Logik's Monster 10

[kimsie]

Looking good! I like your rock wall.

[paulamrein]

That's it! I'm going to turn my 29g into something DIY you've given me enough inspiration to do it.

[logiktest]

Kim, Thank you!

Paul, More pictures are on the way.

[logiktest]

Installing the wall and overflow.

First I lined up the the wall with the bulkhead to see where I needed to make a hole for the overflow. Then I cut the hole using a RotoZip tool. A Dremel tool or normal hole saw would work fine for this as well. I also trimmed a little on the back side of the wall in order to accommodate the bulkhead flange, and make the wall lay flush with the glass.

I made an overflow using 1" pipe cut like a pizza to form a weir, using a table saw. I tried to cut the weir with the RotoZip first, but the result was not very pretty. Functional, sure. Pretty, no.

First try with RotoZip (not so good):





After using the table saw, and painting with Krylon Fusion (much better):





I test fitted the overflow, bulkhead, and rock wall together to ensure every thing lined up correctly. I took it all apart.

In a zig-zag pattern, I used almost half a tube of GE1 silicone on the back pain of glass while the tank was laying on it's back. This was WAY more silicone than needed. Then I placed the wall on the back pain of glass and installed the overflow to make sure every thing stayed lined up. I also left the tank laying on it's back to help the glass and wall adhere. The silicone took quite a while to cure, probably because I used far too much.

Silicone application:





Installed, pictures from a few different angles, flash, no flash:

[sirreal63]

I love it!!!! Great work.

[kraash]

lookin' good! The background is cool, are you going bare bottom?

[Nanook]

Looks good! What are you going to put in this tank?

[Reefer Wannabe]

Very cool

[kimsie]

I love it! It looks so good!

[logiktest]

Thanks for all the great compliments!

I was planning on putting sand in the display. I (think that I) got a good deal on some Seachem Grey Coast sand, 22 pounds for just over 7 bucks. I believe if I use the whole bag, it will yield a 2" sand bed. On the other hand, if I went bare bottom, I could use the Mag7 return pump at full boogie strength.

As far as what livestock will go in there... One piece of really healthy live rock to help seed the aragocrete wall. Any thing else will have to be low light lovin', as I plan to not spend more than $15 on a light setup.

Any suggestions for livestock?

[latazyo]

is that rock wall made of the **** that floats?

[Reeferhead]

Awesome thread, nice work Mike

One suggestion, I would shoot for about a 1/2" sand bed if you even do one. 2" inches will give you all the problems of a DSB (nutrient sink, trap detritus, etc) without any of the benefits (denitrification). You need at least 3" for any denitrification to happen. Personally I think that 3" would take up too much usable space in your main display. I would use the sand you have to create a 5-6" DSB in your remote fuge.

I look forward to seeing it progress.

[logiktest]

Originally posted by latazyo
is that rock wall made of the **** that floats?

The wall is constructed of "Great Stuff" foam, and man made live rock(aragocrete). If I would not have used rock, or failed to adhere the wall to the glass, yes, it would float.

[logiktest]

Originally posted by Reeferhead
Awesome thread, nice work Mike

One suggestion, I would shoot for about a 1/2" sand bed if you even do one. 2" inches will give you all the problems of a DSB (nutrient sink, trap detritus, etc) without any of the benefits (denitrification). You need at least 3" for any denitrification to happen. Personally I think that 3" would take up too much usable space in your main display. I would use the sand you have to create a 5-6" DSB in your remote fuge.

I look forward to seeing it progress.

Thanks!

So, your suggesting that I go bare bottom and use the 22# of sand in the fuge? If I split the sump into 3 equal sections, I believe that the whole bag would yield a 6" bed in the fuge, however, that would also be more than half the hight of the fuge. Would that be too much sand?

[reefer96]

lookin great man. i hear those sumps are tough, let me know if you need some help.

[logiktest]

Originally posted by reefer96
lookin great man. i hear those sumps are tough, let me know if you need some help.

Come on down!

[Im Lon 2]

If you didn't like the bare bottome look you could always do what you did on the back wall.. Would not have to worry about that moving around.

What type of lighting are you going to use?

[logiktest]

Lonnie, thats a good idea. I was also thinking about using small rock rubble. It would not blow around, but it would probably trap a lot of detritus. Pods would probably enjoy it though.

Lighting... Not a whole lot of options here. The tank measures about 20" long. I could use 30w VHO's. I had heard that t-5 bulbs are made in 18" length, but I cant find them. A 96w CF quad tube would fit, but I would need to buy a new ballast, socket, and bulb. A 70w HQI would be nice, but I just finished building my canopy, and an HQI bulb would sit only 3.75" above the water surface. I didn't want to build the canopy taller than the tank.

[MayoBoy]

If you're going low light, just use a regular incandescent strip and put a couple of these in it.

[Reeferhead]

Originally posted by logiktest
Thanks!

So, your suggesting that I go bare bottom and use the 22# of sand in the fuge? If I split the sump into 3 equal sections, I believe that the whole bag would yield a 6" bed in the fuge, however, that would also be more than half the hight of the fuge. Would that be too much sand?

If your just going to grow cheato in your fuge than 6" of water is plenty. However, if your going to use a 10 gallon tank for a sump/fuge then your going to realistically have less than that. Try and figure out where you water level will be. Maybe go with a 4" DSB and 4" of water for cheato.

Personally, for aesthetics, I would go with a 1/2" sand bed in the main tank. However if your worried about sand blowing around then go with a faux bed of sorts as already suggested.

IMO, I think you need a DSB somewhere in your system, (for denitrification, not necessarily biodiversity) if you don't plan on integrating a whole bunch of LR somehow. Personally, I think DSBs come in really handy with small tanks to keep things more stable nitrate wise. I would try and create two DSB chambers in your fuge, so that you could replace one without disturbing the other, changing one out about every year or so.

That said, I removed the DSB compartments I had in my fuge about a year into my current setup to make room for a larger skimmer. They were pretty small anyway, and I felt I had more than enough LR to compensate.

[Im Lon 2]

Originally posted by MayoBoy
If you're going low light, just use a regular incandescent strip and put a couple of these in it.

That is what I was thinking too.. No ballast needed and easy to hook up.

[logiktest]

Steve + Lonnie, I wanted some of those, but they cost about $12 a piece at the LFS. I have a similar solution though...

[logiktest]

Nick, I see that I will need to put some more thought into this. Maybe fill the bottom of the fuge with LR? I just want low maintenance...

[logiktest]

The canopy.

I used 3/4 birch plywood for this. It was the most simple design I could think of. I still need to install hinges for the top. I think I will use two stainless "euro style" hinges for this because I don't like the way "piano" hinges look.











I still need to trim all this out to cover the edges of the ply. In hind sight, I should have made all my cuts on a 45 to hide the edges. Oh well. Hope you like it.

[logiktest]

High tech lighting.

I went a little over my $15 budget for all this... Three 6500K, 26/100w swirly bulbs. I may use five. Not sure yet.





Now eat your hearts out looking at the color supplementation: "The Party Bulb" I'm going to call it 420nm(I don't know). It's another swirly bulb 13/60w of pure "blue" power! I may use two of them. Pricey at $6.50.





I will mount them sideways in the canopy to get the most from them. As they sit now: 3- 26w, and 1-13w for a grand total of 91w of perfectly colored, coral scorching power.

It's OK to get super jealous.