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Taylor's rimless biocube 29 build


Taylorhardy1

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Works been super slow today, so I figured I'd start a build thread for the tank me and my girlfriend have been working on setting up over this last weekend. Earlier this year I had a 93g cube that I loved, but due to some unforeseen circumstances I had to let it go. Was hoping to grab the p650 that Jeff's got sitting at CNC, but unfortunately my property management won't approve anything larger than 50g, so this is my compromise. I've currently got an IM 16g nuvo setup with a couple nice mushrooms and some other softies, some lps, and a derasa clam. Everything was great, until the clam decided it wants to grow, and now I can't keep alk and Cal stable to save my life. Which then inspired me to scroll through Facebook marketplace and see what's out there for a nice larger nano setup and stumbled across this biocube setup.Screenshot_20191229-091915.thumb.png.f5266a19a1341587adbbdd9278b806d2.png

The post had essentially no details on what was included, so I sent a message asking for some more info. I found out they had bought the setup as a complete running setup, but crashed it after moving it due to inexperience with the hobby in general. They then told me they weren't entirely sure what everything even was, but if I came and picked it up immediately they'd give it to me for $100. SOLD. Made the trek out to pick it up, and filled my car FULL of equipment. Once I got it home it was time to start making it really mine. So I decided to go with the rimless mod. That was one hell of an adventure. After about a half hour of very very meticulous work with a Dremel and a cutoff wheel, I managed to cut through the plastic on the 2 sides near the rear. Decided it would be too much work to try to cut a 3rd spot up front to pull off the rim in 2 pieces, so I just started to pull on it. After an hour of that, and realizing I wasn't making ANY progress, I decided to grab a butter knife and carefully split the silicon from the rim. Apparently oceanic felt it was necessary to put an entire freaking tube of silicon to hold the rim on. 1 day later, and a whole lot of profanities shouted I had the rim off.IMG_20200101_140335164.thumb.jpg.83abf46e6a389709096abfbf465f4631.jpg Next I decided to get my sump generally into place. I was given an eshopps overflow, with an older gen rs-75 sump.IMG_20200102_175248414.thumb.jpg.b751bfeef7e157d90142d0c0fac2b56d.jpg I've never used a hob overflow before so I really wasn't too sure on how well it would work. For now I'm just using the hydor 750gph return pump that I was given with the setup, but will definitely be upgrading to a DC pump before any livestock makes it into the tank. I kept the factory flex pipe that comes with the eshopps overflow/sump kit. I decided to just use vinyl tubing for my return in order to avoid any additional flow restrictions, and due to the random array of 45° angles that would be required to hard plumb it. IMG_20200102_175212706.thumb.jpg.71cc33e7ab04f579cefec601f7d07ff2.jpg

Next up I decided to test out the hob overflow and see how it reacts to power being cut in different scenarios I was able to play out in my head. The physics behind the hob overflow is actually pretty cool. I had assumed the second the power was cut the u tube would siphon until it pulls in air, but due to the water level inside the overflow, and the u tube being equal length it actually can't loose siphon unless you physically remove water from either end. Still, to play it safe, I ordered a Tom's aqualifter and will install it before running water. The hob overflow is surprisingly quiet when its actually running, and with the addition of a stockman stand pipe I was able to make it a bit quieter. For my auto top off I decided to order a tunze osmolator due to the reliability I've seen reported in reviews. For managing trace elements and dosing I happened to find a sweet deal on a very lightly used ghl 2.1 doser, and kh director. I'm a little bit skeptical on how well the kh director will work based of reviews, but I got the pair for cheap enough to make it worth atleast a good test run. For nutrient export I'm working on building a stand/compartment to house my skimmer, so the main chamber can be utilized for a fuge as well. IMG_20200102_175131561.thumb.jpg.997426ac5dcae9f3adabd4988874b145.jpgI haven't officially decided what I want to do about lighting yet, currently have an ai nano led that came with the tank setup. But I doubt it would be enough lighting for the few sps I want. I've been heavily considering trying out a noopsyche k7 pro, or reefi duo. But undecided. Wish the price point for the reefi was more middle ground, but the reviews I've seen are phenomenal. Would love some advice on this front!IMG_20200102_175119598.thumb.jpg.91dad05b7bc2179007260294da8e5e7f.jpg

Next step was getting this thing slid into it's forever home and leveled. I decided to use Bahamas oolite sand. Ive been using this in the last 2 nano tanks I've setup, and have been quite happy with it. 30lbs is probably overkill, but we'll see!

Decided to drop in to Cuttlefish and check out that "blue iquatics" rock I've been hearing so much about.IMG_20200102_174922514.thumb.jpg.5794a21cf94cba140e35e1af7afbd476.jpg

Ended up leaving with 5 interesting pieces. This rock is sweet! Looks like it's been maturing for years. I really like how natural the artificial Coraline looks. Thanks again Jeff! The next step is always my favorite- aquascaping! Took a few attempts before I found something I really liked, but I was able to get pretty much exactly what I had envisioned.

 

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My first 2 attempts I made the classic mistake of stacking my rocks pretty much vertically, and not really giving myself anywhere to place corals.IMG_20200102_180419980.thumb.jpg.723633fdf98650d52956edb7013cd5ef.jpg

That's when I remembered to turn my light on to give me a better idea of how much shadowing there will be.IMG_20200102_181830499.thumb.jpg.7241abd92c19d933ca5b19023dd9f1e6.jpg

I really liked this scape, but I realized the top of the rock would be barely 1" below the surface. So it was back to the drawing board.IMG_20200102_182356829.thumb.jpg.f9c91d813b7140838790f1ef3231ecc2.jpg

My 3rd, and final attempt ended up like this. I really liked this scape because it gave me a lot of space for coral placement, and still gave me some nice big caves, and overhangs and was exponentially more stable than any of the other scapes. So I left it like this for a day or two to make sure I REALLY liked it, then made some small adjustments before taking a little epoxy to hold it all together. I kept it shorter because I'm definitely a fan of minimalist scapes, but I also wanted space for one of those magnetic polyresin natural shelves for eventual frags. IMG_20200102_184326341.thumb.jpg.3a5a58e86645ca4216b3e2c0363ac8da.jpg

And now is the waiting game for the ups and FedEx guys to start bringing me my new equipment. 😁 Looking for a recommendation on a 750-900gph DC return pumps, and good lights! What will I see the best quality from?

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Yo Taylor
Lighting...if the Reefi Duo Extremes are a bit out of range, at this time, maybe consider the Reefi Uno! It is a single puck instead of two. I don't know how much controllability you get, as@danlu_gt is still fine tuning the luminaire.
Thought just came to mind... Not sure if I was to say anything regarding the 'Uno', just yet, before its release.

Sent from Atlantis 🤙

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7 hours ago, albertareef said:

Hey Taylor - congrats on the new tank!  Bummer you weren’t able to get the ok for something larger but hopefully you will get this dialed in. Is this in a different space?

Same townhouse, just in a different corner of the room. Only 6 more months and hopefully will be ready to buy a house🤞

4 hours ago, Blue Z Reef said:

I dig the rimless biocube! Turned out nice!

 

Im running a Jebao DCP series pump. It’s silent and they are very reasonable price wise. Much quieter than the DCT I have on my other tank.

I'm excited about it! Was bummed to find the 2 little chips in the rim, but have a little experience in glass repair so am working on filling them before I add water. I used a dct for a little, but it died pretty quick. I've seen the dcp's and they seem to have good reviews. I'm ultimately hoping to setup a nice nano and keep it up long term so a pricier pump wouldn't be terrible. On the otherhand I could replace it 4x for the cost of 1 "nicer" pump.

3 hours ago, Optimusprime3605 said:

Yo Taylor
Lighting...if the Reefi Duo Extremes are a bit out of range, at this time, maybe consider the Reefi Uno! It is a single puck instead of two. I don't know how much controllability you get, as@danlu_gt is still fine tuning the luminaire.
Thought just came to mind... Not sure if I was to say anything regarding the 'Uno', just yet, before its release.

Sent from Atlantis 🤙
 

My thoughts with going with a nicer, overpowered light is I'll have an excuse to buy nicer sps again. I just wish the control interface for the duos were more user friendly because the colors are nice. I think thats where I find the difficulty justifying the cost.

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Congrats on the new tank. I'm liking the rimless mod. That kind of stuff can seem so basic yet it can also take all the mental ingenuity in the world to get it done right. Also to get it done without ending up throwing it across the room.

By the way, the number of unaddressed notifications on your phone gives me anxiety [emoji16][emoji16]

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

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13 hours ago, Higher Thinking said:

Congrats on the new tank. I'm liking the rimless mod. That kind of stuff can seem so basic yet it can also take all the mental ingenuity in the world to get it done right. Also to get it done without ending up throwing it across the room.

By the way, the number of unaddressed notifications on your phone gives me anxiety emoji16.pngemoji16.png

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

Thanks! I'm excited about it! I like to think I'm more acclimatized to tedious work because of my day job, but I'm reminded Everytime I do a job like this that even small seemingly simple tasks can take an insane amount of effort to get right.

Also, the unaddressed notifications on my phone also give me anxiety, but the anxiety prevents me from feeling motivation to clear them. It's a never ending battle.

 

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17 hours ago, Taylorhardy1 said:

My thoughts with going with a nicer, overpowered light is I'll have an excuse to buy nicer sps again. I just wish the control interface for the duos were more user friendly because the colors are nice. I think thats where I find the difficulty justifying the cost.

I'm open to feedbacks on user interface.  Have you actually play with the user interface?  Here's an simulation of the user interface.  It's not connect to the actual hardware so it just have fixed response but it should give you an feel of it:
https://www.reefi-lab.com/reefilab/LED/duo/simulator/v3/

 

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2 hours ago, danlu_gt said:

I'm open to feedbacks on user interface.  Have you actually play with the user interface?  Here's an simulation of the user interface.  It's not connect to the actual hardware so it just have fixed response but it should give you an feel of it:
https://www.reefi-lab.com/reefilab/LED/duo/simulator/v3/

 

Coming from radions I guess I just feel the interface could use a solid update in modernizing the style of the site, as well as the scheduling. It was incredibly simple to set the schedule on a radion and easily view the mapping of the schedule. I just don't see that same simplicity that was so nice with radions. From what I've seen you make a phenomenal light, but at nearly the same cost as a radion there's alot to consider. The thing about the noopsyche is they put out great results for less than the cost of a black box. Obviously there's not much warranty, or quality to them, and I wouldn't be supporting a local business, so its not a great comparison. But they're both lights I'm considering for this setup. At the end of the day it will come down to whether or not I'm happy enough with this setup to spend that much on a rather overpowered light.

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Well everyone, it's official. I added all 30lbs of sand and added water. It's a little deeper than I wanted, but I'll siphon out some with water changes until I'm happy. Ended up adding about 36g with what went into the sump so I'm thinking it should fairly easily support 4-5 small fish. To fill a little of the dead space up top I've ordered one of the magnetic rock shelves. Need to revise my standpipe a little and a few small things. But overall I'm super happy. This light is shockingly bright, and the colors and shimmer are pretty nice. Will have to get a par meter and see how well it really does. Ill update with better pics once its cleared up!IMG_20200107_171226442.thumb.jpg.e0878d18e125fa71f404342b4b663baf.jpg

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