MJ Delphin 22 gal Cube - Pics!

intenseimage

Active member
Picked this up yesterday to replace our Minibow 7 when we move into our new house.

Our current setup was nothing more than the MB7 with some live sand, a fake rock, and a damsel with an AQ 500 in the back acting as a fuge filled with LR. Lighting via PC. We have been battling algae since we set this tank up - I feel due to not doing enough water changes and the small volume of water. The new tank will have MUCH more time dedicated to it

Any comments/suggestions/etc on the new tank are appreciated since I am pretty much in the dark when it comes to a setup like this ....

On to the pics:

Front of tank:

TankFront.jpg


Inside of tank w/ return - Im guessing those holes are only to allow more water into the filter section?:

Inside.jpg


Surface Skimmer I hope?:

SurfaceSkim.jpg


Full Metal Hood with individual switches:

Hood.jpg


Lighting via 2x24 PCs:

Lighting.jpg


Filter Section:

BackSection.jpg


Filter Setup:

FilterSection.jpg


Now please help me understand how this will work out:

The water spills over from the tank section through the surface skimmer area into the small section on the right side of the tank (in the back) ... that section will fill up and spill over the wall that leads to the longer filter section. In the top tray I will have carbon, under that filter floss, then the black sponge, followed by LR Rubble (replacing those white tube things) and finally in the bottom tray is the return pump which will then return the water to the tank?

I am thinking about that Fission skimmer in that small section on the right and putting my heater in the bottom section by the pump. I have also debated putting more rock down by the pump and moving the heater over to where the skimmer would be. Suggestions?

The tank for now will just be live sand, another fake rock, and the damsel. Due to the algae probs we have faced in the past we arent too eager to do LR in the main tank right off the bat. We are thinking about replacing the damsel with a pair of clowns since I dont think the 3 will live together too well. Maybe a goby .... plus the usual cleanup crew and a shrimp. Later down the road we will add some small coral -- xenia, zoos, etc .. nothing major.

Thanks for any and all help ... This one is a bit more elaborate than the last tank.
 
If you are planning on doing a reef tank, then the lighting will only be able to support very low light corals. You're looking at barely 2 watts per gallon of pc lighting. That's not very much. I like the tank though! how much did it cost you and where did you get it?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6913696#post6913696 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by intenseimage
I do have another 2x40 PC that I can add to the tank as well.

The tank with matching stand was 400 out the door

Ouch, a little pricey IMO. Was this used? The background does not look that nice, with all that black silicon smeared on it. You will definately need more light, probably more flow as well.


Hmm on second look is that just white paper that pulls off?
 
Yea the black background has white contact paper on it to protect until ready.

In another post I saw a JBJ 24 with a Remora on the back -- im leaning towards that option now too. Let the water drain into the section on the right and flow over the side wall into the larger section on the left which would then hold the Remora and the return pump
 
OK so last night we filled the tank up to do a leak test before we move and find out its too late :)

Filled the tank up, plugged the pump in and all was good - no leaks.

However I do have a quick question ... when using a surface skimmer (like in the pics) how far up the slits should the water level be?

When filled to the brim, the water is almost at the top of the slits (doesnt that defeat the surface skimming since there is more water able to flow through under the surface? ... and then just flows into the small rear camber and right over the wall -- no real seperation between sections.

However, if I drop the water level in the tank to near the bottom of the slits (now seeing the water line from outside the tank) more of the surface water is pulled through and then there is a nice spill over from the smaller section to the larger.

Would it be best to build a skimmer box with slits up closer to the top of the tank so I get more surface spill over that will then flow into the lower opening of the slitted wall already in place? With the water volume in the back of the tank with evap it will still skim correctly and not drop below the slit level since it will just drop the rear section level until I top off - correct?

Thanks again
 
I would lower the water level so it was going thru the teeth about half way up. The evap will come from your return compartment.
 
By doing that I will have a gap between the water line and the rim of the tank -- however, I can add some plexi and block off some of the skimmer grate since its quite tall to raise the water level a bit so the skimmer works a bit better
 
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