Nano-Cube 24G Vent Viv

[alifer]

NC24 Viv, updated 12-26-06




Well a little introduction, I’ve been a lurker here for a year or so soaking up ideas for a viv. I am active over at nano-reef.com and have a Nano-Cube 6 reef tank. I know a few people on this board are also active at NR. I wanted to setup a Nano-Cube 24 as a viv and Chris at nanocustoms.com offered me one of his 05 NC24’s with a new DX hood to work with. Chris also re-bulbed the hood with two 36 watt 7100K daylight bulbs before shipping the tank to me. For anyone not familiar with Nano-cubes, they are supposed to be an out of the box reef tank setup with two 36 watt PC lights, LED moonlighting, cooling fans in the hood and back chambers in the tank to hide the filter & pump.



Well since the NC24 was designed as a reef tank, not a viv, I knew I had to do a lot of modifications to make it work. The first thing I did was take the tank apart. Two hinges that are screwed to the top trim hold on the hood. I also removed the back chambers by cutting thru the silicon beads between the tank glass & the chambers. My biggest concern was how to keep frogs & flies in the tank, so I made a top out of a prismatic 2x4 light lens. I am hoping this will diffuse the light without cutting down too much on the usable light inside the tank, because I don’t like staring into light bulbs when I look into the viv.



I made the top with the rough side down in the hope that it will discourage frogs from trying to push their way under the top and it will let moisture drip off easily. The prismatic light lens is very flexible and I can open it enough to get a spray bottle &/or food into the viv. I can also slide the top off to remove it completely. The top slides under the attachment area for the hood hold open brackets (after a little grinding with my Dremel).



The hood comes with a light lens to protect the lights & fans from moisture, but the stock lens is recessed down into the tank and would hit the prismatic lens top that I made. I thought about just removing the hood lens since I had the prismatic tank top, but I was worried that the heat from the lights would raise the viv temps, so I used clear acrylic & my Dremel to cutout a new flat hood lens.



I wanted to have a drain system in the viv so I drilled (actually cut) a hole in the bottom of the NC24 with my Dremel and a diamond bit.



I will have my water return line run inside the drain line to cut down on the clutter. Here is a pic of the top of the drain fitting with a hole drilled thru.



I added a second elbow fitting to my drain, so I could adjust the water level inside the viv by turning the elbow up or down. I am planning on about 1” of water under the false floor. Here is a pic of the drain fitting with the return line running thru it.




One of the main reasons I wanted to use the NC24 for a viv is the cube shape & the back chambers.
I wanted to install a fan in the center back chamber blowing air under a false floor, then back out the front of the viv to keep humidity as high as possible.
I flipped the chambers upside down & cut in an air return at the top & covered the cutout with two layers of black mesh with a layer of fiberglass screen sandwiched between the mesh and I hot glued it to the chambers.
I made a removable fan holder that would slip into the center chamber. The fan is an old computer fan, which I will run with an adjustable voltage converter. The fan is a 12 volt model and is totally quiet when run at 6 volts, but still pushes a lot of air.
Her is a pic of the back chambers removed & modified for my fan setup



This is what the fan and back chambers looks like in the tank



I needed a way to direct the air under the false floor then back out the front of the tank, so I used a shop wet vac attachment for an air diffuser. I cut the tube in half and hot glued the tubes to the wet vac attachment.



I used black plastic mesh to cover the tubes and the raised parts of the false floor. The air will be pushed down the center back chamber by the fan, under the false floor and out of the air diffuser. I’m hoping this will also keep the front glass from fogging up.
Since I was dealing with a curved front glass I had to devise some way to keep my false floor & air diffuser sealed off. I came up with a false floor wall made from black acrylic, siliconed to the bottom of the tank. The false floor wall will keep water inside the wall and eliminates the need to use black silicon on the sides & front glass to hide the false floor. The one down side is that it might trap water between the glass & false floor wall if I’m not careful.



Here is a pic of my completed false floor



The next thing I need to do is work on the background. I ordered black handi-foam to make my background & I have Manzanita branches that were collected after the big fires in San Diego County a couple of years ago (so no live trees were killed in my collecting). I’ve had the branches soaking in a bucket of water for a few weeks and they are looking good with nice blacked highlights.

I’ll post more pics after I make the background.

[RGB]

Very cool design. I've thought about ways of doing a similar air diffuser under the front glass, i like how you did it. Looks good, keep us updated!

[themann42]

interesting idea with the light lens. did you try try turning on the light with and without that piece on to see how much light it blocks? how did u cut it? was it easy?

[Frogtofall]

Thats lookin' pretty good. I'll be watching this one!

[alifer]

Originally Posted by themann42

interesting idea with the light lens. did you try try turning on the light with and without that piece on to see how much light it blocks? how did u cut it? was it easy?

I like the light lens, it really cuts the direct view of the lights, but the light level looks about the same to me. I took some pics with the lens on & off & I’ll post them tomorrow (I seem to have misplaced my camera link cable) to see if the camera can tell the difference.

The lens was easy to cut. I bought a diamond encrusted cutting wheel for my Dremel and it cuts through every thing with ease. I took a side measurement and cut the lens to the correct size with a straight edge then I slid the lens into place. I traced the curved front with a marker, then cut the front curve. The handle is a piece of clear acrylic attached with Weld-on #16. .

[alifer]

I worked on my background Saturday and had the great fun of working with Handi-foam for the 1st time. I taped off the glass & false floor with blue painters tape then put duct tape over that. I hot glued my branches to the plastic backchamber to hold them in place while I was making the background. I got a little impatient and used up most of two cans of Handi-foam in about 10 minutes, not something I would recommend. The stuff is so sticky and messy it’s a total necessity to use disposable gloves. The foam kept expanding for 15 or 20 minutes after I finished spraying it on, so I stuck my hand into the largest bubbles and pulled out pieces to create ledges & planting holes. I covered the foam with a mix of cocoa husks & peat moss while it was still wet and tried to press the mix into the foam. Some stuck but not as much as I had expected.





I have to admit I like the look of the Handi-foam background and I think I’ll leave a lot exposed. I also experimented with Flevopol. I mixed up some of the Ace concrete primer with peat, cocoa husks & orchid planting mix and applied the mix to a few spots on the background. It was a little on the thick side the way I mixed it, so I pressed some peat & cocoa husks onto the top of the Flevopol. After it dried for a while I hosed off the loose mix, leaving the results you see in the pics.



I figured I could always mix up and apply more Flevopol later if I decide too.





Here’s what I did with the extra Flevopol that I had left over
Flevopol Pots



Here is a comparison of the viv with the parabolic lens removed in the 1st pic



& the lens back in on the 2nd pic just so you can (or can’t tell) the light loss.

That looks great! Any plans for the future residents?

[alifer]

Originally Posted by Squidbillie

That looks great! Any plans for the future residents?

I’m still undecided about what PDFs to start out with. The local IRBA show is this weekend, April 8 & 9, so I plan on going and checking out the PDFs and picking up some plants for the viv. The IRBA shows usually have a couple of good plant venders with big selections. I hoping they will have a good selection of mini broms & orchids available for terrariums, maybe ferns & moss, too.

[alifer]

4/8/06
I did a little local plant shopping today and came up with a few plants for my viv.
I stopped at Lowes and they had some Jewel Orchids in bloom, so I had to try a couple.
I also picked up Selaginella, don’t know what species, for my background.
I bought the smallest bromeliad I could find and I’m glad I didn’t get one any bigger or it wouldn’t have fit.
I’m not sure what the other dark green plant is, no identification label, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a brom.
I also bought a small hybrid Orchid that is in the back left corner, but needs moved to the front of the viv so it gets better ventilation.







The flevopol covered pots work great for holding plants and they disappear into the substrate. The pots sit directly on the false floor for good drainage. I used orchid plant mix, milled sphagnum and coco bedding mixed together for my substrate. I went heavy on the orchid mix for the bottom layer, then more milled sphagnum and coco bedding for the top layer.



The parabolic light lens is working well to diffuse the light coming into the viv.



The ventilation system seems to be working. The side glass started fogging up pretty quick, but the front glass is clear so far.

[RGB]

The dark green plant is a Dracanea compacta. I have a couple of them but they were too big for my viv. Not sure how big they get when mature. They do have a nice funnel in the center but unfortunately it doesn't hold water for more than a few seconds.

Looks nice, i like the Orchids.