So I don't have pics yet and haven't started yet but I figured I would start this thread to at least get my entry into the DIY contest.
I have an old 5g bookshelf tank form petco a few years ago and a 1.5 gallon betta tank. The betta tank also just as old. I had the idea of taking the two tanks and combining them so that the 1.5 gallon will have a small waterfall that goes into the 5g tank. I will create a small pip from the middle of the 5 gal to the bottom of the 1.5g and attach a pump to make sure theres always enough water in the 1.5g to flow. I was wondering if anyone knows details of if this will work? I think it should work but I dont actually know and there will most certainly be a lot of experimenting but hopefully no disasters...
Additionally, in the 1.5G, i plan to add a platform on one side with a "pot" for a bamboo plant to get a zen garden-ish look. In the 5g, i plan to section off a corner and turn it into a snail-area, as I want a dwarf puffer for the main area. This area will have holes big enough for snails to crawl out but not for the puffer to enter so the puffer will have a slow supply of snails that wander out of the "refuge." There will also be added caves and a platform added to the 5g to make the space more interesting. Does anyone know if the snail area will need active circulation? The flow of water will be severely hampered by the wall of the refugium despite the holes i plan to drill, will i need a second pump to create movement?
I know this is a fuzzy description of my idea, I will try to post pictures by this weekend to try and clarify what it will look like.
sounds good...a lil pea puffer ...i have seen several of the waterfall aquarium setups...the first thing is the fall...you dont want splash so you have to have the top tank so close to the other tank that you may need to build a custon shelf...this setup works best if a single tank is baffled... oh and dont forget about evaporation...in a small heated uncoverd enviroment the water can go fast...let us know how it goes...
OK so i got some pictures,
This is what the two tanks will look like together, the 1.5g is taller so it will be flowing into the 5g
This is the area I will cut away and allow water to flow from the taller tank to the lower. I think I will also cut into the 5g tank so the space where the water will flow over will have a splash guard. I will be adding a small lip here to make sure the water all goes into the tank and not drip along the sides of the tanks.
This corner is where I will be adding a divider and dedicate the corner to snail development. The divider will have a lot of holes as well as vertical slots at the top and bottom to allow surface movement. Still not sure if I need a lot of additional water movement for snails besides the surface
This is the 1.5 close up, I want the pump to push water in right above the substrate and on the other side will be a plexiglass platform with sand or gravel with a plant. This should slow the current and push the water back toward the right side and upwards towards the waterfall area. I'm hoping that I will be able to have shrimp or a betta in here and the second platform will slow the current enough for a betta. Not sure how much current will be created to get the waterfall going.
Also contemplating cutting the LED fixture in the 1.5 tank and placing it elsewhere as a moon light,
Please let me know what you think of this project, the plexi and weld-on is coming in tomorrow hopefully so i can get to work next weekend cutting and welding.
as long as there isnt much of a drop off....or ther was something breaking the flow like a pitchers lip...thhis looks like it could work out rather well and the snail refugium is a nice idea...i wonder if i could apply it to shrimps instead...i dont see why not...with most DIY things there met be a couple of kinks to work out but you seem rather intelegent...let us know how it works i have a few acrylic betta mini tanks just sitting around that work for similarprojects....ADIOS...
Because I want to keep betta or a shrimp, I care more for being able to see the betta/ shrimp, not so much about the snails. However, the snails i definitely need for the puffer.
So acrylic is probably the most frustrating material to cut. Spent 4 hrs on just the refugee wall and still not done sanding the edges smooth. For those who want to work with acrylic, go slow with the cutter, i use a dremel and i have several chips now that i cant get rid of even cutting at slow speed. >.<
Well it took over 7 hrs of cutting and filing and sanding but I think its finally ready. Unfortunately, this was supposed to be the easy part... Now i need to cut the platform and weld it together with the refugium. I almost got so frustrated that i was gonna use a soldering iron but my plexi is 3/8th inch thick and it woulda melted all over the place.. Im hoping the moss in the refugium when i set it up will cover up most of the imperfections i missed.
After cutting, especially after a few in, the plastic gets flimsy so vibration from the cutter leaves these, almost teeth-like, edges and I had to file and sand them down. Filing too roughly will cause the plexi to chip as seen in the 3rd pic, and sanding it down smooth required hours of sitting in one place and patiently running sandpaper between the teeth. Even at 150 grit, it was a looooong job. I was afraid to use anything rougher since then it would just be the same as filing and I will, if I have time, get 400 and 600 wet-dry to make it smoother. That part will be optional since you wont be able to tell too much after u fill it with water. The bottom area has longer vertical entries because the substrate will be ~2 inches and i wanted to leave some space so snails could exit from the bottom too. I was gonna drill some holes but I wont risk that now since i think the plexi is too brittle for proper drilling. Also seems unnecessary if there is an exit up top and bottom.
Next part will be gutting the 1.5g tank :-/ this part will be much more risky and complicated than the refugium wall. The tank walls are thin and if the cuts arent exact, it will not weld and leak.
Unfortunately my hands are not steady enough, theres a few parts that really annoy me everytime i look at it :-/ but at least it didnt shatter. Theres also more scratches on the surface of the than i would like but the blue plastic was really in the way of seeing what i was doing so i had to take it off.
So this project has hit a snag, while working on the 1.5 today, a miscalculation and lack of skill with a dremel has made the hole in the 1.5 far too large to fit over the 5g. So now I either have to,
a) sand the edges and weld on more acrylic to filli in the gaps, this would result in a strange random box structure in the 1.5g unit.
b) skip the 1.5g tank and place the waterfall into the 5g tank via a divider.
Option A would take far longer to do, but will maximize space in the 5g for the puffer. It would, however, have a strange box as mentioned before in the 1.5g that wouldnt really work with what i want for the 1.5g, i would have to totally change how I wanted the platform in the 1.5g.
Option B would be far quicker, to do. It would, however, reduce living space for the puffer to about 3 gallons. This options also affords a host of new options though. With the waterfall in the 5g, I can build a hood that will help with the evaporation. Moreover, a hood would allow me to place a light directly over the tank instead of having to use sunlight as originally planned. It would also be way more portable in the event that it needs to be moved.
I can do either, but I was wondering what everyone else thought about this? I really cant decide on which one is better :-/
I am thinking A in the long run maybe better for the planned puffer just because almost everything I have researched says 5 gallon is the minimum for the dwarf puffer.
Oh, this might make a difference, the filter on this tank will be the penguin 100, which does 100gph and thus will turn over the 5g 20 times in an hour of 18 times with the 1.5 g add-on.
Well the other thing is option A would be better for the fish, but I would have to withdraw my entry into this competition for sure with it since measuring, and cutting the areas where i need to fill with acrylic will take at least 1 weekend. and the waterfall will be another weekend and the interior accents will be a 3rd weekend i think i only got 2 left... :-/
Well if you did withdrawl from this months you could always enter again in the next one right? I personally would still go with option A just because I think it would be better for the fish even if you have lots of filteration.
So upon doing some further research, apparently Weld-on 3 that i bought need the edges of the acrylic to be EXACT or it wont bond well. So now all those lovely angles i approximated need to be hand sanded on 400 wet-dry until they fit exactly. the plus side is that this causes the bonds to be bubble free so the final product will look much neater.
OH def gonna finish this, ive invest too much time to abandon it halfway. Its just turning out to be more work than expected. I dont think i would have finished on time even without the bad cuts in the 1.5g. :-/ But since i know i wont finish on time, i might order more acrylic and try making some other things for the tank like a custom hood for this system... or creating a base so the tank can be carried without risk of it snapping in half.
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