Planning/Purchasing of Deep Blue 30 shallow cube. Questions!

[reefshadow]

Hey, all-

Biocube crapped out last night, whole bottom cracked. After hours of searching I decided on a Deep Blue 30 gallon shallow cube. Build questions, but first a list of everything I have ordered. Most of it was for the biocube but can hopefully be utilized for the new 30.

Already ordered-

30 gallon rimless shallow cube (24 x 24 x 12)
3 Ecoxotic Panorama modules (2 blue/white, 1 white)
18 inch Ecoxotic Panorama housing
Ecoxotic wall mount
Maxijet 247 GPH (was going to be new return for biocube)
Hydor Koralia 425
Seio 620 (already had)
Aquatic Life 115 skimmer (was going to be for the biocube)
10 gallon sump
1 or 2 36 watt PC's for sump, cannibalized out of the biocube.

Questions-

1. I'm going to start with the 3 Panorama modules and see what the spread and intensity is like.

Is this a good color combo?
How far off the surface to mount?

2. Return pump? I'm thinking the new Maxijet will probably be useless at a couple feet of head? I do have some no name pump that does about 500, also have a Danner Mag Drive that will push 950 @ 0 head. Too much?

Any other thoughts on plumbing this tank?

3. Between the Hydor, the Seio, and the return I'm thinking I will have plenty of flow. Agree or disagree?

Thanks in advance, you guys and gals are tops!

 

[premilove]

Hey check out my thread I have the same tank. I can't really help you with lighting, however I would go with a water blaster return pump. My mag drive fails to turn on sometimes when I pull the plug. I have to hit it with a wrench to get it started. As far as flow goes, what(corals) are you planning to keep?

 

[reefshadow]

I have checked out your build, it's beautiful! I did a lot of research on this tank prior to purchasing. I'm an apartment dweller so it should suit me (and my landlord) perfectly.

For corals I'm going to concentrate on zoas, ricordea, LPS (acans and duncans) and maybe a few hardier SPS like M. Capricornus, birdsnest, porites. I chose the Panorama fixture and modules for the ease of adding more light if needed.

The Mag 9.5 works great. It used to serve as the return on my 125 and I've never had a restart issue. I suppose my concern is that I don't know much about either plumbing OR the specific config of this tank, the info was kind of hard to find. It's 1 inch bulkheads, correct? Do you think the Mag is too powerful? I suppose I could always install a ball valve to tune it down.

The stand I'm building is very low, @ 0nly 22 inches. This tank is being installed in the livingroom and will be designed to view while sitting on the couches or as a lookdown. This means that I'm only going to be pushing against 36 inches head, max. Their head chart indicates that I will be getting approx 740 GPH at the return.

What do you think about the stock plumbing provided? I've read a few reviews that it sucks (including the bulkheads) and all should be replaced.

Sorry I'm so full of questions, and thanks for your time, premilove.

 

[premilove]

It's fine no worries! Thank you for the kind words. I bought the tank off of my lfs who had it up as a display. My nanocube sprung a leak and they really helped me out with this tank. I honestly cannot provide any input on the bulkheads. All I know is that my current bulkheads are perfect. The only issue I had was getting a larger sump. I highly, highly recommend going custom and getting a nice cube sump in there. I had a 10 gal sump and it was a disaster. My tank is much more stable with the new sump. A mag 9.5 is too much. Mag 5 should suffice. If I could redo my plumbing, I would put in a link from my return line for water changes. What sump are you going to go with?

 

[reefshadow]

I'm going with a 10 gallon, which will barely fit for a good working height and length. Width is somewhat negotiable under the stand. Room is very limited, due to how short it is- unless I chose a cube like you did, which might happen down the road. This town is a wasteland for anything reef related or custom, but I believe that Petco may have 15 cubes.

Thanks for the valuable info on the pump, I need to order today so that everything I need is arriving at about the same time.

 

[premilove]

Np. I paid a solid 150 shipped for my custom sump. 20x20x15

 

[premilove]

no pictures yet??

 

[reefshadow]

Nah, tank isn't even here. I'll start taking pics of the build when everything is here, hopefully by this weekend!

 

[reefshadow]

Sump is built, it's a little rough. I'm not much of a DIY gal. I think it will serve the purpose until I get a new custom sump.



Lights put together, sans the two magenta/blue stunners. Those should be here Monday.



Wall mount and lights installed:



Little closer up:



The Panorama fixture and wall mount are sexy and solid. I only have one small complaint so far, and that has to do with cable management. I simply can't understand why they capped the top of the rails- it would have been perfect to drop cables down and be totally invisible. They included some cable guides with sticky backs, but there is just no getting around the fact that cables will be visible down the side of the wall mount. Anyone have any ideas?

You can see the capped side channels in this shot:



Tank should be here on Monday with the stunners. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[premilove]

Heads up I found out today that my tank does not have the stock bulkheads

 

[reefshadow]

Thanks for the H.O.

I'm going to wait and see what I think when it gets here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tank isn't broken in any case. It came from the right coast, so who knows. I've never had a tank shipped before and have no idea what to expect.

 

[PsychedelicNano]

Any Updates?

 

[reefshadow]

I do have a lot of updates, but have been too busy lately to upload pics and post to the thread. Will do so on vacation week!

However, tank came and was in great shape, packaged well. It's now fully cycled and mostly stocked.

Pros on the tank: It's sexy looking, I like the corner overflow, plumbing was simple though I replaced both bulkheads, it definitely looks bigger than 30 gallons. Shipping went smoothly, tank was packaged with a foam "roll cage" around every side then boxed.

Cons- Glass scratches EASILY. I was super careful moving the tank around while painting back and bottom glass, and despite full masking with tape and paper, managed to get two small scratches on outside front panel. Not very noticeable. Bulkheads suck. Silicone is a little sloppy, not bad for the price.

I'll update more soon.

 

[terrypercula]

I always liked these tanks. I plan on one down the road. I'll be watching this build

 

[PsychedelicNano]

What kinds of corals do you have under your ecoxotic so far? Have you seen any growth in the short period of time you have had it up and running. I am thinking or ordering this light I just can't find any data that supports stable growth.

 

[reefshadow]

I have a short vacation later this week and through the weekend, I'll update with progress pics.

I never planned to keep SPS in this tank; I just don't have the time. So far I've got assorted zoanthid colonies, rhodactis colony, two types of gorgonian, blue anthelia, GSP, caulastria, fungia, turbinaria, giant clavularia, capnella, and a nepthea. Gold banded coral shrimp, and assorted CUC. One ocellaris and a lawnmower blenny. I'm probably done stocking, except one more ocellaris when I can locate a healthy specimen, and I want to add some ricordea and zoas to fill in some gaps.

Absolutely no losses yet, though I did pull a zoanthid eating nudi off a colony a couple of weeks ago. I'm looking out for more of these guys, I've had them before and they are evil.

As far as growth, it's hard to tell so far. I'm definitely seeing budding off the edges of some of the zoas, and the giant clavularia is sending out new runners now. It's hard to gauge growth in a lot of the softies, since they expand and contract so regularly. All I can say is that everything looks super happy. I'll post more pics this weekend.

Cheers!