Shred5's 93 gallon rimless cube tank build.

shred5

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[FONT=&amp]Part 1 choosing the aquarium [/FONT]
My current system as of right now is a 75 gallon reef ready aquarium. It really aint that old yet but I have been wanting a tank with some depth front to back. 75 gallon is a very nice size tank I just wanted some more width... it will be replaced by the new tank.
So it began a quest for a new tank..
I wanted a 36"x36" reef that was rimless.. Well my place has long and narrow rooms. When we finally measured it out, it would stick out in any room and we would have to actually walk around the tank.. Went to a LFS that had one and yea it would stick out like a sore thumb... So it was really out of the question.. They had a regular RR120 on sale really cheap, I almost settled on it but it had dual mega flows... The tank was 24" width versus the 18" of my 75.. I always liked the 120 gallon aquarium size, but the dual over flows in the middle of the tank take up so much space. I went home and started looking custom.. Like 36Lx30wX24 high.. I got some extremely expensive quotes so it was back to the 120... shipping really hurts too..

I decided to go to a LFS I only go to once in a while because they are out of the way and their hours make it hard for me to go too... Anyway they have more selection.. They had some 120's rimless with overflows in the corners but they were a little high to save a little room.. Overflows just take up so much room, so I was kind of back to the regular RR120 again..
Well the owner shows a tank he did for someone else with a overflow he sells and installs. The over flow was made by xaqau called x-inout ..



inout-marine-con-tubazioni.jpg



Ok now we are getting somewhere, these things are beautiful and take up very little room. They also create waves which I don’t really need since I have two Ecotech Vortechs which I plan on using anyway.. I can get a regular RR120 tank and have one of these added... I was sold.

Well I guess not.. Now I look over and there is a 30"x30"x24" rimless mainland cube just sitting there. Ok a little smaller than I want but with the x-aqua I pick up allot of room without the bulky internal overflows.... Now I was sold, tank ordered with two x-inouts... I ordered two x-inouts because if one got plugged by something I would have a second overflow. I originally was going to just drill a hole on the other side and put a bulkhead and a flat bulkhead screen on it for a second overflow to save some money, x-inouts are not cheap.
 
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shred5

shred5

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Part 2 the stand

Well the tank was sitting on a black oak ventura stand.. At first we wanted a different color because our room the tank would go in had no black in it. Well My girlfriend said why dont we put it in the living room instead since it would match the living room and allows us more time to enjoy the tank.... Well that presents allot more problems because of noise. But ok we got the ventrua stand in black..
Ventura 30x30 Black Open Top.ashx

Well now we have some new issues putting the reef in the living room because everything will have to be dead silent .
The other issue is cube tanks 30" and over have stands are really low because they have to fit through most doors.
The nice thing is moving it to the living room would allow me to keep the 75 up and running till transfer.
Cube stands for smaller cubes also offer some challenges to fit everything inside.
 
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shred5

shred5

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Part 3 lighting..
This choice was not as hard... I have been running a ATI power module T-5 on my 75 and have loved the growth and color..
I did wrestle a little bit with it... I was running led on my frag tanks and love the features like dusk to dawn. Growth was good but the colors of a few corals were not as good as my t-5 tanks.. So at first I was looking at combo's t-5 and led..
Ati combo was way to expensive for me right now....
I started looking at the t-5 led combo from pacific sun and liked it.. Only issue is for 2 foot fixtures they only have (2) t-5 and I favor more t-5's especially for a 30 " front to back tanks, that is pretty wide.....

So I ended back at t-5 ATI sunpower fixture with 8 bulbs for now.

IMG_20140606_173308_040_zps302cf441.jpg
 
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Tahoe61

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I love that fixture, sweet!
 
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shred5

shred5

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Part 4 equipment..

Dosing pumps:

Well I am going to use dosing pumps to maintain alk and calcium... Idose a few other thing we can discuss when I get that far.
This was easy Luke on here was selling some SWC dosing pumps pretty cheap so I picked one up and a slave unit for my 75.
But since I am setting up a new system I just didnt install them on my 75.
Luke if you are reading this I still dont have then set up!!

IMG_20140606_180529_9722_zpscccfa7df.jpg
 
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shred5

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Skimmer:

Another easy choice.
This now is going to be in the living room so it had to be really quiet:
So it had to have a dc pump..
Well My RLSS R6-i skimmer on my 75 has been doing very well So I will just move it over when the time comes.
It should fit under the low stand too just barely,

IMG_1142_zps4dbdce55.jpg
 
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shred5

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[FONT=&quot]Notice:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Change of plans : This has been removed from the project and will not be used.[/FONT]




Return pump:
Another easy choice because it has to be quiet so it had to be DC again...
IMG_20140606_174429_023_zps4f3d3bc2.jpg
 
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shred5

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Oh look what I got in the mail the other day:
Some of the first Elite aquatics small size super slim dosing containers. These are smaller than their normal super slim and hold 2 liters.


I am super excited about these.. Again the challenge is going to be able to fit all my parts under the stand..


IMG_20140606_173206_098_zps3f948265.jpg
IMG_20140606_173150_672_zps771cf043.jpg

6c9ea328-a3b2-45d1-847a-384a6119a8d0_zpsdafb6f00.jpg
 
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Battlecorals

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Awesome man! I am fast becoming a fan of teh ati's myself. looking forward to seeing the progress
 
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shred5

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I am going to have to fit a ato reservoir under there with sump.
I might be going with just a 10 gallon aquarium for the ATO. I would like a custom one but cost of around 200 shipped is getting up there.. But a custom one would give me more room , be covered up so less evaporation and look better...
I am really going for neatness this time... Nice and tidy....

Elite aquatics has a nice one that would match my dosing containers.

I have seen some on ebay too that look real nice...

Advance acrylics has this one that is 9 gallons if I could get them to make it in white that looks pretty nice... Buy again not cheap...

IMG_0065_large.jpg
 
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shred5

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Look what showed up today, my custom sump...
A little late tonight, i will discuss it more tomorrow...


IMG_20140611_224548_366_zps89004f24.jpg





IMG_20140611_225337_605_zps6cb34293.jpg


IMG_20140611_225220_980_zps356330a5.jpg
 

revhtree

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Sweet new sump!
 

zesty

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Put it together!!! put it together!! I'm impatient!!

I was just talking to my LFS about the same tank and the x-aquas. It will be a long time before I do anything though, but I can live vicariously thru your build :bigsmile:
 
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shred5

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I have family visiting for the week. I probably wont get to do much till around the 4th of July..
I do have some updates:

I decided on the top off system from synergy reef systems. It had the perfect dimensions.

synergy_reef_ato.jpg




I picked up a Rlss media reactor also.
I put on 4 coats of Kilz inside the stand and then 4 coats of high gloss white.
I will get some newer pictures of what has been done when I get a chance.
I picked up a ton of plumbing supplies...

I picked up some conduit and had it bent at home depot for a light rack. I need to paint it and cut it down to proper size. I will fasten it to the back of the stand.
 
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shred5

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Put it together!!! put it together!! I'm impatient!!

I was just talking to my LFS about the same tank and the x-aquas. It will be a long time before I do anything though, but I can live vicariously thru your build :bigsmile:



I see your from Milwaukee so you are talking with Brian at Bestfish.. Good guy, did you tell him you saw my post on the tank he did?...
Get the rimless the x-aquas look good on it...

I will get some pics up so you can see..
 
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zesty

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I see your from Milwaukee so you are talking with Brian at Bestfish.. Good guy, did you tell him you saw my post on the tank he did?...
Get the rimless the x-aquas look good on it...

I will get some pics up so you can see..

Yup, been talking to Brian. Small world, haha.
I'm torn between the x-aquas and ghost overflow...

I'll have to tell him about this; Brian and best fish are great people with a great lfs.
 
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shred5

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I should have some progress on this build this weekend and update the thread... I have been extremely busy this last few weeks and have done very little.. This weekend I plan on at least getting the plumbing done and run it with freshwater for a bit. I want to get the back ground on too....

I will be picking up a Neptune apex for the tank this week.. I used a digital aquatics controller on the 75 and love it and never had a issue. I decided to change this time because of the fusion software, I really want more control remotely for this tank while I am gone. I have been gone allot more lately. I am not a big fan of using controllers to control everything because if the controller fails you can have everything on your tank go out... If everything is separate it is far safer... I am thinking of keeping the main pump still on its own and backed up by battery.. Also I recommend a surge suppressor for controller to protect the controller and even a ups is nice to help protect from quick outages or brownouts.
 
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