100g Cube 30x30x28 Build

K

King Jason

Reefer
A little history about myself...I've been out of the hobby for about 6 or so years. I started off like many with a semi natural progression... 40g fresh, and then went to a 10g salt w/ a clown -> 40g reef -> 60g reef -> 190g reef. I took down my previous tank mostly because of a move and over the last few years I've lurked on the boards from time to time to see what was going on.

About 3 months ago I jumped online and started reading up on some of the new technology that really has improved the ease and maintenance of the hobby. After reading about the LED's and the thought of not having the heat and electric bill of MH's I was ready to jump back in.

After much research I decided this next tank would be a cube. I originally started off with a small tank in mind...something easy...right...what was 40 turned into maybe 60, then 80, then why not just do 100! It seemed to grow by the day so i just ordered the 100 so it wouldn't grow anymore!

I posted on this board asking for advice for a local tank builder and Ron from Coral Obsessions almost instantly PM'ed me and offered his assistance. We hit it off and I ended up working with him not only on the tank itself but a lot of my equipment. He was fantastic and relayed all the expectations of the tank to Lee-Mar which turned out great. I also purchased a bunch of the equipment from him and he gave me great deals on it...better prices then everyone online for all the items he could discount. Plus top notch service and a willingness to help which is hard to find. I highly recommend.

Many thanks to all those who I borrowed little bits of your designs and ideas.

Tank: Lee-Mar 30x30x28 (I had to go 28 after I noticed I had to fit through a 30" door), 3 sides are starfire, bottom tempered, 1x 1.5 drain, 2x 3/4 return. The wait for it was long but I love the tank. Great work.
Stand+Canopy: Lee-Mar, 3 full doors, cappuccino paint.
Lighting: Radion XR30w LED
Flow: 2x Vortech MP40 w/ battery backup
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Extreme XS200
Return: Mag 12
Reactors: BRS Dual Reactor GFO & Carbon (running off main return manifold)
Top Off/Dosing: BRS Doser (Kalk + Topoff)
RO/DI: BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 6 Stage *DELUXE* System
Controller: Neptune APEX

*As I'm writing this the tank is actually up and running...I wanted to have enough content to start a good thread.

While I was waiting for Lee-Mar to finish my tank (a long wait!) I had time to work on a few projects:

Water Storage:
I wanted to make sure I had plenty of fresh and salt water always ready and waiting for me. I ordered 2x 45g drums from eBay and setup my plumbing so that it's as close to automated as I was comfortable with. The RO/DI kicks on automatically and stop using a float valve on the top of one of the drums. The connecting plumbing allows me to pump from fresh to salt tanks and also pump independently from either tank into a 5g container for transport to the tank.

Excuse the black tarp background and sign"¦it splits the 3rd stall in the garage off into our winery. Another little project.


 
Aquascaping:
In the past I've tried a few times to drill my LR and use plastic rods and "œcement" to build great formations. Every time I was unsuccessful usually due to the rock falling apart on me when I tried to drill. With the cube I really wanted to utilize the height and width that I had available. I ended up going with 100# of Macro rocks (http://www.marcorocks.com/) and their mortar. I also purchased 2x Natural Nylon 101 Rod 1/4" Dia (http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=26455&catid=668) and a 12" cement drill.

I taped off a space on the ground that would represent the tank measurements and started to stack. At first I just piled rocks on top of each other and after a few attempts got something close to what I thought I would like. After my GF and I both liked the formation I took it apart and start to work on the bases by drilling the wholes, inserting the rods, and using the mortar to cement each piece together. I did one or two pieces a day to make sure it had enough time to set until I was done.












I let them soak in RO water for about a week w/ pumps on to not only water test but make sure I got out as much dust as I could"¦these things have a lot of rock dust!
 
...hit the image limit...



I left the rods in so when I made the transfer to the tank I could adjust as needed. *Note only the two back towers were cemented together at this stage. I waited until the tank was water tested and in place before I “glued” the final pieces together.

Final formation in the tank:


After about a month and a half of waiting the tank arrived!

One of the first things I did was cut out the canopy and use a router to create a space for the LEDs. It’s about ½” cut into the wood so the fixture won’t slide back when I open the canopy.





 
Plumbing:
Ron at Coral Obsessions had the sump built and they did a really great job for the space I had to work with. When the tank arrived we measured it together and the acrylic builder did the rest to do a really slick design. It has one main chamber for return and skimmer then refugium then baffles then return pump. Included place for a sock and probes.



Plumbing is something I always try to really think out"¦in my past it really has had the most impact on making your tank easy to maintain and less problematic.

I went with a pretty straight forward design for the return with a manifold off the main pump for expansion down the road. Initially it will only be used for the GFO/Carbon reactor. Next I'll probably add a Calcium reactor once I see the need.

Of course any tank plumbing project isn't complete with 100+ trips to Home Depot"¦I wonder what they think I'm doing coming back 3-4 times a day to pick up something I forgot"¦haha

We're kind of going back and forth through time with the pictures as the newer ones have the best lighting. The old ones in the garage where I did the work and water testing were really dark.








Each of the return overflows have a little bit of flex PVC in them so they could bend a bit. I had minor leaks in water testing on the bulkheads because the holes weren't perfectly straight. The flex worked great and allowed for a little bend and no leaks!



I got the APEX mounted on one of the doors and everything routed through it. Having an acrylic cover built to block from any splashes from the thank. Right now I'm keeping the door open so I don't ruin any of my electronics.


 
Refugium


I cycled the tank with Dr. Tims and all my readings after the 2nd day have been almost perfect. Added my first group of 10 snails to the tank and all seem to be doing great. Tank readings also all good. As of right now only thing I’m working on stabilizing is my pH. The APEX says it is running between the high 6’s and up to mid 8’s. But every time I check PH with a regular test kit it shows 8.5ish. So either I need to calibrate again or someone is lying to me…
 
Shipment from Indo Pacific Sea Farms (http://www.ipsf.com/) arrived

P3090161.jpg


Everything arrived in great shape and alive. Shipment was sent 2 day FedEx and arrived early in just one day. Overall very happy with the order.

In the order we got:
6 Baby Bristle Worms (captive-bred)
6 SandBed Clams (captive-bred)
6 Nerite Grazers
6 Adult Strombus Grazers
6 MicroHermits
Reef Amphipods
Pod Flakes
Pod Mat
Live Sand Activator (includes live sand, 6 Grazing snails, 6 MicroHermits and tiny worms)
Hermit Homes
Mama Mia Worms
Baby Bristle Worms
Coralline Algae Booster

Updated shot of the fuge w/ some of the new items. A lot of plant life and pods running around.

P3110164.jpg


Fun to have some things moving around in the main display. Hermits are really active and constantly up and down on all the rockwork.
 
looks great, i think this is the first time i have ever seen someone put bristle worms in the their tank on purpose...
 
Just got back from a week and a half long business trip in Asia. I was able to visit the Goldfish Market in Mongkok, Hong Kong. Was very interesting. It's pretty cool to have 20+ shops all on one street! I think we have better quality stores here in So Cal.

While I was gone the tank basically ran itself with a little help from someone checking on it each day and doing the top off. Although not a lot of life in the tank so that made it easier.

The breakout box for the Apex hasn't arrived yet so my top off isn't automated. Right now I have it set on the Apex to come on 5 times a day for 5 minutes and that seems to keep it pretty close to perfect (for now).

Received a shipment today of some new items from Divers Den. :thumbsup: Beautiful packing job and healthy great looking animals arrived! I’m very impressed so far with Live Aquaria.

P3270165.jpg


ORA® Ocellaris Clownfish (Select Pair)
P3270167.jpg


ORA® Red Planet Table Acropora
P3270168.jpg


I was just going to go with the Clowns but thought I'd give a little frag a try.
 
Last edited:
Little update. Things are going well! I have everything finished on the tank now including the ATO with the float switches dialed in. All done with the APEX. Works perfect! I've had a few week long business trips and the tank runs itself...just have to have someone put food in.

P3290172.jpg


P3290173.jpg


P3290175.jpg


Tank's going through a little bit of an algea pickup due to feeding a little too much.

Have a decent stock of fish now all doing well.

-ORA Ocellaris Clownfish (Select Pair)
-Scooter Blenny
-Yasha Goby (Pair) with Red Banded Snapping Shrimp (although my snapping shrimp is MIA since the day after I put it in.
-Midas Blenny
-Purple Tang
-Kole Tang

And slowly adding in new corals and trying to figure out how the corals will take to the LED's at different depths. My frag of ORA Red Planet Table Acropora decided to bleach on me so I have since raised it up higher and it seems to be getting it's color back very slowly.

Acro from Divers Den. Have had this one about a month now and has shown some good color changes to a neat dark blue/purple tips.
P4200198.jpg


Unknown tabling from Reef Raft.
P4120193.jpg


Nice piece from Coral Obsessions
P4200200.jpg


Strawberry Shortcake from Vivid
P4200202.jpg


Pink Goniopora from Coral Collection
P4200204.jpg


Tequila Sunrise Monti from Coral Collection taken under 20k
P4110177.jpg


P4200196.jpg
 
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