Tang - Shell Dwellers Tank

[denis coghlan]

Great news Nick keep those tanks coming. You will have to start making your own shortly - I think that is the general progression of MTS (Just finished my third build!!)

Any chance of a few quick snaps of your third tank its been a while since you have posted pics of your projects!

Keep us posted about the forth tank!

denis

 

[Nick Sw]

The 3rd Tank is at the tope of this thread. (No fish or decor yet)
The 2nd Tank has no Lighting just 2 x Multis and 2x 1" Petricola. + Tiny Fry, I`ll take a picture later.

I haven`t got your skills and I think I`d worry too much if I built my own tank !

Tanks just checked the thread that is awesome work.

Any tips for lighting in my 18" Clearseal Tank ?
Any update on the Lab Fry ?

 

[denis coghlan]

Tanks just checked the thread that is awesome work.

Any tips for lighting in my 18" Clearseal Tank ?
Any update on the Lab Fry ?

Thanks very much Nick for the kind words regarding the DIY project.

Before I tell you what I recommend regarding lighting for the 18" clearseal, I need to know if it has a lid or a hood of some sort?

The lab fry are fine, they are not really fry any more though. The number of fry has dropped from fifty odd to about 40. All I have to do is get rid of them now!!.

 

[Nick Sw]

It`s the standard clearseal hood , black moulded plastic.

 

[denis coghlan]

I know this is going off topic slightly, but we are all still thinking about nick and his shell dweller tank!!!!

Alright this is what I would do!

If you are not looking for plant growth I would use a set of white cold-cathode tubes. You can get them on ebay for next-to-nothing. (Word of warning though I bought cathode bulbs off ebay before and both where broken when they arrived). So you might want to pick them up in your local computer store.

The wires on the cathode kit should be long enough as is, if it ain't you might have to do a little wiring but its no biggie!! First glue the two tubes to the under side of the lid (the bulbs are in sealed water proof tubes so moisture should not be a problem and therefore you will not need a condensation lid. Then drill a single hole in the lid towards the back and thread the two wires from the cathode tubes through. Then its just a simple matter of plugging the wires into the supplied transformer and hooking it up to an AC adapter.

If you do your homework you should be able to make the lights for under 10 squids.

white cathode light £7.45

UNIVERSAL AC/DC 3-12V POWER ADAPTER.300MA £1.99

Not bad eh!!

A couple of pictures you have most likely seen already!

The cathode kit

The ac/dc adapter

The white bulbs installed on my fry tank.

The two bulbs kick off a great amount of light

Hope this is some help nick, let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Nick Sw]

Thanks Tanks, not sure if they have Maplins in ireland but I can get hold of these near where I work.

http/www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Module...e&doy=20m10

Presumably the same just need a transformer which I can grab at the same place.

Have you used a glue gun to hold them in place ?
Do they need to be protected from water in anyway.

I did make a new topic in the Hardware forum for this but no one replyed
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...arseal+lighting

 

[denis coghlan]

Thanks Tanks, not sure if they have Maplins in ireland but I can get hold of these near where I work.
Do they need to be protected from water in anyway.

No problem Nick, I didn't realise that you had added that post previously. I didn't get to see it as at that time as I was travelling around the states for three weeks so my apologies.

We do have maplins in Ireland and it is exactly the same place that I bought my white cathode kit. One thing when you are buying the kit make sure you are getting a kit with the small black transformer that comes with them. Other wise you will blow the bulbs if you hook them directly up to the ac/dc adapter (I think). The kit should contain the same content that is show in the first pic that I posted. Also I am sure that you can also pick up the ac/dc adapter in maplins for cheap.

In terms of protecting the bulbs from water and condensation, the tubes are fairly well sealed so there should be no problem. But if you are worried about splashes you might want to wrap the small black transformer in insulating tape to prevent splash related shocks.

I used silicon to hold the bulbs in place but a glue gun will do exactly the same job.

Again if you have anymore question, just ask!!

denis


edit: If you do need to lengthen any of the wires, you can see what I had to do when I was installing a bule tube on my mbuna setup
Making electric connections waterproof

 

[Nick Sw]

Tanks thanks I`ll try and pick those up this afternoon.
Will bathroom silicon do the job ?
I wasn`t expecting you personnally to reply don`t worry (unless you have become the DIY section moderator, you should be !) I was just pointing this out to anyone that thought this was going off topic.

BTW if you get chance to keep Shelldwellers , do they are one of my favourites.

 

[denis coghlan]

Yes I agree Nick shell dwellers are great!!! Maybe one day when I have a little more space and time. (maybe if we do this in code the mods wont give out to us).......

Yes Nick! Bathroom "shell dweller" will work fine!!!

Let me know how you get on with your multi cathods?

 

[Nick Sw]

I might pick up another blue "Multi" and glue it to the lid of my Mbuna tank while I`m at it.
I`ll let you know later how it goes.