Eienna's Treasure Chest

Cool setup. Can't wait to see the Treasure in the Chest.

The sunken ship/treasure idea is pretty cool.
I think some old boat rope or an anchor would be awesome. Maybe an actual wooden chest with a nice big fat hammer inside
Goodluck with the build!

jason g said:

Cool setup. Can't wait to see the Treasure in the Chest.

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Neither can I n.n

tyler1503 said:

The sunken ship/treasure idea is pretty cool.
I think some old boat rope or an anchor would be awesome. Maybe an actual wooden chest with a nice big fat hammer inside
Goodluck with the build!

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I'm trying to make the stand and hood (both kinda works-in-progress) look kind of like the chest the stuff's in. Not sure if it's going to work out that way yet, though.

Sweet! Congrats!
Can't wait to see more.

Things never quite go smoothly in setups/builds, do they? XP I've hit a snag I gotta figure out.

This tank is a modified all-in-one, apparently. I knew that, but there's a problem I didn't expect.

The short version: Water gets into the overflow waaaay below the weir, dumping far too much water into the sump when the pump is turned off. I need to find a solution before I can safely run the setup.
Long version: There's a nozzle-ish thing in the original sump part with holes leading into the main display compartment (which must have had a purpose at one time), but it apparently was plugged when the tank was redrilled. Now whatever was used to plug it is gone, and the water gets in the holes and out the spout, bypassing the weir and getting into the somewhat low drain lines. This allows the tank to dump far too much water into the sump. I can run the tank, but if the power gets cut the sump WILL overflow unless I keep it basically empty while running...which makes it useless, and the return pump can't pick up the water low enough.

Possible solution:
I think that if I add a 90 degree elbow to each drain line inside the tank, I can create a sort of standpipe; this should get the overflow drain entrances high enough to prevent the tank from emptying so far.

My biggest problem now? I need to get the store and it's 3:50am.

First hard lesson of this project? Well, one, don't take paint stripper lightly (you can ask my husband about that, LOL), but two, always have extra piping, elbows, pipe glue, and cutters on hand. >.<

Edit: A note on the treasure chest theme idea...it actually came after wanting to call this tank that, because each of its beautiful creatures are my treasures - so much so that I'd much rather have reef stuff than precious stones.

Okay, we have a slight plumbing leak. I'd personally just use some silicone, as it's only dripping a tiny bit, but Matt is adamant we're redoing the whole line (at least.) Oh well. At least we found it before the trip to Home Depot for the other fix...here's hoping the new line doesn't leak worse than the first.

OK Eienna, I didn't realize with the new build you were beginning a new thread. I subscribed to this one now. It'll be fun to watch your progress. I used to have a 90g so I am excited for you since your new tank is close in size to the one I had.

vlangel said:

OK Eienna, I didn't realize with the new build you were beginning a new thread. I subscribed to this one now. It'll be fun to watch your progress. I used to have a 90g so I am excited for you since your new tank is close in size to the one I had.

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Yay n.n

Well, after some tweaking (plus some pipe glue, pvc, silicone, and extensive testing) I believe my tank is finally ready to run without any danger of turning the Sunken Treasure into the Sunken Dining Room. I'd do a dance but I need a serious nap first XD

Salinity's perfect, it's running nicely (if a bit loudly...but it could be worse), and I'm just waiting for the water to warm enough to move my sand, rock, and inverts. After a few hours of them "testing the waters", I'll introduce the fish, assuming all is well.

I discovered that the center of the top seam had somehow missed getting glued (really didn't look like it had pulled apart.) I would be panicking, except that there's no crazing to suggest that the seam around it had taken undue pressure from the defect, and the pressure in that spot was so light I could push the acrylic back into place with a finger. I patched it up as best I could and it looks like it's going to hold, no problem.

Oshawott took a dip...


And here's a photo with the animals finally in it from last night. Meant to post it them but I couldn't find my phone.


They must approve of their new home, because when I asked "Anyone for frozen brine shrimp?" the answer was a unanimous "Yes Please!!"

Update: I just checked the patch job and it looks great. That seam isn't going anywhere! n.n

So glad the seam is holding and all animals are settled in and hungry! The world is as it should be.

vlangel said:

So glad the seam is holding and all animals are settled in and hungry! The world is as it should be.

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Yah. Still some cosmetic changes to make here and there (like getting the doors back on the stand), but I can finally relax some. Makes me happy!

How have you been lately? I've been so overwhelmed with everything...need to catch up with my friends!

I'm OK. We had a rough night with Dave's mom. She has remote doorbells on her bed so she can call us since she's bed bound. At 93 years old she's getting more confused and is starting to ring the bell in the night for no reason. We don't want her feeling abandoned but we need our sleep if we are going to keeping caring for her in our home. Right now Dave and I are taking turns getting up. Anyway, thanks for asking.

vlangel said:

I'm OK. We had a rough night with Dave's mom. She has remote doorbells on her bed so she can call us since she's bed bound. At 93 years old she's getting more confused and is starting to ring the bell in the night for no reason. We don't want her feeling abandoned but we need our sleep if we are going to keeping caring for her in our home. Right now Dave and I are taking turns getting up. Anyway, thanks for asking.

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It's not easy when they get up there, from what I've seen. :/
I can't wait till my mom gets old. @-@ She can't keep things straight as it is!

I don't know...maybe someone should just shoot me if I manage to survive that long. XD

Catch a wave/you'll be sittin' on top of the world....

Yes sir, that tank look like a fish's paradise! Very very nice.

Crazy little puffer. Kirby managed to get his fat little green butt over the overflow, through the baffles in the back (it's a modded all-in-one), and into and down one of my 1" standpipe-style overflows. He's been missing since this morning and we had almost completely given up on finding him (Mom and I were pretty sad) when he finally showed up, apparently unharmed, in the filter sock.

Eienna, a couple of my little fish were going through the teeth of my overflow and what I did was put an Aquaclear filter inside the overflow to block the teeth. Its worked well because they are so porous it doesn't slow the water at all.