Help needed to setup

[ilango]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Iam Currently living in Srilanka. I have been keeping and breeding fresh water fish for more than 15 years now. Always wanted to move into marine but never had the guts to do it. Tried it once out of impulse loooong time ago with almost no info available about captive marine life and as you expect it was a total failure. Well now I have read through a lot and done some research thanks to www.

Well this is what Iam planning to do,
1.I have some left over glass and Iam planning to use it make a tank (L=2.5 W=1.5 H=2 feet.)
2.To start witl It will be a FO or FOWLR tank
3.Should be the best and cheapest possible

Problems that I expect now..
1. All those fancy gadgets are not available locally
2.Frequent power cuts
3.MONEY well as of today 103 srilankan is 1US$ so import are rulled out unless it comes as FOC from some kind soul ;-)

To cut down the cost most of the hardware will be DIY style
Iam planning to make a protien skimmer out of PVC as skimmers are not available locally !!! (checked will all major LFS)
Make a overflow setup to feed the skimmer
Skimmer will feed the Sump (preferrable partitioned for wet/dry filter)
Water to be pumped back to the tank by a pump
I will buy a powerhead for circulation

I will have to buy the powerheads and the pumps..

Planing to use NSW as I live just 2min from sea

Not going in for reef due to power problems (may be able to try an outdoor tank as a seperate project later)

This is just a rough idea and I have finished only the tank now. Need all your help and input to make this a successfull project.. Thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

:welcome:

Sounds like you've got the start of a good plan. Keep those questions coming as they come up!

 

[ilango]

Thanks Sharkky for your reply... I have started off with the protien skimmer, as they are not available locally I try a DIY skimmer.
The rough sketch and the items used are as follows

 

[ilango]

Well this is how I made it..
Materials used
1. One foot of 9mm PVC pipe
2. 90mm PVC cap to seal the bottom
3. 90-32 reducer to seel the top
4. Collection cup -an one litre Icecream cup

 

[ilango]

Any recomendations to improve this structure are wellcome

 

[Anonymous]

Woweeeeeeee! Looks like a good start. I am thinking about making a skimmer too. Tell me how you are going to run this...pump and tubing?

 

[ilango]

Thanks BangBang, Iam planning to feed it from the overflow box for now.. Hope this allows more contact time between the water and the bubbles...

 

[holry7778]

The Skimmer looks great. But do put a valve on bothe in take and ot take of it so you can trim out the skimmer, otherwise it might be a watery mess.

Also I have never heard of a Skimmer in line on the drainage to the sump. It is usually pumped from the sump to the skimmer then back to the sump just in front of the return.

Sounds like you have thing s working well for you.

Also if you get a lot of power outages, you may want to consider trying to obtain a APC unit(a large battery back typically for computer needs) that way you can run you system at least for a little bit during those outages and it helps stalize the power you do have.

 

[holry7778]

The Skimmer looks great. But do put a valve on bothe in take and ot take of it so you can trim out the skimmer, otherwise it might be a watery mess.

Also I have never heard of a Skimmer in line on the drainage to the sump. It is usually pumped from the sump to the skimmer then back to the sump just in front of the return.

Sounds like you have thing s working well for you.

Also if you get a lot of power outages, you may want to consider trying to obtain a APC unit(a large battery back typically for computer needs) that way you can run you system at least for a little bit during those outages and it helps stalize the power you do have.

 

[Anonymous]

I want to see a pic when you get it all together.

 

[ilango]

Thanks for you replys holry7778 and Bangbang.

I will be having a ball valve for sure but not yet dicided the location of the skimmer. As I will be doing all the plumbing I will try to find a way out and let you know.. I don't have a digital cam to post images frequenty but have a videocam and that is what Iam using to get the pics with, hence the low quality... Will keep you guys posted..

 

[ilango]

Forgot to tell this... Have finished with the tank and checked for leaks. It seems to be perfect... Working on a overflowbox now