Dendrosa's Plywood Nano

dendrosa

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1 Jun 2007
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Location
Somerset west CT
Ok guys this competition has given me the impetus needed to re commission my nano, after breaking it down about 6 months ago due to house renovations.
I originally built this tank about 5 years ago after my 1.2 meter tank burst. I had for a long time been intrigued by the challenge of maintaining a miniature tank and this gave me the opportunity to try it. The use of plywood was a feasibility study into the use of alternative materials / methods of building a stronger tank and the durability of such materials.
The dimensions of the tank and stand were chosen more or less arbitrarily and if I were to build this again I would take more cognisance of lighting and other equipment available today.

The total internal tank volume is ( mm): L 490 W 395 H 370 ( 71 litres)
Sump volume (mm): L 450 W 300 H 270 (36 litres )
Lighting: 2 * 24 W Phillips power compacts
Return pump: Hydor 1500 l/ hr
Additional water turnover pumps: 2 * powerheads 1000 l/hr ea
Skimmer: The dreaded Jebo

One of the original design criteria for this tank was that no equipment should be visible in the display area. At the same time however I wanted to have a high turnover within the tank, which meant additional pumps

Here are a couple of pics taken during construction and initial setup:

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Ver very nifty Dendrosa, very Nifty
 
Beautiful, and I am sure the wife(girlfriend?) doesn't mind that tank in the lounge.
 
Stunning tank dendrosa, very good workmanship on the wood :thumbup:

p.s. Is this an entry for the nano competition?
 
Is that wood that you are using at the back, looks like you only have 3 sides and bottom that are glass.
Hi Thalion. All sides plus bottom are plywood, with cutouts for glass panes. glass is glued on inside of the ply frame, putting seal under compressive pressure rather than tensile or shear strain.

Rob this is the sealant I used. Same stuff that 2 Oceans was using at time I built this.Paint has stood up extremly well over the last 5 years with no mechanical degradation.
paint2.jpg
 
Overall I’ve been very happy with this tank. I am definitely a convert of using plywood in the tank build. This is the material I will be using when building my built in “passage tank”- which is long overdue:p This is the one disadvantage of using plywood, it is a lot more labour intensive in the initial build :006:
In this rebuild there are a number of changes that I will be doing:
  • I found the white background too distracting. I will be painting this black with glatex 8
  • Reduce the number of chambers behind the display area to 2 instead of 3
  • After experiencing heat issues, I am going topless this time round. I will use a 150 W MH pendant for lighting.
  • Install a decent skimmer- no not my Bubble Master :arghh:
  • “Borrow” the auto topup gear sourced for my main tank. This was a big problem for me in trying to maintain water stability without one of these fitted
 
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