Othello's UAS test

[Othello]

So this is the official kick off of my project. Alea Jacta est and all that...

if all goes well, it will be fish, LR and Coral tank...

I believe in Lebanon it will be the first ATS only tank (and first ATS implementation) since no one I talk to seems to have heard of it ... but this is another story.

yesterday I ordered the glass parts for my sump and I will be drilling the acrylic tank to install an overflow to feed the sump on Saturday if all goes fine.

Aquarium

Measurements: L80cm H55cm W45cm which makes the volume around 180 liters (47.5 gallons I believe).

its a chinese acrylic type. used to be FW tank with a cannister, will convert it to SW. canister will go to my other tank, a 700 liter (180g) tank which already has two filters or I might sell it ...

I plan to remove the top cover (which contains the lights) and it will be replaced with egg crate and external lights...this will be at a second stage once I get to the corals part.

I will be drilling it on Saturday. here I have a question though: should I drill it from the back or on the bottom? which is, from your experiences, more effective? or is it a matter of taste?

I am more inclined to the hole in the back as this would save me having to drill the stand as well since the tubing will just be in the back...but I am open to suggestions. any link you can share with me would be very appreciated.

Sump
will have approx the same footprint (a couple of cm shaved off the width and length to have it fit underneath the stand) and a height of 40cm.

It will be divided into 3 compartments: one for auto top off, one for the water coming in from tank/scrubber and the central one will be left as is for now...most likely ill add some live rock and DSB if necessary...maybe also a calc reactor but this is in a future stage...

for now I plan to stay with the ATS and do things manually...

aim here is to have a working POC to prove the ATS point to the skeptics and a personal point that fishkeeping can be enjoyed without having to shell out thousands of $$$...

ATS will be over the sump actually and fed either directly from overflow or through a pump in the sump (still not sure which method to use here - again inputs welcome....)

For the ATS design, since we are close to the release date of the new SM concept, I will wait for that and design accordingly...once SM releases the design, I will go out and purchase the components and make the acrylic frame for it...

of course pictures will come for each step so stay tuned folks

[Othello]

For the ATS lighting, I plan to use something like this with reflectors like this (they are by a company called Dymax and seem to be only ones available in Lebanon...unless i DIY with LEDS...)

Eventually I will work out wattage etc based on the new ATS specs and screen size required...I like the idea of the double intensity half lighting period concept as it would allow me to increase bulb life...thats if it still applies in new specs...

[Othello]

Sump build was completed on Saturday. Its drying up right now...will be doing the first water test on Friday night....looks good...

[Othello]

SM, a quick question: what would you recommend at this stage: go with ATS or the new UAS? I posted a couple of drawings/drafts on the UAS forum...I am at a loss as to which direction to take since D day is getting closer and closer...plan to "kickoff" May 10th, cycling tank with LR and algae scrubber...

[Floyd R Turbo]

You want to let the silicone dry for 2 weeks to be 100% safe. What silicone did you use?

[Othello]

aquarium silicone. been using it for years and its quite ok.

i figure by kickoff time it woukd have dried out completely...

[Othello]

I must admit I am at a loss at this stage...ATS or UAS or ATS with Air flow? which one should I go for???

ATS with Air through a venturi attachment sounds good since I can benefit from both concepts and it helps with the lighting on both sides of the screen...yet what makes me so reluctant is the slot in the pipe...unless i do a "morgan" modif on it using holes and a saran wrap (aka clingfilm)...

but then there would be the issue of a non submerged screen and the risks during power outages (basically there is around 5 min between power out and generator kicking in, and should generator fail for one reason and I am out of the house, we are talking around 4 hours of no-power)

what i like in the UAS is the submerged part and the relative easiness ...downside is the lighting...unless i do two one sided screens or find a way to make things work with mirrors....

help!!!!

[Doompie]

Depending on the planned size of your screen, but I would go for the UAS. About the size of floyds would work well on that sized tank. Have you seen his growth after just 2 weeks? Quite easy too build, and low running cost with the low flow pump, LED's and an air pump..

For my existing waterfall, I've added just an airline down the center of the screen and raised the water level a bit.. that had kicked the growth really good.
When I had to rebuild now, I would probably go for a smaller screen UAS build with LED.

The mirror option is also quite easy if you would follow the small box build. You could just go and buy chrome window tinting foil and sticker that to the outside of the window. When you black it out on the outside, it reflects like a mirror of plexiglas (no light breaking).

Also there are air pumps available with backup battery, when the power fails. A low flow pump and low power LED could be easily backed up for hours with a simple 12V->220V/110V converter a charger and a yellowtop car battery fe.

[Othello]

Ok

so I went out and got what I think/hope are good materials for the screen in addition to a very nice air stone...check the pics:

Screen: I got two types of screen...one with small squares and another with larger ones...they were 10$ per square meter...got one square meter per type just in case




then this airstone caught my attention:





I will be using it as support...

I am thinking a Morgan kind of hookup, with the screen looping around the stone, and held on top by a rod that sits on the sumps edges...maybe some egg crate to frame the whole setup as someone posted on the site...

the way I am thinking is to use the entire height of the sump as screen size and only light the area corresponding to what I will be feeding...what do you think??

[Othello]

this is what I am thnking of havng





the airstone is in grey

didnt do a good job on drawing the looping of the screen but I hope it shows to a certain extent what I was thinking of.

the black squares at the top are zip ties used to attach screen to rod...