suztor
Member
Seriously I do!
This is a long post I like to yammer off quite a bit... mostly because i think the bf is tired of hearing about my crazy ideas/ solutions that go along with this project
. So you guys all get to hear about it instead :talker:
In the last week I've come up with solutions left and right for finalizing my new build these two have been "a-hah! I'm so proud of me (saving money) moments"
#1) a mesh cover for a 36 gal bow front does not exist pre-manufactured as far as I can find. Making one take HOURS of tedious work and money on materials that are only found in excess amounts. After a field trip to Home Depot I brought home plastic gutter guards they happen to interlock where they attach to the gutter and are fairly easy to cut! 3 of these 3 foot x 6ish inch long interlocking slabs cut to fit the curve in the front and the tubes in the back make a fantastic cover! and cheap!!! $3 a piece.
Only issue, which I've already found a solution for; how to include lighting since this is a planted tank and that the cover is plastic that is likely bend and buckle under heat...WELL!!! I'm going to hang the light from the ceiling! about 5 inches from the top of the tank which is about 10 inches from the surface of the water. that way a lot of the heat moves away from the tank and water before it has a chance to warm things up. The light will probably need to be on for most of the day since the gutter guards do block a significant amount of light but it also leaves it comfortably dim in the tank almost like mood lighting (I am willing to suspect that axolotls would even be OK with it) but in being so dim i want to make sure my plants get enough light to keep growing and stay alive.
#2) When building my tank I included two sections for filtration (an overly complicated system really)... this worked ok but not like I was hoping and had potential for some major problems. in the image below is the basic layout for the filter system the right box has an intake from the bottom of the tank.
I had a repto filter in the right compartment pouring clean filtered water into the left one where there was a pond filter that ran the water (in a tube) through a cooler and dispensed it over the 'java moss ledge'.
Keeping the water flow into the repto filter consistent was difficult there for the water flow into the pond pump even more difficult, if the repto filter felt bogged down ever so slightly the water levels in the left compartment would drop dangerously low and there was just too much risk in that. Because of this I had started looking into getting a canister filter, but because they are 1) pricey and 2) there are a lot of different things i needed to consider and was not guaranteed to get the right one... i came up with what i consider a GENIUS solution
I took that right compartment, bought a sponge (by hagen aqua clear), a penn-plax cascade carbon baggie and a penn-plax cascade bio media pack ( those ceramic rings that are supposed to add more bio load potential also ideally more bacteria growing surfaces stacked those up in that order placed my pond filter on top to pull the water through and voila my very own canister (sorta) filter minus the vacuum and pressurization and minus 1 motor or maybe it's more of a built in sump filter?? either way it's awesome and I'm proud of me and i saved at least $100.
(picture to show my left and right filtration compartments. this was very early in the build)
Now I understand this may not be absolute genius to you... but it is to me and not to mention I feel both of these solutions are super effective especially since I can now customize my filter to my needs and if anything goes wrong or i change up tubing in my tank i can go out and buy a blank slate for $3 to fix my hood.
This is a long post I like to yammer off quite a bit... mostly because i think the bf is tired of hearing about my crazy ideas/ solutions that go along with this project
. So you guys all get to hear about it instead :talker:In the last week I've come up with solutions left and right for finalizing my new build
these two have been "a-hah! I'm so proud of me (saving money) moments"#1) a mesh cover for a 36 gal bow front does not exist pre-manufactured as far as I can find. Making one take HOURS of tedious work and money on materials that are only found in excess amounts. After a field trip to Home Depot I brought home plastic gutter guards they happen to interlock where they attach to the gutter and are fairly easy to cut! 3 of these 3 foot x 6ish inch long interlocking slabs cut to fit the curve in the front and the tubes in the back make a fantastic cover! and cheap!!! $3 a piece.
Only issue, which I've already found a solution for; how to include lighting since this is a planted tank and that the cover is plastic that is likely bend and buckle under heat...WELL!!! I'm going to hang the light from the ceiling! about 5 inches from the top of the tank which is about 10 inches from the surface of the water. that way a lot of the heat moves away from the tank and water before it has a chance to warm things up. The light will probably need to be on for most of the day since the gutter guards do block a significant amount of light but it also leaves it comfortably dim in the tank almost like mood lighting (I am willing to suspect that axolotls would even be OK with it) but in being so dim i want to make sure my plants get enough light to keep growing and stay alive.
#2) When building my tank I included two sections for filtration (an overly complicated system really)... this worked ok but not like I was hoping and had potential for some major problems. in the image below is the basic layout for the filter system the right box has an intake from the bottom of the tank.
I had a repto filter in the right compartment pouring clean filtered water into the left one where there was a pond filter that ran the water (in a tube) through a cooler and dispensed it over the 'java moss ledge'.
Keeping the water flow into the repto filter consistent was difficult there for the water flow into the pond pump even more difficult, if the repto filter felt bogged down ever so slightly the water levels in the left compartment would drop dangerously low and there was just too much risk in that. Because of this I had started looking into getting a canister filter, but because they are 1) pricey and 2) there are a lot of different things i needed to consider and was not guaranteed to get the right one... i came up with what i consider a GENIUS solution
I took that right compartment, bought a sponge (by hagen aqua clear), a penn-plax cascade carbon baggie and a penn-plax cascade bio media pack ( those ceramic rings that are supposed to add more bio load potential also ideally more bacteria growing surfaces stacked those up in that order placed my pond filter on top to pull the water through and voila my very own canister (sorta) filter minus the vacuum and pressurization and minus 1 motor
or maybe it's more of a built in sump filter?? either way it's awesome and I'm proud of me and i saved at least $100.
(picture to show my left and right filtration compartments. this was very early in the build)
Now I understand this may not be absolute genius to you... but it is to me and not to mention I feel both of these solutions are super effective especially since I can now customize my filter to my needs and if anything goes wrong or i change up tubing in my tank i can go out and buy a blank slate for $3 to fix my hood.