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Closet Reefer - 66g SCA Cube


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(edited)

Tank:  66g SC Aquariums Cube

Sump:  Trigger Systems Sapphire Cube Sump 20

Lighting:  1 EcoTech Radion XR15 (Going to to have 2 or 3)

Power Heads:  1 EcoTech MP40WQD (Going to have 2)

Return Pump:  EcoTech Vectra S1

 

I had an unused closet in my home office and I thought, "Why not put in a reef tank?!?"

 

My idea is to have two different viewing angles for the tank, one from inside the office and one from the hallway. 

 

The ultimate goal will be to enclose the tank so it looks to be built into the wall with cabinet doors to the sump flush with the rest of the room (where the former closet doors were). 

 

My biggest concerns going into this build is the height of the tank/stand, ventilation, space for equipment and electronics. 

 

The current ideas to address these concerns are to:

        - Use a steel stand or 4x4s

        - Have the cabinet doors have slats and/or install vents in the wall and put a fan in the sump section as well as above the tank.

        - I would like to do hard plumbing with specific sections preinstalled to connect to reactors, pumps, etc. (Try as hard as possible to keep it clean and organized to help with the smaller space)

        - Utilize the height of the stand to put in a dedicated shelf for all of the electronics.

        - Wire and cable management will be key

 

 

My Goals for the tank:

        - In the past I made more elaborate rockscapes, I want to try a more simple design (maybe a pyramid) to give schooling fish more room to swim around at the top of the tank. My fear is the rocks could look weird at first but hopefully more natural when covered in coral.

        - In my previous tank, I had a lot of coral that sat on the sand which made it hard to keep the sand clean. This time, I want to try to keep the sand as white as possible so I'm going to avoid any coral that sits on the sand.

        - Also in previous tanks, I tried to have as wide of a variety of coral as I could in the tanks. This one, I would like to try to have nicer pieces of coral and be pickier with less variety. 

Edited by madub03
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I wanted the tank to sit up higher, especially to look good from the hallway (outside the room) so I decided to build my own stand. 

 

The height I wanted as 46" tall so my biggest fear was the wood in the legs bowing from the weight put on the height span so I opted to use 4x4s for the legs. The frame was build with 2x4s, and the shelves are made from 3/4" plywood.

 

post-2636150-0-65052600-1523230186_thumb.jpg

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(edited)

After painting the stand I installed the shelf that will be used to house the electronics and drilled the holes for the plumbing. 

 

I hard plumbed the tank to have an overflow, an emergency overflow, and a return. It also has some valves that will be set up to redirect some of the water from the return to either be used to fill water change buckets or run reactors.

 

plumbing1

 

plumbing2

 

Edited by madub03
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I had an unused closet in my office so I thought, Why not put in a reef tank?!?

 

cf8dd1b6fd9f27ba97123392bd2cc5bf.jpg

 

53f02de1d14726f855eff1f5d28ca540.jpg

 

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Some of the pictures above may not have posted properly so here are the pictures of the plumbing. It is hard plumbed to have an overflow, emergency overflow, and a return. It also has some valves that will be setup to redirect some of the water from the return to either be used to fill water change buckets or run reactors.

 

4835cb9682d23d6321d27370e9e1957a.jpg

 

e125ea5df731c9a1db40711f11c6c472.jpg

 

9aa00e7272c80bd46858f02dc25e8189.jpg

 

 

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Finally got the rock in a way that provides a good amount of usable area for coral in both the front and the side. I decided to go with a more simple pyramid shape on the rock with some hiding places on the left and back side (non-viewable sides), slopes on the front and right side (viewable areas) for maximum coral placement and locations as well as leaving room around the top for schooling fish like some anthias.

 

My previous tanks had much more elaborate rock work with caves, shelves and tunnels. I feel like it doesn’t look as nice as some of the older tanks when there is only rock in it but my hopes are it will look better when filled with coral.

 

bcf5bf3b359b0908bd4b40fac6b33140.jpg

 

6cf7710e747987d55aefaeea9aaf1a8d.jpg

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

What's on the other side of the closet? Be cool if you could do a two sided tank!

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  • 1 month later...

Looks good!! How do you like that trigger system cube???

So far I really like it. I have their standard sump on my other tank and thought I wouldn’t like the cube but it fits more than I thought and I feel the layout is well done.

 

 

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What's on the other side of the closet? Be cool if you could do a two sided tank!

Technically it is a two sided tank... just the front and the right, not the front and the back. Actually that was the original thought but the location of the back side paired with the weird size would have made it have to be a custom tank. It would have been in between a cube and a peninsula with the plumbing and the pumps on the left side. I drew it all out and got a quote for it but it’s weird size and plumbing I guess made it multiply in price and I couldn’t justify it compared to this SCA tank.

 

 

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