My 65 tub build

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strout2
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by strout2 »

Very nice looking tank and stand, always look foward to your updates.
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Fishfood
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Fishfood »

Next tank addition: Kalk stirrer. The plan is to take the bed out of the guest room where I have the tank and put in a sleeper sofa so the room turns into a play room for the girls. My first thought is thats a horrible idea with the aquarium but I think it needs to be done. I put handles on the doors of the tank and will had safety locks when the room is finally converted.

Step two is to build a second cabinet for extra aquarium stuff. A majority of my equipment is in the closet in the room, but I have a power strip sitting next to the tank. I'm going to remove all the power supplies from under the tank to this second cabinet next to the stand. I will also put my kalk stirrer in the stand. The first step is finding a small table saw to borrow or a router. I used a co-workers saw for grooving out the panels that made up the doors and stand to slide in the plywood. He recently moved away.

Anyway onto the kalk stirrer. I have a clear tub that I think was a custom made second chamber for a calcium reactor. So far I rigged it up to have two openings at the top and fitted a new acrylic bottom. I had this thing sitting in the closet for probably 5 yrs. I'm going to mount this on a budget stirrer similar to this:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6711280_build-m ... irrer.html. There may be some mods but we will see what works. I'll probably set up a timer for it to run a few times a day to keep things stirred up. My auto topoff will flow through the stirrer. I'm currently dosing 2 part by hand. Down the road I intend to add a dosing system but for now I'll stick with what I got.

I just thought this stirrer was an easy diy for anyone to do. If you don't have a clear acrylic tube you could easily get a 4 or 6 inch pvc pipe and right something like this up.
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jt3069
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by jt3069 »

avast marine sells a good diy kit for a kalk stirrer
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Fishfood
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Fishfood »

Its $140 for the cheapest kit. I have a second chamber for a calcium reactor already plumbed, old hard drive and computer fan laying around the house. Everything else will cost nothing to get a hold of.

And really you could do your own with some pvc pipe for a fraction of that kit.
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by AuroraDrvr »

Have you thought about wear with that magnetic stirrer? It will eventually wear through the plastic Ca reactor bottom.
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Fishfood
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Fishfood »

It won't run all the time. Just enough to keep the kalk somewhat mixed up. It will be a long time before it wears through as well. It has a fairly thick acrylic bottom plate. Anyway I see it being set to stir 4 or 5 times a day for a few minutes at a time. Just enough to keep the kalk from settling and compacting.

Should I start to notice any wear I will cut a new piece of acrylic for the bottom before I have problems.
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Amphiprion
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Amphiprion »

Be sure to get a coated stir bar. While the corrosivity will be much lower, it would still pay to have a decent lab-grade stirrer that won't leach something. Decent ones can be had for about $15-$20. They hold up better than regular coated magnets, which may wear the thin coating over time.
Andrew

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Fishfood
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Fishfood »

don't worry. I can get me a good one. My wife works at a chem lab...
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jt3069
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by jt3069 »

id like to see some pic of this when you get it built
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Fishfood
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by Fishfood »

now it may not look nice but the idea is to put it in the new cabinet I build, or in the closet next to the topoff tub. When you never see it I don't put too much stock into how good it looks just as long as it works and doesn't crash your tank.
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jt3069
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Re: My 65 tub build

Post by jt3069 »

outta sight outta mind
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