60G Cube Build
- Thread starter Greybeard
- Start date
I have a 50g cube(24x24x20) cycling myself.
After much research I went with the AI hydra 52 and so far am pleased. I narrowed my choices to the AI hydra 52, Kessil 360we and the Radion xr30. The Radion was not chosen based on price and the Kessil lost out due to lower par and adjustability. I actually like the look of a Kessil tank over the hydra or Radion.
I am using a factory stand and really wished I had built a large stand such as you did,...not any room in my stand!
I used Marco rock and felt the tank was overly crowded with just 30lbs of rock. How much did you put in?
After much research I went with the AI hydra 52 and so far am pleased. I narrowed my choices to the AI hydra 52, Kessil 360we and the Radion xr30. The Radion was not chosen based on price and the Kessil lost out due to lower par and adjustability. I actually like the look of a Kessil tank over the hydra or Radion.
I am using a factory stand and really wished I had built a large stand such as you did,...not any room in my stand!
I used Marco rock and felt the tank was overly crowded with just 30lbs of rock. How much did you put in?
Greybeard
New member
Taken just now, with my cruddy cell camera, just for you
Actually, I realized I don't have a full tank shot at it's current, rather awkward, stage. The dark rocks you see are coraline encrusted rock from a tank that was being broken down, I'm just wanting to seed the tank with coraline algae... it'll come out. Lights are going on the tank tomorrow.
Greybeard
New member
Mark75:
I'm hopeful that the Aquatic Life Halo will be what I'm looking for... Kessel was second pick. It's not about cost... the Halo isn't exactly cheap, at least not to my budget. it's about getting the right look, color, growth... We'll see. I looked at the hydra as well... I really want a single 'spotlight' effect, and the single 'puck' hydra didn't seem enough.
This stand cost me far more to build than what the factory stand would have cost, not to mention the time and effort, but it provides far more inside space, some protection from flooding the room (the inside is waterproof), I don't have to worry about my grandson knocking it over, and it gives me the look I wanted. I'm happy with it.
This tank is going to be primarily SPS, and I'm kinda partial to encrusting forms... Wanted fairly high rockwork to start with. Yeah, it's crowded... that's nearly all of a 50lb box of rock, plus the extra bits with coraline, which will come out eventually. Who knows, i might remove a few pieces of the base rock as well. The bottom of that rockwork is fixed... epoxied together, but the upper parts are not. Couldn't settle on a final look, so I left it loose.
Right now I'm agonizing over my choice to leave it open top... The wife keeps suggesting wrasses and dottybacks that are sure to end up on my carpet. I _may_ end up with a screen top. Hate the idea, but it'd be far more practical.
I'm hopeful that the Aquatic Life Halo will be what I'm looking for... Kessel was second pick. It's not about cost... the Halo isn't exactly cheap, at least not to my budget. it's about getting the right look, color, growth... We'll see. I looked at the hydra as well... I really want a single 'spotlight' effect, and the single 'puck' hydra didn't seem enough.
This stand cost me far more to build than what the factory stand would have cost, not to mention the time and effort, but it provides far more inside space, some protection from flooding the room (the inside is waterproof), I don't have to worry about my grandson knocking it over, and it gives me the look I wanted. I'm happy with it.
This tank is going to be primarily SPS, and I'm kinda partial to encrusting forms... Wanted fairly high rockwork to start with. Yeah, it's crowded... that's nearly all of a 50lb box of rock, plus the extra bits with coraline, which will come out eventually. Who knows, i might remove a few pieces of the base rock as well. The bottom of that rockwork is fixed... epoxied together, but the upper parts are not. Couldn't settle on a final look, so I left it loose.
Right now I'm agonizing over my choice to leave it open top... The wife keeps suggesting wrasses and dottybacks that are sure to end up on my carpet. I _may_ end up with a screen top. Hate the idea, but it'd be far more practical.
Greybeard
New member
Aquaticlife Halo is here... but the mounting bracket is not 
I've temporarily hung it with a bit of paracord. Looks tacky, but it lets me look at the color and intensity over the tank. I think I'm going to like this light 
Quiet... it does have a fan, but unless you're standing right next to it, you can't hear it. Absolutely no light 'spillage' outside of the 24" cube. Matches the 'look' of the open top cube and black stand very well. First LED tank light I've had. Being able to vary the intensity and color easily is a great feature for someone who's only been able to do so by changing out bulbs.
I've temporarily hung it with a bit of paracord. Looks tacky, but it lets me look at the color and intensity over the tank. I think I'm going to like this light Quiet... it does have a fan, but unless you're standing right next to it, you can't hear it. Absolutely no light 'spillage' outside of the 24" cube. Matches the 'look' of the open top cube and black stand very well. First LED tank light I've had. Being able to vary the intensity and color easily is a great feature for someone who's only been able to do so by changing out bulbs.
Greybeard
New member
Hm. How about this? This is a detail of the construction of one corner showing dado assembly. Materials are 3/4" poplar plywood and solid poplar pillars. Everything was glued and clamped. The bottom inside shelf sits directly on the 2" glue blocks shown. Top was reinforced only in the center, with one laminated beam made up of 3 strips of 3/4" ply, glued together, 3" wide. Top is a single 3/4" ply, glued directly to the base. It's solid as heck... could hold several times the amount of weight that is on it.
Greybeard
New member
Sounds interesting. I've considered a couple of benches around the cube stand, but decided against it.
Greybeard
New member
Ok, I just broke down and put a top on it. Got sick of looking at pretty, small, active, reef safe fish, and then seeing 'known jumper' in the description. Wrasses, Blennies, Dartfish, all no goes, because of the topless tank.
I ordered some 6mm plastic clips off of Amazon, and cut a piece of eggcrate light diffuser to fit. Would have liked to use the clear plastic mesh, but with the light mounted on a clamp, I wasn't sure how I could make that work. We'll try the eggcrate for a while... already had it, so I didn't have to spend anything on it. If it doesn't work out, well, no loss.
I ordered some 6mm plastic clips off of Amazon, and cut a piece of eggcrate light diffuser to fit. Would have liked to use the clear plastic mesh, but with the light mounted on a clamp, I wasn't sure how I could make that work. We'll try the eggcrate for a while... already had it, so I didn't have to spend anything on it. If it doesn't work out, well, no loss.
Greybeard
New member
Didn't work out. Reflects too much light into the room, and I _really_ like the open top look. Oh well, if it limits my fish selection, well, so does the tank size that I chose.
HC.SADER.15
New member
Is that a Halo light? I saw those at one of my Lrs' it looked cool. But I really didn't see many reviews online on them.
HC.SADER.15
New member
Sorry, I must have missed that it was indeed a Halo earlier in a post. I might bug you down the road about how that Halo works for you. I was in between kessil and radion until I saw the Halo. Unfortunately I didn't see much on the Halo and I heard people have had problems with Kessil, so I went with the radion.
Greybeard
New member
It'd be hard to argue against a Radion, and I'm not going to do so. They have a great reputation, and a great product. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I looked long and hard before buying a halo, and honestly, I was nervous about it, hoping I made the right choice. Still am, really.
The Halo is less popular, less controllable (and less expensive) but it seemed like a perfect fit for my needs. The small, cube shape just looks 'right' over an open top cube. Light spillage around the tank is minimal (important to me, it's in my living room), coverage within the tank is excellent. 'Disco ball' effect is minimal, I love the mount, with the cable hidden inside. It doesn't have all the fancy software, but I can quickly and easily change intensity and blue/white balance... compared to the halides I'm used to, it's great. Tank runs nice and cool. No noise, much lower electrical usage. The timers are sufficient for my needs... In short, I like it, so far. Unfortunately, I haven't had it long enough to look at growth rates and such.
I can say that I'm starting to get coraline algae growth, and that the few frags I have are doing well. I've got a 2 leptoseris frags low in the tank, a seriatopora, a tri-color Acropora, and a montipora capricornis. All quite small, but the colors pop, polyp extension is good, they look happy.
I'm giving it some break in time right now. Let the system age a bit, dial in my reactors (GAC and GFO) so that the water parameters are stable... I have a few projects I want to get done over the winter, I'm running a water line from my RODI unit through the crawlspace so that I don't have to stretch a hose from the kitchen to refill the ATO container. There's an ugly hanging light fixture over the aquarium that I want to replace with a can light... just minor things, really.
I hope to buy a nice mix of SPS frags and some clams next spring, really get this thing going. My mantra with this tank has been, and will remain... No hurry, take your time, do the research, and get it right the first time. So far so good
The Halo is less popular, less controllable (and less expensive) but it seemed like a perfect fit for my needs. The small, cube shape just looks 'right' over an open top cube. Light spillage around the tank is minimal (important to me, it's in my living room), coverage within the tank is excellent. 'Disco ball' effect is minimal, I love the mount, with the cable hidden inside. It doesn't have all the fancy software, but I can quickly and easily change intensity and blue/white balance... compared to the halides I'm used to, it's great. Tank runs nice and cool. No noise, much lower electrical usage. The timers are sufficient for my needs... In short, I like it, so far. Unfortunately, I haven't had it long enough to look at growth rates and such.
I can say that I'm starting to get coraline algae growth, and that the few frags I have are doing well. I've got a 2 leptoseris frags low in the tank, a seriatopora, a tri-color Acropora, and a montipora capricornis. All quite small, but the colors pop, polyp extension is good, they look happy.
I'm giving it some break in time right now. Let the system age a bit, dial in my reactors (GAC and GFO) so that the water parameters are stable... I have a few projects I want to get done over the winter, I'm running a water line from my RODI unit through the crawlspace so that I don't have to stretch a hose from the kitchen to refill the ATO container. There's an ugly hanging light fixture over the aquarium that I want to replace with a can light... just minor things, really.
I hope to buy a nice mix of SPS frags and some clams next spring, really get this thing going. My mantra with this tank has been, and will remain... No hurry, take your time, do the research, and get it right the first time. So far so good
HC.SADER.15
New member
Yea I know what you mean. I researched lights for 2 months before I sprung on the Radion. The only thing that bothers me is I have it with the tank mount and it is a little too far forward. I do have a bit of light spillage in the front of the tank. I guess that's what I get for putting an xr 30 gen 3 pro on a 29 gallon. :lmao:
Greybeard
New member
I've had a couple of people ask me about the durso to herbie conversion I did, and I'm tired of reposting. Thought I'd put something here, then I could point at it
This is a factory oceanic corner-flo tank. 2x 1" holes in the bottom plate. I used the factory supplied durso style drain for a while, doing various modifications in order to quiet the noise, unsuccessfully. Eventually, I gave up on the durso, and converted to a herbie type drain.
Silence.
The low hum from my DCT4000 pump is now the loudest noise coming from my tank.
The process was this: Pull all factory plumbing, I reused the loc-line return Y, but the rest of it just went away. I had glued into the bulkheads, so I replaced them as part of the change over. I did this with a full tank, just emptying out the corner flo compartment. It held up just fine. Short standpipe with a strainer, long standpipe without one, nearly full to the overflow to cut splash from the tank. Because of the way my stand is designed, I had to drill and fit a bulkhead in the return line. Most folks won't need to do that.
Simple enough... took me all of about 3 hours, even with the initial leaky glue joint I had to fix
A pic of the successfully modified corner-flo. There's a screen on the full flow pipe, not on the trickle pipe. Eventually, I'm going to paint the outside return line black. May even spring for a few feet of black PVC for the standpipes...
Just the plumbing part under the stand... gate valve came from Amazon, like $12, if I remember right. The straight down pipe is the trickle pipe, drops into my regugeum. Simple, clean, serviceable, quiet, no leaks, minimal salt creep... I'm quite happy with the entire arrangement.
This is a factory oceanic corner-flo tank. 2x 1" holes in the bottom plate. I used the factory supplied durso style drain for a while, doing various modifications in order to quiet the noise, unsuccessfully. Eventually, I gave up on the durso, and converted to a herbie type drain.
Silence.
The low hum from my DCT4000 pump is now the loudest noise coming from my tank.
The process was this: Pull all factory plumbing, I reused the loc-line return Y, but the rest of it just went away. I had glued into the bulkheads, so I replaced them as part of the change over. I did this with a full tank, just emptying out the corner flo compartment. It held up just fine. Short standpipe with a strainer, long standpipe without one, nearly full to the overflow to cut splash from the tank. Because of the way my stand is designed, I had to drill and fit a bulkhead in the return line. Most folks won't need to do that.
Simple enough... took me all of about 3 hours, even with the initial leaky glue joint I had to fix
A pic of the successfully modified corner-flo. There's a screen on the full flow pipe, not on the trickle pipe. Eventually, I'm going to paint the outside return line black. May even spring for a few feet of black PVC for the standpipes...
Just the plumbing part under the stand... gate valve came from Amazon, like $12, if I remember right. The straight down pipe is the trickle pipe, drops into my regugeum. Simple, clean, serviceable, quiet, no leaks, minimal salt creep... I'm quite happy with the entire arrangement.
Last edited:
mizzoumed02
Member
Looks good!!
