School Project

[jrpsaros]

Did a little bit of work today. I have the sump plumbed up, The canopy built (still needs paint, and the hinges and knob attached). O and filled the top tank

As far as I can tell not one leak. Tomorrow if it still show no leak, I'll fill the lower tank, paint the canopy, and give one more coat to the entire tanks/stand etc. Then if the lower tank looks good, I'll fill the sump, and turn on the pump to test the plumbing.

Few quick questions, in my sump i have filter foam in compartment 1, bioballs in compartment 2, and polyester fill (using as an aquarium type floss) in compartment 3, should i switch the 2nd and 3rd compartment, or am I ok?

Also as far as cycling. This will be at my apartment untill next Thursday, then at school till the 6th, then back to my apartment for a few days, then to my parents house in charlotte. How will this affect my cycling? I plan on having some cheap feeder fish or something in it when my teachers looking at it and grading it. And plan on cycling it fish free untill Thursday. Will it be ok to put my fish in as soon as it gets back to charlotte?

speaking of my fish, as of now my stock list is 7 clown loaches (from 5 inches to an inch), 3 angel fish, 4 red minor tetras, and a rubber lip pleco. I want to add a few more oddball loaches, 2 or 3 more angels, and maybe a couple more tetras. I have no ideas for the bottom tank yet.


Let me know what everyone thinks!!!!!

 

[Matt724]

lookin' good. keep up the updates.

 

[jrpsaros]

Okay, hit a pretty big issue today. The lower tank leaks. as i was filling it, when the water level reached the top of the bottom support, water came out between that piece of wood and the glass. What can I do to fix this? Do I need to take the entire glass peice out, scrape all the silicone, repaint with drylok, dry, redo the silicone and glass?

Or can i get away with just putting more silicone around the edges of the glass? The way the lower tank is I can't see the front edge to see how the silicone works, I have to go by feel. I need this holding water no later than the 25th, so I don't have much time, what can I do?

 

[kallmond]

More silicone. I know people say new won't stick to old, but I've repaired tanks that way for years and haven't ever had any trouble.

 

[jrpsaros]

Another quick update. I have the inside of the hood painted. I added silicone to the inside of the glass, as well as made a small bead on the outside. The bottom tank is now holding pictures, but the sump has 1 or 2 small little leaks. I drained the sump out. Today I will buy more silicone, and silicone the areas that leak along the sump. Then hopefully fill it later tonight, and get the pump running.

I'll ask again, is the way i have my filtration media okay with the foam, bioballs, filter floss, or should i switch the bioballs and floss. Also, I have the quiet one 3000 pump. It's a wet dry pump. Is it okay to run if water is not being sucked in, or will that overheat the pump. I don't plan on having it run untill there is water, but just incase it takes too much out of the sump to fill the plumbing etc. I just wanted to make sure.

 

[jrpsaros]

I believe I have all the leaks in the sump filled. I turned on the pump last night, and all the water goes out the lower hose. If i block of part of it, it will go out the top hose. So today I'm off to home depot to figure out how to install either a ball valve or some sorta cap with a hole drilled to lower the flow in the lower tank.

I've also added 100 pounds of pool filter sand to the top tank, and will need to pick up another bag today. Then I'll paint it all, and it should be completed.

There won't be any fish pictures in it for awhile though.

 

[cockroach]

subscribing. looking good

 

[Judkins82]

This will be awesome in my basement...when ur done you can move build me one at my house...lol.

 

[jrpsaros]

Haha nice, I have it replumbed, just added a ball valve, and now its working as needed. The only issue is the overflow for the top tank is really noisy. It gets air and water going down it and makes a gurgling sound, any tips on how to fix this?

 

[jrpsaros]

I'll actually be up in Virginia this summer up at Quantico. I'll get a few days off when I'm up there. I've decided I'm going to make a durso stand pipe to quiet the overflow. I'll run by home depot tonight to get the parts. Once that's installed, I'll do one last check to make sure nothings leaking, then paint the outside again to finish up the coats of paint.

I also added pool filter sand to the bottom. I'll try to have a picture up date of it all tonight.


Also the stocking list is growing (right now there all in my 55 gallon) I currently have 7 clown loaches, 4 angel fish, 8 serpae tetras, and a rubberlip pleco. The angels are a marble, silver with black stripes, white, and another one thats silver with a yellow top. I plan on finding an all black, and a koi angel to add to them. I also want to get 3 more clownloaches (once i get three i'll be like just 2 more, it'll never stop) I'm just looking for oddball or decent sized loaches to get as my next 3.