elusive_fish

This ply looks pretty cool... would it be suitable? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-renovation/Building-supplies/Panels-boards/Plywood/auction-315844549.htm

Sorry for all the dumb questions, im no woodworker! re: hinges Would one side of the hinge be on the inside of the side panel, in the 20mm sticking out from the steel leg? The other on the back of the door? Could I get away with less than 17mm ply? Thats some pretty substantial stuff considering its not load bearing. Or is the thickness really around having enough screw depth for hinges etc?

I still have trouble understanding how the door will hinge. If i use my sketch up design, i take it the doors would close between the strips, so that they are flush with them? Wouldnt it be better to have the doors closing on to wooden surrounds? Im just worried that if go for a nice tight gap between the door and the surrounding wood, id have trouble closing the doors, especially if the hinges sag.

Is this sorta what you mean? (shown without shelf, back panel or doors?) Screwing into the legs wont compromise the strength too much? So I use a 20mm 'overhang' for 17mm ply?

So would the doors close against the steel frame, or close on to the strip across the top? At the back, would the side panel also stick out 20mm from the frame, with the rear panel fitting in between the two side panels? Given that the panels are not at all load bearing, would it be possible/sensible to glue them to the outside of the steel frame?

The stand is welded 25mm box section steel. Functional, but ugly. I'd imagine that the steel horizontal members near the floor would become a shelf for my sump. I just need to figure out the best way to 'wall in' the stand, and create a couple of doors for sump access.

I'm in the process of chaning my tank from fresh to marine, including a sump. While I have everything empty and disassembled I figured i'd turn my boring black welded steel stand into a cabinet of some sort. That way it will hide the sump and plumbing, and making it look more like a piece of furniture. The obvious material choices are MDF or marine ply. I really have no idea what to use or what the design should look like. Anyone done anything similar and can post photos or make suggestions?

Ha, nice shameless plug

Before I do anything permanent I thought it best to post my design on here for comment. The idea is to have 1 bulkhead carrying the entire flow in syphon, under normal conditions. The other is just a reserve that only comes in to play in blockages or if the calibration of the syphon is out from the flow the pump. The key to keeping the system quiet will be adjusting the gate valve correctly so that the net flow out of the tanks is 0. To keep things simple, the overflow will be made by one piece of glass siliconed into the tank on a 45 degree. Its length is about 35cm and about 42cm high. In the overflow area 2 x 32mm holes will be drilled for 25mm bulk heads, as seen in the plan view below: Bulkhead/standpipe 1 (left): this is the back up pipe, height of about 40 cm (a couple cm below the main tank water level). Will only operate if bulkhead 2 is blocked, or if the valve on #2 is not open enough. Bulkhead 2: No standpipe. Will operate as a syphon. Gate valve installed directly under bulkhead for best control on water flow. I figured i dont really need to put a standpipe on this, as the total volume of the overflow is only 13L - even if this whole area drained, it wouldnt be too hard to accomodate that extra water in the sump. Is this looking good? Yes, I realise I haven't depicted how i will be getting water back from the sump to the tank. I figured this part is relatively simple and will just be a pump with flexible tubing going into the top of the tank in the opposite corner to the overflow. Having a project is such a nice distraction from waiting for aftershocks.

Get on to facebook and chat with me then

Only 5.2 it turns out... but this one seems worse and is still going! argh!

now THAT was a big aftershock

Well, the local tank builders are too busy and given the local earthquake im pretty sure no glazier will want to help me at this stage. DIY it is. The only real concern I have is the structural integrity of the tank. It's only 45cm tall, but all the glass appears to be 6mm (safety factor just over 2 on the calculator on this site). The base appears to be the same. If I put a couple of 35mm holes in one corner of the bottom pane, is it going to have a detrimental impact on the tank strength? Underneath is the usal poly sheet, and a couple of strips of mdf to distribute the load to the outside (its sitting on a steel frame)

Oh come on! how could he have not noticed?

Its nothing compared to what others are going through, but i recently rehomed my fish with a friend as im changing to a marine set up. She is over on the west coast as her mum has days left to live. She still does not have any power and its going to be a long, cold night. Her partner cant even leave his house to help as he is a volunteer fire fighter and needs to stay close for call outs. Im thinking about trying to get some warm water (not that we have much ourselves, with the power being out a lot of teh day), going to he partners house, getting the keys and trying to save her/my fish! But im starting to wonder what a couple of bottles with warm water would actually achieve with a 240L tank Damn. I feel bad about the fish, but i cant even imagine my friend coming home from her mum dying to find a tank full of dead fish at home

I LOL'ed at this bit, thinking "man, I didnt think it was THAT powerful"

Fortunately for me, my 4ft was only half full with everything off (just sold my last fish to change to marine tank) The aftershocks just still keep on coming. And to add insult to injury, the idea of having gail force winds blowing on some buildings that are already weakened is pretty scary.

How come you're such a jager meister?

How about the weipro you are after for less than $50 shipped? http://www.fish-street.com/weipro_mx1022_300w_ic_heater_for_aquarium?category_id=115

Thanks for all the input. Another question for the fine folk here: My tank is 45cm high. How high should the overflow glass be? And if I am running a 'herbie' how long should the standpipes be? I'm pretty slow picking up on the concepts, but it sounds like I want one pipe to be running entirely submerged, handling the water flow in a syphon so that its silent. The other I should have somewhere between the top of the overflow level and the water level ie out of he water, but would come into play if the level was raised?

I'll ask a couple local tank makers what it would cost for them to modify my tank, but I'm pretty confident I could handle the DIY if need be. So do most of you run a second pipe for blockage reasons? I thought about doing one full syphon with a back up durso, but is it really necessary?

Here is another good example of 'what not to do': http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Fish-tanks-aquariums/auction-314375452.htm

Thanks for the help. I see 35mm diamond coated drill bits on trademe for a reasonable price. It sounds like 25mm fittings will do me well. Spoon was kind enough to give me a tutorial on glass drilling and give me a 25mm bit and piece of glass to practice on, so hopefully it will help me gain some confidence to do it on the real deal :roll: So what are your preferences on standpipes? 1 or 2? full syphon/durso/some other thing? The downside to a triangular overflow is that it wont give me as much room for multiple holes - what is the mimimum safe distance between holes?

Hi, I'm changing my tank over to marine and while it's empty I'm going to drill/plumb it for a sump. I'm still pretty new to the ideas involved with sump design, so can you guys tell me if im on the right track? My tank is a standard 4ft. I'm starting a low stocked FOWLR, and will add a skimmer at at later date (money pending!). I dont plan on having a large flow through the sump (only like 1000-1200 L), but provide flow through wavemakers instead. A rubber main is going to be the temporary sump until I get more sophisticated. To keep things simple, I may just silicone single piece of glass across at a 45 degree on one corner, making a triangular overflow. I still don't know what to do about the holes. I plan on having two stand pipes (type to be determined) for safety purposes and dont know what size holes to drill - or the appropriate sized bulk heads. I dont plan on drilling the tank for the pipe leading back from the pump in the sump, but just use elbows and put it over the top of the tank.

OK Thanks again Suphew, another good explanation. For someone like me, who will be doing a lightly stocked FOWLR and no protein skimmer to begin with, would I be better to keep the cannister filter going, or just remove it from the system and rely on cycled rock and power heads to move water?