How to use acrylic rods

People often ask me the best way to create bommies, so here goes;

+ Get a drill and 10mm masonary drill bit
+ Purchase 10mm diameter perspex rods (clear is better) off ebay
+ start each column with a large flat peice of rock - chisel it or sand it if you need to!
+ place rock on a peice of wood, ensure the drill is at a right angle when drilling the first pilot hole (about 2" into the top of the rock)
+ decide how hight you want the column and cut the rod using a hacksaw
+ insert rod into pilot hole
+ drill the next few peices of rock all the way through and slot onto rod
+ place the whole structure back in the tank

Stats and Full Tank Shot

Bit more info about the set up.

Lighting

Main tank is lit by a twin 150w Geissmann halide pendant with 2 actinic. The halides are on for 8 hours and the actinic for 14 hours.
I'm using 14,000 Kelvin bulbs (non branded)with normal light spectrum.
The sump is lit for 16 hours by single 100w household bulb - the macro algae likes this and even zoa's are growing! (I have subsequently installed an ARCPOD using 11w bulbs to save energy)

Water

Water is pushed round the tank in a number of ways and I believe this is critical to a quality setup. My old tank had dead spots and always got cyano build up in these areas. The main tank has two weirs at the back corners which ensure there is no surface scum to block the light. The water travels down the two waste pipes and enters the sump via a T joint. The sump return pump is rated at 3600 litres per hour so actual throughput is probably around 1500 litres due to head hight loss. This equates to four times the tank volume.
The first part of the water treatment is skimming, I'm using a V2 400 skimmer which does a very nice job removing the proteins. Water then passes through a live rock rubble section for additional filtration. The final cleansing section is the refugium, where excess phosphates are removed.

There are four BOYU powerheads in the main tank rigged up to a wave maker which ensures a good random flow. Each powerhead is rated at 5,000 litres per hour but only two are on at any one time. Therefore total 'flow' is around 12,000 litres per hour (sump return and powerheads)

FTS (Sept 09)

Hole in the wall

Following a succesfull switch over of the inhabitants, its was time to start enclosing the structure and get those sleek lines I envisaged.

I got the MDF pre cut in two parts and then joined together on site. I cut the side pannel to fit. I also got the woodshop to cut me the access pannels which 'should' be flush.


Almost there




Looking sleek


The four powerheads are now in place and connected to the wavemaker unit. This is a BOYU WM-3 wavemaker unit & I am very pleased with the turbulence it creates. Considering its costs less than £100, I can put up with the ugly heads!

Slightly green tinge to this picture - I think there was a mini algae bloom!

Moving home.....

Moving time July 09

With the sump running, it was time to move the liverock from the old tank.


(thats the Wife and my little girl) I went for the three towers approach for something a bit different and to give me scope for the future. This was achieved by using 10mm clear acrylic rods. I drilled each piece of LR using a 10mm masonary drill and used a large flat bit of LR as the base of each column. The beauty of this approach is you can then add 'spurs' of LR off the main column using the rods like bits of dowling. No milliput was harmed during the making of this structure!



My big clown asked for a quick look round the new home and signed off on health & safety.

It's a setup!

Sump Design
Sump is an old 3 foot tank and uses acrylic dividers which I cut and glued in place.
I went for a four chamber design with the first chamber being the return from main tank. I also sited the skimmer and heater here. Second chamber is the live rock rubble for extra denitrifing. The water enters at the top and then out through the bottom into the next chamber - the refugium. This has a two inch base of reef bones (later converted into DSB) and Caulerpa for phosphate removal. The water then enters the fourth and final chamber via overflow where it is returned to the main tank using a RIO pump (3000+ litres per hour)




Nice & dirty! Picture taken just after start up.



Slightly later pic




Here you can see three types of macro algae in the refugium

In the beginning

I've been into fish for longer than i care to remember and started (as many do) with tropicals. Two years ago I got into marine's and purchased a four foot Rena bow fronted tank. After a while this became limiting and difficult to maintain without a sump and proper skimmer etc etc. I was also not very happy with the overall look of the tank and cabinet, I really wanted something more sleek.............
Planning
In May 2009 I started researching how to acheive this goal. The whole project has been about recycling and NOT purchasing something ready made and expensive (although this was tempting part way through).

I started by sketching various designs and working with the available space, or rather the space I was allowed to use by the “Mrs Hart”. The old four foot tank occupied the area where we wanted the new build, so this was the first challenge before building could commence!
I wanted a completely enclosed tank that gave the viewer an uncluttered view of the reef without the eye being distracted by pipes, lights, cupboards etc I also wanted a decent sized sump to facilitate water changes, dosing, provide a refugium etc. Not the best set of plans but you get the idea!



Moving the original tank



Unfortunately my first tank was bow fronted, so this would have to be sold and a regular four foot tank purchased. Moving the tank and inhabitants was easier than I thought. I drained most of the water and kept it in large containers. We then shuffled the tank to a position out of the way and refilled. The tank and external filter were subsequently sold on a well known auction site for £150


Construction


The support structure is made of 4”x4” timber but only two vertical posts in the centre of the construction bear most of the load
Total timber cost including MDF is around £150
The four corner posts give lateral support and allow final fixing of MDF boards.
More on this later.....




You can see the loo door and wall which will form the back of the new structure.
Oh...and thats my Dad grafting whilst I take pics and make the tea!


Next the RO unit was installed for hassle free top offs (and filling the tank initially)
The water supply is from the mains feed & the waste water goes to the toilet waste!
You can also see the black return pipes from the two overflow weirs.


And here's the leak test....



One minor leak from the sump return, so fixed this with more silicon.