kevgib67
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My Tank Thread
My Aquarium Showcase
Wow, now that is a serious build thread. Well done, sticking around to see it fill up!
My 350G through-wall tank
- Build Thread
- Thread starter spacedcowboy
- Start date
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24gallonstofreedom
New Member
Epic! Can't wait to see this one unfold
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Tanks for the memory
So while the builders were getting on with their side of the plan, I started to organise the NSW and RODI storage... As I've mentioned (and you can see from the previous pictures) there's just nowhere to store the water at the end of the house where the tank is, so I had the plumber run 1" piping all the way from the far end of the house to the fish "room", ending in standpipes so I just needed to put hoses in the pipes and pump...
So then I needed some tanks for the NSW at the other end. I bought 2x300G tanks, and put them side by side, plumbed in so that I could source the NSW standpipe from either by turning a ball-valve or 2. That means I can run off one while I'm preparing the next and there's no down-time for NSW to mix etc.
The tanks arrived as white plastic, but since they're outside, I painted them both black...
before putting them into position at the side of the house. To further reduce any algae growth, and protect the tank entry at the top, I bought some UV-blocking tarps and weights so they're completely covered but still remain easy to access.
The RODI tank is also at the far end of the house, though this is a smaller 100G tank - I really only use it for top-off. The NSW I use quite a bit of, because the target is 5-10% water changes per week.
So while the builders were getting on with their side of the plan, I started to organise the NSW and RODI storage... As I've mentioned (and you can see from the previous pictures) there's just nowhere to store the water at the end of the house where the tank is, so I had the plumber run 1" piping all the way from the far end of the house to the fish "room", ending in standpipes so I just needed to put hoses in the pipes and pump...
So then I needed some tanks for the NSW at the other end. I bought 2x300G tanks, and put them side by side, plumbed in so that I could source the NSW standpipe from either by turning a ball-valve or 2. That means I can run off one while I'm preparing the next and there's no down-time for NSW to mix etc.
The tanks arrived as white plastic, but since they're outside, I painted them both black...
before putting them into position at the side of the house. To further reduce any algae growth, and protect the tank entry at the top, I bought some UV-blocking tarps and weights so they're completely covered but still remain easy to access.
The RODI tank is also at the far end of the house, though this is a smaller 100G tank - I really only use it for top-off. The NSW I use quite a bit of, because the target is 5-10% water changes per week.
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Let there be light! (er, part 2)
So one of the things I wanted was some flexibility in how the lighting was going to be arranged. The aquascape I have in mind calls for pillars of rock, and if I ever do come up with some way of having the moving background, it will have those pillars replicated back into the distance to give the illusion of depth.
So I bought some 80/20 for structure, cut it to length, tapped out the screw-holes for the corner parts, and also bought some steel mesh, some magnetic hooks, some eye bolts and some carabiners.
I used the 80/20 to surround the metal mesh, and attached it using screws into the U-channel on the underneath of the 80/20 - making sure the 80/20 covered the sharp edges of the mesh. Each mesh piece was 2' x 3' so I used up 2 full panels, one at each end, and filled out the space in the middle with part of another...
I then put the eye-bolts into the same side of the 80/20, which gave me a solid construction of eye-bolt -> 80/20 -> steel mesh.
Next I fastened some 80/20 to the ceiling (the sort of thing you can do in a fish-room that isn't really on in a living room, I guess), to provide somewhere to hang it from. You can only see one side of the support-brackets underneath the roof attachments here, but it's supported on both sides, as well as being bolted into the roof braces.
... and finally, the magnetic hooks attach to the steel mesh (and can be moved at will, with some effort). Each hook can support 100 lbs, or so they claim - in any case far and above what is required for a light fixture. The shelf then doubles as a nice place to put any power supplies that are needed for the lighting...
Here it is with the Kessel Tuna-blues installed, positioned to shine down directly onto the rock pillars, and if I'm working in the tank, it's a relatively easy thing to just detach the light(s) in the way, and move them (with a solid thunk on re-attaching) somewhere else temporarily... If I really need to get it out of the way, the whole thing slides over until none of it is actually over the tank - this hasn't been necessary so far, though.
These days it's a *little* more crowded up there, with 3 of the Neptune Sky lighting fixtures in the mix, but it works just as well. The lighting is pretty much sorted now, as far as I'm concerned. Magnets rock!
So one of the things I wanted was some flexibility in how the lighting was going to be arranged. The aquascape I have in mind calls for pillars of rock, and if I ever do come up with some way of having the moving background, it will have those pillars replicated back into the distance to give the illusion of depth.
So I bought some 80/20 for structure, cut it to length, tapped out the screw-holes for the corner parts, and also bought some steel mesh, some magnetic hooks, some eye bolts and some carabiners.
I used the 80/20 to surround the metal mesh, and attached it using screws into the U-channel on the underneath of the 80/20 - making sure the 80/20 covered the sharp edges of the mesh. Each mesh piece was 2' x 3' so I used up 2 full panels, one at each end, and filled out the space in the middle with part of another...
I then put the eye-bolts into the same side of the 80/20, which gave me a solid construction of eye-bolt -> 80/20 -> steel mesh.
Next I fastened some 80/20 to the ceiling (the sort of thing you can do in a fish-room that isn't really on in a living room, I guess), to provide somewhere to hang it from. You can only see one side of the support-brackets underneath the roof attachments here, but it's supported on both sides, as well as being bolted into the roof braces.
... and finally, the magnetic hooks attach to the steel mesh (and can be moved at will, with some effort). Each hook can support 100 lbs, or so they claim - in any case far and above what is required for a light fixture. The shelf then doubles as a nice place to put any power supplies that are needed for the lighting...
Here it is with the Kessel Tuna-blues installed, positioned to shine down directly onto the rock pillars, and if I'm working in the tank, it's a relatively easy thing to just detach the light(s) in the way, and move them (with a solid thunk on re-attaching) somewhere else temporarily... If I really need to get it out of the way, the whole thing slides over until none of it is actually over the tank - this hasn't been necessary so far, though.
These days it's a *little* more crowded up there, with 3 of the Neptune Sky lighting fixtures in the mix, but it works just as well. The lighting is pretty much sorted now, as far as I'm concerned. Magnets rock!
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Thank you for the kind words - and welcome to the thread
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Plumbing Pawn
(You know the word I mean. Apparently verboten...)
So with the lights out of the way, it was time to link up the tank's water circuit. Starting at the bottom, we have two Reeflo pumps, only one of which is active at once. The idea here was that if a return pump broke, I could just switch in the other one, and repair/replace the faulty one at leisure, rather than entering "headless chicken" mode because my return wasn't working...
As it turns out, Reeflo pumps are quietly awesome, and they haven't broken down. So I just alternate every 6 months or so anyway to show then who's boss; and to make sure they don't seize up or something
To the left, we have the utility taps, there's 3 of these that let me tap off a supply from the return-pump for media reactors. or whatever....
and to the right we have the return-to-the-display-tank route, as well as a 50W High-Output UV system... There's a flow-meter mounted on the UV side, so I can make sure that I'm only pushing 4G/min through it, which is (according to the fine manual) sufficient for ich-removal even when the tube is close to EOL. In normal use, I run it faster and get the benefit of water-polishing, but it's nice to know it's there if I need it...
Finally, the water is pushed up over the top of the tank and some loc-line is used to spray it around the place. Since loc-line leaks, it's only used where it will drip down into the tank anyway
You can also see the Gyres (one at each end in fact) ready for the water to be added in, and the raceway at the back where the main tank overflows and leads to the Bean Animal return system at the far end.
The Bean Animal return has a totally submerged 1.5" pipe, a partially submerged 1.5" pipe, and a totally dry 1.5" pipe, and the water level is set such that most of the water goes down the totally submerged route, with a small amount going down the partially submerged route (though not enough to cause noisy turbulent flow) and a failsafe 1.5" pipe that can cope with the demand if either one (or both) of the other two are blocked somehow,
And that's it. I have in fact slightly modified the pipes since they were initially installed - there's a ball valve on the totally submerged (closest pipe in the photo) now to help control the levels, and the plumbing inside the raceway is a little simpler - the fully-submerged drain is simply open at the bulkhead, the dry pipe (the middle one in the photo) is also just open, but at the higher level (still below the raceway height, of course) to keep it dry, and the partially submerged pipe just has a 90-degree angle on it to help prevent whirlpools forming and noise being made. Substantially, it's the same as the above though.
(You know the word I mean. Apparently verboten...)
So with the lights out of the way, it was time to link up the tank's water circuit. Starting at the bottom, we have two Reeflo pumps, only one of which is active at once. The idea here was that if a return pump broke, I could just switch in the other one, and repair/replace the faulty one at leisure, rather than entering "headless chicken" mode because my return wasn't working...
As it turns out, Reeflo pumps are quietly awesome, and they haven't broken down. So I just alternate every 6 months or so anyway to show then who's boss; and to make sure they don't seize up or something
To the left, we have the utility taps, there's 3 of these that let me tap off a supply from the return-pump for media reactors. or whatever....
and to the right we have the return-to-the-display-tank route, as well as a 50W High-Output UV system... There's a flow-meter mounted on the UV side, so I can make sure that I'm only pushing 4G/min through it, which is (according to the fine manual) sufficient for ich-removal even when the tube is close to EOL. In normal use, I run it faster and get the benefit of water-polishing, but it's nice to know it's there if I need it...
Finally, the water is pushed up over the top of the tank and some loc-line is used to spray it around the place. Since loc-line leaks, it's only used where it will drip down into the tank anyway
You can also see the Gyres (one at each end in fact) ready for the water to be added in, and the raceway at the back where the main tank overflows and leads to the Bean Animal return system at the far end.
The Bean Animal return has a totally submerged 1.5" pipe, a partially submerged 1.5" pipe, and a totally dry 1.5" pipe, and the water level is set such that most of the water goes down the totally submerged route, with a small amount going down the partially submerged route (though not enough to cause noisy turbulent flow) and a failsafe 1.5" pipe that can cope with the demand if either one (or both) of the other two are blocked somehow,
And that's it. I have in fact slightly modified the pipes since they were initially installed - there's a ball valve on the totally submerged (closest pipe in the photo) now to help control the levels, and the plumbing inside the raceway is a little simpler - the fully-submerged drain is simply open at the bulkhead, the dry pipe (the middle one in the photo) is also just open, but at the higher level (still below the raceway height, of course) to keep it dry, and the partially submerged pipe just has a 90-degree angle on it to help prevent whirlpools forming and noise being made. Substantially, it's the same as the above though.
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
You Lift Me Up!
One of the things I've referred to previously is that the back of the tank isn't very deep. I knew I had to come up with a good way to get into the tank from the start - the front was not going to be available, so the back was the only viable route...
The plan was to get a lift-table, which would raise me up by ~4' or so, and give me the freedom to lean over the tank, bracing myself against the wall above the front of the tank, and simply reach down in. This way I'm only reaching down, not trying to reach across and down. It's still a bit of a stretch (the tank is almost 3' deep and my arms are more like 2' long but there's a 6" sand bed, and I can dip a shoulder if it's really needed.
So I started looking at what appeared when type "lift table" into google - I had some other requirements as well. It would likely be just me in there, so it had to be possible to raise myself up and (crucially) lower myself down once in the raised position. That ruled out most of the manual lift-tables because they depended on a hydraulic pump at the side - designed for the user standing next to the table, not on top of it. So a powered lift-table seemed to be the way to go...
I also had size restrictions at the back. I'd allowed 25" behind the tank (specifically 25" because I did all this looking around in the planning stages, and found an answer that worked with a 24" wide table [grin]). The standard tables were looking at ~ $2k and upwards.
I did look into building one with 80/20 and a linear actuator, but that was still several hundred, and although I'd probably eventually get it working, it might take a few iterations (at quite some cost per iteration). But then I realised I'd been looking at the solution every time I took my 200 lb Newfie to the vet for grooming... Dog-grooming tables are designed to take my weight, they are powered, and the up/down is usually a foot-switch on a remote-control on a coiled wire. Here's what I got:
... and here it is, almost fully extended upwards...
Notice the black rocker-switch which can let me raise/lower it, even when actually standing/kneeling 4' up in the air. The table I got is exactly 23.5" wide, which just fits with enough left over to prevent rubbing/scraping. There are a variety of them offered, and they typically come in at or around $500.
One of the things I've referred to previously is that the back of the tank isn't very deep. I knew I had to come up with a good way to get into the tank from the start - the front was not going to be available, so the back was the only viable route...
The plan was to get a lift-table, which would raise me up by ~4' or so, and give me the freedom to lean over the tank, bracing myself against the wall above the front of the tank, and simply reach down in. This way I'm only reaching down, not trying to reach across and down. It's still a bit of a stretch (the tank is almost 3' deep and my arms are more like 2' long but there's a 6" sand bed, and I can dip a shoulder if it's really needed.
So I started looking at what appeared when type "lift table" into google - I had some other requirements as well. It would likely be just me in there, so it had to be possible to raise myself up and (crucially) lower myself down once in the raised position. That ruled out most of the manual lift-tables because they depended on a hydraulic pump at the side - designed for the user standing next to the table, not on top of it. So a powered lift-table seemed to be the way to go...
I also had size restrictions at the back. I'd allowed 25" behind the tank (specifically 25" because I did all this looking around in the planning stages, and found an answer that worked with a 24" wide table [grin]). The standard tables were looking at ~ $2k and upwards.
I did look into building one with 80/20 and a linear actuator, but that was still several hundred, and although I'd probably eventually get it working, it might take a few iterations (at quite some cost per iteration). But then I realised I'd been looking at the solution every time I took my 200 lb Newfie to the vet for grooming... Dog-grooming tables are designed to take my weight, they are powered, and the up/down is usually a foot-switch on a remote-control on a coiled wire. Here's what I got:
... and here it is, almost fully extended upwards...
Notice the black rocker-switch which can let me raise/lower it, even when actually standing/kneeling 4' up in the air. The table I got is exactly 23.5" wide, which just fits with enough left over to prevent rubbing/scraping. There are a variety of them offered, and they typically come in at or around $500.
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Looks amazing! excited to follow along. I would be cautious of the Reeflo pump sitting dormant if you can make sure no water is in the flute of the dormant pump, had a similar setup with 2 barracuda hammerheads and one was sitting dormant as an emergency and they both ended up rusting out but the dormant ones shaft was destroyed to the point of no return.You Lift Me Up!
One of the things I've referred to previously is that the back of the tank isn't very deep. I knew I had to come up with a good way to get into the tank from the start - the front was not going to be available, so the back was the only viable route...
The plan was to get a lift-table, which would raise me up by ~4' or so, and give me the freedom to lean over the tank, bracing myself against the wall above the front of the tank, and simply reach down in. This way I'm only reaching down, not trying to reach across and down. It's still a bit of a stretch (the tank is almost 3' deep and my arms are more like 2' long but there's a 6" sand bed, and I can dip a shoulder if it's really needed.
So I started looking at what appeared when type "lift table" into google - I had some other requirements as well. It would likely be just me in there, so it had to be possible to raise myself up and (crucially) lower myself down once in the raised position. That ruled out most of the manual lift-tables because they depended on a hydraulic pump at the side - designed for the user standing next to the table, not on top of it. So a powered lift-table seemed to be the way to go...
I also had size restrictions at the back. I'd allowed 25" behind the tank (specifically 25" because I did all this looking around in the planning stages, and found an answer that worked with a 24" wide table [grin]). The standard tables were looking at ~ $2k and upwards.
I did look into building one with 80/20 and a linear actuator, but that was still several hundred, and although I'd probably eventually get it working, it might take a few iterations (at quite some cost per iteration). But then I realised I'd been looking at the solution every time I took my 200 lb Newfie to the vet for grooming... Dog-grooming tables are designed to take my weight, they are powered, and the up/down is usually a foot-switch on a remote-control on a coiled wire. Here's what I got:
... and here it is, almost fully extended upwards...
Notice the black rocker-switch which can let me raise/lower it, even when actually standing/kneeling 4' up in the air. The table I got is exactly 23.5" wide, which just fits with enough left over to prevent rubbing/scraping. There are a variety of them offered, and they typically come in at or around $500.
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Wet Wet Wet
So the day has finally dawned when we get to put water into the tank. I live in the Bay Area, and there's a guy called Bob (who I have sadly lost touch with ) that gets seawater from a pipe into the bay at Half Moon Bay, filters it through a whole bunch of sand filters, and transports it to the LFS around the area. I managed to get in on his delivery schedule, and he turned up with 800G of saltwater - 350 for the tank, 50 for the sump, and a several hundred for the NSW tanks at the other end of the house.
So instead of making new NSW and slowly pumping it in, it entered as a torrent of water, we filled the tank in about 30 minutes. Here it is starting to fill...
and from the other side as quickly as I could run around...
Approximately 20 mins later...
And finally it was starting to overflow. Nervous moments for the plumbing crew...
But fortunately it all held up, and the pumps could both (separately) pump water up and over, and have it cascade down again into the sump without any leaks Phew!
So the day has finally dawned when we get to put water into the tank. I live in the Bay Area, and there's a guy called Bob (who I have sadly lost touch with
) that gets seawater from a pipe into the bay at Half Moon Bay, filters it through a whole bunch of sand filters, and transports it to the LFS around the area. I managed to get in on his delivery schedule, and he turned up with 800G of saltwater - 350 for the tank, 50 for the sump, and a several hundred for the NSW tanks at the other end of the house.So instead of making new NSW and slowly pumping it in, it entered as a torrent of water, we filled the tank in about 30 minutes. Here it is starting to fill...
and from the other side as quickly as I could run around...
Approximately 20 mins later...
And finally it was starting to overflow. Nervous moments for the plumbing crew...
But fortunately it all held up, and the pumps could both (separately) pump water up and over, and have it cascade down again into the sump without any leaks
Phew!
Love bob! he's filled up a few tanks for me as well! Score on no leaks first time around!Wet Wet Wet
So the day has finally dawned when we get to put water into the tank. I live in the Bay Area, and there's a guy called Bob (who I have sadly lost touch with
So instead of making new NSW and slowly pumping it in, it entered as a torrent of water, we filled the tank in about 30 minutes. Here it is starting to fill...
and from the other side as quickly as I could run around...
Approximately 20 mins later...
And finally it was starting to overflow. Nervous moments for the plumbing crew...
But fortunately it all held up, and the pumps could both (separately) pump water up and over, and have it cascade down again into the sump without any leaks
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Yeah, I was a little afraid of that so thanks for the warning... I do switch between them every 6 months or so (whenever I remember, but it's usually there or thereabouts) and so far, so good. There's a spare (never-used, dry) one sitting in the attic where I keep all the fish stuff, ready to swap in if I see something I don't like...
Yeah as long as you have a spare dry one somewhere. Just don’t want you to have one fail and go to turn on the second pump only to have it fail as well. Found some pictures of the rusted-out one. I was an idiot and should have put a valve before the inlet side of the pump
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Well, I do have the valve, but it's not dry inside the pump, so it's not helping me very much in that regard. I really just put it in there to make swapping them easier
After seeing the above, I'm thinking I might disconnect the inactive one tomorrow and have a little look-see... Thanks again
[edit: After searching high and low, I can't find my pipe-dope to re-plumb in the pump (or it's replacement) after taking it out. I've ordered some more, but it'll arrive Sunday, so I guess I wait until then...]
After seeing the above, I'm thinking I might disconnect the inactive one tomorrow and have a little look-see... Thanks again
[edit: After searching high and low, I can't find my pipe-dope to re-plumb in the pump (or it's replacement) after taking it out. I've ordered some more, but it'll arrive Sunday, so I guess I wait until then...]
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Off To A Rocky Start...
So with the water in, it was time to start the tank cycling. Still not wanting to rule out the idea of a video-wall background, so the theme is pillars of rock (which gives plenty of swimming room), with one of them fallen over at the front. If I ever do get the video wall up and running, I can then have more "pillars" for the virtual fish to swim around.
I put down some egg-crate to protect the bottom of the tank, and then put about 5-6" of sand on top of that. The pillars are supported by drilling holes in the rock, and placing them on 3/4" piping, which itself is on the egg crate - at least that was the plan. Sometimes it was hard to get everything placed just-so, but we ended up with something like (sans lighting when I took the photo) ...
And when the last piece went in:
One more detail on the inside of the fish "room" - I wanted a nice place to put the various controllers etc. So with a bit of help from the CNC machine, more 80/20 and some stain, I came up with the below.
In this case the left-hand one (I made one for each side of the tank) had the Genesis Systems Storm/Renew installed (and 2 very fast - and loud - peristaltic pumps so I could get 1 gallon into the bucket in under a minute).
So with the water in, it was time to start the tank cycling. Still not wanting to rule out the idea of a video-wall background, so the theme is pillars of rock (which gives plenty of swimming room), with one of them fallen over at the front. If I ever do get the video wall up and running, I can then have more "pillars" for the virtual fish to swim around.
I put down some egg-crate to protect the bottom of the tank, and then put about 5-6" of sand on top of that. The pillars are supported by drilling holes in the rock, and placing them on 3/4" piping, which itself is on the egg crate - at least that was the plan. Sometimes it was hard to get everything placed just-so, but we ended up with something like (sans lighting when I took the photo) ...
And when the last piece went in:
One more detail on the inside of the fish "room" - I wanted a nice place to put the various controllers etc. So with a bit of help from the CNC machine, more 80/20 and some stain, I came up with the below.
In this case the left-hand one (I made one for each side of the tank) had the Genesis Systems Storm/Renew installed (and 2 very fast - and loud - peristaltic pumps so I could get 1 gallon into the bucket in under a minute).
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Level Sensing for fun and profit
So as I've mentioned, the water tanks are at the other end of the house. It's only a little way away (70' or so) but it's weird how quickly "out of sight" can transition to "out of mind". I wanted to keep a figurative eye on how much water I had left in the currently-active tank, so I knew when to switch to the other...
I used to use a rod with a bunch of float-switches to give me a rough-and-ready idea of when I needed to fill up a tank, but BRS introduced their LLS sensors which can read out the depth to a high degree of accuracy. The problem was mounting them in a 300-gallon tank...
So here's my answer:
The 3D design is on TinkerCad here - just "Tinker" it, and export to STL on the right, which will download the STL file to your computer. Slice the STL using your favourite slicing software, print it, and the LLS will slide right into it. Drill a 1.5" hole in the top of the tank with a spade or Forstner bit, and the inner "plug" will slide into that in turn. Makes it a breeze to mount to the top of a tank, where there's a flat surface.
And then plug it all into an FMM module, and you get a nice constantly-updated reading of the depth of the tank - and you can even see the trend line to predict when you need to do something about it...
So as I've mentioned, the water tanks are at the other end of the house. It's only a little way away (70' or so) but it's weird how quickly "out of sight" can transition to "out of mind". I wanted to keep a figurative eye on how much water I had left in the currently-active tank, so I knew when to switch to the other...
I used to use a rod with a bunch of float-switches to give me a rough-and-ready idea of when I needed to fill up a tank, but BRS introduced their LLS sensors which can read out the depth to a high degree of accuracy. The problem was mounting them in a 300-gallon tank...
So here's my answer:
And then plug it all into an FMM module, and you get a nice constantly-updated reading of the depth of the tank - and you can even see the trend line to predict when you need to do something about it...
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spacedcowboy
Community Member
Let there be limited light
So since my tank has a see-through back and sides, controlling the light pollution behind it is a big deal. On the other hand, I do want some cheato tumbling in the sump, both for nitrate/phosphate take-up, and also to help balance the pH in the evening.
So I was looking at ways of doing it - tumbling the chaeto in the sump is a good idea, but a lot of the sump is taken up with the skimmer, and the remaining section is where the return pumps feed from - I don't want the chaeto to be sucked into one of those pipes...
I found the below on Thingiverse...
... which seemed appropriately sized - it's about 8" across (roughly a cube) - for the width and height, but my sump-level is a bit higher than 8" on a normal basis, and around 13" when the feed-cycle engages and the return pumps turn off.
So I played around in Tinkercad again, and came up with a "hat" for the above, which slots on top and extends it upwards. It looks like (orientated upside-down for easier printing):
Once positioned on top, using the flange around the base, it has a cut-out which is the correct size for a BRS "GRO" regugium light. The entire thing is about 17" tall, so there's no danger of the light being submerged once the feed-cycle starts, and the weight of the plastic + the weight of the GRO is sufficient to keep it from floating due to the air trapped inside the walls.
To be absolutely sure about that, I also bought a rubberized "ruck plate" which has a slot in it that neatly surrounds the handle of the GRO, and 10lbs of weight means that structure isn't going anywhere. To be absolutely sure the ruck plate wasn't going to corrode, I also put a plastic zip-lock around it
I printed it all out, put it into the sump, switched it on, and the light level from the GRO was much much reduced compared to just having it suspended above the tank on the pipe-mount (and to be honest, that flexible mount thing they give you doesn't seem to be able to support the weight of the LEDs anyway)...
So since my tank has a see-through back and sides, controlling the light pollution behind it is a big deal. On the other hand, I do want some cheato tumbling in the sump, both for nitrate/phosphate take-up, and also to help balance the pH in the evening.
So I was looking at ways of doing it - tumbling the chaeto in the sump is a good idea, but a lot of the sump is taken up with the skimmer, and the remaining section is where the return pumps feed from - I don't want the chaeto to be sucked into one of those pipes...
I found the below on Thingiverse...
... which seemed appropriately sized - it's about 8" across (roughly a cube) - for the width and height, but my sump-level is a bit higher than 8" on a normal basis, and around 13" when the feed-cycle engages and the return pumps turn off.
So I played around in Tinkercad again, and came up with a "hat" for the above, which slots on top and extends it upwards. It looks like (orientated upside-down for easier printing):
Once positioned on top, using the flange around the base, it has a cut-out which is the correct size for a BRS "GRO" regugium light. The entire thing is about 17" tall, so there's no danger of the light being submerged once the feed-cycle starts, and the weight of the plastic + the weight of the GRO is sufficient to keep it from floating due to the air trapped inside the walls.
To be absolutely sure about that, I also bought a rubberized "ruck plate" which has a slot in it that neatly surrounds the handle of the GRO, and 10lbs of weight means that structure isn't going anywhere. To be absolutely sure the ruck plate wasn't going to corrode, I also put a plastic zip-lock around it
I printed it all out, put it into the sump, switched it on, and the light level from the GRO was much much reduced compared to just having it suspended above the tank on the pipe-mount (and to be honest, that flexible mount thing they give you doesn't seem to be able to support the weight of the LEDs anyway)...
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