Trey's 60 Gallon Rimless SPS Cube Build

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hi Everyone,

I never post on this Forum, but thought it was awesome that there is a whole section dedicated to Cube owners! As I have been piecing this build together I have discovered that cubes pose their own unique set of challenges. I have had a great time browsing everyone's builds on here and hope you enjoy mine equally as much. I look forward to any feedback, positive or negative!

Equipment list so far:

Marineland Frameless 60 cube
Radion xr30w G3 and mounting arm
Mag 18 for return and manifold
2x Jebao RW8
Reef Octopus 2000xp skimmer
2x Eheim Jager 75w heaters
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO
3x Seaside Aquatics MF100s
Apex Jr
Kamoer Dosing Pump

I had never really built anything designed to look half way decent out of wood before, and am actually quite impressed with what I managed to put together. I did most of the cuts by hand after discovering that a circular saw is near impossible to use precisely. This project really made me want to purchase a table saw and a miter saw! I wish I had taken more pictures of the stand construction process.

I used RocketEngineer's design for the frame and then put a 3/4 inch ply top and bottom on it. After two coats of Kilz primer I skinned it in poplar 1 x boards of varying width, and trimmed it out a bit, another first for me. Here it is with the tank sitting on it for fitment purposes.. I really wasn's sure If the tank was going to fit inside the recessed area I had made for it on top of the stand! Luckily it did, but just BARELY.



So After I figured out that it was going to work, I began priming it AGAIN, three coats later and this is what I got!







I then coated the inside with a white epoxy utility paint that dries hard and is easy to clean stuff off of. And a couple of coats of semi-gloss black on the outside later I realized I should have painted the outside first. Meh oh well!


Here is the tank in what will be its final resting place doing a leak test.





After all of this I forgot to check if it was level, ran to Home Depot in a panic to buy a level and sweating bullets until I got home to find out I had done alright!





All in all I'm pretty happy with how the stand turned out with darn near zero woodworking or painting skills.

While installing some equipment, I realized that there still was not enough room under the stand for what I was planning, So I put a little shelf together to sit next to it and hold some electronics.



I was happy when the sump, skimmer, reactors and plumbing all got put together under the stand and FIT! Drain is a herbie style with over the back return.
Here are a couple of different views, Very tight!


[/QUOTE]

I also plumbed a drain into the manifold and plumbed my mixing station to the sump for easy water changes!



Here are a couple of pictures with the initial rockscape in place. It has been changed slightly.

Over the "Bar"



From kitchen sink




The rock scape has changed and I've added a little decoration around the tank as well. Also have a few fish in there and some hermits. Will have new pictures soon!
 

ncfishguy

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
1,007
Reaction score
128
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very sexy I had a 60 cube also center over flow loved it
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I suffered from a couple of very bad bacteria blooms in this tank for reasons unknown. There was seemingly no end in sight, so i pulled the trigger on a UV sterilizer and it cleared up in a matter of about 24 hours. I can not tell you how good it feels to be able to see INTO the tank! I did lose a mariculture "tester" acro during the bloom, but kept it in their due to the neato little Yuma growing on the plug.


There is a pair of clowns and a pair of Royal Grammas who are of course doing great.


Adam from battlecorals put together a great little frag pack for me that includes; Purple Poison Aculeus, Pro Corals Rainbow Acro, Blood Red Milli, Orange tipped neon Albrolhosensis, Shades of Fall, Shawn Bennet Yellow Tort, Copps Hulk Milli, Blue Green Aussie, and one more I cant seem to remember right now.


Check out a few pics..














A shot of the frags, they are already starting to color up a bit. Of course I can't seem to capture that at all.







And my horrible attempt at taking out the blue hue... the yellow tort still looks green though?


 

143MPCo

ASSIST PROTECT DEFEND
View Badges
Joined
May 14, 2012
Messages
6,696
Reaction score
8,294
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very Nice! following along.
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks for following along guys! I cant wait to watch this tank grow and mature, and look forward to it being filled with acro colonies :xd:
 

Daniel@R2R

Living the Reef Life
View Badges
Joined
Nov 18, 2012
Messages
37,364
Reaction score
63,263
Location
Fontana, California
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Looking great! I can't wait to see this cube grow out! :)
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Haven't had to start dosing yet, so I can not really comment. Weekly water changes are keeping up with requirements just fine at this point. From the reviews I have read, it seems to be a decent product, better quality than the BM at least.
 

Fenzinna

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
225
Reaction score
52
Location
Miami
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The mag18 doesn't make your overflow loud? I have a 900gph on mine and it seems to be noisy.
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Why would the overflow be loud due to the return pump?

I have a herbie style, do you have the standard durso?

Also, you have to remember I have my mag 18 feeding a manifold with three reactors and a pressure release if need be. It's all about being able to dial in the flow through the sump, display, and reactors.
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Also a little update, I picked up a CBB last friday and he is doing well, eating frozen food. Also picked up a nice frag/ mini colony of SSC (looks like it could be a pink lemonade too), but was told it was an SSC. The girlfriend got herself a frag of Zoanthids (her favorite :squigglemouth:), and my neighbor gave me a browned out digi frag and a tiny galaxia that weren't doing well in his tank.

Again the plan for this tank is ACROS ONLY. Ugh. Oh well, the GF can have her zoanthids, and ill grow and trade the others lol. By then I will be able to give big frags back to my neighbor!
 

Fenzinna

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
225
Reaction score
52
Location
Miami
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I was just curious about the large pump. Mine seems to be quite nosiey and there is a decent amount of sound coming from the sump.
 
OP
OP
Trey

Trey

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
397
Reaction score
353
Location
Brunswick, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ok picked up a few more frags yesterday! They Include:

Hawkins Echinata
Ice Echinata
Tyree Red Dragon
Purple Bonsai
Tyree Lime in the Sky
Tyree Ice Fire
Nick's Bubblegum Mille
Oregon Tort
Tyree Ultimate Stag
ORA Borealis
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Green Slimer [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Miyagi Tort[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Paletta Blue[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]and..[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]another SSC[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Heres a quick iPhone picture right after I put them in.. Ill take some better ones once all is settled tonight or tomorrow.
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
 

tbdh20

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Messages
185
Reaction score
14
Location
NC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nice assortment of frags. I'm liking your selections! :thumb:
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 76 51.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 76 51.4%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 37 25.0%
  • None.

    Votes: 32 21.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.1%
Back
Top