Fish's new cube

[Corey]

Have you thought about maybe using a thin layer of insulating foam and then covering it in fine sugar sand, I am planning on doing it with my nano, you have the asthetics of sand with the ease of cleaning like a BB.

[crusty1]

That's a great looking nano! I love the lighting. Do you have more info on that?
Chris

[Fish]

Thanks Chris!
The lighting is a 70w metal halide with a 20k bulb. I bought the ballast, reflector, and bulb and then wired it into a halogen desklamp. I took these photos while I was gutting the desklamp and bolting in the retrofit:






- Chad

[petah]

how much does it cost for a cube to be made? $$20-50??

[prosnow]

well i just had a custom cube made...check out my pics in nano reef, and mine cost more then that...starfire is expensive...

[petah]

looks great! but lets say i dont use that glass and i settle for saphire glass.. or a low iron glass.. somthing that will not cost an arm and a leg.. what $$ would i be looking at?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by petah

looks great! but lets say i dont use that glass and i settle for saphire glass.. or a low iron glass.. somthing that will not cost an arm and a leg.. what $$ would i be looking at?

It is all the same glass, saphire/starfire etc. just different brand names for low iron glass. My tank cost about $200 but some of that expense was for polishing as well.

- Chad

[petah]

yikes.... $$200 for a foot cube... id rather buy a crystal vase for 20 and get the same effect only alot cheaper... better yet a free large glass jar from work...

[prosnow]

wow, i never realized how much of a good deal i got on my tank..

i've got to keep up with keeping the glass crystal clear now with everyday cleaning

[Fish]

Originally Posted by petah

yikes.... $$200 for a foot cube... id rather buy a crystal vase for 20 and get the same effect only alot cheaper... better yet a free large glass jar from work...

Haha... except you can't drill crystal and any glass jar you use will be riddled with imperfections and distortions. If you think that's expensive, you should see what the shop would have charged me if I didn't already know a couple of the guys working there. They charge $1 per inch for polishing glass edges. My polishing cost alone on the tank would have been $240 (12" per side x four sides per pane x five panes). This time around I had the shop drill the bulkheads for me (saved me some time)that cost about $10-$15 per hole and then the bulkheads themselves are $5-$10 each.
I'm sure anyone could make a cheaper cube - but don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you have a tank, you have "the same effect". ( :

Good luck,
- Chad