roni April 3, 2011 Share April 3, 2011 (edited) Okay, so with the 180 coming down and the need to simplify and automate a little more to deal with life's other stressors, this 70 gallon cube is going up. Basic Specs: Marineland 70 gallon cube (30 x 30 x 18) with Marineland Monterey stand Maristar 250 DE HQI MH + 2 T5 Pendant 3 Tunze 6045 Eheim 1060 Return pump GSA1 Cone Skimmer 30 gallon sump (24 x 24 x 15) Aquatronica Controller 20 gallonish refugium (converted old CPR sump, thanks Chad Genesis Water Exchange System Pic of the tank with the MH pendant hung (hanging pendants on a sloped ceiling = tough) You can see the refugium peaking out from behind in this pic Rockwork (used an acrylic rod and a couple cable ties to put these 4 rocks together) Edited April 3, 2011 by roni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 3, 2011 Author Share April 3, 2011 (edited) Fish: Yellow Tang 2 True Percula Clowns Fridmani pseudochromis Mandarin Banded Pipefish Flame Hawk Solarensis Wrasse Future Additions: Tailspot blenny Edited April 3, 2011 by roni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 3, 2011 Author Share April 3, 2011 reserved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 3, 2011 Author Share April 3, 2011 reserved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals April 3, 2011 Share April 3, 2011 The amount of rockwork is perfect. Leave it like that with a sand bend full of scolys and acans! Also, love those dimensions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 3, 2011 Author Share April 3, 2011 thanks steve! there will be a little more rock since a lot of my corals are attached but not a ton of rock. probably 2 more small bommies. the current rock only takes up 1/5 of the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Camaron April 4, 2011 Share April 4, 2011 i agree with Forrealb50, that amount of rock is perfect, can wait to see if full of life man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 4, 2011 Author Share April 4, 2011 thanks man. filled with water last night and checking for plumbing leaks tonight. still making up enough water for the fuge. will post a pic once the corals are moved over with the final (hopefully) rockwork. will probably end up adding some more rock but really like the open feel of this tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad April 4, 2011 Share April 4, 2011 Looks great, Roni! I too, think that is about the perfect amount of rockwork, it will look awesome when grown in! I am glad that "sump" was able to find a good use for you, did you remove the internal chambers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 6, 2011 Author Share April 6, 2011 Looks great, Roni! I too, think that is about the perfect amount of rockwork, it will look awesome when grown in! I am glad that "sump" was able to find a good use for you, did you remove the internal chambers? no couldn't figure out how to do so. the bulkhead in the bottom doesn't fit any size pipe that i could find...maybe metric? ended up gluing it shut and drilling a new hole up top. tried it out today and i ended up with a puddle of water on the floor. time for some silicone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad April 6, 2011 Share April 6, 2011 lol, it may be metric, I don't know for sure I always had it capped (though I have no idea what happened to the bulkhead that was there... I must have cannabalized it for something along the way). I probably would skip the silicone and go with an acrylic specific glue (one of the weld-on #s), I am not up enough on which one would be the best, but I bet Justin (Ctenophore) or Jeff (NAGA) would be good to hit up for a recommendation. The issue with silicone is that it is not a good long-term repair since it doesn't bond well with the acrylic. There is a high probability that it will fail with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 6, 2011 Author Share April 6, 2011 lol, it may be metric, I don't know for sure I always had it capped (though I have no idea what happened to the bulkhead that was there... I must have cannabalized it for something along the way). I probably would skip the silicone and go with an acrylic specific glue (one of the weld-on #s), I am not up enough on which one would be the best, but I bet Justin (Ctenophore) or Jeff (NAGA) would be good to hit up for a recommendation. The issue with silicone is that it is not a good long-term repair since it doesn't bond well with the acrylic. There is a high probability that it will fail with time. i actually used weld on to put 2 sheets over the hole. however, i had a slow leak when i filled it so i used silicone to repair that. i think i may not have had a perfect seal with the weldon. i may just clean the outside silicone off and paint the interface with weldon tonight. really want to get the mangroves and extra rock out of the display Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Ivers April 14, 2011 Share April 14, 2011 Tagging along, I love cube tanks and yours looks great, especially the rockwork. Keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 14, 2011 Author Share April 14, 2011 thanks man. i've actually got the tank filled with coral and running. will take some pics after the weekend and post. still haven't gotten the auto water change set up yet and need to mess with the controller but it's coming along well i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar April 21, 2011 Share April 21, 2011 I saw this tank in person last week and was surprised how large it looks. The tank's full of corals and you need to add some pics...I wish I had thought to bring my camera when I visited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 23, 2011 Author Share April 23, 2011 Jon, Thanks. Still doing some work on the system. Just built a screen top for the tank. Took about an hour. Will post some pics but between sick family and working 3 weekends in a row, tank is on the back burner. Roni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefoholic April 23, 2011 Share April 23, 2011 Can't wait for the pics! Also, I hear you bro, working three weekends in a row... Life is tough! After my day job, I come home to my night job - tending the fish, cleaning the tank, and life goes on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 24, 2011 Author Share April 24, 2011 Can't wait for the pics! Also, I hear you bro, working three weekends in a row... Life is tough! After my day job, I come home to my night job - tending the fish, cleaning the tank, and life goes on... finally able to get some tank tank. My wonderful wife also did the water testing and photography while I hooked up the kalk stirrer, started mixing salt in the 160 reservoir, and fixed a problem with the litermeter. Here are some pics: Nice Red Scoly I picked up at Something Fishy in Pennsylvania last week: Tubastrea and Dendro glued to overhang Banded Pipefish (the king of this new tank) "Alien Eye" Chalice Flasher wrasse, well, flashing Mandarin Flame Hawk Percs and their little island Pink Chalice Hollywood Stunner Chalice (thanks DaveS!) Miami Hurricane Chalice (soon to be joined by more frags, thanks Scott!) Setosa Frag Buddies (Solarensis and Flasher wrasses) Safecracker Zoos (thanks Hunter!) and Nuclear Greens (and that flasher wrasse) 1 of the T. maximas Ricordia Island The clowns' little island with a Yellow Leather, Tyree war coral, zoos, and a rose bubble. Thanks to my wonderful and understanding wife for these pics. I need to take a whole tank pic at some point as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefoholic April 24, 2011 Share April 24, 2011 The pics look beautiful, Roni. I am trying to picture the entire tank, which must be an awesome cube!!! Can't wait for more pics. What is ur lighting schedule btw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 24, 2011 Author Share April 24, 2011 Whole tank pics...btw, anyone know how to edit previous posts? Front Right Side Red Chalice from Mr. Coral...not sure what he called it...maybe "volcano?" Pink Explosion Favia (steal from That Fish Place); one of my favorite acans (orange and green) "Pot of Gold" Favia (I think) Bubble gum Chalice T5s turn on 3-9, MH 2-8. Lots of natural sunlight as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefoholic April 25, 2011 Share April 25, 2011 I love the top of the reef section a lot! It is gonna be just beautiful when everything grows out, IMO. I always thought, also I think I read somewhere too, that natural sunlight is actually bad for the tank and promotes algae. BTW, the T5s are on 3pm-9pm and MH 2pm-8pm? What is on before 2pm? Natural sunlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 25, 2011 Author Share April 25, 2011 I love the top of the reef section a lot! It is gonna be just beautiful when everything grows out, IMO. I always thought, also I think I read somewhere too, that natural sunlight is actually bad for the tank and promotes algae. BTW, the T5s are on 3pm-9pm and MH 2pm-8pm? What is on before 2pm? Natural sunlight? sorry, that should read t5s on 2-9, mhs 3-8. Short photoperiod for now as I'm transitioning from T5s. Probably could bump it up a bit. Yeah, the tank gets a lot of natural sun and I want the fish to actually have a period of darkness so I turn off the lights fairly early. Natural sunlight is great! If you have excess nitrates/phosphates, however, you will grow algae with whatever light you have. I currently have higher then I'd like, due to excess feeding. I like my fish well fed and have some NPS that I target feed. May have to go the pellet route to get nitrates down (currently 20 ppm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Camaron April 25, 2011 Share April 25, 2011 wow man, the tank is looking real nice, and you have a nice collection of corals too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moga April 25, 2011 Share April 25, 2011 wow man, the tank is looking real nice, and you have a nice collection of corals too. how the Banded Pipefish behaving? eating alright? i thought they are very sensitive to high current.~ great tank..~ love your aquascape..~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 25, 2011 Author Share April 25, 2011 wow man, the tank is looking real nice, and you have a nice collection of corals too. Thanks! Really appreciate it. Now I have to get them growing! how the Banded Pipefish behaving? eating alright? i thought they are very sensitive to high current.~ great tank..~ love your aquascape..~ That banded pipefish has been with me for about 7 months. Got him from Atlantis. They had a bunch that were eating frozen. I also tried a blue stripe but he couldn't compete in the 180. The banded eats smaller pieces of frozen and is actually the king of the tank. He did fine in the 180, which had 15000 gallons per hour when all pumps were going 100%. However, there were dead areas that he perferred. In this tank, he tends to hang out along the left side of the reef structure, which is a little lower flow overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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