Northern's 90G

might be a silly question, but what keeps the water from comming out throught the "T" on the end of the scrubber oposite of the pump?
 
actually if there is room i would suggest making little legs, just some straight parts with caps on one end, and then put into the "T"... that'll make it more stable, and less likely to fall over...
 
I left that open to experiment with flow rate and volume. I wanted a gentle flow and not a firehose affect. So that allows water to pass thru and if I just plug the end then I am creating a large area for stuff to sit and grow in that tube. If it is needed I will plug it closer to the top and not at the end.
 
actually if there is room i would suggest making little legs, just some straight parts with caps on one end, and then put into the "T"... that'll make it more stable, and less likely to fall over...

Yep I have legs, but they are currently open and not capped. Just not in the picture here.
 
THOUGHT!!! I hate when I think of things after building... I can adjust flow at the pump. it has a flow control on it. DUH! what a dope i am...
 
Tanked - Thanks for the info on my planned livestock. My naso tang is already about 4 inches long or so. He seems to have a great personality but you are right, one is more than enough.

On another note we finally got the trucks transmission in and back to the house so my larger tank, stand and misc supplies are finally here. I started prepping the tank last night. I have been using a razor blade to scrape off the red algae that has built up on the walls of the tank. I am at the point now where i am going to have to determine if and where i should have my tank drilled. I am going with a sump / refugium set up and am stuck between getting an overflow box or having the tank drilled. Any feedback?

As i am aquascaping should i place my live rock straight on the bottom of the tank? Should i place it on some small pieces of pvc the same thickness as the sand bed? Is there any way to attach the rocks together in order to create the aquascape that i am looking for? i think i had read somewhere that you can use a masonry drill bit and zip ties to attach?

Thanks,
 
personally if i had the option i'd drill my tank, but thats just me, i think its a little safer, and definately simpler and quieter, but thats just my opinion...

when i re-did my tank, what i did was put down some eggcrate, and then the rocks, and then filled in with the sand, that way any burrowing critters cant cause the rocks to shift, but, i cant stand that sound rock makes when its directly on the glass, so, thats why the eggcrate...

as for how to attach the rock, yea, you can drill holes in it and tie them together with BLACK zipties, and the only reason i suggest the black ones, is that they last longer than any other color... particularly when exposed to UV light...

the other thought is that you can drill the rocks, and then stack them up on a pvc frame, think message holder spikey thing... if that makes sence...
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Thanks Project

I think that i will use the zip tie method in case i end up switching things around, don't want to do anything too permanent. Now for drilling the tank i have watched a number of videos on how to properly do it, i do work in the construction industry and i am a fairly handy guy with these types of things. That being said, last thing that i would want to do is break my tank, i know that my LFS will drill for me, $50 a hole. Do you think that i should do this myself? or pay them to do it?

Another side question, the person that i originally got all of my supplies from had a bvottle of purple up, (i was planning on using this once my aquascaping and cycling is completed) my question is does this stuff expire? not sure how old it is, no visible expiry date on the bottle.
 
well, as for to drill or to pay to drill, heres the thing... do you know how to tell if that glass is tempered? if you do, and your sure that its NOT tempered, then i would do it myself, if i had the tools... i just drilled my first hole in glass about a month or more ago, and i had exactly 0 problems, and that was on a thin 10 gallon...

the only thing that i would caution you on, if you decide to drill yourself, would be to make sure you dont have any false starts.. meaning that you know how when you use a hole saw, and if the center bit is missing the outter hole saw will try and kinda walk around on you till you get a good grove started, well this works the same way, theres no center in a glass hole saw... so, just be very carefull and give it a shot...

the other thing that makes me lean away from having it done, is one, for $50 you can buy a couple different sizes of holesaws, and then you can drill holes till the cows come home, the other thing about it is that, like with my LFS, they will drill the hole, but if the tank breaks, they dont fix it, or anything, your just outta luck, so you might wanna clear up any details before you pay someone else to do it for you.... cause if they wont fixt it if it breaks, then you might as well save the money, drill it yourself, if all goes well, you've saved some $$ and if you break it, well, your paying to fix it anyway...
 
Correct that is their policy of course if the tank breaks. I agree with you guys and quite frankly think that i would do a better job anyways. From what i have read for my size of tank it is most likely that the bottom of the tank is tempered but the rest isn't, Is there any way that i can check for this?

The other option that i was thinking about was a hang on the back overflow box. Taking all factors into account as well as costs, What would you guys suggest?

Another side question, when hanging my metal halide setup, how high above the water should it be? Should i still keep the glass lid on as well? or leave the tank open?

Thanks again guys
 
my vote is drill it yourself, and yea, most of the time the sides arent, and the bottom is.. if you can check with the manufacturer of your tank, to be sure... the other option is, do you have a pair of polarized sunglasses, take 'em outside, and look at the back window of a car, see the little dots? now rotate your head left and right, see the dots change? now, look at the tank, do you see the dots? if you do, its tempered, if not, then its probably not tempered...

the dots that you see when looking at glass are from when it was tempered, it was heated, and cooled in a specific sequience, this causes it to break into the little bits, rather than long shards... the process of tempering, causes the dots, and the polarized sunglasses allow you to see them cause of the "picket fence" fenomenon of the polarized lenses, and the fact that the molecular structure of the glass has been altered from that special heating and cooling...

i have a HOB overflow on my tank, and its works fine once its set up right, even with power outages, i dont have any problems(course, i do have my return pumps on a UPS) but still...
if given the option of a drilled tank, vs a non drilled tank, i'll take the drilled one every time... (i can allways plug up the holes if i dont want them) but once its full of water and stuff, you cant drill it, so, now would be the time.

sorry, i dont know MH's so, i'll not comment on thoes.
 
Another side question, when hanging my metal halide setup, how high above the water should it be? Should i still keep the glass lid on as well? or leave the tank open?

I believe the standard is 8-10 inches. You can place then higher or lower as needed depending on the depth of your tank. Also leave the lid open for heat control and oxygen exchange.
 
Update

After getting the 90 tank cleaned and ready for water, I almost made the mistake of filling it up before taking the stand apart and fitting my sump underneath as there is no way the 35G would fit through the doors in the front of the stand.

I had been looking online for a while trying to avoid building my own sump unless necessary. On Sat i was just about to head into Home Depot to buy the acrylic to construct the sump when i had someone respond about one of the online ads i had inquired about.

Apparently this couple who owns an aquarium store about an hour and a half outside the city was going out of business and wanted to clear a bunch of stuff out. After talking to them for a bit, my girlfriend and i made the trip yesterday to go see them.

We ended up getting soo much stuff from them as there last day operating the business is today. We ended up getting:

120lbs of live sand
a 30G tank (my new sump)
overflow box (guess i don't have to drill)
some plexi glass
Sump pump
Berlin Skimmer (and a 2nd one for parts, missing the collection cup)
Pump for the skimmer
pvc valves
all our tubing
an RO / DI Unit
20 more lbs of live rock with mushrooms
and a bunch of small misc chemicals

for $340!!!

after cleaning the place out we came home last night, I got to work on the sump, (still ended up having to buy some acyrilic) finished it off, its drying inside the stand. Filled up our tank, (no leaks), made the salt water and put the live sand in the tank.

I am waiting for everything to settle before i put in the live rock and finish all of the plumbing to get everything working. Right now i just have a pump circulating the water as well as a heater.

Is there anything else i should be thinking about at this point?

Oh and i took pictures of everything last night before we started putting in the sand. They are on my girlfriends camera but i will get them shortly and post for everyone to see the new setup.

Definitely made a lot of progress this weekend!

just wanted to share my excitement!
 
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