The eyeball is actually the camera! I just saw that. My bad.
I actually have the turban snail, who is doing a pretty good job of cleaning the rock of algae, albeit slowly. i have seen the little lettuce slugs, adorable! I might pick one up next time. I have thought about borrowing one of the really big turbo snails for a day and letting him go to town.
The nitrates are not too bad, at least, they have not gone up.
sorry. no pics. if i had taken pics during construction, the only thing you would have seen is me pulling my hair out.
yeah, the link is correct. I used the cabinet to make the tank, thus the title “$60 tank” 
besides the cabinet, all you need is some silicone and a couple of bulkheads.
Looks like it’s coming along. Little bit more diversity then before.
I don’t know how much any normal snail including a turbo would effect the hair algae. I definitely think we need to do a little more then the snail you have as he isn’t hacking it. Sea hairs are awesome at going through hair algae. Unfortunately the only ones we have had in the store are about half the size of your tank. Dr. Mac occasionally has the little green ones that do a really good job. Other then that I wouldn’t be sure as my experience with hair algae is limited.
One of the other animals you might think about adding to the clean up crew is a money cowrie. I’m not sure if they will touch hair algae, but they stay less then an inch long and are pretty hardy. Might be a cool addition to the tank appearance wise and just for the sake of diversity regardless of how much of a cleaner he/she turns out to be.
Jon
[quote=“icy1155, post:20, topic:616”]
[quote=“a1amap, post:18, topic:616”]
If you look directly at the center of the tank there is an eye ball looking back at you? Except for some hair algae it looks well stocked and nice. Maybe you can get in with someone to get a sea hare to eat it down and when he is finished with your tank you can switch him over to another. If it comes back you can borrow him back. The grazing and then regrowth of the algae will remove nitrates from the water. If they are still a problem after he is done the growth will remove more.[/quote]
A sea hare would probably clean a tank that size in a couple hours. I’m not sure how strong the intake for the pump is but maybe try a lettuce sea slug? They stay fairly small and still do a decent job of cleaning the tank, just not nearly as quick as a sea hare. The only down side with them is they can get sucked up realllly easily. [/quote]
More like a week or 2 depending on the size. But if you were to store him in a larger tank and switch back you will give him lots of food and clean 2 tanks.
I love the eye ball it looks cool
You use this to make that.?
I just figured the link was bad. [glow=blue,2,300] Nice work.[/glow]
Of course you could have bought Icy’s 75…Al’s commission?
Actually I might have found a buyer for the 75 and all of the lights. You have no idea how happy I am.
i was going to pick up 55g initially, but these cabinets are the perfect size. if i had used four foot tanks i wouldnt have been able to stack them. ive still have a lot of touch up to do and im not even close to being ready to put the turtle in. Im going to use a 2nd one to fill the top hole with a beaded dragon tank. Since it wont need to hold water, it will be a thousand times easier, and i should be able to take some pics. I get more pics up when everything is done and the plants begin to grow in.
The cabinets work great, and are really strong. If i had to do it again, i would make a few changes, but my limited space and tools make big projects difficult.
I’d argue with the week or two Al. I purchased one from Dr. Mac the one time I had bad hair algae over a year ago and it cleaned the tank in less then 48 hours.
BTW, I spoke too soon on saying we never get in the small ones. There were small orange circle sea hairs on the list and Charlie ordered them. There were three in the store this morning.
Jon
I’ve seen a decent sized (3-4") sea hare clean a 40 breeder of all algae within 4 days. Those things can eat crazy amounts of the stuff.
Anyone we sell to someone with hair algae they are reluctant at first as they aren’t always the most attractive animals, but they always come back raving about the good jobs they do. People still have to address the nutrient problem though.
Jon
Anyways, a sea hare wouldnt be a good long term inhabitant. Maybe if you could find one to borrow but a lettuce sea slug would probably be a better choice. They dont actually eat algae, but they do steal the chloroplatsts from algae which then dies. Just as important to to do water changes. Cool little critter to boot. Im kinda biased though, I used to breed them so take what I say with a grain of salt 
This is perfect! It gives me an excuse to get something else for the tank!!! I think it’s peanut butter jelly time!!! (and a baseball bat) PBJ!
I really like the little lettuce slugs. The hares are really cool too. I might swing by a take a look-see tomorrow. I am trying to hold off till the weekend when I am again flush with cash-this week left me a little strapped.
I am trying to avoid the LFS for a couple of reasons- 1) $$$$$ (or lack thereof); 2) I am pretty sure the DBF will freak out if I buy too much more stuff (at least for the little tank) and 3) I am trying to wait for the meeting cause i am hoping for something really cool and different, maybe in blue, to put in the tank.
Plus i am running out of room. It is really tough to put stuff on the backside of the rock, it is a little too shady and under-cut.
tank looks alot better!!
How did you seal the ends? It shows them as being wood, which im guessing would be bad for anything with water in it…
well, at first i thought i could get away with a layer of silicone. it didnt work. i now know why it didnt work, and i think it could work, but it still might not be best long term.
what i ended up using was an aquaculture epoxy paint. its what they use to build plywood tanks. once the epoxy cures its as good as glass and very durable. this was a tral run for me and i made plenty of mistakes. i look forward to modding another one for saltwater use. these would make a very nice and inexpensive rack system.
Ahh I didnt even think about epoxy that is a good one. Fiberglass epoxy should work just as well…
any epoxy should work. however, there is a lot of concern with the potential of the epoxy leaking out chemicals long term. defintiely stay away from anything in a boat store. most of that stuff has chemicals specifically designed to repel inverts(barnacles, mussels, etc) the stuff i bought was pricey but it is exclusive for aquacultural use and guarenteed to be safe.
i probably have enough left to make 20 of these tanks.
Hum… now you got me thinking. Mind if I swing by sometime and check it out in person?
Jon
anytime, you know where i live.
mine is crude, but i have a lot of ideas for making it better. the only modification i would make would be some sort of acrylic cross brace for the top becuase of the length of the tank. i fill it about 40% for the turtles and there isnt any bowing but i think there might be if filled all the way. its a great size tank, long, deep and shallow. if i had the room i would set one up as a raceway style fragtank.
After everything gets situated from the recent problem, I have to add more rock to my tank. I have some old red rock, that was from a cichlid tank. My friend uses it in his s/w tank, but I havent added it to mine. I posted a question about it on 3reef and someone said to be careful because it looks like the type that might leech silicates? Besides that I really didnt receive too much feedback.
