Jim's 16 bubble tank

[fullmonti]

I found a glass flower vase I thought would make a really nice nano tank, a 16" bubble. I wanted a sump to hide the pump, heater, skimmer etc, but didn't want a bunch of plumbing showing in the tank. After much thought this is what I came up with.

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Some of the details changed along the way, but the concept of having the overflow outside of the tank stayed & works.

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Drilled for a 2" bulkhead.

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This is what I built for the water to leave & return to the tank. Camouflaged the pvc by gluing sand & rock to it. A rock will set on top of the drain & hide it pretty well.

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This is the pluming I ended up using on the bottom side of the bulkhead.

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Temporary rig to test if the system would drain a mag 5 pump output. It did so well I even tried a mag 7 pump & that worked too.

This is probably enough for one post. Will close this one & start a new post.

Edit:

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The stand/sump is a skrap of 15" pvc sewer pipe. The pipe is the stand & holds the water for the sump.

 

[dawgface]

Well that sure is unique, I like it! Thanks for posting!

 

[fullmonti]

Don't know what happened, site combined two posts? Any way

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I do wood turning, so I turned a wood top for the stand. The space under the pipe is for my laptop case (wife was tired of my messes)

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Getting plumbing in place.

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Bent 1/2" electrical conduit for the light stand.

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This is the return plumbing ended up using.

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This is a sump I made to go in the sump. Water comes in to it from the tank on the right side (tower looking part), bubbles have a chance to dissipate then water goes into bottom of middle chamber (where the skimmer sits), then overflows into right side, flows through floss, carbon & bio media & out through the bottom into the real sump.

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I have a few more corals in it now, but no pix as yet. This has been a very, very brief version of the build. If you'd like the long blow-by-blow version

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1997195">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1997195</a>

If you have any questions I'l be happy to try and answer.

Thanks
Jim

 

[smoothie]

Very nice man. Can't wait to see more

 

[sprayin70]

That is one of the more unique aquarium designs I've seen in a while. Congrats and it looks great!

 

[schwaggs]

Nice work! Great idea too!

 

[falos]

Nice tank love the sumpx2

 

[misu]

That's some mad skills you got, nice house too.

 

[mockery]

This is a great tank! Very cool man.

 

[fullmonti]

Thanks every one

I do love this little guy. I have some sps frags from my big tank in there now. Will be getting my nem from Wet Thumbs this week.

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Hope he looks as good in person!

 

[KrisDeitz]

Omg sell me that!

 

[fullmonti]

Ya that little guy wasn't cheap, but this tank is going to be my only saltwater tank now so wanted every thing in it to be nice. Bit the bullet.

 

[mojo]

Impressive! Very unique and interesting design. It builds on existing concepts, but does so in a very elegant way-

 

[gradybaby16]

Nice build, interested in what your going to stock in that shape... seahorse? jelly fish?

 

[fullmonti]

Got a bubble tip nem coming, pair of clowns & green banded goby. I know, thats a lot of bio load for a 12gal system. Thats why I worked so hard on filter system & plan on doing two 25% water changes a week to keep water quality up. The clowns will come from my big tank I'm taking down. They never leave there little territory, even though they have 180gal to swim in. So I don't feel bad about having them in this size tank.

Jim

 

[gradybaby16]

kool, subscribed for updates

 

[midas]

Great build thread, very impressive work - hope you'll keep updating so we can see it with livestock.

 

[insomnia]

This is really cool design! Can't wait to see more

 

[fullmonti]

Thanks all

Will update, trying to get some pix but a glass bubble full of water is not easy. Have a new iphone & working on videos, a new thing or me.