Clever's 93G Frameless Cube Build!

Cleverbs · Oct 13, 2016

First lets start with a bit of history. I walked away from the hobby for awhile due to frustration and failure. This was mainly due to the fact that I was in school full time and working full time so my tank just wasnt a priority anymore. I had a 220g mixed reef. I converted the tank into a Amazon Biotope with fish only found in the amazon river. Mainly just large Geophagus and some other fish. I enjoy the tank very much now so I didnt want to change it back into saltwater. I have a 30g cube that I used as a frag tank so i decided I would set that up as my new reef tank however it just felt to shallow and I knew I wouldnt be happy with such a small tank after coming from the 220g. I started selling off my reef equipment from my 220g and posted my Skimmer on the forums. Skimmer was a reef octopus Regal DC-250. I was chatting with the manager of one of the LFS's and he said they would love to trade me for it so they could put it in a display. So we got to talking and decided to trade it for a new 93g rimless tank.

The plan is to really think everything out. No more buying low end equipment. No more having a huge mess under the tank with cords and junk all over. No more messing around. The tank is going to be an SPS tank. I am sure Ill have a few LPS on the sand bed so lets say 90% sps.

Equipment:
93g Tank
Eshopps ghost overflow Large
Eshopps RS-200 sump
Reef octopus NW-110 (may need to upgrade to the 150)
Quietone 3000 Return (have it laying around and its always been reliable)
Ecotech MP-40 (1 to start may need to buy another at some point)
ATI 8 Bulb 24" Dimmible Fixture
Reef Keeper Controller (from my 220g)
ATO is part of the Reef Keeper
Heater of some kind

I am going to build the stand myself. Going to really focus on the detail and functionality of the stand. More to come on that topic.

The tank gets here tomorrow which is shocking because it was ordered yesterday. I thought I had a lot more time to get ready but thats ok.

I have started the process of cleaning my live rock from my old tank because its not so "Live" anymore. I decided to give it the ol acid wash treatment. So last night I took all the rock probably about 175lbs of it and put it in a bleach bath. Tonight I will drain it, use some dechlorinater and then give it an acid bath. Hope it all comes out looking nice as right now it looks a mess.

This build may be a little slow as I need to sell my light fixture from my 220g to fund the light for this tank but I have a few lights I can use to get it rolling. It will be a few months before its ready for any SPS anyway. I dont want to start putting sps in until the tank has gone through all of its trouble stages.

Should have pictures coming tomorrow!

Diesel · Oct 13, 2016

Looking forward to this build.
Note: look into the ATI Hybrid more light for your money and a better spectrum as you can work with the LED's in there.

Any pics of your old tank and the Amazon biotope too?

revhtree · Oct 13, 2016

Following!

Cleverbs · Oct 13, 2016

Diesel said:
Looking forward to this build.
Note: look into the ATI Hybrid more light for your money and a better spectrum as you can work with the LED's in there.

Any pics of your old tank and the Amazon biotope too?

I have been thinking about it but I dont know if I can drop $1,100 on a 24" light. We will see.

I have a picture prior to fish. Sadly the amazon swords didnt really thrive like they where. My geophagus have destroyed them so I am thinking about removing them from the tank and adding some larger stones.

Here is the 220g reef when I was on top of my tank prior to going to mexico for 2 weeks on my honeymoon and having my sister care of my tank while I was gone. Somehow the power to the tank blew while I was gone and the tank was off for over a week but she thought "The lights just hadnt come on yet" every day when she went over. I am not sure how she didnt figure out no fish where eating because everything in the tank was dead and decaying when I got home...1000s$ down the drain and this is really when my passion for the hobby left me. these pictures are from a week before I left.

Diesel · Oct 13, 2016

Cleverbs said:
I have been thinking about it but I dont know if I can drop $1,100 on a 24" light. We will see.

I have a picture prior to fish. Sadly the amazon swords didnt really thrive like they where. My geophagus have destroyed them so I am thinking about removing them from the tank and adding some larger stones.

Here is the 220g reef when I was on top of my tank prior to going to mexico for 2 weeks on my honeymoon and having my sister care of my tank while I was gone. Somehow the power to the tank blew while I was gone and the tank was off for over a week but she thought "The lights just hadnt come on yet" every day when she went over. I am not sure how she didnt figure out no fish where eating because everything in the tank was dead and decaying when I got home...1000s$ down the drain and this is really when my passion for the hobby left me. these pictures are from a week before I left.

That's a great looking tank on both accounts.

Cleverbs · Oct 13, 2016

Alright acid was on the rocks complete. More pictures to come shortly of the rock after. I need to wash it all off

Used two gallons of acid in that trash can. Used one gallon and that didn't really do anything so I added two more. Even that didn't eat any rock away but it's pretty white now after washing it off.

Diesel · Oct 13, 2016

OMG three gallon of MA

in that 32 gallon brute.
You better cure it week or four before putting it in your tank

Cleverbs · Oct 14, 2016

Ha yeah one gallon did nothing. You can see my rock still looks dirty after all of that but I got a lot of crud out. I watched a bunch of videos and people would have rock eaten away and the water they poor out would be white. Mine was clear still and no rock was eaten away. I don't think I had as strong of acid as others use. Also it was one gallon then I emptied it and refilled and put two gallons in.

Well I played around with my rock after to try to get an idea for scape didn't get what I am looking for. It's really hard to scape a cube. Here is what I got. I want to have a overhang so for this scape I would float the front most flat rock and remove the rock holding it up. I have a way to bond the rock.
It's the rock in the 2nd pic that bottom rock would be gone.

The rock is now curing and cycling in a tub. Tossed my skimmer in to pull gunk out.

Cleverbs · Oct 14, 2016

Got all the rock in saltwater. Going to start cycling it. Also note I have way to much rock in there for the tank I figure I'll give myself options for scape. I also have about 35 more lbs in a 30g that has been cycling for about a month now.

I want to find a nice piece of live rock to seed the dry rock with good stuff.

Cleverbs · Oct 14, 2016

Also I put a ratchet strap around to tote this morning to keep it strong and from bowing like that

Cleverbs · Oct 14, 2016

Picked up my sump today. Eshopps rs-200

Note to self: don't drive your mustang to pick up a simp...take the SUV

Cleverbs · Oct 14, 2016

Sump looks good. Looks like it was packed well and I don't see any issues at all. I can see the area where the water drains into the sump to be a real pain to keep clean. I am thinking I'll need to put a power head in that chamber to keep detritus suspended and let it move into the filter sock.

Decided against the one with the fuge because I just don't see a fuge of that size making any difference in the display. Also this way i can put just about any skimmer I want into the chamber instead of being limited in case I decide to upgrade the skimmer down the road.

FF337 · Oct 14, 2016

Its gonna look nice. I like the rectangular socks in the sump. Tagging along.

Cleverbs · Oct 15, 2016

I have done a bit of work designing the stand and layout of everything. I am thinking something along the lines of these renders. It will have sides that can be fully removed I will do some nice trim on it I just dont know how to do that in sketch up. Will probably also side the entire back of the stand.

Made the stand longer so A.) it can hold the sump and B.) because I like the look of a stand with the drains/returns coming right through the stand. I will just need to brace the top with a cross brace to hold the back of the tank. Not sure how I want to do the return yet. I will figure that out when the time comes. Looks like ill have enough room in the stand for all my stuff without any problems.

Cleverbs · Oct 19, 2016

well we are still waiting on the tank. I wanted to get the stand built this week but I want to have the tank before I do it. The tank was said to be in last Thursday but has been delayed again and should be in tomorrow.

The MP-40 should also arrive tomorrow.

Some things I still need to get are:

New cord for my ReefKeeper lite and a PM probe. The dang cat chewed the cords on both.
Still looking for a 8bulb 24" ATI sunpower. I would really like to get my hands on a used one but thats not looking so well.

Thinking I will just run my MH over the tank till I can get the ATI. I wont be adding coral for several months anyway so I am ok with that.

Cleverbs · Oct 22, 2016

Tank is in the house.

I really like the eshopps overflow. The synergy one looks better but for 100$ less I am ok with it.

serkel · Oct 22, 2016

Sweet looking cube.

Cleverbs · Oct 22, 2016

Well one little hiccup I bought a mp40 off a guy and it seems to be lost by ups. It says it was delivered on Thursday but I don't have it so we are working with ups to find it our have insurance cover it. The guy I got it from is great and working well with me so I really appreciate that.

Going to start the stand tomorrow.
Not 100% sure how I am going to build it yet but I'll start with the frame then go from there.

Cleverbs · Oct 22, 2016

serkel said:
Sweet looking cube.

Thank you. I am looking forward to getting it started. Rock is cycling now so I'm taking my time right now because I need to wait for the rock anyway. Also trying to enjoy the process as it's the most fun and I have always rushed through it in the past.