My 12 in.Night Stand Cube is COMPLETE..almost

[Milleme]

Here is the original thread of the tank http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=820848

THe tank is a DIY acrylic 12in. cube, about 7 gallons. THe first one i made leaked because i used the wrong stuff to make it, but the new one is great. It is BB with `5 lbs. LR, is being setup for sps but i have to save up for lights.

There is no overflow just a drain drilled in the bottom. "WHAT," you say, well i have one ball valve on it to control just the right amount of flow that goes through to handle the return(mag drive 2) and a second ball valve to stop the flow entirly for water changes and feedings. The return is also just a hole on the bottom giving the tank a nice clean view (inspired by ninjafish's cube).

Sump is capable of holding more than 12 gallons incase of poweroutage where I would find my entire display empty! This is my biggest problem. The sumps normal volume is about 5 gallons and is curntly holding a 50 watt heater and my old red sea prizm skimmer.

Livestock as of now include a arabian bluelined dottyback and 7 hemits. This will be the only fish.


Things I Still Need:
1) 70 or 150 watt metal halide still haven't decided.
2) Atuo Top Off
3) ASM mini SKimmer, any other suggestions on this?
4) Sock Filter
5) Anything else Im forgetting that ya'll can tell me.

Before anything else Special thanks to my pop for helpin me build everything!

Now for some Pics.

Full Room View

FTS

Corner View

Side Veiw From My Bed

Stand

Drain on right Return on Left

Sump, 2nd ball valve and other equiptment obviously isnt in this pic

Arabian Dottyback during 1st feeding

Arabian Dottyback 2

THat took a while but is all for now. I look forward to any critiques and commets!

 

[Milleme]

Woops..the 6th pic should say drain on left and return on right.

 

[riotj]

Looking good. Was thinking about making a 10 inch cube myself. What do you use to assure no leaking? I was also going to use 1/4 acrylic. Is that what you used? thanks

 

[jyoon951]

looks nice. i assume you have a screen or something preventing things from falling inthe black holes?

 

[Milleme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7324626#post7324626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by riotj
Looking good. Was thinking about making a 10 inch cube myself. What do you use to assure no leaking? I was also going to use 1/4 acrylic. Is that what you used? thanks

Yea i used 1/4inch acrylic. I forget what i used to put it together. It is some kind of acrylic bonding stuff. I am at biology class right now but will give you the exact name l8er. Keep me posted on your project, it sounds intresting.


Yes i have a strainer on the drain but nothing on the return. Do you think that matters? THe only thing that comes to mind would be during a water change when there is no flow that a crab or something might fall in.

 

[aural]

for acrylic you use Weld-On #3

everything looks GREAT. i must say you did an exceptional job.

as far as your auto top off goes - i use one from www.top-off.com It is by far the best float switch system i have ever used and i highly recomend it. they even provide a mounting bracket.

 

[Henry22]

I do not like the look of BB, its boring. But the tank does look super clean, although actual oceans dont have BB, haha, but to each their own.

 

[chocolateblnt]

Could use this for top off ...

With these slimline jugs ...
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=66198&CATID=74068

 

[Milleme]

Aural- Than you much. Weld on 3 is also what I used, it bonds the acrylic together and seals it leaving no evidence behind. I'll look into that top off, but have zero in the wallet right now.

Henry- Ya, it goes both ways on the BB sand bed for me, my 58 has sand and with all the hype I decided to try out BB, So ill see how i like it.

Chocolate- those are some nice contaniers, i will definetly check em out more.

THanx for the commets guys, keep em' comin'.

 

[edwar050]

I suppose its easier to take care of a bb in the fact that you can actually see where the detrius is to siphon it out. Tanks are not at all like the ocean anyway, powerheads, returns, mixing of fish/corals from different locals, etc.

Nice looking tank, what are you doing for filtration? I saw the sump, looks nice but didn't see any filtration in it.

 

[Milleme]

I am thinking of a ASM mini skimmer, any other suggestions on this would be appreciated. Right now I have an old red sea prizm skimmer until I have enough money for the new skimmer. But it hasn't even pulled anything out yet. I also just ordered a sock filter for the drain to catch detritus.

 

[pimpskinny]

thats pretty HOTT.. hey im from cedar park TOO! LCP BABY! lol

 

[Milleme]

CP for life!

 

[Agu]

Sump is capable of holding more than 12 gallons incase of poweroutage where I would find my entire display empty! This is my biggest problem.

That's not only a problem, it's a fatal flaw !!


Ninjafish could do it that way because his canister filter was a closed loop. In a power outage the water couldn't go anywhere so level in the tank wouldn't drop.


The way you have it setup in a power outage all the water could drain out killing everything in the tank . You need to install some kind of standpipe that will maintain the water level in the tank if something goes wrong !!

 

[deacon hemp]

I was gonna say,its either that or use a check valve.But those are really unreliable too.For my setup (zero edge) im using a check valve but im thinking of using a second loc-line check valve too.Two check valves should be reliable enough incase of power outage? Also being bare bottom your tank wont have grains of sand getting trapped in there to make the check valve(s) stick open.

 

[MacnReef]

A check valve would not help anything in this case. He needs to install a standpipe on the drain, a check valve on the return and I would even raise the return to almost surface level (in that case no check valve is needed)...just to be sure.

Mike

 

[deacon hemp]

Ah yes im thinking of my setup! lol His would need a check valve on the drain and return,it wouldnt really work out. Im trying to do mine without a high return pipe in the tank but i might have to still.

Millie i would listen to reason here these guys know there stuff.

Sorry for the quick hijack.

 

[Milleme]

Hey guys i thought through all this when I was setting it up and realized that without a closed loop canister filter or a standpipe I would end up with an empty tank with fatal effects. At first I planned on having it the exact wayy it is but with switch valves on the return and drain. But after ordering two valves realized that a check valve on the drain would be pointless making the one on the return pointless also. So ive decided to wing it...this probably sounds very irresponsible but if I told my dad I had to order another piece of equiptment he would probably..i dont even know. I just think it would be more of a hassle for me to setup a standpipe or canister fliter than it would be for me to wake up in the middle of the night and close 2 ball valves, or pail some water back into the tank. Unless Im on vacation when then i would be truly screwed.

Plaese dont yell at me to much for being such an iiresponsible aquarist but I can't think of anything else. Plus I like the look of zero equiptment or pipes in the display.

Is there any way to make a check valve work on an overflow? Cause then I would be set. But I guess if there was no one would have standpipes and overflow boxes right.

Anyways thanx for the criticizems. Any other ideas that wouldnt be as costly. Otherwise I will probably keep it the way it is, thats why the sump is big enough to hold the tank volume. And stony corals live out of water in the hot sun for long periods of the day so the main sacrifice would end up being my beloved dootyback.

 

[Milleme]

BTW any other suggestions on a skimmer?

And if anyone wants to give me a canister filter that would be cool to.

 

[Milleme]

After rereading the entire thread like 5 times and doing a little thinking a few thoughts popped up. If I went with a Canister filter I assume I wouldn't need a skimmer, correct. Would I still be able to plumb my corrent Mag drive 2 into the canister? Also is it hard to fix in an atuo top off with a canister. Dang this is starting to sound pretty familiar (ninjafish's cube). And lastly how exactly does a canister work, and any other info yall might want to fill me in on canisters would be cool.

Thanx fellas.