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Cadre's 85g cephalopod build!

cadre;179660 said:
none of the openings at the top are square, they all have rounded corners and one is an odd shape. Even if I trace them and take it to my acrylic guy, he would apparently have to cut them small to make sure they fit. I'm told to expect 1/8-1/4 inch gaps on each. To me that seems like a problem.
Just lay the hinged door on TOP of the existing holes, and make the door/top a little larger than the holes, so they overlap. You don't have to make the top fit down into the existing holes, it should just lay on top and cover them.

cadre;179660 said:
Then there's the little false wall dealio which doesn't come up all of the way so I have to cover that 1/2 inch gap.
Are you talking about the gap between the top of the overflow wall inside the tank, and the underside of the top of the tank? Yes, you need to fill that gap, and the water will flow through slits cut into the top of that wall, so you'll need to make sure that there are enough slits to handle the rate of water flow from your return pump, since excess water won't be able to flow over that wall after you fill the gap. You can buy 3/8" or 1/2" acrylic rod or tubing from HERE, and "glue" it to the underside of the acrylic top above the top of that wall using Weld-On.
 
As Joe-Ceph mentions, you CAN cut lids that are larger than the openings and attach them to the outside (for this I would recommend glass rather than acrylic to avoid warping gaps). I perfer that they sit flush with the top so we attach the strips to the INSIDE so that they stick out 1" beyond the opening. This gives you the wiggle room you need for your tracing since even at 1/2" difference you will have supporting overlap with the underside brace.

Joe-Ceph, yes I do get a small amount of warping with 1/2" acrylic but by placing the tops flush and using the hasps, they stay flat or are corrected to flat when closed and latched. The hasps do have a peg hole (designed for a lock) and I have had trouble finding anything but bamboo skewers to fit them well. However, you can get them tight enough so that when they are latched there is a bit of a snap. In truth, with a good overlap like on an acrylic tank and a flush top, the octos don't have much leverage and I have never had one to even come close to putting an arm tip through the openings (another advanage of a recessed top since the actual opening is not directly accessable. I only use the pegs in places where I have the lids on top of the surround (not recessed) and that is mostly for warping (or to keep it from warping).

You should be able to keep the octo out of the back (depending on size - the smaller the animal the more likely it will seek the back) using a sponge placed just below the teeth/turrets. An additional help is with the use of lighting for nocturnals. While Cassy was small, I kept a sponge (after she took a trip through the overflow) where she would feel it if she investigated (I don't think they like the feel). As she got bigger, I put a night light over the sump area but mine is all the way right and not across the back so lighting it was simple. With my adults in the tank with the pseudo sump, I don't have to keep anything there.

Diego's tank has a square overflow box fully inside the tank so I always use a 2' long sponge inside the box (regardless of animal size) to keep him out and it works very well (the tank has housed many octos and none have ever entered the overflow but have put their arms in to check it out) but that tank is bottom drilled and I don't have to worry too much about the sponge blocking the water flow to the sump (Diego makes it a challenge to remove and clean the sponge though). Since you won't be using an external sump, I would look for a simple way to incorporate a sponge(s) (you can buy them by the inch, the courser the better) along the full sump area.

The rounded corners are not big deal. Cut the acrylic square and use sandpaper (you will need to sand all the edges where you cut acrylic or you will find your hands frequently nicked - voice of experience). Sand all the edges (being careful to avoid the viewing surface then place a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and drag the corner edge evenly along it. Go slowly as it will sand down more quickly than you would think. Using a very fine sandpaper over all the edges will give a nice professional look but the initial sanding is for your hands not esthetics. This is particularly true if you use recessed strips to support the top only it is your wrists that will take the beating.

I have not tried lexan for tops and may attempt one if we redo Little Bit's scavenged top since it looks like we will be keeping that tank long term. I know it does not sand well for scratches (I believe Diego's tank is lexan and it won't polish out) but if it warps less, it is well worth looking into.
 
I learned as a kid when I kept snakes that I'm too absent minded to be able to safely trust myself to always remember to latch a lid after I close it, so hasps like those, that need to be flipped down and maybe also have a stick put through the hole, aren't safe for me. I wanted a top that would latch itself just by being closed, so came up with a design that works great, and is easy to put together, but a little hard to explain, so I hope this picture helps:


The important thing to realize, which isn't obvious in the picture, is that the round rod is only attached at the far end, where it is inserted into a 1" long piece of hollow square tubing. The square tube piece is glued down to the top/door/lid, leaving the rest of the length of round rod floating 1/16" above the surface of the top/door, and able to easily flex an inch or two left, right, or up when I grab the free end of the rod. To open the top, I grab the free end of the round rod, flex it a little to the left so that it clears the hook, and then lift it up, opening the hinged top. When I close the top, or as it falls closed by gravity when I simply let go of it, the rod hits the angled part of the hook, which flexes the rod to the left as it moves down until the lid closes far enough that the rod springs back to the right into that notch in the hook. The little rectangular thing that encloses the near end of the round rod is glued down to the top, not the rod, and acts as a guard rail to limit how far left, or up, the rod can be flexed, making it hard for me to accidentally over flex the rod and break it. When I lift up on the near end of the rod to open the lid, the near end of the rod pushes up on the underside of that little rectangular rail, and so lifts the lid from its front edge, rather than putting too much torque on the far end of the rod where it's glued to the lid near the hinged side. I made the "rail" by cutting a 1/4" length off the end of some 3/4" square acrylic tubing, and then cutting that in half to get two of those little three sided rails. The I just glued it down to the acrylic top, straddling the round rod.

Anyway, this latch setup works perfectly, and is foolproof - just close the lid. My bimac (crazy strong) can push as hard as he wants, and will never be able to lift the lid, and I'll never forget to latch the lid. The 1/4" round acrylic rod, square acrylic tubing, and 1/4"x 3/4" rectangular rod (to make the "hook") can all be ordered fairly cheaply from eplastics.com, as well as the acrylic hinges, Weld-on, etc.
 
Alright guys so I don't have a lid worked out yet, or any real lighting but I gota good deal on rocks, sand, and a clean up crew so we are moving all of that stuff in tomorrow. It should be interesting. Hopefully the bulkheads hold, they leaked the first time I tested them. I flipped them around and that seems to have done the trick but I only tested with 8 gallons or so of water.

Pictures to follow!
 
With the bulkheads, make sure that the rubber gasket goes on the inside of the tank, and the hexagonal nut that you tighten goes on the outside of the tank, with no rubber gasket under it. You can put a thin film of silicone sealant on the tank side of the rubber gasket before you install it, just in case there are scratches on the tank there, but you shouldn't need that. Tighten the nuts as tightly as you can by hand, and then maybe a tiny bit more with a tool (optional), but don't over tighten them, or you'll mash the gasket out of shape. Also, be sure that whatever you connect to the outside end of the bulkhead (hose, pipe, whatever) is connected so that it won't leak: use Teflon tape for threaded connections, clamps for barbed hose fittings, and pvc cement for slip fittings. If you do all of that, your bulkhead fittings won't leak.
 
Yes, I polished the tank (with the Novus products). I may go back over some spots with sand papers now. Plus there undoubtedly a few new ones now. There's a mag float type kit that is supposed to be good for scratches in a running tank.

And Joe, I didn't want to put silicone in on it but it did leak a little bit after tightening by hand. I think they just weren't very tight since the way the bulkheads are situated in the back makes it hard to get a grip. We tightened them just a bit with tools today and it is holding just fine now. I originally had the bulkheads inside out, which is how they were on my last tank (no leaks). That orientation did not seem to work here but there was space in the stand to flip them so all is well.

Everything is cloudy and messy at the moment but I'll post some photos when it clears. I used putty on most of the rocks so hopefully everything is stable. I think there will be a lot of good hiding spots and I plan to add a piece of barnacles just in case. :smile:

Tank is currently running at 75 degrees which is much lower than I expected with this heat (we live in Phoenix). However there are lights at the moment and it is night time. We'll see how much it changes in the next few months.
 
I was wondering about that too. But since my only animals are snails and a few chromis that stowed away in the rock, I don't have much to worry about.
 
By the way, I'm considering putting out the money for a couple AquaIlluminations Sol units for this tank. My reasoning is, LEDs are awesome, the fixtures have history as being great and easy to update/mod, and they're controllable so as the tank evolves I can adjust without buying new lighting. Anyone want to talk me out of this?

(I'd be using computer funds and building a computer instead of buying a Mac to free up funds)
 
I'll make no comments about the only mac I like is a bimac but building out as PC and getting LEDs sounds like a WIN/WIN to me :biggrin2:

I've got LEDs on only one tank (won a set at last year's MACNA) and eventually would like to have them on all tanks but recently bought new bulbs because we can't afford to go there yet. It turned out exceptionally well that the set fit this particular tank as I ended up putting a chiller on it for a bimac and the lack of added heat was beneficial.
 
D, I've been using Mac computers for a long time but the new ones just aren't up to par. And because I am pretty sure I will not like windows 7 I was kind of between a rock and a hard place. So I decided to build a desktop that can run both operating systems. Now I just need to find a quality monitor.

I'm gonna go in today and talk to my boss about getting the AI fixtures and we'll go from there. I probably can't order for a month or so though. In the mean time the tank can cycle with the el cheapo tube light from a 4' tank. I cleaned everything yesterday so it got cloudy again but I'll take some photos of the rock work today. No signs of a cycle so far but I'm due for another set of water tests
 
If you are happy using a MAC, a PC is definitely a different world but as a developer, I can't deal with not knowing where everything resides. The people I know that are most statisfied with their MAC's have both options to be able to run software not available to the MAC or needing to interface with the PC crowd.

Enough lighting to get through the initial algae phase is all you need. A little additional heat will likely aid the process.
 
Went and looked at pc laptops today and I was really dissappointed in the quality of the monitors. In fact, I was disappointed looking at external monitors too. Now I'm not sure what I need to do. I won't be able to buy anything for a month or so though so I will work on it. I just don't want to cheap out on a computer any more than I want to cheap out on aquarium lights. Lol. Decisions, decisions.

By the way, my nitrates are at 20ppm today so I will be getting some water for a water change and waiting for a diatom bloom to add some cleaners. I have macro algaes to put in the tank but I won't yet since I don't have a proper light. Waiting for thing like this is hard!

Edit:
Everything else is at zero as far as water quality is concerned but there may still be a some spikes.
 

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