The Ultimate Cube 280g

[cbort]

Woohoo! I finally get to join the big boys! Picked up my new tank yesterday. Its 48x48x28T 1/2" custom acrylic.

Here are my plans and specs for the tank:

Tank Setup
-48x48x28T 280g Custom 1/2" acrylic
-External overflow 2" drain
-Closed Loop 2-2" Drains 4-1" returns
-Minimalistic rockwork(lots of overhangs, small caves, open look)
-Loads of LPS, Zoas, fish
-Sand"¦? Not sure if I will pain the bottom black or a sand bed yet
-135g Sump
-46g refugium
-2-45g custom acrylic Top off/water change tanks

Flow
-Ocean Motion 4 way with a 3600gph pump for the CL
-QuietOne 6000 return pump

Lighting
-2-48" 10-bulb ATI powermodules 20 bulbs total

Misc.
-57g 36x36x12T frag tank w/ single 250w MH
-29g Separate Quarantine tank



The pictures:

1st Picture is the tear down before loading the monster up:beer:

Next set of pictures is of how i got the thing home :spin3:

 

[cbort]

Next is the tank finally off of the Durango:

 

[brannock_16]

Sweet!

 

[cbort]

Thanks

 

[lucidheights]

i have similar dimensions and i can tell you that it is very hard to aquascape. Definitely go with an open look, i banished half of my rock to the sump to achieve this and it was worth it.

 

[cbort]

lets see your build thread!

 

[cbort]

So...my man cave in the new house was designated to the basement. I was super super stoked becuase it was a nice sized room with a utility(fish/utility) room right behind it. It was looking great until i got this monster down there. I will post some pics when i get home from work tonight. The tank literally swallowed half of the room! The room looks really really small now. I have positioned the tank and plasma on one wall and a couch on the opposite wall. My wife was not amused, but i quickly reminded her that it was "my man cave" and now i have a view at either the TV or the Tank. "SWEET!"

 

[cbort]

Welcome to my man cave...Not too much to look at as of right now. (we are just finally closing on our new house) But it has the “man cave” essentials aquarium, plasma, beer! The tank is sitting pretty much where i will be building the stand. I put one of the two ATI units over the cube to light it up for pictures.

 

[cbort]

Here is where my corals are currently sitting...This room is directly behind where the cube is sitting now. It is going to be the new fish room! ATI fixture number 2 is currently hung over the soon to be frag tank!

 

[cbort]

First stages of the stand build are done. There will be 2 more vertical braces on each left and right side of the stand. I got all 4 corners done and wanted to see if i like the height...Turned out pretty good, i will have about 1-2 feet worth of space to work with above the tank. Not what i am used to but i will adjust to the change.

 

[khaosinc]

Looks like a fun size to work with. Looking forward to watching it.

 

[welldigger]

Can I make one suggestion? Get an electrician over to your house and put in multiple GFI outlets behind that tank. You already have it over loaded with just one of your lights!

 

[cbort]

Looks like a fun size to work with. Looking forward to watching it.

Thanks!

 

[cbort]

Can I make one suggestion? Get an electrician over to your house and put in multiple GFI outlets behind that tank. You already have it over loaded with just one of your lights!

Hey, thanks for the advice! Just to the right of those plug-ins and a little higher will actually have a hole cut through the wall. All my electrical and plumbing will be ran into my utility/fish room. This is where all the electrical and filtration will be housed.

I still have a lot of work to do. I will also be building my new entertainment center to the right of this tank and it will be using up some juice too!

 

[welldigger]

I love the size of this cube. I'm thinking of doing the same size fowler but in-wall. I want the deep look that a cube has and this would be perfect for that. Good luck the rest of the way!

 

[Floowid]

The stand looks good, but are you adding any shear bracing? Or will lateral loads be handled by external sheeting?

 

[cbort]

Update Time!!!...Finally....

This coming weekend (Halloween Weekend) I am picking up the rest of the equipment to finish the tank!

I made a deal with they guy that i bought the tank from for the rest of his equipment, it includes:
400lbs of rock
Ocean Motion 4-way
Sequence Dart Pump 3600gph
GenX PCX-40 Pump
GenX PCX-55HP Pump
7 400W MH bulbs Ushio and XM's
80g Sump/Refugium
2 Custom made 40g water holding acrylic tanks
1 HUGE magnet cleaner (he said it broke his buddies finger when messing around with it) Must be pretty powerful!
4 Revalations
and finally test kits, hardware, plumbing

So...I should have everything needed to set this tank up now the right way!


Quick question. Can I hook up 2 CL pumps to the Ocean Motion? I already have a dolphin 3600gph pump, and will now also have the Sequence Pump.

 

[cbort]

What are the rules and laws on skimmers...My system is going to be rather large 280g display+ frag tanks and sumps. There are a couple used skimmers available to me 1 rated at 300g and another rated 250g. Could I run both of these at the same time to keep up with my system? Would this be any different than getting a skimmer rated at 400-500g?

 

[kmu]

What are the rules and laws on skimmers...My system is going to be rather large 280g display+ frag tanks and sumps. There are a couple used skimmers available to me 1 rated at 300g and another rated 250g. Could I run both of these at the same time to keep up with my system? Would this be any different than getting a skimmer rated at 400-500g?

I would suggest one large skimmer instead of the 2 smaller ones. What is your budget? low budget maybe a Octopus extreme cone XP 5000 (rated up to 400g) and if not on a budget maybe a vertex alpha 250 (rated to 350g) or alpha 300 (rated up to 600g)

I algo got a cube setting up its a 48x48x24 and got a thread here on large tank forum about it, please visit and make you suggestions since you have something similar

 

[solRNY]

nice cube! cant wait to see you put water in it