37 gal column conversion to AIO with foam/rock wall

[Cubeman]

Originally Posted by maron6977

Always nice to keep the wife happy as well as work for your project !

That's half the secret to being able to spend money in this hobby is buying stuff the wife likes. Always end up buying more pretty things when she tags along

[Cubeman]

I'm now using a couple of Koralia 750's for circulation and have placed them both right at the bottom of the aquarium in the back corners. They're hooked up to a digital timer so they take turns being on independently and simultaneously as well as both off for a few hours. The small base footprint and the large turnover creates a great upwelling of current from bottom to top.


The problem this much bottom current created is I couldn't use my existing Fiji pink sand as it was too fine and would be stripped bare in certain spots and piled up in others. I picked up some coarser reef sand yesterday and because I only needed 20lbs the difference in price between live and dead was negligible so I picked up the live.


The tank was pretty cloudy for the rest of the day but was crystal clear 18 hours later. Left a bit of a "bathtub ring" around the top edge but that was easily cleaned with a filter sponge.

[lastlight]

the wall looks awesome i really like it. lends itself perfectly to column tanks.

and that shelf piece looks sweet just don't mount any sps at its edge or you'll be fragging in a month lol.

[Cubeman]

A little less permanent than your 93g rock wall but much snappier to look at than a painted background. Now if I could just take photos like you too!

[Cubeman]

One of the problems that has presented itself is one of the cords from a power-head. It was my intention to tuck the cords between the glass and the rock wall but one side was just too snug so it ended up looking like this.


Not wanting it to remain as visually distracting I took an old 18inch Eheim spray bar that I'd held onto for over a decade for just this exact reason and cut a slit in it lengthways.


I applied the same epoxy and sand treatment to it as I did to the back wall making it look like this.


I then squeezed the powerhead cord through the opening so it eventually slid freely inside the spray bar and placed it in the tank.

Close up of bottom cord entering spray bar from powerhead.


And the whole thing in place.


Obviously looks a little artificial right now in the newly set up gleaming white tank but figure once there is some coralline on it and a few corals in front of it I will be happier than if I'd just left the bare cord.

[Jordon]

Nice job on hiding the cord

[Cubeman]

Thanks - nice of you to leave the bright lights of nano-reef and visit the quiet end of town

[Cubeman]

The 500W titanium heater I was using has turned out to be too much heater for the water volume so I have downsized. Every time the heater turned on it got so warm so quickly that the temperature would rise 0.3-0.5 degrees and then slowly cool off again. Not exactly the steady temp we shoot for so I picked up a 100W Jager. I set the Jager to 82 degrees while the Reef Keeper Lite that controls it is set to 79. This way when the RKL calls for heat the Jager is always on but if the RKL temp control sticks on then the Jager's internal mechanism should stop the tank from overheating.


I had Payless Glass cut a 5mm glass top to cover the display portion of the aquarium. This leaves the all in one box free for gas exchange and I also have a small gap in the back right hand corner for feeding. To help with condensation and salt on the underside of glass top I decided not to place it on the lip inside the frame. Instead I had the glass cut to the external dimensions of the black plastic frame and placed little rubber supports on it. This keeps it up off the rim allowing a bit of air exchange but still prevents fish from getting out. The rubber legs have the added benefit of not wanting to slide so it will be difficult to accidentally knock the glass top off. It's a bit of a sacrifice with the aesthetics but I can live with that if I don't have to clean salt off the top every week.

[Cubeman]

Cord/flex-hose management behind the aquarium was the next task as the whole mess could be seen easily from the side when sitting on the couch. I bought an 8ft section of pipe insulating foam from the hardware store. It's cut lengthways when you buy it and comes in several different diameters.


I routed all of the cords and hose through it then I zap strapped the pieces of foam together. A definite improvement over seeing the 5 cords and 4 hoses that were hanging there before.


Yes I know there is one cord hanging out by itself in the background that stands out but that piece of equipment is temporary

[Cubeman]

Pretty good day in the Cubeman household when you come home from work and find this on the table with a Reef Supply Canada label.


And if you didn't already guess from the first picture this is what was inside.




The tank is only 20 inches wide and the fixture is 16 inches so no need for any height above the tank for spread. The better half absolutely does not want it hanging from cables in the front room so it's just sitting on some plumbing elbows for now while I figure out some DIY legs.




I imagine I will be playing with the settings a lot over the next few days. I'm no LED scientist but I'll let you know how I like it. It also is not that blue so apparently I'm no photo surgeon either