450 Cube tank build thread. Here I go!
- Thread starter stlouisguy
- Start date
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Thought it was time to expand the system a bit so I am adding a frag tank. I figured I could recoup some of my cost in frags (yeah, right LOL)
I found a tank for sale that was 3 ft by 3 ft (cube frag for a cube tank) by 18" tall. I am going to tier the levels at 6" 12" and 18" for differant growth levels. Not sure yet on what lights I am going to go with, would like MH but already dealing with heat issues, so will probably go with T5's, two 18" wide fixtures covering the tank
Here is the tank once I got it in the fish room.
Here are a few plumbing pieces I will use to hook it up
Also thought I would put up a pic of my reactor
And just a quick pic I snapped on my way in to the equip room
More to come later, going to hook it up
I found a tank for sale that was 3 ft by 3 ft (cube frag for a cube tank) by 18" tall. I am going to tier the levels at 6" 12" and 18" for differant growth levels. Not sure yet on what lights I am going to go with, would like MH but already dealing with heat issues, so will probably go with T5's, two 18" wide fixtures covering the tank
Here is the tank once I got it in the fish room.
Here are a few plumbing pieces I will use to hook it up
Also thought I would put up a pic of my reactor
And just a quick pic I snapped on my way in to the equip room
More to come later, going to hook it up
Lunchbucket
Premium Member
nice who made your reactor? and how big is it??
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Here is a growth pic. First one is from Dec
Here is today
Here is today
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Hey! thanks for dropping by again. Its a geo 818 I cant say enough good things about it.
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Got the thing plumbed. Small drip that that was easy to take care of.
Return has a scwd that should help with flow. Will get the shelves and lights in as soon as I decide on which ones I will go with
The white pipe is an emergency drain set just below edge of tank. In case durso ever gets clogged, the tank cant overflow as it will go out emergency drain back to sump
Return has a scwd that should help with flow. Will get the shelves and lights in as soon as I decide on which ones I will go with
The white pipe is an emergency drain set just below edge of tank. In case durso ever gets clogged, the tank cant overflow as it will go out emergency drain back to sump
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nattydread
Member
Fantastic!!
NbMaxx13
New member
Just spent the better part of 2 hours reading this entire thread... Inspirational ny friend... Well Done! ... keep the updates coming ... Thanks for sharing this experience with all of us and for all the work you've put into this thread ... It has definetly benifitted me and I will have a better understanding of the bigger projects down the line because of it ... Thanks again , I will be tagging along..
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Frag tank is coming along. I just picked up some corals from a fellow reefer but along the way one fell apart, so I got many frags before I was ready!! I have my lights ordered, but until it comes I was trying to figure out how to get light to the frag tank. I think I came up with a good idea.
My 4 400 watts are on a sliding track, which takes them kinda over the tank. So I tied a string onto both sides and tilted it to cover the frag tank. I am doing 4-5 hours a day on the tank, just enough to get it through until my lights get here.
Here is the tank with the lights pulled over it.
I also have been trying to figure out how to drain my room airconditioner so I didnt have to keep draining the 55gallon drum every week or so.
I came up with a way to drain directly into the shower, with minimal damage to the walls .
Last but not least one of my tunze 6200's froze up, and in the process of unfreezing it I torqued off the drive shaft. So off to Roger at Tunze for repair. Hate that!
Thats it for now, more to come later
My 4 400 watts are on a sliding track, which takes them kinda over the tank. So I tied a string onto both sides and tilted it to cover the frag tank. I am doing 4-5 hours a day on the tank, just enough to get it through until my lights get here.
Here is the tank with the lights pulled over it.
I also have been trying to figure out how to drain my room airconditioner so I didnt have to keep draining the 55gallon drum every week or so.
I came up with a way to drain directly into the shower, with minimal damage to the walls .
Last but not least one of my tunze 6200's froze up, and in the process of unfreezing it I torqued off the drive shaft. So off to Roger at Tunze for repair. Hate that!
Thats it for now, more to come later
Lunchbucket
Premium Member
Look on the bright side Tunzes are easy to repair and all the parts are replaceable...better than buying a whole new pump
Lunchbucke
Lunchbucke
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Your right Lunch, and Roger is just fantastic in customer service
Here are a few more pics. This one is the cabinet we had built to match the fish tank. Eventually we will have bookcases all along the wall
Here is a piece i just got, a green acro that was 5 years old. To put the size in relation, it barely fit in a 5 gallon bucket, and thats after we snipped a few frags off the ends.
Heres some just misc pics of the tank
Here are a few more pics. This one is the cabinet we had built to match the fish tank. Eventually we will have bookcases all along the wall
Here is a piece i just got, a green acro that was 5 years old. To put the size in relation, it barely fit in a 5 gallon bucket, and thats after we snipped a few frags off the ends.
Heres some just misc pics of the tank
stlouisguy
Registered Member
stlouisguy
Registered Member
two new additions
Surprised!!!!
Surprised!!!!
stlouisguy
Registered Member
Not sure if anyone is still reading this but I will try a few more updates.
Got my lights for the frag tank. Went back and forth T5 vs MH. After much consideration, I went with
ummmmm
both
I have heard so much good stuff about t5 but I just cant give up my MH. Here are the duel fixtures
Each fixture is 2 x 150MH and 4 t5. Might be overkill but I feel light is the key element in sps growth.
To avoid overheating I am running my frag lights from 11pm-5am right now. This not only will help keep my ph up during the night, but levels out the heat issue. So far the corals that I have fragged are responding well to it
While I am on the subject of lighting, I have been concerned that my 4 400 MH in luminarc minis dont reach the corners of my tank and so I am going to be adding another 2 x 400 in lum. minis for a total of 2400 watts of light into the tank. Am going to keep close track of how growth is affected by the additional lighting.
Here is lighting as it is now. Not sure what I am going to do with the acentic bulbs I have in the middle still need to figure that out
Here is where I hang my ballasts
Going to be a bit crowded up there.
More later. If you are reading and enjoying let me know so I can know whether to continue
Thanks!!
Got my lights for the frag tank. Went back and forth T5 vs MH. After much consideration, I went with
ummmmm
both
I have heard so much good stuff about t5 but I just cant give up my MH. Here are the duel fixtures
Each fixture is 2 x 150MH and 4 t5. Might be overkill but I feel light is the key element in sps growth.
To avoid overheating I am running my frag lights from 11pm-5am right now. This not only will help keep my ph up during the night, but levels out the heat issue. So far the corals that I have fragged are responding well to it
While I am on the subject of lighting, I have been concerned that my 4 400 MH in luminarc minis dont reach the corners of my tank and so I am going to be adding another 2 x 400 in lum. minis for a total of 2400 watts of light into the tank. Am going to keep close track of how growth is affected by the additional lighting.
Here is lighting as it is now. Not sure what I am going to do with the acentic bulbs I have in the middle still need to figure that out
Here is where I hang my ballasts
Going to be a bit crowded up there.
More later. If you are reading and enjoying let me know so I can know whether to continue
Thanks!!
stlouisguy
Registered Member
double
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