Fat Guy's ADA with hand made lily pipe

[akdmks]

This tank is pure bliss! I too did not have much luck with chili rasboras, i had gotten 12 of them, had an ich outbreak, ended up with 6, than had 5 suicides, so i have one loner in my 2.5 with some RCS and pygmy cories. But, enough of me rambling, the tank looks wonderful! Keep it up! Can't wait for the video!

[Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by roybot73

This looks amazing, man. Perfect fish choice too. Have you trimmed the HC much or at all?
Very well done!!

Thanks for the compliments!! I really dig these fish too. I trim the HC pretty aggressively every week to every other week depending on the growth that I'm seeing. Trimming can take up a lot of time, especially considering the tools that you have available. I'm currently using a long set of curved scissors and a pair of haircutting scissors to maintain the growth. You just need to be aggressive with HC once it starts to take hold. And then patience patience patience.

akdms,

sadly my chili rasboras all kicked the bucket after the ich outbreak. There is a legitimate problem with the fish jumping from the tank when spooked (even with a glass top insert). I've been contemplating purchasing a piece of plexiglass to shape myself for the top that will cover more area and reduce the amount of jumpers. I have one very curious cat that is more in to the tank than I am (which is really saying something). But his obsession with watching the fish some times spooks them into making the "leap of faith," which leavs me to find the dried up fishes in some very obscure locations. best, el g

[Bree]

Those ADA tanks just can't not look good! And yours in no exception! Looking amazing, great job!!

[GDP]

awsome tank man. I love ADA stuff. I found this thread by searching on tips for using lily pipes to aerate. I hope my HC will grow as nice as yours, but I kinda doubt it though. Pretty sure I need more light.

But anyway this tank also inspires me.

[Fat Guy]

Did a major cleaning today. The worst part was that I broke my outflow lily pipe. I knew it was going to happen eventually after trying to separate it from the tubing. But it shattered in my hand and gave me a lovely gash across the palm. So I used some extra tubing I had around to make my own lily pipe. Sucks that it broke. I'm hoping that ADA will make a metallic nano lily pipe. that would be awesome. One of the coolest things that I've discovered in this tank is that the female cherry shrimp that was berried months ago had one surviving offspring that appeared a couple of days ago. I lost her, but noticed an adolescent cherry shrimp thriving in my aquarium that I did not add. ahh mother nature!! I've posted my first clipping auction in the swap n shop here for a handful of sprigs and a ton of stray leaves. The HC is doing great. I've found a lot of success trimming it once nearly every other week. The emerald eye rasboras are just awesome. I'm switching to an acrylic top so that I can refuse any jumpers. I'm gonna purchase some 1/4" plexiglass from estreetplastics.com and cut it specifically to my desired dimensions. Here are today's photos:

[shrimpnmoss]

I love how clean your tank looks.

[dubvstudent]

Nice tank. That is a heck of alot of HC trimmings for a tank that small and only a few weeks of growth.

I would advise against an acrylic top though. They start to bow and deform in no time.

[Fat Guy]

This is going to be a very pic heavy post. After breaking my outflow lily pipe in the palm of my hand, I decided that I was going to make my own. But first, let's just start with my new top. I've had a problem (always have) with "jumpers." I've credited this mainly to my one very curious cat who spooks the fish with his surprise attacks and paw batting. So the glass top cutaway that I had made for the tank had a few too many open spaces for the daring. I had picked up a piece of plexiglass from home depot two weeks ago and cut it custom to accommodate my hardware, but was very disappointed with how quickly the plexiglass began to bow. So I did some research and found two great stores in NYC:

one of them being ttplasticland who cut a 1/4" thick piece of plexiglass

and another store right on the corner on canal where I purchased a 1/2" in diameter 6' acrylic tube and 1/4" acrylic dowel rod about a foot in length.

I cut the plexiglass to fit the top of the tank and cut sections to fit the lily pipes and co2 diffuser. Later, I purchased a heat gun from home depot to use for the lily pipe project. I used some solarez (surfboard resin) to glue small sections of the acrylic dowel rod to the 6 (twelve inch acrylic) tubes I cut to make the lily pipes with. I used the dowel rod slices and solarez glue to plug the end of the tubes that I cut, essentially prepping them for the lily pipe creation. I couldn't have been happier with the outcome. I made a batch of lily pipe outflows that I custom shaped that work and look just as good if not better than the glass pipes I was using before. Here are the pictures to follow. I could go into extreme detail, but I'm running out of wind. If anyone is interested, I'd be more than happy to make them an acrylic outflow pipe. I've gotten quite good at it. pm me if interested. Thanks to those who have been following this thread. For me, it is so much more satisfying when you can create your own stuff.

best, el g

PLEXIGLASS TOP






LILY PIPE CREATION


CUT THE TUBE INTO SIX PIECES AND THEN SLICED SEGMENTS OF THE ACRYLIC ROD TO PLUG THE TUBES USING THE SURFBOARD RESIN TO CURE IT IN THE SUN

PREPPED TUBES CURING IN THE SUNLIGHT



GLOVES ARE ESSENTIAL WHEN WORKING WITH ACRYLIC AND HEAT. GOT THESE FROM HOME DEPOT FOR $1.97

SO THE HEATING BEGINS. THE WHITE IN FILLER IS SALT. EASY TO WORK WITH, AND MAINTAINED THE TUBE SHAPE FAIRLY WELL. I'M SURE THERE IS A BETTER INGREDIENT TO REPLACE SALT IN THIS LILY PIPE RECIPE.

First attempt was not so good...


But then I got much better at it...








AND FINALLY, MY NEW DIY EXTERNAL DROP CHECKER. WORKS LIKE A CHARM, AND NOT VISIBLE IN THE SCAPE


Much love, -el g

[pomby27]

haha i see why in all your pictures your fish hide in that one corner.

[dtum]

Unbelievable! That's some serious craftsmanship. You should start selling those pipes online to pay for your hobby.

[RWalleyTX]

very nice tank.

[Fat Guy]

Thanks all. I really like working with the acrylic. And that's a funny observation about the fish in the corner. My one cat is a menace and likes the tank almost as much as I do. When the big kitty is near, the fish school in that section of the tank.

[Fat Guy]

Decided to make some adjustments to the tank this week. I got rid of the glass diffuser and built my own external inline co2 reactor, and I have to say- I'm very glad that I did. The project was a complete success and cost not even $20. I also got rid of my bubble counter because it is now made obsolete with this new reactor design.

The hardest part about building this reactor was finding the right place to get the parts for it in New York City. Home Depot was not the store to go to. I went back to Chinatown and the plastic store on Canal and picked up some 1.5" acrylic tube for $3 and then went to 200 Supply Corporation on Elizabeth street to pick up the fitting for the tube. The acrylic tube I purchased does not match up to a standard PVC pipe so outside the box thinking needed to be done. I ended up with two 1.5" x .5" bushing that I fit onto a threaded coupling reducer which I modified with a knife and sheer will power and silicone glue to fit the acrylic tube. I wanted a clear reactor and was determined to make it work. I did. I was going to use brass fitting and a tap for the tube but decided otherwise because of possible copper leaching into the aquarium. Better safe than sorry. I ended up using two .5'' x .5" nylon barbs for the inflow and outflow connection for the reactor. It took a little tweaking for the tubes to fit from the eheim 2211. That filter has an outflow of 3/8 and an inflow tubing of 1/2". Luckily I had a nylon reducer to connect the different size tubings to accommodate the reactor's inflow connection. I just had to reconfigure the lengths of my inflow and outflow hose for my lily pipe connections. I tapped the co2 directly into the reactor using the just the airline tube and some silicone to be on the safe side. But enough rambling, here are some pics:

THE PARTS

THE FITTINGS

CUT THE 12" ACRYLIC TUBING TO 10"

SILICONED THE FITTINGS (AFTER GLUING THEM TOGETHER WITH PVC CEMENT) TO THE ACRYLIC TUBE, HAD A BEER AND WAITED 24HRS FOR THE SILICONE TO FULLY CURE. *also be sure to use teflon tape when connecting the barbs to the bushings.

THE NEXT DAY, TOOK OUT THE TOOLS AND GOT TO WORK CONNECTING IT.


LOOPED THE AIRLINE TUBING AND INSTALLED TWO CHECK VALVES JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE

THIS CHECK VALVE WAS FROM MY DIY BUBBLE COUNTER THAT I HAD GLUED WITH SOLAREZ TO A SYRINGE. THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE TO THE REGULATOR AND POSSIBLE FLOODING

SECURED IT TO MY WALL USING SCREWS AND A HEAVY GAUGE METAL WIRE TO HOLD IT IN PLACE ON TOP AND TWO SCREWS ON THE BOTTOM TO KEEP IT PERPENDICULAR TO THE FLOOR

PUT THE BOARD GAMES BACK ON THE SHELF TO MASK THE FILTER, AND FIT EVERYTHING SNUGGLY IN THE CORNER AND OUT OF SIGHT

MOVED THE DROP CHECKER TO THE OPENING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TANK WHERE THE DIFFUSER AND AIRLINE TUBING USED TO BE. LOVE THIS DROP CHECKER THAT I MADE BY THE WAY. WORKS SO GOOD, VERY CLEAN AND DOES NOT OBSTRUCT YOUR VIEW WHEN LOOKING INTO THE AQUARIUM

TANK SHOT WITH THE EXTERNAL DROP CHECKER.

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED, I CAN MAKE YOU A DROP CHECKER FOR YOUR TANK. JUST SEND ME A PM



AND THE PARTING SHOT OF MY DIY ACRYLIC PIPES THAT I MADE WORKING BETTER THAN THE GLASS ONES I PURCHASED. VORTEX IN ACTION




I have to say that this project was a success. No leaks, no noise, no bubbles, excellent co2 diffusion and happy fish and plants and hobbyist. Making your own stuff is so much more rewarding than anything else in this hobby. I highly recommend you make one of your own for those that are interested. I'm currently running mine at 1 bubble every 2 seconds but may increase it slowly seeing how the fauna adapt. Very efficient and a very satisfying addition.

best,

el g

[RWalleyTX]

how long does that 5 lb co2 last?

[chiefroastbeef]

Awesome work, and thank you for all the photos, they were a joy to view along with your journal.