Page 4 of 4

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 4:57 am
by strout2
Very nice looking tank and stand, always look foward to your updates.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:23 pm
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.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:57 am
by jt3069
avast marine sells a good diy kit for a kalk stirrer

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:00 pm
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.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:56 am
by AuroraDrvr
Have you thought about wear with that magnetic stirrer? It will eventually wear through the plastic Ca reactor bottom.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 7:42 am
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.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:29 am
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.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:22 am
by Fishfood
don't worry. I can get me a good one. My wife works at a chem lab...

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 3:14 pm
by jt3069
id like to see some pic of this when you get it built

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 3:19 pm
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.

Re: My 65 tub build

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:17 pm
by jt3069
outta sight outta mind