Vis

Try Professional Plastics in Tualatin. They have large off cuts. 

38 minutes ago, Micah said:

Yeah, as long as he means 4 inches by 6 inches.

That’s what I thought 🤣. 

TAP has an off cuts bin for cheap. 

Pming about the sump 

11 hours ago, islandVib3s said:

Eh i missed placed it or broke it down for another scape lol

No worries. Thank you anyway. 

I’m sorting through my old reef stuff and have these pumps etc for free. If no takers I’ll donate to Goodwill. Pickup in Lake Oswego. 

25 minutes ago, islandVib3s said:

Looking for a aquascape? I built one for someone that backed out. Lmk. Im in Vancouver wa open to trades also 

Super cool! What are the dimensions? 

13 minutes ago, DaveZ said:

I’ve got one of Harley’s 1g PNW Custom pico tanks. 
 

I went with an upgraded Sicce pump but planning on a softies only with a floating reef and GSP carpet. Thinking about getting a small mangrove for it as well. 
 

Salinity swings is something to keep in mind. I just use a head of the Jebao doser that I use for the frag tank close by to dose the pico with RODI water. It’s about 120ml per day in evaporation for me. The biggest issue I personally have is the temp swings. Goes from about 80° during the day down to maybe 72° at night. It is in my garage office that’s not the best temp stability in the room so the tank is greatly effected. But softies never seem to kind and everything’s open and healthy so far. 
 

I do big water changes but not with brand new water. I use clean discard water from my acro dominated display. Very low phosphates and nutrients in that tank so it’s a great candidate for water swaps. 
 

Too small of a tank and too many swings for fish or other livestock IMO. But to each their own with regards to what they’re comfortable with in that. So no livestock doesn’t have a big effect on the parameters. I don’t even bother checking at this point. 

Man that’s just adorable!! Thanks for the info! I was thinking maybe a Pom Pom crab or a snail for livestock but not sure if that works. The tank will be in the house so temps should hopefully be more stable. Enjoy your tank. So cute!!!! 

So I’ve been playing around with acrylic to practice before building my sump. I ended up making  this wee tank for my live black worms. I happened upon a IG post from a guy with a 1 gallon micro tank. I think it will be a fun experience to start one. It looks like I would be doing an 80% water change weekly. I’d stock it with softies and maybe a powder blue tang 😜

Any advice or input? 

2 minutes ago, islandVib3s said:

Yea ill be there,the problem with some mangroves,they won't acclimate correctly and either just want freshwater more then salt. I bought 2 handfuls and I'd say 70% of them acclimated to salt.

Oh thanks. I didn’t know that have issues acclimating . I’ll pm you 

51 minutes ago, shaywood said:

Might sound strange but Petco sells them on the shelf in the salt water section

Thanks for the info! 

42 minutes ago, islandVib3s said:

I have a couple i could maybe spare for trade.im in Vancouver 

Great. Any chance you are going to the meeting on Sunday? 

Oh you poor thing!! I’m so glad they were able to help. Hope you are still staying in the hobby! I was totally excited about connecting with my reefer girls again aka you and Kim 😊

If anyone has any mangroves and will be at the meeting, please let me know. 
Thank you. 

4 minutes ago, Algaewarrior said:

I have a few pieces I can bring this Sunday if you want.

I’ll pm you 

Me please

1 hour ago, Parzifal said:

Ive got lots of small medium and large.  Just let me know what you’d like.

Sweet! I’ll pm you. Thank you 

15 minutes ago, chewyblunts said:

suncrestreef is breaking down his tank.  hes got some live rock for sale in the classifieds. 

Thank you. I saw that but they are large pieces. I’m really just looking for a few tiny little pieces to place in a media bag. 

Well Mother’s Day was used to it’s full advantage and I’m moving forward with my little 10 gallon build. Does anyone have a few little pieces of live rock rubble for cheap that I can use to seed my base rock? Also a cup or two of sand to seed my new sand would be awesome. I can meet at the meeting this weekend. 
Thanks! 

7 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said:

A couple things.  With a tank like that you are not going to need a lot of turnover or flow through the sump so you could get away with a small overflow.  While I like external overflows with a small internal box.. like the "ghost" overflow, You might consider just using one or two of the H2Overflows instead.  They only require a simple bulkhead and pipe.  They can be a little nosier, but with two of them and a larger bulkhead.. say 1", they should be fairly quiet.  They are kind of the best of both worlds really.  https://www.customaquariums.com/information/h2overflow/

My vote, as always, is for acrylic.  They are the clearest tanks you can get and scratches are easily removed both inside and outside the tank. You scratch glass, its over. 

 

Thank you. That’s super helpful. The H20 overflow is pretty cool. I’m thinking of experimenting with acrylic and seeing how it goes. 

1 hour ago, Parzifal said:

Lol.   Just make comparisons….well this person has a 60,000 gallon system, I only want xyz.😉

I’ll try that 😄

2 minutes ago, Parzifal said:

I’m a huge fan of DIY glass.   They both have their benefits, but for me acrylic is just too scratchable.

I have both and just like the glass better. You will eventually scratch any tank you have and acrylic is buffable, unlike glass.

if you’ve never drilled glass before it can be very intimidating.  It’s truly easy.

i live in inner SE Portland, you are welcome to bring whatever tank you end up getting to my place and we can drill it together.   I’ve drilled a bunch of holes in glass up to 3/4” thick and have a drill press I use on tanks to give nice clean cuts.

Oh thank you. That sounds absolutely awesome. I’ll pm you when I’m ready. First need to use Mother’s Day to my advantage to convince the hubs that this is a good idea 😁

34 minutes ago, Parzifal said:

You can absolutely have the return go around the tank and over the top,   Not a problem at all!

 

just depends on how you want it to look.  
 

Are you going to drill it yourself?

 

going with glass or acrylic?

No idea what happened to my reply so I’ll repost. I’m thinking of glass diy. YouTube has convinced me it’s doable. I’m open to acrylic but I worry about it scratching easily. Thoughts? 

8 minutes ago, Parzifal said:

Ah,  no…those do not leak that much,  however whenever the pump stops working (maintenance, power outage, circuit breaker trip, pump failure, variety of other reasons) you have to reprime it and if you happen to not be around when the pump starts again it can pour a ton of water on your floor.

 

with the amount of money and energy we put into this hobby…go with a plumbed overflow, not a siphoned one.

also,  make sure there are plenty of holes for water (one for return from the sump, and at least two preferably three for draining water to the sump)

 

for the drains I like to use one with a gate valve to create a full siphon, one for a little bit of water so it’s a silent system, and a third for emergency draining if the first two get clogged.

Ok. So it’s decided that drilling and plumbing will be best. Do I have to to drill for the return pipe though? Candy I just use a glass lily pipe return that’s used with a canister filter? 

3 minutes ago, islandVib3s said:

I've had one of these, absolutely trash without a constant aqua lifter. They always lose siphon. No matter how clean or how much flow you are using. Drill it and you won't have to worrying about emptying the entire sump onto the floor.

Ok thank you! Drilled seems safer. How small and unobtrusive do you think the overflow box could be for that size tank. It will be about 13 gallons