Herbieace's "Frankenfrag-Tank"

table saw cuts 1/4 acrylic like butter. I'll be installing the baffles once I get everything cut. Any words of wisdom on the assembly?

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Herbieace said:
table saw cuts 1/4 acrylic like butter. I'll be installing the baffles once I get everything cut. Any words of wisdom on the assembly?

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Click to expand...

Yea. Make sure your cuts are square and measure twice. Keep the blade and acrylic cool between cuts. It melts like butter just as easily as it cuts like butter. For assembly be sure to use 100% silicone with no anti mold additives, be liberal with the silicone but not sloppy. I like to smooth off and put a bit of a rounded edge on any baffles water will flow over but it's not necessary.
 
FishBeard said:
Yea. Make sure your cuts are square and measure twice. Keep the blade and acrylic cool between cuts. It melts like butter just as easily as it cuts like butter. For assembly be sure to use 100% silicone with no anti mold additives, be liberal with the silicone but not sloppy. I like to smooth off and put a bit of a rounded edge on any baffles water will flow over but it's not necessary.
Click to expand...

Check. Thanks. How do you smooth the silicon inside the bubble trap? Do you let each piece dry before adding the next? I see a lot of swearing in my future with my giant ham hands and delicately balancing freshly silicon-ed baffles.

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There are definitely prettier sumps but this one is mine. One question: when trying to figure out the suspended baffles I stupidly dropped them down an inch. Should I go ahead and add add a 1 inch piece to their top or just see if it works?
View attachment 3179

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As long as the top edge of the "under" baffles are a good 1/2" or more above the "over" baffle you should be fine. It's not like you have a ton of flow running thru the trap.
 
thanks fishbeard and thanks for all of the help. Couldn't have done it without you. I made everything with threaded couplings so I can pretty easily change/upgrade later if I have trouble. We'll see how it goes.

I am able to fit my rodi container on top of the rack for gravity top off and I can swing the left drain line over a bucket for water changes. I hope the pump is everything I need. Filling now.

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LOL, I'm sure you would have got it all set up just fine without me! It looks great. Good call with the threaded fittings, it's nice to be able to reuse PVC parts later instead of just throwing them away when you need to redesign your plumbing.
 
Skimmer Question: I filled the system a few days ago and I was running the skimmer to see it work and keep everything moving. I added salt this morning and the bubbles changed dramatically to a much more milky and violent storm (really interesting density issue there I am sure). When I got home tonight the skimmer was full to the top and bubbling the lid. Does this mean I need to raise the skimmer off the bottom glass or just give it more time and bioload? Thanks!
 
Sounds like you need to readjust the skimmer for the saltwater. Skimmers are not intended to operate in freshwater. Typically you want to close off your air adjustment if you have one, and open your outlet to maximize flow thru the skimmer, then open the air adjustment to get a fizzy carbonation look with some small bubbly head in the skimmer column. Then slowly close the outlet adjuster so that bubbly head is near the bottom of the collection cup. Feed the tank a little frozen food or anything that the skimmer will be able to extract from the water. Keep an eye on the skimmer and adjust the outlet to skim more wet or dry as necessary. Dry skim will be darker, wet skim will be more like tea, you will obviously be emptying the cup more often skimming wetter.
 
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