Willie's plywood adventure
- Thread starter Willie McDaries
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Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
thanks guys 
Rhodes19
Active Member
Great video of the MP 60 Willie. I've been wrestling with going with 2 MP 40s for my 180 or going closed loop. I'm leaning towards MP 40s. Do you find you have any dead areas the flow doesn't get to? How does your MP 60 do with suspending detritus into the water column? I like how it has your corals moving.
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
thanks Chris....I say,if you're trying to decide between a closed loop or vortechs,go with vortechs,but I like having both....the vortechs will move every drop of water in the tank on the wave setting if your tank can handle it I doubt you'd have any dead spots like that but it would really depend on how densely packed your rock is,coral will restrict flow some as it fills in too,may need more pumps later....they are great at keeping the detritus up in the water column so it can go down the overflow......it's by far,the best pump I've ever had...
2 MP40s should do an awesome job in your tank but to really improve flow you could either use an OM4 way,a sea swirl,or an SCWD on the return,or add a couple of the MP10s on the back wall,just for more randomness....and if you didn't already know,I'm thoroughly impressed with the MP60,I want another for the other side
I doubt you'd have any dead spots like that but it would really depend on how densely packed your rock is,coral will restrict flow some as it fills in too,may need more pumps later....they are great at keeping the detritus up in the water column so it can go down the overflow......it's by far,the best pump I've ever had...2 MP40s should do an awesome job in your tank but to really improve flow you could either use an OM4 way,a sea swirl,or an SCWD on the return,or add a couple of the MP10s on the back wall,just for more randomness....and if you didn't already know,I'm thoroughly impressed with the MP60,I want another for the other side
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
yep,I didn't think about the less than 1/2" glass thing with the MP10s,if I'm not mistaken,your tank is 1/2" glass too Chris....you could still add in some Tunze or any kind of other powerhead if you do have some dead spots.....
I really can't discourage the use of a CL either,mine works great,it just uses more power to move less water than 1 MP60 can do alone,but it looks so much better in the tank than any powerhead,including the MP60...aesthetically speaking,you can't beat a good CL system...if you're more concerned with power consumption than aesthetics,and we all should be,you'll be a lot happier with multiple Vortechs,they don't look bad either,and can be somewhat hidden with careful placement
as far as power consumption goes,we should all follow in Juans footsteps,I'd almost bet his 400g plus system uses less power than most halide lit 75g tanks
I really can't discourage the use of a CL either,mine works great,it just uses more power to move less water than 1 MP60 can do alone,but it looks so much better in the tank than any powerhead,including the MP60...aesthetically speaking,you can't beat a good CL system...if you're more concerned with power consumption than aesthetics,and we all should be,you'll be a lot happier with multiple Vortechs,they don't look bad either,and can be somewhat hidden with careful placement
as far as power consumption goes,we should all follow in Juans footsteps,I'd almost bet his 400g plus system uses less power than most halide lit 75g tanks
Blue Space
Well-Known Member
Beautiful build Willie, simply a DYI masterpiece. I'm just wondering, after all the material used for the plywood tank including glue, paint, screws, and the front viewing pane -what is the cost difference when compared to buying sheets of glass and assembling a tank like Frank did in his thread (not sure if you've seen it)?
Great job, masterfully constructed!
Great job, masterfully constructed!
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
blue space,thank you for the kind words....I've not followed Frankies build,but glass is a lot more expensive than plywood,for me,it was easier to build with plywood.....from glasscages.com a reef ready tank with the same dimensions as my tank was about $1200 more for an all glass tank....I'm sure Frankie had their prices beat as well by DIYing his...if you figure all the work into a plywood tank,you might be better to build from glass,depending on the size you want,plywood doesn't save a lot of money until you get up into the 300g and bigger sizes,the cool thing about plywood tanks,you can go a lot bigger,if you do it right,without it costing a lot more,if you don't go over 24" tall,1/2" glass will work fine no matter what length or depth you make it,providing you can find the glass in the length you want,10 ft is as long as I've heard of,any taller and you need 3/4" glass which is a lot more expensive...either way,if you DIY a huge tank,you'll save a bunch of money
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
Willie, when I had my 4 MH and VHO light rack, consumption was above 1,200 Watts, with the six AI's I'm around 450watts
that's just awesome Juan,1/3 of the cost to run plus you don't have the heating issues associated with halides now either....I'm using 4x250w halides plus 4x54w T5,that equals out to about 1200w
a 75g with 2x250w=500w halides is gonna use more than that so I was right on the money,I love it when I'm right
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
thank you for the kind words.....you can do it,it's not too hard...it's very rewarding to DIY anything but it is super special when you can build your own tank and it actually hold water
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
got some new coral yesterday
the frog spawn is POed at the moment,I had to move it to get a good pic,but it was all bushed out nice and pretty
and some extras in the frag rack,I ran out of glue
the frog spawn is POed at the moment,I had to move it to get a good pic,but it was all bushed out nice and pretty
and some extras in the frag rack,I ran out of glue
jedi82knight
Member
Wow Willie, you've been busy since I last checked in! Congrats on the tank Birthday and winning the frag pack. Very nice kalk reactor work (versions 1 and 2), and the re-plumb on the CL looks much more convenient. Tank is looking great, keep it up.
Nice additions!
Willie McDaries
Well-Known Member
thanks guys,Brandon,I'm always doing something to it,unfortunately,I don't always document it...I'm trying to remember to take pics when I do get something done and whether I post it or not,at least I'll have pics
