Jakes look down cube build

windcoast reefs · #1 07-10-2012, 05:31 AM

Okay so I have seen a few look down tanks and I decided to build my own!
This tank will be dedicated to corals, mostly montipora's, there will be some snails and an urchin, and minimal live rock. There will be a sugar sandbed. Around 1" deep.

So here is what I'll be doing.

The tank itself will be a DIY tank that I will be building over the next few weeks.
The dimensions will be 24" by 24" by 12" deep. The tank will be rimless to gove it a sleek look. It will have a system with 2 drains on either end of the back wall, with a overflow box on each drain. The return will be a single return over the top of the tank.

The sump will be a 10 gallon sump with just macro algea, mangroves and carbon/gfo for filtration. Seeing as this tank is just for corals, I do not see a point in adding a skimmer. However I will leave room to add a tunze nano skimmer if needed.

The stand will be built out of mahogany and jaarah and will have a sliding mechanism to allow for the sump to be pulled out if needed.

Lighting is still undecided. I want to keep the area cool so metal halides are out of the question. But I have considered the following:

Aqua illumination sol
Sunlight supply 4 t5 fixture 24"
Kessil a150w

But possible a DIY LED fixture, I have made several over the past year and they all work great.

I'll post more on this as it progresses!

Aquattro · #2 07-10-2012, 05:35 AM

What kind of monti?

windcoast reefs · #3 07-10-2012, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquattro

What kind of monti?

I'm gonna put my rainbow, superman, sunset, Purple confusa, blue polyp cap and a flower petal montipora. At least to start, I'm sure my collection will grow!

Aquattro · #4 07-10-2012, 05:43 AM

I'd probably consider the T5 setup for that...

windcoast reefs · #5 07-10-2012, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I'd probably consider the T5 setup for that...

Any reason why the t5's?

Aquattro · #6 07-10-2012, 05:47 AM

Ya, I think you'll get better color out of the corals, and with a single pendant LED, I think you'll get rippling on the plating pieces. Stop by next time you're around and look at my purple cap under the LED.
And with that range of color, I think the white/blue won't extract all the tones you'll have, whereas the T5 can be tuned better for colors.
It's probable that you can get around that with a DIY unit if you consider those things in your build.

windcoast reefs · #7 07-10-2012, 05:50 AM

Good point, i do find that my montiporas don't look as good under the LED's as they did under the t5's. Hmm well I like the price of the t5 fixture as well!

claymax · #8 07-10-2012, 06:08 PM

why not try diy leds with tight optics, and mount them really high so you can stick your head right overtop of the tank without worry. plus if you go diy you could add any colour you want.

Borderjumper · #9 07-10-2012, 06:47 PM

You will need to play with your over the tank return idea. The top of the water surface needs to be as still as possible in a look down tank. Thats why the one I'm putting together has the waterfall and return holes near the bottom of the tank. it wouldn't be hard to make a taller overflow box and use it as a return.
You need to come and look at this one for ideas.
S

windcoast reefs · #10 07-17-2012, 06:15 AM

Okay so there has been some progress on the tank!

I wasn't expecting to have a tank until august at the earliest, but it looks like I have one now!

I came across a shallow 40 gallon tank that was the exact same width as my current sump. My sump is a shallow seastar tank (26" by 19" by 12" high). It is only a year old and is pretty much the dimensions that I was looking for! SO I popped the baffles out and put them into my new sump.

Old Sump

New sump

I siliconed the baffles in with aquarium sealant and am currently waiting for it to dry. I plan on leaving it until Wednesday and then using it. I figure that will be enough time for it to cure, since it says only 24 hours.