chrishayes
New member
Here it is with the light on.
45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!
- Thread starter chrishayes
- Start date
chrishayes
New member
Of course the camera makes it look purple but its not. White with a blue tint. You can see on the salifert test kit boxes that the stickers are glowing!
chrishayes
New member
So as I said I didnt like the chain that I hung the light from so i went to home depot which is 20 miles away. That took up most of my day. But, I got the light final hung and mounted the fan to the wall as well. i used stainless 1/8" cable and knurles. This fan is super strong and quiet as can be. Even better its plastic for corrosion resistance AND it was only 15$ at wallyworld!
I got some egg crate for my filter floss and skimmer stand along with some other hardware for my super secret james bond elctronics trap door!
Now you see it(I dont know why pictures make my stain look like that cause I cant see all those light spots nor the filler in real life...)
Now you dont!
Man it turned out way better than i imagined. Really freed up quite a bit of space as all that would be dead space otherwise. Plus its just cool to make things like that! The spring hinges were not enough so I used a gate latch. Works great.
I was able to get both dosing pumps cleaned and reinstalled along with the float switch for the ato and the sump fan.
Best thing is that ITS FULL OF SALTWATER!
I got some egg crate for my filter floss and skimmer stand along with some other hardware for my super secret james bond elctronics trap door!
Now you see it(I dont know why pictures make my stain look like that cause I cant see all those light spots nor the filler in real life...)
Now you dont!
Man it turned out way better than i imagined. Really freed up quite a bit of space as all that would be dead space otherwise. Plus its just cool to make things like that! The spring hinges were not enough so I used a gate latch. Works great.
I was able to get both dosing pumps cleaned and reinstalled along with the float switch for the ato and the sump fan.
Best thing is that ITS FULL OF SALTWATER!
chrishayes
New member
I had a fairly productive day today. FINALLY got the whole system full of water and it is now running! Man, its been a long time since ive had to cycle a tank. lol. I sure wish I hadnt had to destroy my live rock. Oh well, this will give me a chance to take my time and design and contruct a nice scape with rods and cement like ive always wanted to. I guess thats what this build is all about, doing everything ive always wanted with a reef, just not the size I want.
I started out by cutting and gluing up my skimmer stand. My baffle height in the skimmer section is 10" and the swc 120 is said to work best at 8-9" so I made a 1 1/4" stand from egg crate, a few pieces of pvc and gel glue.
WHile I was cutting egg crate I went ahead and made the floss rack. I may need to pack it tighter than id like because the flow is very strong thru the under baffle and pushes the floss out.
Then on to the ato and some puck lights to illuminate the inside of the tank. I will post photos of that work once complete. I hope that will be this weekend for total completion.
I also chucked a few of the pre cooked rock from my cooking bin into the tank along with some pellet food to get things going.
I started out by cutting and gluing up my skimmer stand. My baffle height in the skimmer section is 10" and the swc 120 is said to work best at 8-9" so I made a 1 1/4" stand from egg crate, a few pieces of pvc and gel glue.
WHile I was cutting egg crate I went ahead and made the floss rack. I may need to pack it tighter than id like because the flow is very strong thru the under baffle and pushes the floss out.
Then on to the ato and some puck lights to illuminate the inside of the tank. I will post photos of that work once complete. I hope that will be this weekend for total completion.
I also chucked a few of the pre cooked rock from my cooking bin into the tank along with some pellet food to get things going.
chrishayes
New member
Heres a few shots of the tank running and the overflow.
chrishayes
New member
I had a pretty productive weekend and got everything I wanted done which is rare these days with a 15 month old! Especially since he got his first set of wheels!
I started the cabinet lighting last week but ive been suffering terrible migraine tension headaches for 3 weeks and just needed some down time...anyhow, got those all installed along with a switch on the DC side of the wiring. This kit was nice cause its fully customizable so I was able to easily cut everything to the lengths I needed not to mention its 12v with the bulbs only being 10 watt halogens which produce very little heat but make for a better color temp than leds IMO. All the lights in my house are warm white so these fit in well and give me the perfect amount of light plus allow for me to add up to 6 more if I ever needed. Doubt I will. I may try running a pair over the fuge but I doubt macros will care for the 3100k. I dont think ill be using the 70 watt viper clamp on that I intended due to heat as the halide alone is sending temps into the 80's already but thats without the rkl controlling it. I think the heater is bouncing all over the place. Anyhow, here are the finished install pics.
This is the transformer. I used sticky backs and zipties to route all the wires up as high as possible but they may have to move around once I can transfer the livestock over along with the rkl and all the associated wiring.
I started the cabinet lighting last week but ive been suffering terrible migraine tension headaches for 3 weeks and just needed some down time...anyhow, got those all installed along with a switch on the DC side of the wiring. This kit was nice cause its fully customizable so I was able to easily cut everything to the lengths I needed not to mention its 12v with the bulbs only being 10 watt halogens which produce very little heat but make for a better color temp than leds IMO. All the lights in my house are warm white so these fit in well and give me the perfect amount of light plus allow for me to add up to 6 more if I ever needed. Doubt I will. I may try running a pair over the fuge but I doubt macros will care for the 3100k. I dont think ill be using the 70 watt viper clamp on that I intended due to heat as the halide alone is sending temps into the 80's already but thats without the rkl controlling it. I think the heater is bouncing all over the place. Anyhow, here are the finished install pics.
This is the transformer. I used sticky backs and zipties to route all the wires up as high as possible but they may have to move around once I can transfer the livestock over along with the rkl and all the associated wiring.
chrishayes
New member
THen it was on to the rock drilling and fitting. I used my hammerdrill and a 3/8" masonry bit to drill holes in the rock for plastic coat hanger pieces. This worked well for the majority of the porous rock but I had a large tonga branch style dead coral skeleton that I love the shape of however, its hard as hell! I wore out 2 bits before I got the hole deep enough. I didnt cement the rods in as im not yet sure if I like the final layout. Once the tank clears completely and the sand is back in(I was a moron and put the sand in last week so I had to siphon it all out again) I will let it soak into my brain awhile to see if I want to change anything up. Once im happy ill use some water weld to secure it. I place all the rock on egg crate first to protect the glass from any landslides that may happen and also to hold the thin layer of sand ill be using in place a little more.
head on front view
close up front view
right side view
Let me know what you think. Despite its look, it is very open and the center is a very deep cave that my goby is gonna love! I have plenty of peaks and valleys to allow good depth of view plus varying par levels. I think it could turn out quite nice. I really am not a fan of the bonsai look of one rock surrounded by sand as I want to grow many different coral not to mention I dont have enough real estate to waste it all on sand!
Now I guess I sit back and let the cycle go. I abandoned the cooking process due to there not being much detritus being sloughed in my container. I believe that the bleaching and power washing got rid of 90% of the junk in my old rock plus the live rock I bought from a guy locally was already fully cooked leaving little for the bacteria to work on. I decided that I needed at least some dieoff to start the cycle in the new tank and really only one piece of my old rock had any smell of death to it. Should be perfect for what I need. Boy I hate looking at white rock...dont know how folks do it with all dead base rock.
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment, it helps keep the motivation level up!
head on front view
close up front view
right side view
Let me know what you think. Despite its look, it is very open and the center is a very deep cave that my goby is gonna love! I have plenty of peaks and valleys to allow good depth of view plus varying par levels. I think it could turn out quite nice. I really am not a fan of the bonsai look of one rock surrounded by sand as I want to grow many different coral not to mention I dont have enough real estate to waste it all on sand!
Now I guess I sit back and let the cycle go. I abandoned the cooking process due to there not being much detritus being sloughed in my container. I believe that the bleaching and power washing got rid of 90% of the junk in my old rock plus the live rock I bought from a guy locally was already fully cooked leaving little for the bacteria to work on. I decided that I needed at least some dieoff to start the cycle in the new tank and really only one piece of my old rock had any smell of death to it. Should be perfect for what I need. Boy I hate looking at white rock...dont know how folks do it with all dead base rock.
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment, it helps keep the motivation level up!
chrishayes
New member
Thanks kaiserpick! Thats the plan, dont do it unless ya think about it for 24 hours! Ive been doing this build in my head for years, just didnt think itd be on a tank this small. Oh well, well call it practice for the next one when timing is right.
Thanks for looking and commenting, helps more than you know.
chrishayes
New member
The swc skimmer cleared the tank in less than 4 hours! Got a 1/4" of yellow gritty sand in the cup! Nice skimmer. ANyhow, here are some cleared up tank shots. Im diggin it save a few tiny adjustments ill likely make. Tell me if youd do anything different.
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chrishayes
New member
Yeah, honestly it did...theres about 8 pieces of clothes hanger in there and thats it. Took about 20 minutes to make. I do have several pieces of cured rock in there so I didnt want to take much longer than that with them out of the water. I still have to cement a few places to keep it together and hide the rods. There are 4 main pieces in there and they arent attached together so that I can remove sections if needed after corals are attached. Plus ill likely play with the layout more as time goes on.
Thanks for the compliment!
Thanks for the compliment!
chrishayes
New member
Ok, got a raw shrimp in the main tank and a half in the fuge. Let the cycle begin! I was able to get the sand back in yesterday. Even though I used the special grade it still promtly blew away even with only one of the maxijets and the return going. Cant imagine what its gonna be like with all the flow I intend on having. Hopefully once the sand gets broke in with bacteria and whatnot that it will stay put or else ill have to cut back the flow which is really not acceptable. We shall see.
I did tweak the scape just a bit but I am now happy with it and will go ahead and cement it together. Also just for clarity, I am using a coralife 20k bulb for the cycle just cause I see no need to waste the radium. It really looks nearly identical with just a bit more blue. Especially if I adjust the ballast to hqi. I threw a tablespoon and a half of brs gfo in the reactor too to try to limit phosphate buildup during cycling. Whada ya think?
I did tweak the scape just a bit but I am now happy with it and will go ahead and cement it together. Also just for clarity, I am using a coralife 20k bulb for the cycle just cause I see no need to waste the radium. It really looks nearly identical with just a bit more blue. Especially if I adjust the ballast to hqi. I threw a tablespoon and a half of brs gfo in the reactor too to try to limit phosphate buildup during cycling. Whada ya think?
chrishayes
New member
I agree; the rockwork looks fantastic! Don't change a thing.
...unless you really want to, of course.
Thanks again kaiserpick! I really appreciate your comments. I did tweak the layout just slightly. See above.
chrishayes
New member
Well, after all my eunice worm troubles in my old tank, the night I put the raw shrimp in I found out I got another one! Wooooooohh hooo. Cant believe it, another one, really? This makes me believe that most, if not all tanks have at least one. May be small, may be large but you likely have one.
I have played that game too many times so my rockwork was destroyed and the rock he was in came out, all 8lbs of it! I played flashlight tag with it and many other large bristleworms until I knew for sure which one was which(wasnt too hard afterall hed eaten an entire jumbo shrimp). Then I proceeded to smash the hell outta the rock with a screwdriver and hammer until I got down to its layer then it promptly regurgitated the shrimp in fear as I snatched it with a pair of needlenose pliers. Hes in a bucket in the garage. Wish it were winter.
At least I got my shrimp back!
Ill post pics tomorrow though this one isnt as big as the last tanks but hell for sure pay the price for the pain the other one put me through!
I have played that game too many times so my rockwork was destroyed and the rock he was in came out, all 8lbs of it! I played flashlight tag with it and many other large bristleworms until I knew for sure which one was which(wasnt too hard afterall hed eaten an entire jumbo shrimp). Then I proceeded to smash the hell outta the rock with a screwdriver and hammer until I got down to its layer then it promptly regurgitated the shrimp in fear as I snatched it with a pair of needlenose pliers. Hes in a bucket in the garage. Wish it were winter.
At least I got my shrimp back!
Ill post pics tomorrow though this one isnt as big as the last tanks but hell for sure pay the price for the pain the other one put me through!
mattGgator
New member
Great tank and thread!
chrishayes
New member
Yeah they are not something you want to have! You can imediately tell if you have them because you will find snails and shrimp posiibly even fish carcasses covered in a ball of mucous. They are viscious and not something you can just live with. Especially if you have clams. Those are their favorite!
Thank you very much and I appreciate you taking the time to post!
Thank you very much!
I will post the pictures of him in the bucket and the result of the rock teardown. Its bad, especially for those of you that liked the scape!
