spoon

this is a container above the main aquarium display into which water is pumped. when the water level reaches the top of the syphon tube a syphon begins and drains the container quickly creating a surge in the tank below . you can kind of time the surges by changing the amount of water pumping in but only to a certain extent - too much water and the syphon wont stop the water level will just go down then keep going up the syphon tube and not enough water and the syphon wont start but just trickle down the syphon tube. the other method of control is the size of the syphon tube the bigger the diameter the faster the surge and the smaller the longer the surge lasts but not as powerful also if you go too big the syphon may not start. The whole idea of it is that its meant to create a wave like surge which is beneficial to the reef environment a convenience of it is that it has no moving parts (aside from the pump used to fill it. for mine i used a 4.2 l klip klap container and drilled the bottom to take two bulkhead fittings one is a 15mm male with a standpipe slip-fitted (the green pipe in the photos) the other is a 20mm female fitting with a threaded pressure pipe adaptor a syphon u-tube is made from pressure pipe and nearly reaches the bottom of the container. in my design a third bulkhead fitting is used as an inlet for the pumped water although this is not necessary. the photos show the container draining then starting to fill back up i have this set up on my 5 ft african tank at the moment so it has little effect on the level of the water however in the sfter photos you can see the outlet pipe under water and the bubbles and ripples its making but the photos are not very good start +1 sec +2sec +3sec +4sec +5sec all drained! filling back up +10sec +20sec the pump filling it back up is a jebo cannister filter rated at 1100lph but its a lot less because of the media and also the height its pumping to. here is whats happening under the water the outlet is the black tube to the left of the wave maker it this photo the syphon is just starting here it is well under way i guess we are looking at the water level although its hard to see due to my excellent photography skills and dirty tank notice its way more rippled than before at the front pane of glass and again in this picture it does create some bubbles which some people may consider a eyesore in a reef environment to explain better how the whole thing works here is a link http://www.aquarium-design.com/reef/csm.html

heres my design now i finally figured out how to use sketch up roughly half is a fuge which can be fed via skimmer chamber (and out round hole or pumped in from the return chamber (thru the hole) and out into the skimmer chamber which ever is better or will work the bubble traps set the height about 30cm which is how deep my skimmer needs to be to operate properly - its a big skimmer its 500mm tall and will be plenty for this tank the return chamber is the small chamber with the hole drilled in the side constructive critisisim welcome if you feel i have left something out or haave something in there i dont need please let me know

more mechanical filtration and higher flow through filter then try finer filter material, there is stuff out there finer than filter wool but will clog easily so more maintianance then if its still not clear enough use carbon as well or even purigen

i got mine in a 34l but i have a sump that holds around 30l

thanks navarre i forgot about musgroves i got the melteca for my stand there really cheap

perhaps just a lil poly at the ends not the whole way across . the tank wont be that heavy its not like your filling it with water

that was my first idea however once the skimmer is in i dont have any room for much else and the skimmer working well depends on the water level being constant. thinking i may as well use all the availible space under cabinet and make a refugium as well

cost really id be keen to use perspex if i could find it cheap its a lot easier to work

im going to use this thread to detail how i build my sump , i have a cabinet-maker friend who can cut glass well and is prepared to help/teach me with that side of it . the first thing i need to do is get the glass The biggest panel will be the bottom its roughly 550x 450 so at a guess i can get the bits of glass i need as off cuts i was thinking 6mm as the sump has numerous divisions which will in effect brace it as well as half of the sump only being half full any way so first question is where to get cheap off cuts of 6mm glass in chch ?

some people also use a powerhead on a timer that comes on when the lights are out to drive out the excess co2 as its more likely to drop the ph when the plants arent using it up i.e. at night. however this can cause more problems as the ph can swing even more and a low but stable ph is better than a quick changing ph

if your prepared to do a bit of work to seal it mdf would be ok like said before its mainly the edges that sustain water damage you can paint them than sand and paint to get a smooth finish and use a decent solvent based spraypaint then you be ok but may end up costing a fair bit in spraypaint to get a good finish as im finding out with my stand im building that you seen in my garage. just to clarify about marine ply - people seem to think its more waterproof as its used for boat building but this is not the case it uses a different glue that will slip when steamed to allow the ply to be flexed for building hulls of boats it still needs to be sealed before exposure to water

thats good sketch up skills i just just black coreflute and black tape lol its worked alright so far but the downside is its proably not a lot cheaper and you can get a nicer finish with timber

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=39056&hilit=sweety big one really old though

owen elusive_fish has decided to go with tropical marines now but i must say your thread is very awesome , i have come across it before and its a very creative idea! is it still running?

i wish i could get out of here but we have too many animals to look after and are house sitting for the next 6 weeks i was seriously thinking about going to nelson to stay with my sister but the thought of the nelson hospital and how it sits on a fault line put me off

best deal ive got in a long time is my new tank its 2nd hand but has never been used 500mmcube came with overflow partition and return and drain holes drilled with hansen tank fittings and loc-line also a 150w MH unit with electronic ballast all for $160. but in saying that i havent been out to see nav in a while

just heard from lynnie , her and family are ok although she lost all her tanks and has water damage to her house from a burst water pipe

it has put power out at least in byndwyr poor john might be busy today i actually seen the tidal wave it creates in my big tank so scary

that was a good one just then

is the tank braced? bracing will increase the saftey factor

i cant help but feel that the media is pushing a worst case scenario in the updates but i guess its needed for some people just stop idiocy and complacency but i wiuh the news could be more positive as reading stuff like this is not helping my state of mind

its very sad that some people are taking advantadge of others misfortune at least they caught them. has anybody heard from lynnie im not sure if shes still out in darfeild or not?

im sure my flattie seen me starkers in the wardrobe doorway! needless to say i wore clothes to bed last night. i have an empty 200l tank here at home my old goldfish tank im happy to house fish displaced by earthquake i can set it up quickly too only thing is i dont have a heater that will heat it but im sure we can sort one out if its needed if this could help you out please ring me (tim) 3235221 if we arent home leave a msg with contact details

after shock as im typing this was a hell of a fright this morning we lost 2 tvs and heater that a tv fell on as well as pot plants and a liquour cabinet , no one was hurt and my fish tanks splashed a bit of water but are ok i was boiling water on the bbq to put in a coke bottle to float in my marine tank to keep the temp over 20 degs thbnk god the power has come back on. our driveway is cracked and the deck and concrete around the house is cracked and has moved 2 inches away from the house in parts my flatmate wernt for a drive to cheack on his friends house who was away for the weekend he said heaps of chimmneys were collapsed and gaps had opened up in peoples lawns and sand had spewed out

if you got a nac 6 this may help http://www.fish-street.com/downloads/nac6a.pdf