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

[BRuTAL_HiTMAN_]

Brutal, I am having trouble thinking of how to build it and what to use. My tank is so fat..I wish I could just use a piece of tile but its way too big. I also need it to be light enough for me to lift by myself (I live alone). I want to make it into two pieces and to cover the whole top of the tank. Any ideas on what kind of materials should I use? Egg crate wasnt sturdy enough for that size and I wasnt crazy about how it looks

PVC and plexiglass? or PVC and eggcrate?

[VeipaCray]

So the cat decided he likes the elevated spot that is the top of the ATBA. He's up high... safe from the dogs. He's also a fan of the warmth produced by the basking light. Problem is... the cat has broken two of the egg crate covers I had made to let the light in. Time for a new solution. Something that still let's the light and heat in, but something the cat cannot break. I decided on aluminum egg crate. I found a seller on ebay that would sell individual 2x4 foot panels of aluminum egg crate. Most of the online retailers I could find were only willing to sell in large quantities (box of 50+ panels) OR $100+ for a single panel.

Heck it even arrived in a box labeled "Mobile beer cart". That's a good omen.




Not too bad of a price either... Around $30 including shipping. It's double the price of the plastic egg crate sheet available at the local hardware store... but hopefully more durable. So if anyone has the same cat problem I do this might be a solution. I'll post back in a bit to let you know how the aluminum egg crate holds up.

[VeipaCray]

I realized after posting those pics... the aluminum panel doesn't look much different than the plastic panel. I'll post a few better pics when I can. The aluminum egg crate still has the same 1/2" hole size as the plastic egg crate.

[valladin82]

Veipa I have to say this thread is very inspiring. You got me planning out a new home for my turtles now. Great job on the tank and ATBA!

[steve]

Gotta love ebay, hope it didn't cost too much.

[VeipaCray]

Veipa I have to say this thread is very inspiring. You got me planning out a new home for my turtles now. Great job on the tank and ATBA!

Thank you. I stole most of my ideas from others on this forum so I'm glad my build might be able to pay back some of the debt.

Gotta love ebay, hope it didn't cost too much.

$30 with shipping. 14 for the panel, 16 for shipping. It was 2x the cost of the plastic egg crate panel but if I don't have to keep replacing it every few weeks it'll be less expensive in the long run. The cat has already cracked 2 of the plastic ones.

[BRuTAL_HiTMAN_]

Time for a new solution..

or a new cat

[VeipaCray]

Hehe the cat came as a package deal with my wife.

[BRuTAL_HiTMAN_]

Hehe the cat came as a package deal with my wife.

even better then, a new wife!

[VeipaCray]

Hehe the cat came as a package deal with my wife.

even better then, a new wife!

Did that once already. It's too expensive.

[BRuTAL_HiTMAN_]

Hehe the cat came as a package deal with my wife.

even better then, a new wife!

Did that once already. It's too expensive.

*facepalm*
always get a prenup... now look what you're stuck with, a cat.

[sflemin2]

LOL! Cats are cute but I have a strict policy against any animal that sheds from now on. I had a huskey shepard mix at the ex boyfriends house..now I only have the poodle..so much less cleaning. No kitties for me

[VeipaCray]

hehe the cat is from the current wife.

we have two boston terriers, a cat, a RES, a cichlid tank, and a reef tank. Not only no more cats... no more pets in general. Our zoo is full.

[VeipaCray]

So I cut the aluminum egg crate with some tin snips and fit it in place. 10 minute total project. Seems to be very sturdy (and hopefully cat-proof).

Side-by-side the old plastic egg crate cracked by the cat and a piece of new aluminum egg crate.

New aluminum egg crate installed above the basking area...

[VeipaCray]

Now to deal with the surface scum and random floating pieces of cat hair...

I do feed in the tank and have a protein / oil slick floating on the surface of the water. Stuck in the oil slick are pieces of floating cat hair... gross. The FX5 won't pick this up because the intake is deep in the water column (where it should be) to grab the turtle waste. I've been mopping up the oil slick with a paper towel on occasion but decided it was time to fix this problem for good. I need to skim the surface of the water and send it to a filter. I looked into modifying the FX5's intake so I could possibly take in water from deep in the tank as well as from the surface. I decided I didn't want to modify any of the FX5 parts in case I changed my mind about this later.

Through my internet searching, I discovered a really neat piece from Eheim. It's exactly what I wanted for the FX5... a dual intake. It has a regular strainer for deep in the tank + an opening for surface skimming. It's around $40.. not too bad but it won't fit on my FX5's giant tubing. However anyone reading this thread with an eheim, Rena XP 3/4, or even some of the generic filters should be able to use this eheim adapter. It's eheim part # 3535000. Eheim Surface Skimmer

eheim_surface_skimmer.jpg (8.55 KiB) Viewed 10748 times

I have one of the generic surface skimmer attachments laying around in a box of random unused aquarium parts. It's $9 new and made to go on to almost any filter (except my FX5 with the giant tubes)

So now I'm thinking of getting a second small filter to hook up to the surface skimmer attachment that I already have. I don't need much in the way of filtration or even water flow. This isn't my primary filter for keeping the water parameters in check and the water clear... the FX5 still does that. I just need something to take in the surface gunk and cat hair. I don't need any biological filtration for this...just some basic mechanical filration to grab the cat hair and some chemical (carbon or purigen) to grab the protein / oil slick.

Maybe a small Rena XP1/2? Maybe an XP3 and have a backup filter for other canisters in the house? Do I get a small eheim? Or do I get one of the generic sun/sun type ebay canisters because they're cheap? Even though I could hook this little skimmer thing up to a HOB like an aquaclear that I already have, I think the cat would mess with the HOB filter. A canister would work best.

Thoughts? Opinions??