My 112G Cube Build Thread. I'm baaaaaaack!!

[MrSandman]

Another update. Got the sump yesterday from John at Advance Acrylics. Thanks to Dat (John's bro) for delivering it to me. Haven't seen Dat since the old school reefer bbq's at Dave B's house and in the back parking lot at Jeff's Exotic Fish. :lol:

Anyways, the sump quality is some of the best i've seen and it was built exactly to my specifications. Here are some pictures:

 

[MrSandman]

Thought i'd post more pictures of the stand as well. This thing is just awesome to look at:

The stainless steel adjustable feet with rubber bottoms:

Inside corners:

 

[lowbudget]

john never fails should of made the baffles red too hahahaha

 

[lowbudget]

john never fails should of made the baffles red too hahahaha

 

[MrSandman]

Now i have a dilemma. I'm running a Herbie drain system. My sump has a chamber for a refugium or for a place to stick some extra live rocks or detox blox into (if i can get my hands on some). How should i feed my fuge?

1. I can tee off the main Herbie drain and split it into 2. The main drain will have a gate valve on it.....then after the tee, i can stick another gate valve on the fuge side. I'm hearing mixed reports that the Herbie won't work if i split it. Anyone here try it?

2. I can tee off my return pump and feed the fuge that way. I'd prefer #1 if it will work but #2 isn't a bad option either.

 

[G2theRam]

It's getting closer

 

[solitude127]

Now i have a dilemma. I'm running a Herbie drain system. My sump has a chamber for a refugium or for a place to stick some extra live rocks or detox blox into (if i can get my hands on some). How should i feed my fuge?

1. I can tee off the main Herbie drain and split it into 2. The main drain will have a gate valve on it.....then after the tee, i can stick another gate valve on the fuge side. I'm hearing mixed reports that the Herbie won't work if i split it. Anyone here try it?

2. I can tee off my return pump and feed the fuge that way. I'd prefer #1 if it will work but #2 isn't a bad option either.

I'm not positive, but I don't think the herbie will work if you split the drain.
What are you going to use to feed your reactors? Maybe you can use the effluent to feed the fuge?

 

[friendlyvission]

Beautiful Tank and Stand

 

[s2k]

About time u get back into the hobby!

 

[murphreef]

such a nice set up looking fwd to you getting it stocked with goodies!

 

[solitude127]

About time u get back into the hobby!

you going to offer him some frags? lol..

 

[MrSandman]

I'm not positive, but I don't think the herbie will work if you split the drain.
What are you going to use to feed your reactors? Maybe you can use the effluent to feed the fuge?

I'm not running a calcium reactor on this tank. I'm going 2-part.
For carbon its going into a mesh bag and getting wedged in-between the baffles. After dealing with the BRS reactors, it just got too messy for me every time i needed to change out the carbon. If i decide to run biopellets, maybe i'll use that effluent, but that's still to be decided as well.

I've read on one thread that it was possible to run a Herbie with split drains but that's only 1 data point. I'd like to hear firsthand from someone who's actually tried it. In theory, i think it should work.

Beautiful Tank and Stand

Thanks!

About time u get back into the hobby!

Dude, don't get me started!!

such a nice set up looking fwd to you getting it stocked with goodies!

Yeah, me too!

you going to offer him some frags? lol..

Yeah, let's trade. Reef stuff for baby gear. :lol:

 

[syedjilani]

stand and sump are very well built...:thumbsup:

 

[s2k]

you going to offer him some frags? lol..

Absolutely! whatever Ramon wants from my tank.

 

[MrSandman]

Quick update. Because spills happen, i want to make sure that any such mishaps are contained and do not make their way to the stand, or my floors.

I placed an order over at Advanced Acrylics on Thursday to have John build me an acrylic sump tray. The sump tray will sit directly inside my stand and has notched corners to fit cleanly. The bottom plate will be made of 3/8" acrylic with 1/2" thick walls with the capacity to hold almost 10 gallons should something spill. This tray will be sitting on top of a 3/8" or 1/2" sheet of plywood for additional support.

According to John, it should be done in 7-10 days. If my math is correct, i should have something by next week Sunday.

Below is a rendering of the tray:

 

[solitude127]

How thick is the acrylic underneath?

 

[MrSandman]

3/8".

 

[solitude127]

Will that be strong enough to hold the sump? Or will there be wood underneath the acrylic?

 

[MrSandman]

I would say 3/8" is marginal if used alone. There is a cross brace built into the stand under the sump that the sump will span over. So it will be fully supported underneath by the stand. My concern is anything else I put in there. It adds up. So the plan is to probably get a 1/2 sheet of plywood under the tray as well. It couldn't hurt.

 

[MrSandman]

Quick update. I'm heading towards the direction of not using any real live rock in this tank. My aquascaping will consist of the Cerameco Vidarock. For my biological filtration, i was able to get my hands on some of Cerameco's detox blox. This stuff is extremely porous (lighter than it looks) and should be able to colonize a ton of bacteria. When i woke up this morning and walked out the door a big box of blox was waiting for me.

They sent me 2 different sizes.
Here are some pictures:

These are the large blox:

Small blox:

That's it for now. Still waiting on the sump tray to come in and have the plumbing parts on order.