Rod's reef 2.0! (1 Viewer)

[ruiz0052]

I started my first reef tank back in February, and after gaining experience as well as doing a considerable amount of research on reef tanks in general. I am almost finished constructing my 60g cube build and plan to have it up and running by when i move this August 1st. I want to thank a lot of the members for the deals and help they have provided especially my good friend jboulerice for all the advice and help.. and of course the excellent selection of corals you will soon be selling me! :laugh:

At this point I'm only missing a few things, but will update as i go along:

Lighting:

Ecotech Radion with hanging kit
- Thank you bedroomgangsta

Filtration:

120g Coralife super skimmer

Flow:

Rio 3100
-Thank you kieffer_5

Vortech MP10 wES
-Thanks again bedroomgansta

Rockwork:

Mostly fiji premium covered with coraline

Actual tank:

Marineland 60g cube
- Thank you very much for the deal and delivery jbell

Currently I'm in the process of finishing up the plumbing and acquiring some electrical conduit to hang up the radions, but after this is setup the only piece i should be missing is the glass lid to cover the cube.

Upon first purchasing the cube i did some touch ups' such as replacing the bulkheads and applying some silicon on some slight scratches that were on the tank. I'm in the process of adding another panel to the sump to further compartmentalize the sump, but the biggest transformation to the original equipment was the stand. I will attach images of the old and new below, but the stand door imaging was done by jboulerice.

Pictures and update coming soon

 

[RyanTurner]

At first I thought this was a thread about a new version of rod's food. Lol

Everything looks good, but I'd highly recommend upgrading your skimmer. You already have some very nice equipment, might as well get a better skimmer as too.

 

[ruiz0052]

Hahaha i can see that mix up easily happening! My first name is Rodrigo so i abbreviated in sense of my nickname. My friend has the smaller coraline super skimmer 60g and it skims very well. Is there any reasons why it wouldn't be sufficient for my tank?

 

[montiporalova]

Hahaha i can see that mix up easily happening! My first name is Rodrigo so i abbreviated in sense of my nickname. My friend has the smaller coraline super skimmer 60g and it skims very well. Is there any reasons why it wouldn't be sufficient for my tank?

Where you from rodrigo ?

 

[ruiz0052]

I was originally born in Lima, Peru but came to the states when i was around 5 years old. However, i do speak Spanish fluently.

Where you from rodrigo ?

 

[montiporalova]

I was originally born in Lima, Peru but came to the states when i was around 5 years old. However, i do speak Spanish fluently.

Cool am Mexican. We should talk sometime :idea::beerchug:

 

[ruiz0052]

Sounds great bro, I've been trying to attend more of the meetings so I'm sure you'll be seeing me around! I'll check the list next time to see if your name comes up well.

:beerchug:

Cool am Mexican. We should talk sometime :idea::beerchug:

 

[ruiz0052]

For the first series of photos I'm going to provide i will show the transformation of the stand unto what its currently becoming. When i first received the stand i liked it, but it gave off the older vintage taste. As I'm going to push this tank to be my display tank for the next couple years i really wanted to give it a modern aesthetic look.

-The original tank and stand as it was first purchased

-Angled shot that displays how the deep the depressions were in the wood

-Stand with wood filler applied and after being sanded

-Second shot of wood filler applied

-Stand after the primer was applied and dried

-Stand after paint had been applied and dried

-Rough image imprinted on door of stand

-Rough image two imprinted on door of stand

Overall its come together quite nicely and what remains are the touch ups that are being done currently on the image of the door (thank you jboulerice) and the mounting of door handle on door followed by mounting the door on the stand.

 

[lr9788]

Im looking forward to seeing how this stand comes together.

 

[guy9smiley2]

Im looking forward to seeing how this stand comes together.

+1 cool build

 

[ruiz0052]

To update i believe i have finally acquired everything needed to setup up plumbing. I decided to go the schedule 80 route and will be doing the 1" return and 1' output, both modulated. I'll include some more photos once plumbing is complete.

 

[Jboulerice]

Note to members: Make sure the cap is on any PVC primer or glue before shaking... Tried to help get all the slip pieces together tonight, but alas we had an explosion of pvc primer... it burns the skin...

 

[BashfulBacterium]

Looks good so far, will be nice to see something other than a Black Stand for once

 

[ruiz0052]

As the timeline draws near, I have yet another update for the thread. At this point the plumbing for the most part has been set up and the tank has been finally filled. Initially I am running tap water to test for leaks as well as remove any debris/ left over solvent from cleaning. The wiring harness for the light fixture was also assembled and will be holding up the Radion.

For the next update I plan on displaying the setup cleaned up a bit as well installation of the long awaited door!

 

[Adam G]

Looks good. Take your time, the build is half the fun.

 

[mikehaase1norse]

Neat build. iv always wanted a larger cube tank.
Im excited to see the stand all finished up too.
keep up the good work!

 

[ruiz0052]

Thanks for the comments all, they are much appreciated! I'm very excited to get this puppy set up as well! Slowly but surely the build is coming together. :greenguy:

 

[ruiz0052]

Alright after what seems to be forever, time for an update! Now that I’m settled in over at my new place in Fridley and have my tank completely set up, it’s time to show some photos of the completed project! This time I’ll let the photos do the talking. :evillaugh3:

 

[David Grigor]

With the plumbing that low in the overflow, I'd imagine your getting quite a bit of unnecessary noise from the water falling. If you raise the plumbing up to just an inch or two under the teeth of the overflow will considerably drop the noise level.

I also gotta say, the locline is quite the monster you have there. Now I see why you have the check valve ( which I dont' trust ). Everyone has different opinions but it's quite the eyesore to me.

I'm also very curious why you went with the metal pipes to suspend your fixture. With a drop down ceiling you can easily fix a wooden support or metal brace behind the drop down tiles to fix your cables to and make for a sleeker look. If and when time to move, replacing the ceiling tile ( or leaving as is since just a tiny hole ) would be really cheap.


Get a screen built for the top ASAP. That firefish can go carpet surfing at any moment.


Might also want to look into getting the lense upgrade ( $30 ) for your Radion. I don't know if you were even aware of it. I wasn't until just last week.

Looks like you did a real good job refinishing the stand. Definate improvement.

 

[ruiz0052]

Hi Grigor, thanks for the comment. I hope you noticed how well the toadstool and ‘Grigor’ Gorgonians you sold me are doing.

In regards to the overflow plumbing, you are right I am getting some unwanted noise. However, one of my large concerns and why I don’t simply put it up “just an inch or two under the teeth of the overflow” is due to the fact that whenever I turn off the overflow and turn it on once again for feeding or whatever reason, the water level climbs 6.25 inches or 2.75 inches away from overflowing unto the tank prior to the drain beginning its vacuum effect. I will eventually raise it to minimize noise, but for now it’s not too big of a concern.

You don’t like loch ness monster loch-line eh? I like it, it’s a different look and I would rather ensure I get minimum amount of dead-spots; especially since I arranged all my rockwork in the formation of a cove. I don’t mind the check valve, it’s a pretty simple mechanism and I made sure I could close mine at ease various times while I was running the system.

They’re a couple reasons why I went with the metal piping to suspend my fixture rather than hang it from the ceiling. One, In my opinion, I think hanging from the ceiling looks sloppy, as I wouldn’t like 30 plus inches of wire hanging from my ceiling in contrast to 9 inches from the piping built into stand, also more importantly for security. My friend or owner of the web page epic aquatics: http://www.epic-aquatics.com/ had two of his radions drop from his ceiling and unto his frag tank loosing thousands of dollar worth of coral not to mention the cost of the radions.

You may not be able to see David, but I’ve had the marineland glass lid for the cube since day one (thank you something fishy). I’ve never had an issue with the fire fish, my wheeler goby is definitely the jumper of my tank.

Thanks for the input Dave, I know that you have a lot of experience here in the club. I look forward to chatting with you at the next meet!