Hoppy's 65 Gal Riparium

[Hoppy]

Today was the appointed day to tear down the existing 45 gallon, Jebo style aquarium, to make room for the riparium. Big job! So far I've spent about 5 hours on it, but it is mostly done now. I just need to get the aquarium moved to somebody else's home, sell off the filter and powerhead, plug the holes in the wall where my constant flow water change system comes in, paint the patches, move the new stand into place, pick up the new aquarium, and away we go! Here is what is coming out:

[Tex Gal]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

I just need to get the aquarium moved to somebody else's home, sell off the filter and powerhead, plug the holes in the wall where my constant flow water change system comes in, paint the patches, move the new stand into place, pick up the new aquarium, and away we go!

... a piece of cake for you, Hoppy. You can do anything....

Looking forward to your Riparium!

[Coltonorr]

I envy your doityourselfedness!

[Regloh]

I really have to check here more often... I missed this thread entirely until now. Can't wait to see it setup. *subscribe*

[Hoppy]

I finally got the wall repaired where the water piping came in from the deck outside, and where there were numerous thread inserts for various light setups. And, my wife and I moved the stand up the stairs to here. Plus, I got the support for the light made and installed:


That light support is like the bent conduit designs others have used, but I used a 1" conduit with a 1" conduit elbow (short piece of conduit pre-bent to 90 degrees), and two couplings to hold the conduit pieces to the elbow, with 3 one screw conduit brackets to hold it to the wall, with everything spray painted with Rustoleum satin white:


I will paint the brackets tomorrow and start leveling the stand. I still haven't had a call from the LFS telling me my tank has arrived.

[Philosophos]

Nice to see you've got the kinks out of your DIY LED. I can't wait to see what you do with the riparium concept this time around. What kind of improvements do you have planned?

-Philosophos

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by Philosophos

Nice to see you've got the kinks out of your DIY LED. I can't wait to see what you do with the riparium concept this time around. What kind of improvements do you have planned?

-Philosophos

Riparium improvements? That is far in the future. I'm still struggling with learning how to manage a riparium. I will be shifting from a high CO2, moderate light, planted tank, to a low light, non-CO2 planted tank, having lots of terrestrial plants sharing the water with the aquatic plants and fish. This upsets my planted tank instincts considerably. Just learning how to manage the growth of the terrestrial plants, the seasonal cycle for them, the pruning techniques needed, the fertilizing, the insect pests, etc. should keep this interesting for at least a year, before I even think about how to do it better. You know, learn to walk before trying to win a marathon?

[Hoppy]

The first big problem happened today. Those who have already used bent conduit light support brackets probably saw this coming, but I didn't: the bracket flexes too much, so it is bent down by the light fixture weight - 10 pounds - due to the elbow section bending too much. I had calculated the bending of the straight sections, and found them to be well within reason, but I didn't allow for the curved section to bend so much.

That means I will have to make another bracket and mount two brackets on the back wall to support the light. This will be more than strong enough because the arms at the top will not be nearly as long, in fact I will just use the elbow section as is. A few more $$$ down the drain.

[daFrimpster]

maybe a single bracket with larger pipe would work better.

[Torpedobarb]

I think that the idea of a support bracket from the back will work great. When is the tank coming in? any word from you lfs?

I am interested to see how this turns out. I hope that the transition for you works out ok and you don't give up! I want to see the end results.

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by daFrimpster

maybe a single bracket with larger pipe would work better.

No doubt, there is a conduit size that will make the deflection be reasonable. But, my CEO is already griping about the humongous pipe sticking out from the wall. Going to a still bigger one wouldn't do anything positiive for the relationship. A 1" conduit is about 1 1/4 inch in diameter, and it looks even bigger up there. I even thought about packing the inside of the conduit with sand or something to try to make it stiffer, but that would cost more than just using two brackets. And, I'm not at all sure it would work.

I did "beautify" my new pair of brackets by plugging the open hole in the end of each - the end of the conduit elbow - with a short section of 1" wood dowel, split down the middle, with a short sheet metal screw in the crack to expand it to a tight fit inside the conduit, then covered that with a big blob of plumbers epoxy putty. I will sand those down a bit, so they are a finished end.

Originally Posted by Torpedobarb

I think that the idea of a support bracket from the back will work great. When is the tank coming in? any word from you lfs?

I am interested to see how this turns out. I hope that the transition for you works out ok and you don't give up! I want to see the end results.

I won't give up, and it will work, absolutely guaranteed! But, still no word from the LFS. I will phone them tomorrow.

[Hoppy]

The stand is now leveled - using glued together layers of scrap veneer, a great method - the light fixture is hanging and works fine, and all of the stand parts are installed except the doors. Progress that's visible!

The two bent conduit light supports work fine, and anyone can make them this way:


No bending required, just a pre-made elbow, a coupling, and a length of straight conduit. I plugged the ends that point out, using 2 inch long pieces of 1" diameter wood dowel, split with a chisel, masking tape taped back together at one end, with a small screw in the crack at the other end, to act as an expander to lock the dowel inside the conduit. Then, I used "plumbers epoxy putty", one of those you cut off a piece that has a different color core, then knead it with your fingers to mix the two colors, and molded over the end of the dowel to form the rounded end plug. It sets in about 30 minutes, so then I used a rasp, file and sandpaper to smooth and form it. The chains tie to a couple of small screw eyes, which I opened up the eye into a nearly closed hook, screwed into the underside of the conduit elbow end, and into the top of the light fixture. To raise the fixture I will make an "S" shaped hook from wire to grab chain links near the top and near the fixture to shorten the chains.

All that is left is modifying my RFUG to use a powerhead, and getting the tank. So far no word on the tank. I contacted the store today by email, but the email account is closed, so I will have to try to phone them again tomorrow. (I just hope they didn't declare bankruptcy after getting my money.) (No joke, that has happened to me before.)

[oldpunk78]

can't wait to see it all together! make sure and give us a review of the the Oceanic tank.

[billb]

Wow, I love the wood veneer you have used in the hood and the stand. Maybe If I could get something looking that good my wife would let me move my tank in from the garage!

Looking forward to watching this develop.

Bill

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by oldpunk78

can't wait to see it all together! make sure and give us a review of the the Oceanic tank.

What we can say already is that this tank is very, very popular! My order went to the local warehouse 9 days ago, and they said it was in stock. Now, it still hasn't arrived at the LFS, so I presume the warehouse ran out of them. And, I'm finally all ready for the tank, as my removed plants from the removed tank sit in a bucket of water slowly rotting away. I won't get hysterical if they all die, but it would be nice to maintain the continuity.