RS2000 Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Gday everyone, first post @ this forum and I thought i might start with a work journal of my 1st big tank project I started. First up I made up some plans using maya for how I wanted to DIY my own stand. I'll post all the images as links Anyway, The design. Design 1 Design 2 Design 3 Design 4 Design 5 Next up I started work on the frame Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4 Frame 5 Frame 6 Frame 7 Frame 8 Frame 9 Frame 10 Frame 11 Frame 12 Frame 13 Frame 14 Frame 15 Frame 16 Frame 17 Frame 18 Frame 19 Frame 20 Frame 21 After Making the Frame and moving it into my room, I went and got the outer ply sheeting to cover the frame Outer Ply 1 Outer Ply 2 Outer Ply 3 Outer Ply 4 Outer Ply 5 Then I added the Trimming to the top and bottom and Stained the stand Stand 1 Stand 2 Stand 3 Stand 4 I Then ordered my tank had a to wait a little while but it got here eventually. Tank 1 Tank 2 And I'm currently up to slowly setting it up. I've made a couple of Fluid bed filters that will be run from the end of the sump and am currently making an UGJ system based off a quick diagram i drew up. Under Gravel Jet Diagram Onces thats done, I'll be trying my hand out at creating my own Fiberglass Background without styro so that i can hide all the intank plumbing as well as make some real caves without loosing all the water volume i would with a styro background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchWA Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 looks cool... can't wait to see fish in it! Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Looking very good. Very promising start! Love seeing tank journals Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassoonboy Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 HI, Nice work. Keep the pics coming. Cheers, Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Very impressive so far, can't wait to see the top cabinet installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdusta Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 fantastic mate thanks for the thread. will be interested in your next post re background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theosam Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 Great stuff !!!!!! The Cabinet has come up looking good... Well done! Thanks for sharing and keep the pics coming. BTW nice bike ! Cheers Theo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted April 27, 2007 Author Share Posted April 27, 2007 fantastic mate thanks for the thread. will be interested in your next post re background. Well I've started my background project and i'll try to stay fairly active with the cam while I do it to keep you guys updated. At the moments i went down to Clark Rubber and picked up an 8x2' bit of foam 150mm thick. Now of course this you can't fiberglass as is because styro and foam both are melted by fiberglass resin. But thats not really an issue, as I'll either use a bit of cement that we have spare at the back 1st to put a layer between the foam and the glass or I'll just wrap it with lots of glad wrap. First up I took a quick pick of the FBF I've been making, they just need the bulkheads installed and the inner pipe put in to be finished Fluid Bed Filter Now the Background Start, First up the Foam Background 1 I used a nikko and made a template of the areas that I will cut out completely and the area for the rock formations. (Note that when this if fiberglassed I will not fiberglass the whole inner part of each whole, only enough to form the entrance of the cave, from there i will stop leaving some back area (not all) for the fish to hide away) Backgound 2 From there I used a couple of knives to cut out the areas that would be cave entrances/openings Background 3 And then continued cutting and trimming the marked areas to create highs and lows within the foam that are the rocks Background 4 This is were I'm up to at the moments. I will use a hairdryer/heat gun to melt down some of the sections to make them a little bit more smooth and keep going over them with the knife to tweak the shape as i wish. Thx For reading Dave Hopefully I'll get some more done tomorrow for some more updates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyr Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 call nice i saw that on monster. cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobcas Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 Great thread Dave The sequence of stand shots make building it look simple, do you have a wood working background ? (nice model plane in the ackground too) Look forward to further installments to this thread. Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serkan Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 That UGJ looks noisy. You sure it wont keep you up at night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlashieFront Posted April 27, 2007 Share Posted April 27, 2007 Just Awesome I love DIY's Keep thoughs pic's coming Your multi talented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted April 27, 2007 Author Share Posted April 27, 2007 Great thread Dave The sequence of stand shots make building it look simple, do you have a wood working background ? (nice model plane in the ackground too) Look forward to further installments to this thread. Ross Thanks mate, the planes in the background are my old mans, I'm only 19 so no real background in anything hehe, I'm studying animation @ uni and sorta just like the build little projects to keep me busy at home. Trick with anything wood work project is just to tank your time and measure a lot. That UGJ looks noisy. You sure it wont keep you up at night? what do you mean noisy? The whole system is underwater its 3 powerheads that flow through 15mm pressure pipe with pinched ends on each "jet" end and will spray water across the surface of the sand. Thanks every1 for the comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwboy53 Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 Great journal so far! Can't wait for next installment! Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 Trick with anything wood work project is just to tank your time and measure a lot. Measure twice, cut once Well done RS, this thread makes a great read! I've made a few stands and cabinets in my time and I'm impressed with the job you have done. Will there be doors on the big central opening? I assume it's big so you can get a sump in there but I'm wondering if the sump will be part of the feature or if it will be hidden away. If you get a chance I'd be keen to learn more about these fluid bed filters. They look like something most of us could achieve with a trip to Bunnings Keep up the good work, I'm keen to see where you head next in this project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 Will there be doors on the big central opening? I assume it's big so you can get a sump in there but I'm wondering if the sump will be part of the feature or if it will be hidden away. The plan is to put doors onto the 2 smaller openings. 1 will cover the access for the pipework for water changes, the other end will have the FBF in there. The main big gap i will get a sheet of perspex to fit inside. The sump is going to also be a plant tank so that it will be split into 3 section. Section one is the mechanical filter section two will be a plant tank also doubling as a fry refuge. section 3 will have the heater and the two pumps that will run to the fluid bed filters (massive bio houses ) and then back into the tank. If you get a chance I'd be keen to learn more about these fluid bed filters. They look like something most of us could achieve with a trip to Bunnings Effectively the fluid bed filter is just getting the bio material (sand) to be in a suspended state within the water. So the filters are just 4" PVC with a Y piece and caps on all the ends. You put a bulkhead on head of the top caps for you intake and return lines. On the intake bulkhead (the one the runs vertical all the way) attach a 3/4"-1" pipe all the way to about 1/2" from the bottom this is so when the water comes in it shoots directly to the bottom and then crashes out and pushes the sand up. You fill the FBF about 1/3 of the straight pipe up with sand and use a fairly powerful pump to be able to keep the sand in motion. *note that if your pump is 2 big u may push the sand all the way back into the tank. but there are ways to stop this. One is the have the intake @ bottom comming in from the side about 2" up from the bottom and have a 90 bend to face it down. and then have the return line have a T piece one line going to the tank the other down to the intake so any sand falls back into the system via gravity the other is to put some filter pad underneath the return cap. From what i've read up about the Fluid bed filters are great bio filters and can these when filled are ment to pritty much be able to hand the bio load of a standard stocked 300gal each. So i doubled up just in case and well when it was cheap and small why not. BTW, I've Cut my background into 3 sections and have fiberglassed one section so far cause i ran out of resin. Its still curing atm, but onces it dry I'll get some photos of it and put them up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 Heres my promised picture update Background 5 Background 6 I finished carving out the shapes for the background, and cut it into 3 sections. I had to tape a stick to one point as you can see just so that it doesn't break off since it is fairly thin in that section. Background 7 Instead of concrete I opted to test some of the resin on a scrap piece to see if it melted, and nothin happened. So just incase i covered the 1st section with alfoil and then plastic wrap before fiberglassing. Background 8 After the 1st coat of fiberglass Background 9 After the 5th and final coat of fiberglass however it will get 3 more coats with a resin pigment added to the resin for colour Background 10 and a quick shot of it in the tank Thats all i got at the moment thanks for readin Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdusta Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 yeh nice, interested in seeing these fluid bed filters when finished too. looks great mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 next quick update Did some more fiberglassing Background 11 Background 12 Background 13 note this is base colour more colour layers to come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 nice work & top thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo56k Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 i bow to you.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted May 2, 2007 Author Share Posted May 2, 2007 hehe thx guys just a couple more pics for a small update today, havn't done anymore on background did some pipe work instead Intank Pipes and roughly how the background will look to hide the pipes Background/Pipes Background/Pipes2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 Back again with some new pics and a small update Slowly making progress when i get a chance to work on it update 1 update 2 update 3 update 4 DavO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS2000 Posted May 11, 2007 Author Share Posted May 11, 2007 more pictures, almost got it ready to fill almost done :D 1 almost done :D 2 almost done :D 3 almost done :D 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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