60g Seahorse cube

[WILDTHING]

About a year ago I went to a friends house and saw his 30g cube and it was AWESOME, every time I went back to visit I'd find myself running to the cube first to see what was new even tho he has several other beautiful tanks I just couldn't get that cube out of my mind.

Well, I finally have my own cube.

I'll be keeping seahorses as the centerpiece fish, eventually I'd like to have a nice selection of gobies to eat the scraps that the seahorses leave behind and to add some activity to the tank.

So here's the set up

The tank came with a 1.5 drain and a 1in return. I'll be running my Iwaki 30 as my return from a little 10g sump. Aqua C remora that I switched out the maxi jet and replaced with a mag3. (hope it works) And a 175 MH.

I wanted NO internal power heads in the tank for aesthetic reasons as well as the safety of the Seahorses. So my Iwaki has been split into 2 returns that come up through the overflow box that I can angle for current. Hopefully all equipment can be kept in the sump.

This will be a high nutrient tank because of the seahorses so I have decided to go with it and also add my suncorals and gonies to the tank as well.

I'll be posting some pics of the progress tonight.

colleen

 

[Fredfish]

Sounds like it will be a nice setup. The cube will give you some interesting landscaping possibilities.

Goniopora are a very difficult coral to keep alive. There is a really good thread in the advanced forum on what people have been doing lately to keep them alive.

Post some pics as you get things set up.

Fred

 

[Wink]

I love the look of cubes. Will be waiting for those pics!

 

[WILDTHING]

here are some pics

I broke the heater that I was going to use in her temporary home so I've put her here for now.

here she is

colleen

 

[WILDTHING]

this is a full tank shot

and a pic of the sump, I put the remora on the return side of the sump hoping that most of the skimmed water will fall into the compartment that returns water to the tank

this is the tank plumbing, the durso and the 2 return lines

I had some acrylic cut to fit inside the overflow box so that I don't have to look at the piping

colleen

 

[alien9168]

You should give her a small hitching post in the pen. Just so she can be comfortable

Otherwise, great looking project.



tagging.
-alien

 

[WILDTHING]

Thanks Alien, I have a candycane skeleton in there for her but I took it out to take the pic because I had to tilt the net cage to get the pic and I didn't want it to tumble on her.

 

[WILDTHING]

My bulkheads are leaking. The holes are a little too big and water is pouring out of them. wondering if I should get 2 pieces of glass cut to the overflow box size silicone one IN the box and one under the tank. That way I can have the correct size holes.

I hate plumbing.

colleen

 

[Fishfreak218]

THAT is a beautiful horse.... good luck with the leak (im no good w/ plumbing...srry)

 

[alien9168]

Ok. I'm just looking out for you buddy

I think your solution to the leak would work. Tell us how it turns out.

-alien

 

[cosmopolitician]

Nice tank! I was considering a cube myself, I know this sounds weird, but I couldn't find a cube tank. Oh well, I have a standard rectangular tank, lol. Actually that cool you just recently added your seahorses, I'm going to have mine in a week.

hey, I love your umbrella cockatoo! That so so cool you can put a costume in it. My blue & gold macaw is SPOILED, I could never put a costume on him. Although I do use a harness every weekend to take him to the beach.

Anita

 

[pledosophy]

If it were me I would just get the appropriate sized bulkhead to fit in the hole you have. If the bulkhead you have now is capable of covering the exisisting hole, you could put plumber's grease on the both sides of the glass to ensure a stronger and tighter seal. I do this with all of my tanks regardless.

I do not think it is wise to silicone a couple extra pieces of glass there unless you get really thick glass. Supporting the plumbing on a small piece will be placing alot of wait on something as fragile as glass, I don't think it is advisable. If you want to get a thick piece drilled it could work, but is not the best way to do this IMHO. It would really suck if the glass piece cracked, a month from now when your doing something in your sump.

 

[kjdeut]

Tank will look nice. I used an 85 hex for my seahorses and it is great.

Ken

 

[WILDTHING]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7017064#post7017064 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fishfreak218
THAT is a beautiful horse.... good luck with the leak (im no good w/ plumbing...srry)

thank you, she seems so small!:lol: I can't wait to finish her tank. I hate plumbing too, it seems that all the planning I do SOMETHING always goes wrong.

colleen

 

[WILDTHING]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7022232#post7022232 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cosmopolitician
Nice tank! I was considering a cube myself, I know this sounds weird, but I couldn't find a cube tank. Oh well, I have a standard rectangular tank, lol. Actually that cool you just recently added your seahorses, I'm going to have mine in a week.

hey, I love your umbrella cockatoo! That so so cool you can put a costume in it. My blue & gold macaw is SPOILED, I could never put a costume on him. Although I do use a harness every weekend to take him to the beach.

Anita

what size tank did you go with? What kind of horses are you getting?

My U2 is a goof! Her name is LaLa. If you can get your Macaw to wear a harness then you should be able to get him a costume, the costumes are held on with Velcro around the neck and under the wings and closed in back pretty much just like the harness.

My LaLa goes out a lot with me during nice weather in the Spring and Summer and in early fall she has a sweater with ducks on it to keep her warm.:rollface: But with all the bird flu going around I'm considering not taking her out this year.

colleen

 

[WILDTHING]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7022367#post7022367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
If it were me I would just get the appropriate sized bulkhead to fit in the hole you have. If the bulkhead you have now is capable of covering the exisisting hole, you could put plumber's grease on the both sides of the glass to ensure a stronger and tighter seal. I do this with all of my tanks regardless.

I do not think it is wise to silicone a couple extra pieces of glass there unless you get really thick glass. Supporting the plumbing on a small piece will be placing alot of wait on something as fragile as glass, I don't think it is advisable. If you want to get a thick piece drilled it could work, but is not the best way to do this IMHO. It would really suck if the glass piece cracked, a month from now when your doing something in your sump.

I'm going to try cutting out the bulkheads and measuring to get a better fit. IMO it was leaking too bad for the plumbers grease to help. It wasn't dripping but was a stream of water coming out of the bulkheads. what a PIA.

thanks for the advice, if I can't get a better fitting Bulkhead then I'll try the glass as a second choice.

colleen

 

[WILDTHING]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7024442#post7024442 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kjdeut
Tank will look nice. I used an 85 hex for my seahorses and it is great.

Ken

Did you do the 85 hex with a frame the way you did some of the other tanks in your gallery? They are beautiful! What kind of horses do you have? Do you have a pic of the 85?

colleen

 

[cosmopolitician]

Colleen-

I got a 50g acrylic tank, standard rectangular shape. I didn't know about all the other cool styles though, like bowfront, & the separated 2 tubes (which I guess isn't very practical). I'm getting 2 H. erectus pairs. Do you have other seahorses as well or just the one in the picture? What kinds?

My B & G, Lucky, is about 8 y/o & we haven't had him blood tested yet. Lucky, is a wild card! He LOVES to get attention & will hop, like a bunny rabbit, & whistle at the same time or will ramble off all kinds of words I didn't know were in his vocabulary to get attention. He just picks up things from hearing us talk, lol. Lala is such a cute name, & she seens like a sweetheart! Yeah, I've heard about the bird flu, but Lucky starts literally going crazy if it's been more than 2 weeks since we've gone to the beach. He'll climb down & walk up to the front door & start screaming. His favorite thing there are tidepools, he almost bit an anemone once, I don't let him run around on the rock anymore, lol. He gets REALLY exicted when there's a bunch seagull flying right above us & will repeatedly say "Hi birdy" or "Hello Lucky birdy." Lol, such a dork.

Yeah, maybe you're right. I'll try to find something cute for Christmas when we visit Santa at Petsmart. The only difference with a harness & costume is that there's more material in a costume he'd probably pick/chew it to death, Lucky chews like a dog.

-Anita

 

[WILDTHING]

Anita, your Lucky sounds like a hoot! He must attract some serious attention at the beach. BTW "Hi Birdy" "Lucky Birdie"!!! I'm dying!!!that must be soooooooooo cute. LaLa on the other hand HATES other birds, I put her in trees on the property to chew and destroy and she loves it but NO other birds are allowed to be in the sky when she is outside or she will start screaming her head off. I'm pretty sure she has given several passing birds minor heart attacks.

Its a difficult decision for me about not taking her out in good weather, she loves eating the trees and all the attention she gets when we go to stores, I may curtail her tree eating and just allow her out on my shoulder in the yard and when I go shopping. I think she would go bonkers if she didn't go outside for an entire year.

I really wanted to get Erectus also, they are by far my favorite, but nobody around here has any. Are you going to raise the babies? With 2 pairs I imagine you'll be having tons of babies. The Reidi in the pic is the only one I have. She had a friend who I was also going to buy but she died the morning I was to pick them up. I'll have to look around for another female friend for her. I don't want to try to raise Reidi babies, they are much more difficult than Erectus to rear.

colleen

 

[kjdeut]

quote:
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Originally posted by kjdeut
Tank will look nice. I used an 85 hex for my seahorses and it is great.

Ken
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Did you do the 85 hex with a frame the way you did some of the other tanks in your gallery? They are beautiful! What kind of horses do you have? Do you have a pic of the 85?

colleen
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No, I had a couple frames made when I was over in the Philippines as kind of a test. I would like to eventually sell them over here. The one in the pic is a 10 gal hex and the other was a DIY tank I made to fit the frame.
I have 8 Reidi in the 85 hex along with a couple of clowns, 2 blue eyed cardinals and some softies and zoos. Tank has been up since Dec so it is still very new. I have some pics that I still need to reformat so I can post them in my gallery.

Ken