Blue Z Reef Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 So I shut down my 210 gallon tank back in November. I sold off a lot of stuff and stashed some in my 4x2 frag tank. The main reason for the shutdown was time. My son was born in Feb 2016 and our year was super busy, sleepless, and a lot of fun too, however, it really took a toll on my reef keeping time. He loves my tanks though and especially loves splashing his little hands in them and trying to touch my clown fish in the frag tank LOL I picked up this 45 gal Marineland rimless cube and stand off CL. I knew I wanted another display and figured this would be a more manageable size. First thing I had to do was drill 3X 1” bulkhead holes in the back left of the tank. I made a custom corner overflow for it and have a herbie drain setup. It’s extremely quiet, lovin it! I debated doing a cube sump under the stand, it is very open in the back to fit one. I decided due to its location (and always wanting an “equipment room” ????) I would go through the wall into the closet and put a 40B DIY sump in there. Equipment list is as follows: Lighting – Hydra 52 HD Skimmer – Vertex 130 with BlueZ DC 4000 needle wheel pump Nutrient Export – Cheato tumbler section of sump and BRS dual reactor Return – DC6000 Water movement – Gyre 130 Elements – Jebao DP4 dosing pump + MarineMagic 3 head doser Salt/Adds – Aquaforest reef salt, Component 1,2,3+, NP Pro, Pro Bio S, Bio S - (giving it a try!) Excuse the closet stuff...still working on getting it fully organized Tank is bare bottom, I used a 1/2” sheet of ABS plastic for the "sand" floor. This also allowed me to make some unique rock structures and anchor them in a hole with acrylic rod. Due to my last tank being overrun with Majanos, I did a full acid bath/bleach on my rocks so they are totally clean. I will only use real LR in my sump once things get going a bit. I just added water Tuesday night. Ran into an issue when I realized I used GE Silicone 2 instead of 1 on an area. I cut it out and used aquarium silicone…wish I did that from the get go! Delayed start up about 2 weeks and had to drain it all. Here’s where were at today: To do list: Light mount – probably going with iron pipe and floor flange into the wall (all cords will run inside the wall) Dosing shelf with cheato light hanger in closet 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Great build thread, lots of interesting details and nice pics! Loving the equipment room. Looking good! Love the Jeff Jr. debut in the first shot too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Nice work! I like the barebottom look and the aquascape. That sucks about the silicone but better to find it low and f8x it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Glad to see you are getting your new DT going! I'm envious of the separate sump room... wish I could have had a way to do that instead of cram everything into the stand. Nice spot for a cube footprint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 I finally got my light mount done and installed. All wires run inside the pipe and into the wall. I wanted it as clean as possible and I like the suspended look it gives. It was also a reasonably cheap method using steel pipe and floor flanges. I tossed a few corals in last night. Here we go! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Looks good! Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paratore Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Nice job! I love the way you hung the light! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Really like the way the light turned out - kind of industrial chic and very practical. Nice idea because it's all off the shelf parts and you can easily make them at any length - just need a pipe cutter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Light looks really good! Really like the way the light turned out - kind of industrial chic and very practical. Nice idea because it's all off the shelf parts and you can easily make them at any length - just need a pipe cutter. You can have Home Depot cut and thread to any length you want so anyone can make one of these with only the tools you need to hang it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 Light looks really good! You can have Home Depot cut and thread to any length you want so anyone can make one of these with only the tools you need to hang it. Thanks all! Fortunately this was all off the shelf didn't even have to ask. Since it's a 24" cube I was able to buy a pre done 12" pipe so it's pretty much perfect off the wall. I spruced it up with a little silver spray paint ???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afresh Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Like the rock work. Keep it coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbsolutelyGuaranteed Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Nice work done on this. A good way to utilize the space there. What are the dimensions of the glass here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 The tank is 24x24x19 Started dumping in some corals....may need to frag those beasts a bit LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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