Mespe's 50 Gallon Aquarium setup in Progress

[rfeiller]

all-glass-aquariums have tempered bottoms, this looks like an AGA aquarium, have drilled several hundred AGA's. if the glass crumbles it will do that immediately as soon as you score it with the bit.

[mespe]

Making Progress, Got my barrels,,,



Took everythin home, here's where my AP systems going to reside. The grill's normally in the corner, but when we had a foot of snow on the ground, I moved it a little closer to the door.



Got some good use out of my chop saw today,,,




I need to add a cross brace on the GB, there's alot of weight with all them stones.
so far, that's 2 cubic feet.

I was lucky and found a 4 foot piece of the corrogated drain tile it's in there too, as is a 3/4 inch drain going to a 1/2 PVC pipe to an auto syphon to be mounted between the two GBs.

Spent way too much money yesterday and today,,,

OK I got a question, when I take a pH ammonia nitrite and nitrate reading, which water gets tested? the FT water or the sump water?

[keith_r]

whichever water you test, always test from the same spot.. i've read of people testing from the ft, from the outflow of the gb, and from the sump.. i test from the ft, but as noted, it's a matter of preference, just be consistant as you can (same time of day, same source, etc)
you might want to put a strap across the middle of your growbed, or it will "bow" out..
where'd you get your barrels and how much? (i'm thinking of making a few more gb's) - there was a guy on craigslist in mentor a while ago that was selling them for $15
looking good mespe!

[mespe]

he went up to $20 apiece, there's someone on the west side that has barrels for $15 each. I plan on putting a support underneath the angled 2x4's and am considering framing around the tops of the GBs. A buddy offered me some fish from his pond, I might take him up on his offer.

Tonight I hope to finish up atleast the one GB, and tinker with the autosiphon.

[keith_r]

that might have a tendency to collapse when the water level drops..you'll need some kind of braces
is your pump going in the sump? you need to leave enough water so that it's not suckin air...
maybe a "tote" type thing with some kind of frame?
are you adding filtration? you'll need something, or solids will cause some ugly stuff with your roots..

[mespe]

The sump is going to be that 3 foot by 8 inch kiddie pool underneath the GB's, and yes pump is in the sump. I will probably add braces for the framing so that I can enclose everything in plastic for a greenhouse.

So I need to put something inline to trap the solids? Can't they just sit in the 3 1/2 pipe where they will be trapped by the 3 1/2- 1 1/2 reducer? I take it the solid sink. I can easily add something to trap them at the FT overflow. Sure am glad I'm going small scale first.

I cleaned the gravel/lava rock by pumping water into the GB, let the autosiphon draw the water out, let the slurry settle (4-8 hours) pump again, and repeat. I thought I would filter with a 10 micron filter sock, but apparantly silt is finer than 10 microns.

3.5 cu ft of rock per grow bed = $30

Here's a picture where I added the cross brace to support the weight of the GB's



It's going to be below freezing the next several days, and since I don't like to work in the cold, and I don't want to run the risk of breaking the FT due to freezing water I might slow down a bit on this project,,, well see.

[urbanfarmer]

Don't know what your tank was built from but you were extremely lucky because most are constructed of tempered glass which cannot be drilled WITHOUT SHATTERING. LUCKY...

I was just thinking that when I saw it, but the ones sold around here usually only have the bottom glass tempered. He's lucky he didn't drill through that!!!

[urbanfarmer]

Hm, not sure if it's like that up there, but around here they have 2x4x8 treated lumber for $1.96 at all the home improvement stores, which is a buck cheaper than the untreated studs they sell... just a thought!

[keith_r]

i don't think that's a good idea unless you reinforce the sides somehow so that it doesn't collapse when the water is pumped out

[mespe]

Sorry for the delay, but been rather busy at work, and the weather wasn't cooperating with my AP build.

Here's the completed system, more or less I guess