Doug,s 180g Reef Cube

[Doug]

Tank is a cube shaped 180g. 4ft.H...3ft.W...2ft.H. All 1/2in. glass with two 4in. braces. Tank has a starfire front, that we have somehow scratched, {see scratched glass thread}.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/508/8Full_tank.jpg

Filtration includes a turf scrubber, dumping direct into the aquarium and a beckett skimmer, running from the sump. Mag 12 return pump, ATS dump and a Tunze 6080 stream pump provide the current.

[Doug]

It has a large single corner overflow with a 1.5in. drain.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/508/8Overflow.jpg

Its a bare bottom, except for the 3ft. by 2ft. aragonite coated piece of acrylic form my 90g. Most of the rock sits on this. I used several pvc pipes again to provide homes and tunnels for the fish, especially my clowns.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/508/8Bottom.jpg

[Doug]

Some of the stock is from my 90g. Still have a 3+year old mandarin, 3,one

Yr. old PJ cardinals, 3, Ora Percs,which have now formed a female, male and it group. And of course my adult copperband.

I sold the Kole tang so I could make new additions at the same time.

Added a baby sailfin tang, baby scopas tang and a juvie Foxface. All have been fine

together. The Foxface has already cleaned up most of the bubble algae.
:surprise:

Eat like a bunch of pigs already but thats fine with me and I have planned my filtration to handle it.

Here they seen me working near the tank and are having a general "where the food" meeting.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/506/8Fish_meeting.jpg

[Doug]

I will add some pics soon now that the other lighting is in place. Besides supplement actinics and normal outputs, I,m experimenting with a single 400w Iwasaki. The pendant is fairly high to give it spread and the Iwasaki still has the punch to cover it or at least thats the idea. :lol:

[Aquattro]

Looks great Doug!!!

[christyf5]

Doug! I found it! The tank looks great. I like the PVC tube idea. Just wondering, are clowns more likely to lay eggs on a smoother surface (ie. PVC) than bare rock??


Also how is the aragonite coated bottom faring?

Christy :)

[muck]

Neat idea with the PVC tubes under the rock for tunnels..
Looking Good Dougie!! :cool:

[muck]

How bout some closeups of those Clams.. :mrgreen:

[fakename]

Nice tank!! I bet those PVC tunnels really open it up for swimming room vs. a big pile o' rocks!
Cheers,
Aaron

[Doug]

Doug! I found it! The tank looks great. I like the PVC tube idea. Just wondering, are clowns more likely to lay eggs on a smoother surface (ie. PVC) than bare rock??

PVC home from my 225g and its Cinnamon clown residents.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/503/8clown_eggs.jpg

Also how is the aragonite coated bottom faring?
Christy :)

It seems fine. Had some red turf algae on the front portions in the 90g, hoping that does not happen here. A little current cleans the detritus fine.

[Doug]

How bout some closeups of those Clams.. :mrgreen:

For you bud. :mrgreen:

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/504/8New_tank_011-med.jpg

[Doug]

Nice tank!! I bet those PVC tunnels really open it up for swimming room vs. a big pile o' rocks!
Cheers,
Aaron

Yes, they seem to really love the tunnel design. It suits the fish fine, as long as we the aquarists dont mind the look. Its actually pretty neat looking when coated in coralline. And it helps keep the rock up somewhat.

This is just in front of the pvc pipes/rock and faux bottom. I decided to try rubble on the bare glass. More pod hideys for the mandarin and must be working, as he lost a bit of weight in the 90 but is now back to his old fat self. :smile: Or it could be the twice/day feeding of mysis & bloodworms.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/507/8Rubble_bottom.jpg

[muck]

WOW!! :eek:
Thanks for the clam pics Doug. They look spectacular!!

[Skimmerking]

Doug i see that my corals are really opening up in your tank looks good the clams are amazing under the 400w iwasaki bulb.

[Delphinus]

The clams seems happy as... well, clams :)

I like the green bubble too, I've always like those.

Nice to see more cube reefs these days .... :mrgreen:

[andestang]

thats one big cube.. looks really good. Also really like the clams.

[Doug]

WOW!! :eek:
Thanks for the clam pics Doug. They look spectacular!!

Thats two of the three crocea,s I have plus the squamosa. However I cheated in that top down pic. :smile: They were in the 55g tub then, during the tank switch. Not very deep in the water and under a 175w 14K CV.

[Doug]

Thanks guys. Here is more of some corals. I do need a better camera though.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/504/8corals.jpg

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/504/8corals_2.jpg

[Doug]

Adult copperband, going on two years with me now. And the three groupies. Notice their clip is clean and they await another refill. Three/day for now.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/503/8The_herd.jpg

[christyf5]

Pics look great, love the fishies. Makes me want a bigger tank :lol:

[Ruth]

Looking great Doug - fish and other livestock looks happy and healthy - makes me want to move up the schedule for setting up my new cube. The tank is here now so ..........patience grasshoper

[Richard_Dicosimo]

i may have mis read, but you said your tanks was 4' high. I thought u had to have min 3/4" glass for a tank that high??? arent you worried about the glass breaking???

i dont know alot about engineering and glass but i have been contemplating making a tank that high. just curious.

Richard

[Funky_Fish14]

Tank looks fantastic Doug! Thank-you for sharing! I cant wait to see it in 6 months/a year!

Chris

[Doug]

Christy, Thats part of the reason I went back to a larger tank. Larger fishies and ones with some personality. :biggrin:

Yep, patience Ruth. I tried to do that this time also and if I would have stuck with the plan, the starfire may not have been scratched. :cry:

Richard, the tank is only 2ft. high. Its 4ft.L by 3ft.W. Plus I have two braces on it. Normally a tank this size would be fine with the 1/2in. glass and a single center brace, as two halides would be normally used over the 4ft. But then I,m not normal. :lol:

A previous 30in. high tank used 5/8th. glass. Not sure what I would use on something 4ft. H. Depends on the other measures. It would require decent bracing, IMO.

Thanks Chris. I look forward to its growth also. But we were discussing moving again, yesterday. :lol: I plan on adding some new sps corals, to see how they do under the single 400w Iwasaki.

[Marcus K]

Tank looks great Doug, I have been thinking that my next tank will be two 90gals back to back for dimensions.