refugium for 29gal

[914]

i'm setting up a new 29gal tank, having been forced by circumstances (military mobilization) to leave my 75 +29ref setup at home.

(my hunny is taking care of that tank, i'll get to visit it over christmas)

since i'll be here a year, i figure i'll do the smallish-tank thing.

here's the question:
can a full 29gal tank support the weight of a regfugium on top of it's canopy? how large? 5 gal? 10 gal?

since i really like having a refugium, i'd like to put one on this tank.

the tank will be on a counter/bartop, and will be visible/viewable from all 4 sides.

i'd like to avoid having any more over-the-edge connections than is strictly necessary.

so, the basic idea is to build a largish canopy, incorporating lighting and power strips to run the pumps/etc so that there need be only one power cord for the whole setup. yeah, redundancy is nice, but since this is a 'corporate living' apartment, i can't run a new circuit anyhow.

i'm a little concerned about heating the refugium, but the canopy will need to be fan cooled anyhow, and i think (hope) that since this is going to be a scratch-design, i can build in enough space for insulationto prevent overheating the little tank.


i'm quite excited about starting this, as i'll get to correct a lot of mistakes i made when setting up my large tank....

any ideas or thoughts? thanks!

 

[Tybond]

Give me your e-mail address or contact me at [email protected] and I'll mail you a great suggestion for your needs. it will be to long for a thread but I bet you'll love it!
you are building your own canopy I assume so this will be just the trick. Promise.

 

[914]

will do!

thanks!

anybody else?

 

[slimy]

Would it be possible to create a canopy that is not supported by the tank itself, but rather, placed on it's own legs over the tank?

I'm not a fan of putting huge, heavy canopies on smaller tanks, at they have thin glass and smaller safety margins.

 

[monkeyboy]

I like slimy's idea about not having the tank support the canopy, much safer. A 10 would be nice, easier to light than a 5 but twice as heavy. If you have the bar supporting the canopy then you could plop the 10 on there no problem. How do you plan to tie in the refugium to the 29?

 

[914]

well, the idea was to have a powerhead in the lower tank push up into the refugium, and the ref being drilled for a standpipe, overflows down..

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bad ascii art above..

the thing is, the place where the tank will be is *exactly* the same depth as the tank.. it's on a countertop, so support legs are kinda problematic.

not to mention, the 360degree viewing was one of the main points of the exercise.

i agree, a 10 would be a lot easier to light, and a 5 much lighter.

i too have concerns about cheap, thin-walled tanks.

does anybody have a recommendation for a stronger 29 gal tank?

would having one of non-tempered glass (or starphire) made be stronger?

how much should such a custom beast cost?

i'm in the MD/VA/DC area, so if someone has a local suggestion, i'm all for it!