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View Full Version : My Irregular Hexahedron (cube "ish")


parkinsn
03-06-2012, 02:50 AM
Well the tank is finally up and running, it’s been a long time coming!! I wasn’t able to get actual build pics up as I lost the charger for my camera and had to borrow one to get these pics. So you get essentially finished product instead. Tank, sump and most of the equipment from Dave at Concept. Thanks again Dave!! Rock, sand and few miscellaneous things from Red Coral. At this point I’m thinking LPS dominated with a few SPS down the road, of course zoa’s clams and some other miscellaneous stuff. That may change you never know. Total system volume is about 100g. True inside measurements, sump, overflow rock and sand displacement. On to the spec's.

The display is 75g, 30”L x 24”W x 24”H.

External overflow, 1”x 3 Bulkheads, 2 for herbie, and 1 for the return. I had the overflow extended off the back to accommodate mounting a Vortech directly underneath without being obstructed by the plumbing. Black silicone, rimless nothing special outside of that.

The sump is 36”L x 24”W x 18”H.

It’s chambered off at the back 8”x 16.75”, 4” sections x3 for a future automatic doser (Ca, ALK, Mg) the remaining 12” for ATO. The rest of the sump is 24”L x 28”W x 11.5”H, estimated 30g. The water enters at the back, goes to a chamber for skimmer, reactors ect, roughly about 17”L x 17”W x 11.5. then to a section at the “front” of the sump for a fuge about 24”L x 10”W x 11.5”H. The return section is on the side of the sump roughly about 7.5”L x 17”W x 11.5”H water exits via the back. There is a 14” baffle dividing the return and equipment sections. The water moves essentially in a “C” shape through the sump.

About 100lbs of dry rock, roughly about 20lbs of LR, a ball of cheato to seed, and 30lbs of sugar sand. The “arch” is cable tied to a PVC structure and I used foaming insulation to fill the gaps. I then covered what I could with silicone and covered with sand to hide it a little better until growth does the rest. All of the other rock is free standing. Live rock that’s in there now will eventually be moved to the fuge once the dry is seeded.

Stand was made from 2x4’s and ½” maple stained to match my furniture. I lined the inside top of the stand with 1-1/2" split loom to tuck all the wire into, keeping it clean as possible. I still have to finish the doors, but will be put off for a while I sink money into livestock.

Equipment consists of the following;

Lighting;
Ecotech Radion, I will be adding one more but it’s not necessary at the moment. I have it currently running on the 20k mode 80% about 10-11” above the water line. I will be adding some custom points for max “par” and sunrise/sunset will be tweaked a bit for my viewing pleasure. I built a custom hanger out of ¾” metal EMT pipe, works pretty good for under $30.

Skimmer;
Bubble Magus NAC7 It sits on a egg crate plate to get it up to the optimal ~10” water depth.

Flow;
1x MP10wes (Running on Reef Crest mode 100%, ideally 2 more to follow)
1x Koralia 750gph
1x Koralia 550gph
1x Maxijet 1200
Mag 7 return
Estimated 50 times turnover depending on the MP10’s strength.


Misc;
Vertex UF-15 Reactor (1 more to come)
Tunze ATO
Vertex Puratek 100gpd RO/DI
2x 200w Ebo-Jagger heaters.
33g WC station with 200w Ebo-Jagger heater.
Reef Crystals salt mix (1.025)

Here are some pics.

Skimmer (just cleaned, a little foggy)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1554.jpg

Rock (Front)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1579.jpg

Rock (Right Side)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1558.jpg

Rock (Left Side)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1559.jpg

Rock (Top)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1563.jpg

Sump (Doser & ATO Chamber's)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1575.jpg

Overflow
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1576.jpg

Sump
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1602.jpg

Fuge
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1604.jpg

Light
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1580.jpg

Light Hanger
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1578.jpg

FTS with light/stand
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1601.jpg

FTS with LR
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1598.jpg

Plumbing (Left)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1595.jpg

Plumbing (Right)
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_1596.jpg

xtreme
03-06-2012, 03:05 AM
Looks good, glad to finally see some water in there. Let me know when you are ready for some frags.

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 03:09 AM
I had a lot of time to think about this tank. Next project's are;

1. Get some C channel to silicon to the left and right side top's to slide a screen top into.

2. Cut my return line out..... I have the valve and had it when I glued the return line. But need to cut and install it.

3. I need to watch my temp for a bit as my apartment is hot, temp is 78 now. I have AC but am not running it. Might need to plumb in a chiller, so the return valve can wait till then.

4. I'm sure there is more.

riceboy
03-06-2012, 03:16 AM
damn that looks nice man i love the arches

Lance
03-06-2012, 03:17 AM
Yeah Baby! It's Alive!
And looking good too I might add.

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 03:22 AM
Thanks guys!! Its been a while but its finally here.

The Grizz
03-06-2012, 03:30 AM
Lookin good Scott :thumb:

Arok3000
03-06-2012, 03:59 AM
Oh man. I can't believe I read the whole thing, and just now remembered you told me all about it on Saturday.
It looks even better than you explained it. I like the sump design.

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 04:07 AM
Oh man. I can't believe I read the whole thing, and just now remembered you told me all about it on Saturday.
It looks even better than you explained it. I like the sump design.

You were at the reef meet a few weeks ago? Sorry just need to put a face to the name :redface: I remember Brett saying how he likes to use a lady bic :wink:, after that it was all down hill :lol:

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 04:15 AM
Ahhh Yes... #4

I need to hide the hanging portion of the light. If anyone has any ideas let me know. I have been thinking about drilling a hole in the hanger and feeding the cable through it... It's not a clean look right now. I want this build to be as clean as possible. Im not too worried about the power cord, just that cable. I don't want to cut the cable for future adjustments either, mind you I can leave some cable there as there won't be too much adjustments, but I would rather be long than too short.

Can you bend it? I know you can, but is there an issue with feeding it back through the mounting hardware. The adjustment hardware seems to hold it via the "spiral" of the cable. Maybe I'm wrong, but pulling it up it slides through but pulling it down has to be done with the push release in the hardware.....

sphelps
03-06-2012, 04:17 AM
Looks like a good start although it's not what I expected when you said Irregular Hexahedron ;) looks more regular shaped.

Nice work, keep us updated.

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 04:21 AM
Looks like a good start although it's not what I expected when you said Irregular Hexahedron ;) looks more regular shaped.

Nice work, keep us updated.

I can't call it a cube, therefor it's an irregular hexahedron :lol:

Arok3000
03-06-2012, 04:34 AM
Oh I didn't go to the reef meet.
I picked up some coral from Sean's on Saturday afternoon.

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 04:38 AM
Oh I didn't go to the reef meet.
I picked up some coral from Sean's on Saturday afternoon.

Ahh ok I see.

xtreme
03-06-2012, 04:43 AM
You were at the reef meet a few weeks ago?

Or maybe my place 2 days ago...lol must have had too many beers.

Delphinus
03-06-2012, 04:49 AM
Cool bananas. Looking forward to seeing where this build goes!

sphelps
03-06-2012, 12:28 PM
I can't call it a cube, therefor it's an irregular hexahedron :lol:

Just hexahedron, which is something with 6 faces, irregular suggests something more unusual like a pyramid of some sort. You could go with cuboid, accurate and sounds like cube :lol:

fishoholic
03-06-2012, 01:02 PM
Looks great :thumb:

lastlight
03-06-2012, 02:13 PM
Great job bro it's about time. Your light hanger is totally tubular I might add =)

parkinsn
03-06-2012, 02:16 PM
Looks great :thumb:
Thanks Laurie.


Great job bro it's about time. Your light hanger is totally tubular I might add =)

Thanks Brett, thats really RADion of you to say :biggrin:

untamed
03-07-2012, 02:53 AM
I think you should remove that strainer on top of your Herbie drain. It is small and will just clog up all the time and mess with your Herbie. The teeth of you overflow should prevent critters from going in. Cover the top of the overflow box.

untamed
03-07-2012, 02:58 AM
I just looked at the photos again. Can you replace the overflow grid with a piece of slotted acrylic? Make the piece removable so you can clean it. That egg grade has openings that are too large (IMHO)

CherylMcKay
03-07-2012, 04:23 AM
The foam insulation you used.... Is that just the expanding foam from the hardware store? I wouldn't have thought of using it. Beautiful tank!

parkinsn
03-07-2012, 10:03 PM
I just looked at the photos again. Can you replace the overflow grid with a piece of slotted acrylic? Make the piece removable so you can clean it. That egg grade has openings that are too large (IMHO)

I though about doing that, I need to find someone that can do it. I have had strainers on previous overflows with sucess. If it becomes a hassle I will remove it. Thanks for the thoughts though.

The foam insulation you used.... Is that just the expanding foam from the hardware store? I wouldn't have thought of using it. Beautiful tank!

Ya its the "Great Stuff" in the red can, must be the red can. I think the blue can has an anti-mold agent in it making it toxic. Its pretty messy, holds the rock together really well though once dry. It never worked as well I wanted it to to hold rock rubble on, once it skins over and gets tacky it was better to jam small pieces into.

parkinsn
04-03-2012, 03:47 AM
It's about time for a monthly update. Got my camera working again :biggrin: Need to play around with the white balance still.

Added a few new things. Had some cyano, but it appears to be receding now. Everything is happy, healthy and eating despite my lack of patience.

Heres some pics, quality is not the best, sorry.

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9329.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9191.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9304.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9322.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9177.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/parkinsn/IMG_9168.jpg

fishytime
04-03-2012, 04:00 AM
does is some sweet favias ju got there mang!.....Im diggin on the scape too:biggrin:

parkinsn
04-03-2012, 04:06 AM
does is some sweet favias ju got there mang!.....Im diggin on the scape too:biggrin:

Thanks man. Favia were compliments of the Coral master as was the maze.

DCDN
04-03-2012, 04:13 AM
I love the scape. Not sure if you already answered this but what are you planning on stocking it with?

parkinsn
04-03-2012, 02:06 PM
I love the scape. Not sure if you already answered this but what are you planning on stocking it with?

I'm going to do LPS dominated, with a few SPS. Small fish, 8-10 ish.