Mr Cob Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 PM sent Will. Ace "hobogato" does awesome work and he is easy to work with. I got the stand and canopy painted this weekend...ok my wife did and I foamed the tank...will take pics and post later. I pulled the BioCube media and will run a sump with a filter sock, carbon and a phosphate reactor. The skimmer will also hang on the back of the BioCube. I had to make a few adjustments to the plastic with a dremel tool to fit the skimmer and the HOB overflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 ok...quick update on a couple mods: Skimmer: HOB CPR Bak Pak 2...had to dremel out a small plastic notch from the light mount in order for it to fit and level part of the plastic lip for the skimmer to sit level. Return/Overflow: Return pump will be a Rio 1700 with a 5' head to travel along with a couple 90 degree angles, thinking this should work well for me, not looking for a lot of flow from the return since I'll be running an MP40. I'm so glad I keep pratically every plumbing part I have ever put my hands on... the good stuff is coming... promise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 The stand/canopy... My lovely wife spent her entire Sunday dedicated to my new nano (thx babe). She even had paint and all the tools for distressing it. I got to beat it up with a hammer, that was fun. See those hammer marks? I did those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggedfire Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Wow that is nice. Great looking work and quick too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 thx Jaggedfire, Here is another mod... drilled extra overflow holes to increase flow to the HOB overflow. I also installed a piece of blue acrylic with aquarium sealant. Pretty much the only way I could think of to get some color in the background to resemble the ocean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 So in an effort to make the MP40 work without blowing sand everywhere I built my rock structure around it with the thought that I could at least get some sand in the front. The rest is black pond foam coated with aragonite sand and live rock...well dead now lol. The rock structure is made up of 4 rocks held up by an acrylic rod which has also been foamed for added stability. The MP40 will sit at the lower 30-40% left side wall...towards the back of the tank. MP40 will shoot through the back of the structure as seen below... From the right side: Top down... closeup of structure.. straight on.. this shot misses all of the depth in the rock structure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 final shot until I make some more progress.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Looks really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Completely amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 thanks bige and Jimbo, I can't wait to get it wet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radney711 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 that is really cool! love how you used the foam for the back panel! is the rock ceramico? where did you get the pond foam? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Thanks! The rock is live rock...well obviously dead now lol. I have buckets full of rock and sand...two things I never sell because I absolutely HATE buying rock and sand. The foam is black pond foam or black waterfall foam, home depot and lowes both carry this in their pond/outside location of the store. Just ask where the pond stuff is. It also pays to call in advance, they are frequently out. Runs about $13 a can. I used one can on the back wall and one on the bottom...then trickled the left overs into the structure for extra stability. I first apply clear waterproof silicone or aquarium sealant to the glass then spray foam over wet sealant. Poke foam with a stick or tool to keep it from bubbling up...otherwise you get mounds of fake looking fluffy foam. After deflating the foam with my stick and while the foam is still wet I sprinkle aragonite over it to give it a rock like texture and press in rubble. I keep an eye on it for about an hour and work in sections. I did the back to completion with it laying flat then the bottom with that also laying flat. WEAR gloves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 So poking it with the stick deflates it? But allows you to have sand bottom without a ton of sand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 So poking it with the stick deflates it? But allows you to have sand bottom without a ton of sand? Correct. I just poke it and distress it to keep it from making huge foam bubbles. It will still rise about an inch, maybe two so if using the foam on the bottom you will get at least a 1-2" ledge. That will give you some room to add a small sandbed in the remaining bare bottom areas. I also added a few pieces of rubble while foam was still wet to the edge areas that I felt were too shallow.. just to give a bit more of a border to keep the sand bed from spreading over the foam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Been a crazy last week on this system. I hate plumbing. Had a few leaks in my plumbing overflow and return plumbing. Overflowed the sump twice due to the difficulty of leveling out the reverse syphon when pumps turn off. I finally realized that by having the HOB Skimmer in the first section it was draining the display and keeping the overflow back section full which kept the overflow filling up. Solution... put the skimmer and return pump on the same DJ Power supply switch. Been wet for close to a week now. Skimmer is starting to pull and water is starting to smell. Fixed two leaks up.. lol Still have a lot of work to do in the stand...that pond liner I installed in the stand saved me twice from two small floods. I had about an inch to two inch puddle in there. So happy I took the time to put it in. The fans... FTS shot coming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 After not being pleased with my rock structure I tore it all apart and spent a couple of days reworking it. Frustrated and hopeless... I finally pinged my wife for help and I'm so happy I did. I'm super happy with it now and think it has a unique look. FTS.. water is stinky and cloudy, suspect I have a few more days running carbon before it clears up. MP40 flow area.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Looks good. What are the tubes? They aren't returns are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Thanks. If you are talking about in the tank...they are vacant coco worm tubes. Or perhaps you are talking about the sump...one return line and one drain line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 It's the coco worm tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Some good news and kind of surprising.. the tank has not raised one degrees in temp with the light on for 8 hours with open canopy and for the last 4 hours with the canopy closed. I really think the sump, large stand and canopy with open back, plus the fans and the fact that the tank is over 5" off the wall is allowing the entire system to have nice air flow. Temp is running stable just one degrees higher than the house temp. House temp is at 73f. Obviously I will adjust the system's temp higher via the heater. Think I might shoot for 76. That will give me plenty of room for potential errors. I just wanted to see how it ran first before setting the heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 That's great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 New scape.. think we are done now, lol FTS: From the left.. From right.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teresa Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Looks awesome! Can you give some more detail on the blue acrylic background? I want to make the black background on my cardiff blue so the seahorses stop turning black all the time to blend in. How might I go about this? Would I have to empty the tank? Not sure that's possible . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks Teresa, appreciate the comment. I used a piece of blue acrylic that I ordered from amazon, I sealed it to the back black wall with aquarium sealant and then foamed around it. I guess you could just place it in the tank and add rock around it to keep it in place...even use epoxy to set it if you didn't want to drain the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 nano + MP40 = awesomeness to the bone! Running at about 60% and finally got the wave I was looking for without the constant loud hissing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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