Fish's new cube

[Fish]

Hello fellow canreefers,

I am upgrading my tank so that my mantis shrimp, Ike, has a little more room to move around. Here is a photo of the two cubes side by side:






The new cube is a 12" starfire cube. This time around I had the glass shop polish the edges for me and it looks even better! (time will tell though if it was worth the $1/inch polishing cost ) The one-cubic-foot dimensions gives me approximately 7.5gal of volume. I am hoping that the extra room will allow me to create some interesting aquascaping and allow for further coral growth. And of course, it's all about Ike these days . Continuing in the tradition, the bulkheads and intake strainer will be the only equipment visible inside the tank -so this photo of the emtpy tank is as unsightly and cluttered as it will ever get. I have planned an additional modification to the cannister filter and am currently giving some serious consideration to going BB. I would be interested in seeing what people thought on the subject. I have kept both sand and BB and personally feel that astetics (or sand-dependant livestock) is the only reason a person should ever keep substrate. Having said that, astetics is a pretty powerful reason in a hobby where we place so much effort into having everything look right. Since I am so torn right now, a "yea" or "nay" from my peers would really help. I look forward to any comments or questions.

Cheers,

- Chad

[muck]

I'd go with a little courser sand myself. Not quite CC but bigger than sugar sand.

[Fish]

Haha sorry for such a narrow set of options Ryan. I have updated the poll . What is your reasoning for coarser sand? I had a fine-crushed-coral (oh, there's another one) in my 2gal cube and found that even a thin layer of that collected a lot of detrius. Are you thinking in terms of preventing a blizzard or allowing me to vacume easier?
Thanks,

- Chad

[muck]

Reasoning was to prevent a blizzard, but if the sugar sand worked for you in the other tank I could go with that..

[Beverly]

Chad,

I would go BB with small LR rubble around Ike's home for him to work with in whatever way he needs. You could then siphon out crud in a moment's notice. If you do go BB, the most efficient way to siphon crud is turn off the water flow, gently baste the crud from under the rockwork, then siphon to your heart's content. Rockwork would also have to be set up for you to easily see under the rock (with a flashlight, if necessary) and room around the rock to get the baster in.

[Fish]

Ryan,
Gotcha. I think that since the flow in my cubes is directed from the bottom to the surface, and not the other way around, I have not had problems with blizzarding. However, I haven't flow tested it with the correct sized blades on the cannister impellor yet, so I my be wrong...
Should be about 240gph after losses.

- Chad

[AndyL]

I don't see you being happy with bare bottom... So go with a sugar/CC substrate.

Going to skim the new tank?

Andy

[Fish]

Hey Andy,
No I'm not going to skim the new tank. As much as I am a proponent of skimmers, I can't incorporate one into my setup without having equipmet visible...
I am not really worried though. I am going to have pretty much the sme bioload that I had in the 2gal in the 7.5gal.
I may add a small damsel... but I think the LR and chaeto will be up to the task.

- Chad

[deacon hemp]

I'm doing the 2 gal cube with a black starboard bottom.I thought about a coarser shallow sand bed but i think im going bare.I'd vote for your tank coarse sand bed because of the mantis.

[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.