the ease of drilling a tank without the scratching on the front glass.

G~

[Flame]

Silicon has a problem binding to acrylic I would not recommend depending on it.

[VWD]

You doing a great jod , Nothing wrong with it, You will have to keep the flow just right all the time. I was just thinking to have 3 or the rear sides cut down just below the 2 front sides that way the water will never go over the front two. Your idea and way I think is cooler. Water going over the top on all sides.

By the Way I really think your tank is going to be one of the top tanks.

[skeety]

Originally Posted by Geoff

sillycone does not stick to acrylic to save its life. it seems like it does now, but in a few months when it is fully cured it starts to pull away from the acryilic. i have had parts literally just fall off over time. there was a lot of trial and error in my sumps.

The only spot I have silicone adhearing to the acrylic is where the shotglasses meat the bottom of the tank. This is mainly to hold them in place horizontally...not really worried about creating that tight of a seal. The weight of the tank on the shot glass SHOULD keet it fairly sealed. I'm hoping.

Originally Posted by Geoff

did you look at uni-seals/tee-eliminators for your pipe within a pipe plan? you could use flex pipe through the seal this should give you enough slop to do the plumbing without worrying about it being permanent.

Thought of using flex tubing to come out of the pipe...but still needed to have a check valve in there somewhere. So that would mean the input plumbing would have been flex-tubing -> PVC -> Check-Valve -> PVC -> Flex-tubing. I think this would have been wierd. Can't really explain why I didn't want to go this way...other than seemed odd. But did think of that option.

Originally Posted by Geoff

with the tank raised that much it will make a fair amount of noise when running. could be a relaxing thing or an annoying thing. adding sloped sides after at the bottom of the tank will add a nice transition into the pool of water at the bottom. obviously you would put wiers at the bottom so the water will be able to drain flow to the drain. have you thought of the depth of the water in the drain pool? do you have a way of adjusting the depth?

Completely valid point. ANd an issue we ARE concerned about. Just gonna have to fill it up and run it...see what happens. I have thought about adding acrylic ramps to the end...maybe to almost meet the tray. Also worried the shot glasses are too high. Again...once we run it we'll have a better idea. But that was yet ANOTHER reason I didn't want to permanently glue the PVC to the bulkheads.

Geoff....all VERY good points...and I TRULY thank you for bringing them up! They are all things we will be on the lookout for. and...trust that I will keep you posted (of good news AND bad! hahaha)

[skeety]

Originally Posted by Casey

cool nano but you cracked it J/K

hahahah

yeah...and I'm REALLY worried about this. I'm not sure if the tank is true acrylic...or if it's just plastic (but acrylic IS plastic, no?).

Anyways...I used the weld-on to fill the crack..and it APPEARS to have worked...but only time will tell.

we already have a back up plan though...if the tank doesn't hold...We'll be replacing it with an acrylic cube. Now that I've seen how easy acrylic is to work with...I'm actually thinking of going this route regardles...but we'll see.

either way...wish someone was there to take a pic of my face when it cracked!

all this work so far...and then...DOH! the tank cracks.

[skeety]

Originally Posted by VWD

You doing a great jod , Nothing wrong with it, You will have to keep the flow just right all the time. I was just thinking to have 3 or the rear sides cut down just below the 2 front sides that way the water will never go over the front two. Your idea and way I think is cooler. Water going over the top on all sides.

yeah...we thought about maybe having the flow alternate sides. meaning sand down every OTHER side...so water flows down alternate sides. This would allow better viewing for whichever side (flow or no flow) seems to offer better visibility. But the problem with this is...the importance of LEVEL sides is too great. If I sand one side just slightly lower than another...it won't work. Still not sure...again...we'll have to see how it pans out.

Originally Posted by VWD

By the Way I really think your tank is going to be one of the top tanks.

wouldn't be too sure of this. Some REALLY cool ideas out there...still kind of intimidated! I am truly SOOO glad we entered this...what an amazing experience this has been just this far. Soo many different takes on things....so many different DIY efforts...very educational, informative...etc. And since I'm planning on setting up a 400+ gln tank here in the next year or too...doing something like this on a much smaller (and less expensive) scale first...is turning out to be a TRULY invaluable experience.

I've yet to see a tank in this contest that I don't feel is in the running! VERY interesting (and *I* think intense) competition!!!

[skeety]

Originally Posted by lukegegory

It's no longer pimp my ride, its pimp my tank!!! YEW! never seen anything this modern before.

yeah...we REALLY like the look of this. Glad it's not just us that thinks it's modern. Very sleek...modern...just overall sharp look, we think.

But as I've stated a few times...this evening's leak/plumbing test will prove to be either the holy grail....or the death of us! hahaha

as usual....Stay tuned class!!!

[Geoff]

Enough talk, fill it up!!!

G~

[skeety]

HAHAHAHAHA

Will, as soon as I get home from work. Still not expecting much, as the higher rated pump isn't in yet...so it's gonna be the same trickling flow i had before...but officially plumbed.

Anyways...on the drive in to work...like all of us do (I hope), I was thinking non-stop about my reefs!! When it hit me...

I'm a total idiot.

and (no offense meant), but all of you are too! hahaha j/k

no one caught this. I went to all this trouble to add a check valve. And plumb it nice. And even keep in mind that I will want to take it out and clean it sometimes. Which is why I added a union.

But guess what I forgot?

anyone?

It's great that I can remove the checkvalve easily....but how the HELL am I going to stop the tank from draining when I do so?

DOH!!

I completely forgot about getting a ball-valve/shut-off valve in there!!

Not that i have the room anyways...but DANGIT!!

Just posting this...so if anyone ever decides to try this, they heed the following advice as a "what I would have done differently"

Screw the head pressure loss reduction by using 45°'s instead of 90°'s. Have a 90° coming out of the 2" pipe...run it horizontally out and put in a ball valve. Then have another 90°, and run it down vertically to the pump. Putting the check valve there, in that verticle section.

DOH!

DOH!

DOUBLE DOH!!

[alaskaknucklehead]

[skeety]

well..the moment of truth:



so I fill the sump up with 10glns of water.

then...I take in a DEEP breath...expecting sparks, broken plastic, PVC shards embedding into my skin, water spraying up into the air...as I plug in the pump.

I close my eyes...and wait for it....

moments pass...

nothing.

I slowly open my eyes, and see a WONDEROUS sight



Water...pumping into the tank!

But upon close inspection, I notice...wait...it's barely coming out. (sigh)

"Maybe the pump just needs to warm up" I think to myself moment before the following thought enters my head "you know Mike...sometimes, there IS such a thing as overly-optomistic."

(double sigh)

so I wait...paitiently. As the tank fills up at what HAS to be a whopping rate of about 1 gallon per century!!

"Wierd", I think.."the pump is rated at 200 gph. Even with a few feet of head, that can't bring it below 100gph, can it?"

DAYS go by...a beard grows...flys have buzzed by around my head, spawned, then died. Their spawn is now dying by the time this picture is taken:



It's at this point that I start doing math in my head. I think, "Okay...it's been realistically, about 10 minutes...and HALF of this 5 gallon hex is full. That's 2.5 gallons. Times 6 means, this pump is pumping at about 15 gph. Now..adding in the "empty basement except for wailing starving cats (who I JUST @#$%@$'n fed)" factor...and that means my pump is actually pumping at a rate of 1 gallon per grandchild. (did I mention ... SIGH)

But I DO take note that as water gets pumped up to (or should I say... as water evaporates into ) the upper tank, I do feel SOME relief that the water line appears level.



Dear Diary....

It's been years since we last spoke...but I do have some good news...the tank is almost full!!

(sigh...sigh...siiiiiiigggh)



as the water hits the height in the previous picture eons after plugging in the pump...I notice that it's actually SLOWING down. I begin to ponder what life would have been like outside of my basement.

[skeety]

It is with MUCH reluctance that I inform you that the water NEVER gets past this line with the pumps that I currently have. I have another one coming from the good Dr's...but I'm not sure when it will be in. In fact...I've been down here so long...I'm not even sure they're still in business.



I've given up. and I decide to just take a pitcher, and POUR more water in. Simply to check the plumbing, and the overflow etc. Right before it spills over, I stop and take a picture. Looks pretty ****ed level to me!!




as I mentioned...I was pouring the water in by hand now..so no more pictures.

And overall...I discovered that there's some good news, and some bad news.

Good news:

• All the plumbing works AS designed! No leaks. proper direction, etc. Very glad.
• The tank appears to be level...or very close to it.
• The tank has NOT broken...and although I was in front of it for what seemed like eternity...I will keep an eye on this, and hope for the best

Now...the BAD news:

• The pump is not working. IN fact...I believe it to be a device of the devil himself!
• when the water pours over, it pours over in a triangular form. Wide at the top down to maybe an inch wide at the bottom. I'm attributing this to the fact that it's a HEX tank. Too many corners. We will be looking into just making a cube.
• a slight spatter of water makes it out of the tray. Very fine drops...but still enough to cause MONSTER salt-creep. So...this means the tank is too high up, or I need something to diffuse the splatter. Maybe ramps down to the tray. All of which Geoff predicted! When replacing with the cube, I will try to address this.

that's it for now guys...gotta run to a dart match...where hopefully my skills will yield better luck!!

(sigh)

[dobejazz]

Great Post Mike LMAO !!! Sorry the pump didn't work though I'm sure you'll fix it