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

[MrSandman]

Some photos. Been a while since i pulled out the macro lens so i'm a little rusty. I would have posted sooner but Santa decided to stop by the neighborhood. :lol:

Here is a pathetic FTS. In 2 years i hope to come back to this photo and laugh.

One of the clowns from Lawrence

I think this is a Chip's acro

Not sure what this is but its purple base is really hard to render true. Maybe its a tort?

Another possible tort:

Not sure what this is. Maybe its a red planet? I just noticed how the flesh has started to grow over where it was broken less than 7 days ago.

Green slimer:

I don't know what this is but its pretty awesome:

Red Hornets:

 

[cali_reef]

Nice pics!!

 

[lowbudget]

Those are not frags. Those are mini colonies

 

[MrSandman]

Nice pics!!

Nice frags!

Those are not frags. Those are mini colonies

Yeah, no kidding! I got hooked up and feel like a frag hoarder.

 

[sahin]

Dont be too modest, this is a beautiful FTS shot: :thumbsup:

I am quite certain this is a blue tort:

And a beautiful piece too.

This does look like RP

This one is just ultra sweet:

You have a nice reefer buddy to get all these large frags which are ultra coloured up too.

Your thread just got pretty interesting for me because I have the same exact light fixture and want to see how all these SPS progress over the next few months.

 

[solitude127]

How do you like the lights?

 

[cali_reef]

Ok. Another late update.


Oh yeah, I also happened to see an ATB 840 V2 skimmer in his garage not being used so i picked that up as well for an amazing deal.
The next morning i pulled out the new skimmer and began putting it together. When i fired it up, it seemed to chatter a little bit with the Sicce PSK1000 pump. I took apart the pump and noticed that one of the ceramic bearings was cracked and a piece missing. I promptly contacted ATB support (Chad) and he sent me out a replacement piece the same day for no charge. The next day the piece came in the mail (he is local to me, thankfully) and i'm happy to say that i'm a proud owner of an awesome ATB skimmer.
Thanks to Chad for the amazing ATB customer service. In case anyone doubted ATB's customer service in the last few months, I wouldn't. Sounds like their reputation for customer service will not skip a beat.

On Monday i also picked up a rainbow BTA from a local reefer. As soon as i placed him into the tank the clowns took to it immediately.

So far so good. The tank is slowly filling in and i know its just a matter of time before i have to start tossing or giving away frags again to return the good reefer karma.

I'll post some pics shortly.

Sorry about the skimmer issue, I didn't turn the thing on since I got it.

 

[MrSandman]

How do you like the lights?

In terms of color, spread and intensity, these lights are awesome. I didn't think it could get any better than my previous 8 bulb Powermodule but it did.

My only complaint is the inability to use this with a Neptune. Seems like every other light manufacturer is working on this functionality except ATI.

Sorry about the skimmer issue, I didn't turn the thing on since I got it.

Don't even apologize! It wasn't your fault. You already gave me an amazing deal on the skimmer and ATB replaced the part for free within 24 hours. As soon as I fired it up it started skimming immediately. No break in period at all. What more could I ask for?!?! :lol: Thanks again!

 

[solitude127]

I may have to upgrade to this light. Very nice. How about pics of the sump?

 

[MrSandman]

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

Here are some sump shots.

 

[solitude127]

Looks good Ramon. I like the Sch 80 plumbing. How do you like the steel stand? Is the tubing you use for the outlet from the dosers air line tubing?

 

[jrpdriver]

Very clean, nice work!

 

[MrSandman]

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

Looks good Ramon. I like the Sch 80 plumbing. How do you like the steel stand? Is the tubing you use for the outlet from the dosers air line tubing?

Thanks Mike. The steel stand is awesome. I like having the stand lifted off the ground and the adjustable feet made it very easy to level the tank. It also provides a ton of open space underneath and makes for easier access on all sides. Another benefit is I can use strong magnets to hold things. If you look in the back of the sump area I have a magnetic hook that I attach the filter socks to via a string. It helps keep the filter socks supported.

The tubing I am using is thinner than standard airline tubing. I don't even remember where I got it from. I think it was leftover tubing that came with my old GEO calcium reactor.

 

[MrSandman]

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

Very clean, nice work!

Thanks!!

 

[lowbudget]

Where you get the supplement container?

 

[MrSandman]

Where you get the supplement container?

From John @ AA. Has a hinge on top that flips the door back.

 

[lowbudget]

How much does each side hold?

 

[MrSandman]

How much does each side hold?

About 1 gallon.

 

[MrSandman]

Been a couple weeks and figured it was time for an update. I've been battling a little hair algae over the last week and decided to run some tests. Based on my Hanna phosphate tester I had a reading about 0.04. I'm not exactly sure where the source is other than the ceramic rocks. I've heard from others that the ceramic rocks need to be cured for a very long time to pull the phosphates out. I guess the 4 weeks wasn't enough.

Anyways I was lucky enough to have some poly filters on hand and threw those in and over the course of about 4 days it dropped my phosphates back down to 0.

As the poly filters only have a short lifespan I started looking into running some GFO in a media reactor. After looking at a dozen different media reactors I couldn't make up my mind until Mike told me to look into the ATB ones. I couldn't find any for sale online so I contacted Chad, the ATB distributor who happens to be local. Anyways, after some texts back and forth Chad sent me a media reactor to test out and give him some feedback on. When I came home this evening it was sitting by the front door.

So far I like it because there are no sponges, there is a union on top for easy access and it utilizes an up flow design. Will update again after I fire it up.

 

[s2k]

what is taking so long?