d2mini's 130g Rimless Cube

[d2mini]

After months of planning and waiting and spending lots of money, I figured it's time to start a build thread. :dance:

I am running out of space in my 46g bowfront so I decided I needed to upgrade to a larger tank. After tossing around a few ideas I decided to do a full walk-around cube. The spot i found in my house will let you see the tank from the living room, dining, and kitchen.
Was originally going to do a center column overflow, but then realized how
much aquascaping real estate that was going to eat up. So instead I'm doing
a corner overflow that will house a the plumbing and a dry pipe to hide
wiring and a dry-dock that will house two Vortech MP40w's.
I started this little adventure back in August with planning and purchasing items here and there. My tank was delayed for a bit too, especially after getting blown off by Oceans Motions and Miracles, wasting several weeks.
In the end I ended up getting the tank locally from Sapphire Aquatics who did a great job.


Here's my original design for the tank and stand.

I designed the stand to match our kitchen cabinets/backsplash.

The backsplash is back-painted glass.
So I had an inset section built around the top of the stand that will allow me to apply some acrylic treated in the same fashion to give me a similar look.
It'll just add a little touch of extra sumfin-sumfin to the stand.

And here is where the stand is going... right where my wife had some useless chairs/tables/area rug. HA!

So I had the stand built by a local Houston reefer. He did a fantastic job. It was his idea to do single large panel doors with no hardware instead of the split doors on my design.
We did doors on 3 sides and I left one side solid because I knew I'd want one wall to hang stuff on the inside. The acrylic strips will be one of the last things i do.
The tea bottle is for scale.

I decided to go with one of the new i-Tech skimmers from the owner of FISH and other ICHTHY stuff in Florida. Check out their forums for more info.
i-Tech Forums - Powered by vBulletin
I went with the i-Tech 200.

Other equipment has been trickeling in. One thing I'm excited about is the two Vortech MP40w powerheads and backup battery.

 

[d2mini]

For this build I decided to buy these two American DJ power centers.
They are really inexpensive and will allow me to easily turn on or off any piece of equipment with the flick of a switch instead of searching for a plug and physically unplugging it.

Here's the power centers installed in the stand. I also layed down some cork on the floor and installed a fluorescent grow light on the ceiling.
At first I was just looking for a light that would let me see inside the stand, but then I found this one and I'm wondering if the light will be enough to grow some macro algae in the fuge.
The square on the cork in the back corner is room lighting coming into the stand from the hole that is cut in the top to allow for my plumbing.

You can see how I mounted the power centers.
And I ran a power line from the nearest wall outlet that I tapped into and ran it into the base of the stand and then up the wall and (seen in the previous pic) over to this GFCI outlet.
So this outlet is where all my power comes from and it supplies the two power centers.
Eventually I need to get an electrician in there to run a dedicated circuit,
but it's a biatch to do anything in my house because of the lack of attic space.

AND FINALLY... the piece of the puzzle I've been waiting for... the tank! This is a progress pic i took at SA. Looking great so far and the custom overflow should be pretty cool. It will house the plumbing of course, and the two vortechs. Also has a dry pipe for wiring.
I'll have more pics this week of the custom overflow and of the tank in my house and on the stand.
The second pic shows one bottom corner. It's a 3/4" base! And 1/2" sides. Starphire glass on all 4 sides, regular glass on the bottom.

Meanwhile I got the light fixture. This thing is a tank!
Aqua Photon Plus with 1x250w HQI and 4xT5.

 

[d2mini]

And FINALLY... the tank is delivered.
We dropped it into the stand, and it's hard to tell in pic #2, but it JUST fits! You can't even get a finger nail in there!
We were all like, "holy $!&#!!!"
BTW, this sucker was HEAVY. 4 of us moved it in. It's about 240lbs or so.

And up goes the light fixture!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Sapphire Aquatics delivered my sump last night but no pics yet, maybe tonite. Need to get the overflow installed in the tank and commence with the plumbing. Hoping to get it wet by this weekend. :beer:

 

[Froggy]

Very nice ! I cannot wait to watch the progress of this setup.

Love the look of the house as well.

 

[oscarslr]

very nice love the woodwork

 

[Reefobsession]

drool!!

 

[snewcrash]

sick!

 

[kevantheman35]

im in this tank is gonna be amazing

 

[d2mini]

Thanks! Gonna start plumbing tonite.

 

[jthomps123]

Incredible tank and stand. Your house is gorgeous. Love it all!

 

[mnml]

Very nice indeed. So clean and modern looking. Can't wait to see more!

 

[happyclam]

OMG! This is freak'in amazing! I can already tell this is gonna give Mr. Amano a run for the money, style wise. SUBSCRIBED!

Any ideas for a theme/aquascaping/planned stocking of tank?

Good luck, though you don't need it!

 

[DT's_Reef]

Anything special being done with the light fixture power cord? It would be awesome if it could curl up one of the cables and disappear into the ceiling, or some other way to hide it.

Awesome tank and stand!

I have an 85g custom rimless with a custom stand (and even custom light fixture, lol!) and believe me, I was tempted to set-up an Amano-style freshwater planted tank instead of an SPS reef. Planted tanks ala "Amano" look absolutely stunning in a livingroom. A planted tank somehow adds a bit of peaceful ambiance to a room.

My SPS system is doing great....but if it ever totally fails, I'll probably go planted next!

Look forward to many, many more pictures.

 

[Bonta]

Amazing !

 

[BWIPlumbing]

going to be a sweet tank, looks great and the spot in the house is perfect!

 

[wis_fishing_guy]

Agree with everyone above....Very Nice!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stan zemanek]

Well you sure put a monkey wrench into my build!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After getting an OUTRAGEOUS price for my new tank from a local builder I was going to give Miracles a call. But since it sounds like you had trouble with them I might have to re-think my wholde dam build.:mad2:

 

[d2mini]

Thanks for the replies!

Well you sure put a monkey wrench into my build!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After getting an OUTRAGEOUS price for my new tank from a local builder I was going to give Miracles a call. But since it sounds like you had trouble with them I might have to re-think my wholde dam build.:mad2:

Actually, without getting into it... to be fair it was mostly an issue with OM who was going to work with Miracles. I would still call miracles if I was you.

 

[d2mini]

Anything special being done with the light fixture power cord? It would be awesome if it could curl up one of the cables and disappear into the ceiling, or some other way to hide it.

Awesome tank and stand!

I have an 85g custom rimless with a custom stand (and even custom light fixture, lol!) and believe me, I was tempted to set-up an Amano-style freshwater planted tank instead of an SPS reef. Planted tanks ala "Amano" look absolutely stunning in a livingroom. A planted tank somehow adds a bit of peaceful ambiance to a room.

My SPS system is doing great....but if it ever totally fails, I'll probably go planted next!

Look forward to many, many more pictures.

The wires for the light and vortechs will go down a dry pipe in the overflow and come out inside the stand. That's the plan anyway.

Who is mr amano? Might have seen his build, just don't recall the name.

 

[d2mini]

OMG! This is freak'in amazing! I can already tell this is gonna give Mr. Amano a run for the money, style wise. SUBSCRIBED!

Any ideas for a theme/aquascaping/planned stocking of tank?

Good luck, though you don't need it!

Thanks! It will be more minimal than my current rock wall in my 46g. I want more open sand bed than I have now which is virtually none. Shallow sand bed in this one. Ordering sand and rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater in January. Mixed reef is the plan.