08trdoffroad's Rimless 60 gal Mixed Reef Build

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Hey all,

I have been in the reefing hobby for more than a decade. And have had several tanks over the years. I am currently running an OG Biocube 29.

I have been dreaming of a 60 gal (24"×24") cube build for years. I had been slowly gathering tanks (3 at this point) over the last 3ish years as they popped up on my local classifieds while I tried to find the money to make the build a reality.

Fast-forward to the beginning of October when I was cruising my local reef club forum and stumbled over a post from a local reefer getting out. He had his setup posted for sale all summer, but had no takers. The last post in his thread was from the night prior and said, " free. It is in all out in my driveway. You must take it all." Assuming it was already gone due to the amount of high end equipment he had, I reached out to confirm. To my shock, he said it was still in his driveway. I jumped at the chance and was able to pick up his entire reef setup. Now, this instantly allowed me to have the majority of the equipment I needed to complete my build.

I picked up his:
60 gal cube
tank
Stand/canopy
Sicce Syncra 3.0
BRS Dual Reactor
Maxspect xf230 gyre
Octo Regal 150S skimmer
Kessil A360X
Bubble Magus Doser
And a bunch of miscellaneous other equipment and pumps.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I had another tank I will be using, due to it have an overflow box which takes up less space.

Here it is on the stand.

My plan was to refurbish the stand and paint it. As it is in pretty rough shape. I began trying to sand it down and prep it for paint today.

I found the bottom of the cabinet extremely uneven, so I am stuck. I can't put an acrylic sump (I purchased a trigger system sapphire 20 blemished directly from Trigger for a significant discount) in the stand the way it is.

My question for you all at this point is, do I try to cut out and replace the bottom of the stand with a fresh piece of birch plywood? Or do I abandon the plan to refurbish the stand and start from scratch and build a replacement cabinet?

 

[SpyC]

Looking at that damage, I would build a replacement.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Looking at that damage, I would build a replacement.

I'm leaning towards that direction. There is also damage to the bottom of both side panels of the cabinet as well, which carry the entire weight of the tank when full.

Think I might try to salvage the top and bottom trim, cabinet face, and door as they appear to be real wood and should clean up with a good sanding.

It's only $90 for a 4x8 sheet of ply from HD. And I should be able to get all the pieces I need out of one sheet. I can rebuild the box and glue/pocket screw it all together for extra strength. Then attached the salvaged trim and face, fill a few nail holes and paint the whole thing.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

While I debate what to do about the stand, I got the skimmer cleaned up and ready to go!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

What color plumbing should I do? Red or Blue? I have the red skimmer and blue sapphire sump, so I can't decide! I need to make a BRS order for a mounting arm for the kessil and some RFG's for my returns, so I thought I could add it on to my order. Or I could do a combo of the two. Red drains, blue returns...or vise versa.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Started exploratory surgery on the stand today. Got the damaged piece out fairly easy. I definitely think repair is possible. Off to HD to get the plywood now.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

A size comparison of the new (to me) tank vs the biocube it is replacing.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Repair complete! My wife helped me get a jump on the sanding. I only have a couple days the beginning of the week to get this thing painted as the weather is supposed to be decent (mid 60's). Otherwise the project might be on hold until spring. Pictures aren't the greatest cuz it got dark on us.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Stand is sanded and prepped for paint. Paint will be going on momentarily. This is the last nice day of weather forecasted here for the next while. Have to get it done so the paint can cure and this project can move along!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Stand is sanded and prepped for paint. Paint will be going on momentarily. This is the last nice day of weather forecasted here for the next while. Have to get it done so the paint can cure and this project can move along!

Stand is turning out great!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Stand is turning out great!

Thanks! My wife told me this morning, "you're making it look all pretty, but our paint job will look like crap..."

We are kinda novices when it comes to painting...lol

Had a heck of a time getting our little airless sprayer to work, but my wife (with my help) just finished laying down the first coat...just waiting for it to dry.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Second coat is on! Letting it dry good before deciding if it needs a third! My wife really underestimates her abilities! The paint is looking fantastic!

Don't mind the weird bright spot. The sun is starting to set through the garage window...

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Painting is done! Gonna let it cure for a while. Need to order plumbing stuff and a mount for the kessil anyway. So it will probably have a few weeks to let the paint cure before I really make any more progress. But I have been dreading this part, so happy to have it done and that it turned out so well!

You can see how smooth the finish is in yhe reflection from the flash in the last pic!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Now on to planning the plumbing...I could use some input. The tank I am using was drilled by the previous owner. It has 4 returns. Two high and two low. Trying to decide if I should run them all on a single pump, or split them in pairs and run two return pumps. If I split them, should I split them by left and right side, or top and bottom? Or should I just cap the bottoms and only plumb the tops, or just plumb one side and cap the other? I will be using RFG's on them.

You can see them in this pic.

 

[CBonito]

I don't know how I like those lower holes. I would cap the bulkheads off if it were me just because you dont want the entire tank draining back into the sump when the pump power is cut. You COULD cap one off and put a ball valve on the other so you can easily drain water to do changes. But that's about all I would use them for. That's just me though.
If I could find a one way valve that I knew would never leak I would say use them, but otherwise no. I don't know why someone would do that.

It's going to be a cool tank though. I like how the stand came out.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I don't know how I like those lower holes. I would cap the bulkheads off if it were me just because you dont want the entire tank draining back into the sump when the pump power is cut. You COULD cap one off and put a ball valve on the other so you can easily drain water to do changes. But that's about all I would use them for. That's just me though.
If I could find a one way valve that I knew would never leak I would say use them, but otherwise no. I don't know why someone would do that.

It's going to be a cool tank though. I like how the stand came out.

Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't even thought of siphon break issues. I definitely think I am going to cap them, unless I can figure out a way to use them in a CLS. Definitely will not be plumbing them into the return.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Went to my LFS today to get rock for the cube, but they didn't have what I was looking for. They run them in their display tank and they are called coral trees, but I can't find them anywhere else. They are made by Caribsea. They aren't a stacked piece. They are all one piece. The employee was hopeful they would get more early next week. So I will be checking in frequently until I can snag one. These are 3 from their display tank.

 

[CBonito]

That would be perfect for that tank.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

That would be perfect for that tank.

Yeah! Ever since I saw them the first time in their display tanks, I knew that is what is what I was going to use to scape my cube! The plan is to put that and some small islands with just some small base type rock pieces in front to create a zoa garden and some depth in the tank.