Habitat - Indoor :: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Turtle tank setups and other indoor configurations.

Post Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:15 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

darklight wrote:ive been planning on remodeling my 75 gallon tank and really like your idea. what plants are you putting in the tank and how are you putting the aquarium lights if the atba is setup like that? great work though. i really like your idea



Thank you.

As for the plants, I asked at the local pet store which plants would work with a turtle. I don't know the names of all of them as I've been doing reef tanks for years and years...plants are new to me. I do know a few of them.
I have Java Fern, Anacharis, Hornwort, and a few others.

As for how the light is attached... I chose to just light half of the tank. I used a 24" coralife freshwater plant fixture...this guy: http://coralifeproducts.com/Files/Product/ProductFullSize/05617.jpg

I thought about epoxying the fixture to the underside of my lid. Then I realized I could just suspend the light over half the tank using the rim on one side and the center brace on the other. Like this:

plant_light.jpg
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:37 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

ive been planning mine as stated before and i couldnt figure out a way to get the lighting to work. i want a planted tanks with fish and turtles but i couldnt find a way to get my lighting to work. but i really like your idea so hopefully my atba thread will start u[ within a few weeks
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:18 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

I hope it works out for you. Post some pics if you can when you do your build.
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:03 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

I've added a few black mollies and a few platys to the tank along with a small-ish pleco. Moe seems to get along well with fish, so I thought I'd give these a try. He/she destroyed the plants I provided ... ungrateful little :evil:

I'm looking for a piece of driftwood or two. Does anyone know where to get a deal on driftwood?

I'll post some updated pics later.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:35 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Moe decided to eradicate one of the female mollies.

I think I need to get some driftwood or something for hiding places. The rest of the fish are taking refuge next to things like the intake for the filter or the side of the ATBA ramp.
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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:01 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Moe has also decided to eat the pleco last night.


My fx5 filter stopped working all of a sudden, so I decided to take it apart and clean it. I figured some of the shredded plant matter was clogging things up - which it was.

If you are an FX5 owner, you need a LONG skinny phillips style screw driver to remove the motor housing. The 4 screws are recessed back quite a ways in the plastic housing.

Here are a few pictures of the heart of the fx5 monster..

Here's the motor assembly. It's quite large and heavy. It puts out 900+ GPH native, and 600+ GPH through the filter media. I'm 6'4" and have fairly large hands if that gives you any idea as to how big these parts are.
fx5_motor.jpg


Here's the beefy impeller that does all that work.
fx5_impeller.jpg


And the o-ring. I used a little petroleum jelly to lubricate the ring before reassembly to ensure a good seal.
fx5_oring.jpg
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Post Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 2:28 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Awesome thread! Love that you took us through every step of it. :D I would be starting to built a top box for Ebony, my mississippi map, soon. It would be for a 55 gallon tank but I will built it in a way that could easily be expanded for 75 or bigger tank in the future. Your thread has given me a couple of ideas to add to my design, thanks for sharing it with us. :mrgreen:
Ebony- 4 yr old Mississippi Map turtle
Louie- 1 1/2 year old Mutt
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Post Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:46 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Thank you, I'm glad you found it helpful. Please post your build as you do it if you can. Maybe I'll steal a few ideas back :D

I chose the 75 because it's the same hood for a 90. The 90 is just a deeper tank than a 75, so for me to upgrade from 75 to 90 it's just a glass swap... same hood, same stand.
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:41 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

The Brinks timer for the basking light stopped functioning properly. When it was time for the light to turn on, the MVB would just blink. If I unplug the MVB from the brinks digital timer and plug it directly into an outlet, it works fine.

I decided to replace the Brinks digital timer with an aquarium controller. I went with the Reef Keeper Lite from Digital Aquatics. I don't need to control much with the turtle environment like you would in a reef setup. The base model comes with the controller, 4 outlets, and a temperature probe.

I'm thinking of doing this:
------------------------------
Outlet 1 - MVB
Outlet 2 - Heater
Outlet 3 - Tank light (fluorescent plant light)
Outlet 4 - Moonlights - I don't have them yet... just a consideration at this point.


Instead of posting pictures this time, I took out the flip cam and made a quick video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSXThHkVhDQ
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:12 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

I ended up doing this for now
------------------------

Outlet 1: FX5
Outlet 2: Heater
Outlet 3: Top Off Pump
Outlet 4: MVB



I turned on outlets 1 and 4. I'm using 1.6 Amps.
I turned the MVB off and left everything else on and drew .5 Amps.
I run my MVB for 12 hours each day... calculating costs...

With MVB on for 12 hours
1.6Amps x 110 volts = 176 watts
176 watts @ 11 cents per kilowatt hour for 12 hours = 23 cents

With MVB off for 12 hours (FX5 only)
.5 Amps x 110 volts = 55 watts
55 watts @ 11 cents per kilowatt hour for 12 hours = 7 cents

The difference in measured wattage is 121 watts. The Exo-Terra MVB bulb I'm using is listed as 125 watts.

It costs me 30 cents per day to run my turtle environment at current electricity rates. This does not include the heater.
30 cents x 365 days = $109 per year.
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:56 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Here are a few shots of the RKL installed.

Here's the module mounted to the side of the hood.
RKL_module.jpg


A closeup of the module. The temperature probe is in the tank near the output from the filter. I tell the controller which outlet the heater is plugged into, and set it for 76 degrees. When the temperature drops, the outlet is turned on by the module. The temperature is kept within 2 tenths of a degree. My heater is set to 79. When the controller turns the heater outlet on, the heater should turn on because the heater is set higher than the water temperature. IF the controller fails and the outlet sticks "ON", the heater's built in thermometer will shut the heater off at 79 degrees.
RKL_module_close.jpg



Here's the PC-4 power strip mounted under the tank. I haven't done any kind of cable management yet. Figured I'd make sure everything is happy before I neaten up the cables.
RKL_PC4.jpg
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:58 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

you should make a total cost sheet up when you are finished
65 Gallon
-1 RES (Myrtle)
-1 Pleco (unnamed)
-1 four lined pimelodus catfish (unnamed)
-1 shubunkin (unnamed)
29 Gallon Planted Tank
-3 cory cats
-# guppies!
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:28 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

More like a running tally. It's a constant work in progress for me. :D Besides I don't know if my wife should see the "total" posted anywhere. It might be the last time you all hear from me. Unless that's what you're going after :P
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:33 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

This ahs been a very cool post. I really like the way it is coming out. I would definitely put the turtle handles on the doors too. Where did you get them? Very cute baby.... congratulations.
I have two female red ear sliders.
Chimpy - 5.5 inches
Chompy- 6.0 inches
Both were born about 7/2007
Got them -- 9/2007
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:00 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Thank you. The turtle handles are from Lowes. Just go to lowes.com and put "turtle" in the search box. There are a few to choose from.

Thanks for the kind words about my son. He's now 3.5 months old and growing quick.
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