Danish 76 gallon cubish

[Wiinberg]

Hi there, thought it was about time i started a thread with my new build.
My name is Niels and i'm from Denmark, the cold north with the pretty blonds and bacon. I'm 28, a student, and lives with my dear GF, and this will be my tank number 3.

Currently i have this 28 gallon reef, been up for about 5 months now: (the white rock is seeding for the new tank)

And i'm gonna set this one up in a month or so:

It's 33,5 x 33,5 x 15,75" (85x85x40cm), so roughly 76 gallons. It has Optiwhite glass on the 2 front sides and a corner overflow with 32mm main drain pipe and safety drain pipe, and 25mm return pipe, and is made by one of my fellow reefers from Denmark.

The plan is to get it wet in late january, start february. Depends if i get all the equipment together, things are a bit pricey over here.
One of the things i wanna do with this tank, is to get it running with an ATS and GFO reactor as the only filters and minimum water changes. In the beginning though, i will be using my Aqua Medic Turboflotor 500 skimmer until the ATS is running properly. I'm currently in the process of finishing my ATS:

Plastic screws for easy mounting of the canvas

The drains will run into the chamber, where my skimmer will be in the beginning, and where i can mount filter socks if needed. And then runs down the canvas, which will be lit by 42w of LED. It's my first ATS, so i'm pretty excited if it's going to work. Hope so

Also, the GFO reactor is a DIY which will be fed from the return with a T and a valve. I'm currently running on Rowaphos in it with great success.

My lighting will also (surprise) be a DIY project. I currently have a Maxspect Razor 160w 16.000k, and i thought about either buying one more, or adding T5's to it. I took the T5 route.
So this will be 2x24w ATI T5 bulbs on each side of the Razor. I got the first side fitted today, just needs some wiring finish and a paint job and then on to the next side.

So far, my setup will consist of the following:

Light: Maxspext Razor 160w + 4x24w T5 (almost done)
Filtration: ATS + GFO reactor (almost done)
Water movement: Either 2x Jebao RW15 or Maxspect Gyre 35w (need to buy)
Return: Tunze 2400 l/h (got it, might change that for a Jebao DC pump)
Dosing: Jebao DP-4 with Balling (got it)
ATO: Tunze (got it)


Theres probably a lot more to say but this will have to do for now, it's 2am here now Please feel free to ask about anything, i will update this along with my progress.

 

[RUGDOG]

Some great ideas there. Look forward to seeing how the ATS comes along.

 

[Wiinberg]

Thanks

Got the other side of the light fitted today.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Nice! the first tank looks great on landscaping and look at those corals!!! I can't imagine how beautiful the biggest tank will be. good luck on everything!

-Yating

 

[Wiinberg]

Nice! the first tank looks great on landscaping and look at those corals!!! I can't imagine how beautiful the biggest tank will be. good luck on everything!

-Yating

Thank you very much!

 

[Wiinberg]

Got my lights finished. This is how it looks over the old tank.

I'm pretty satisfied with it, considering the amount of money i had to spent on it. It could be nicer, i really wanted the Hagen GLO T5 kits on it, but they are just way more than i can afford as a student. I'll just have to see how the lighting is, when i get my new tank set up. Can't wait

 

[ILLA]

Beautiful

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Beautiful tank and good luck with the new one!!

 

[Wiinberg]

Finally, the tank is up and running.

Moved the corals into the tank about a week ago, and the fish came in today. I have the skimmer en the display for now, couldn't get it to fit in the sump at the moment as i had planned. But i'm working on it. I also need to mingle a little with the ATS, it splashes a bit and makes some noise. Haven't found a good way to mount the lights on the ATS either, so that is temporary. But it's running, and that's the important thing

I also need to find a new return pump, my Tunze 2400 is way too weak to feed the whole system. Don't think i'm getting more than 150-200 gallons over the ATS.

 

[Wiinberg]

New FTS, T5's off, 30 minutes to LED's off.

 

[Simonsen]

Looks awsome!

 

[Wiinberg]

Razor on 30% / 55%, T5's ON.

 

[Wiinberg]

Pictures!!

New FTS.. Water has cleared up and the ATS is beginning to look better, starting to have some growth.

And a little morning shot..

Some of the zoas and palys are still a little upset from the move, but were getting there.. Also, i've ordered the Gyre 130, should be here in about 3 weeks. Getting pretty excited to see how it will handle a shallow cube.

 

[Rob.D]

Great job on the build!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great-looking tank! I love the build details too! Please keep us updated!

 

[Wiinberg]

Big update!

Almost 2 months since my last post, and a lot have happened.

I got my Gyre130, but i couldn't really get the flow i wanted. Maybe i should have gone with the 150, i don't know. Anyway, have now bought 3 Tunze 6055 with 7096 controller that i'm trying to find the right places for, instead of the Jebao RW8's that i started with. I think this will produce a lot better flow with my aquascape.

My light has also changed. I sold my Razor and bought a PS Pandora Hyperion R2+ instead. What a beautiful light.

While i loved the light and color it produced, it just wouldn't cover my cube with enough light for my needs. It produced too many shadows where i wanted to place SPS. Since i'm a student and on a budget, i couldn't just go out and buy 2 or 3 new Radions or something like that. But then i stumbled on a used ATI Sunpower 6x24w for 50$, and that i wouldn't pass. I bought it, along with a new ATI 6x24w so my tank now has 12x24w T5's on top. Thats a lot of light, and i like it!

Unfortunately i find it rather difficult to get the colors right on pictures now. Don't know why, so if you guys have any tips on taking pictures under T5's, let me know!

My aqua scape has also changed, as you can see, and i have filled the tank a bit more. On the picture above though, several of the corals are some that i'm holding for a friend. So things are a bit chaotic in the tank since many of them can't be glued down which makes placement a hassle.

I have had some challenges the last month or so. After the rescape, i got some cyano and dino's i think, and some algae that i couldn't really identify. I blamed it on low nutrients since i couldn't measure No3, never could, and Po4 at 0,000-0,025 (using Gilbers Reef Analytics, same as Rowa kit). So i have been feeding heavily and ended up blacking out the tank for 4 days. This got rid of most of the algae and released some nutrients so i'm now able to measure No3 at 2,5 ppm. Good thing!

But i don't blame it all on the rescape though. I started out with an ATS and didn't really have any algae in the tank, not even during the cycle. But somehow, i got the urge to return to using a skimmer, so i bought a Skimz SN143. The nasty algae outbreak started a week or two after i took the ATS down and started the skimmer. I don't think this is a coincidence. But anyway, all i can do now is wait and see.

My tank definitely need some quiet time, since a lot have happened the past couple of months, and hopefully i will be able to keep my hands out of it for now I have ordered a new L-shaped sump that i will be getting in a month or so, with room for a fuge and a compartment for frags.

This about covers it for now, so heres a couple of pictures to look at