Diving back into the deep end with a 135 gallon cube

[ScottD]

So here is a repost from a thread I started for criticism but included some info in it that would be good to have here as well.

Link to post:
Thread 'Looking for constructive criticism on scape for 135 gal cube'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/l...-criticism-on-scape-for-135-gal-cube.1067537/



Hi everyone,

Looking for some constructive criticism on my rock layout. It’s for a 135 gal cube (3’x3x2’) that is viewable on 3 sides.

My goal for the tank is to give the fish plenty of areas to hide, but still able to have some flow through it and not looking like one big blob of rock. I’m not a fan of the minimalist or nsa style scapes as I feel it doesn’t give enough hiding areas. I e tried to keep everything a minimum of 4-5” off the glass to give room around it for maintenance. For now this is going to be fowlr but plan on adding corals down the road. Will probably be mostly softies but may mix a couple lps or sps in on the top.

For flow I’m planning on 3 or 4 MP40’s on the back wall and one on the back of the left side.
For fish I’m planning on a clownfish pair, Foxface, bristletooth tang, some wrasses, gobies, and blennies of some sort. Maybe a small school of something that would swim around the top of the tank.

I’d say I’ve used up around 100-110 pounds of rock out of the 150 lbs I bought so far, so still have some more rock I could switch out or use in places.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott

 

[ScottD]

So slowly making some progress on getting everything setup. Rock work is mostly done, just need to apply mortar to the joints to help strengthen them. I need to redo one of the the rocks as I was moving it, it broke apart and fell to the ground, scraping up my ankle a little. I also got the sump brought in and cleaned up and baffles of the Fuji cube kit dry fitted in to where they’ll work nicely.

Slowly making progress to getting water in

 

[ScottD]

So it’s been a hot minute since my last update. A few things to report. My rock work is basically done, just want to mix a little mortar to put under a couple rocks that are rocking slightly. I’m sure once I put sand it, it will stop it but I’ve got extra mortar so why not use some.

All the plumbing is done now, we’re goi f to see how it goes with it being hard piped to the return pump, might cut it and put a section of tubing if the vibration is too much.

I made a couple of gfci outlet boxes to plug stuff into. I’ll split stuff across them to add some redundancy and reduce the risk of it tripping and everything turning off. Still need to put in a divider to mount them to along with controllers.

I mounted my RODI filter in the garage, just need to connect it to the plumbing. While I was thinking about where I was going to put some storage containers I had the brilliant idea whether I could run a piece of tubing to the tank instead of having to bring in water by the bucket. 135 gallons of water to move was going to be a work out. What I came up with is I found a couple holes, one through the floor into the basement and one from the basement to the garage and had just enough tubing to reach the tank from the filter. This then gave me the idea once I setup an ato, I can keep the tubing for that and put the booster pump on a timer and auto fill my ato container.

Hmmm so what else to report. I bought sand from petco, 100 Lbs of special grade. I also have on order 25lbs of sand from TBS.

This weekend my parents are coming down for a visit so I’m hoping to have my dad give me a hand on Saturday to get some added supports and a wall installed in the basement to add some extra support. I spoke to my father in law who is a structural engineer and said I don’t need it but I like to over do things so wall it is. It’ll give me somewhere to hang stuff up in the basement so win/win. Once I get the wall done then I plan on starting to fill the tank.

 

[StickyThwomp]

That stand is absolutely beautiful. I never worked have figured the wood facade could just be glued to the extruded aluminum, but dang it turned out very nice. Great work!

Aside from the grinding/flattening for the base rocks, how much effort went into the rockwork? Did that require a lot of breaking & regluing to get the structure you want? It looks far too nice to be just a pipe of rocks stacked together, I have to imagine there was a hefty dose of craftsmanship involved.

Nice work! Excited to see what's next!

 

[ScottD]

That stand is absolutely beautiful. I never worked have figured the wood facade could just be glued to the extruded aluminum, but dang it turned out very nice. Great work!

Aside from the grinding/flattening for the base rocks, how much effort went into the rockwork? Did that require a lot of breaking & regluing to get the structure you want? It looks far too nice to be just a pipe of rocks stacked together, I have to imagine there was a hefty dose of craftsmanship involved.

Nice work! Excited to see what's next!

Thank you, I actually used drop in nuts and countersunk bolts into the plywood panels and covered over them when I painted, no glue used.
These are the drop in nuts that I used:

(QT-015) 15 / 40 Series Drop-In Quarter Turn T-Nut | TNUTZ

They are 100% compatible with the following manufacturers: 1/4-20 - 80/20 #3933 / 13110 10-32 - 80/20 #3932 / 13112 8-32 - Unique M6 - 80/20 #3931 / 13117 M5 - 80/20 #3930 / 13115 M4 - 80/20 #13113

www.tnutz.com

So to be honest with the rock work, I only broke up a couple of the pieces. It was pretty much spending a hour so each night over a couple weeks after the kids went to sleep of just stacking and restacking and glueing up pieces as I liked them and moving the around until I was happy with the arrangement. I then went back and glued on some small pieces here and there that broke off during shipping to add a little hideout or arch or cave here and there. I didn’t go all out brs style and break everything up and glue small chunks back together. That’s why it still looks a little chunky on the pieces instead of thin structures, but that wasn’t the look I wanted. I wanted to make sure there were plenty of hiding and sleeping spots for the future fish.

 

[StickyThwomp]

Thank you, I actually used drop in nuts and countersunk bolts into the plywood panels and covered over them when I painted, no glue used.

Well that makes a ton more sense. I must have been reading tired to have that big a misunderstanding

 

[ScottD]

Well that makes a ton more sense. I must have been reading tired to have that big a misunderstanding

It’s possible I didn’t say much about it. Easy to get lost in all the posts.

 

[ScottD]

So a minor hiccup in things. Last night I went to turn on my rodi filter again to work on filling more of the tank up and noticed my DI resin was depleted already after about 40 gallons made. Looks like I have CO2 in my water that’s going to burn through resin quickly. For now I’ll probably just let it keep burning through but will look into a degasser in the future, just don’t have a place or patience to set that up right now. Anyways waiting on more resin to be delivered so I’m in a holding pattern until tomorrow. So close, yet so far away.

Here’s a post about my issues if you’re curious.
Thread 'Help with RODI issue'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-with-rodi-issue.1074653/

It’s a good thing over the weekend I got in touch with TBS about pushing my sand delivery a week, would have been here today with no tank to put it in. Hopefully I can get it all ready for delivery next week. My daughters birthday is coming up soon and would love to have the tank ready for her to pick out a fish.

 

[ScottD]

So filter still isn’t running optimally but I’m just pushing forward with it. Tried a few different things, including a new membrane, a couple different sized flow restrictors and seems like I’m stuck at 85-90% rejection rate on my membrane. Must be something in my water that just doesn’t get filtered by the ro membrane. The only thing I haven’t done is check the calibration on my tds meter and plan on doing that in the future sometime.

And then on to my next issue. Seems that some oil got in my tank somehow. I’ve been trying to siphon off the surface to remove it. Yesterday it was suggested to lay cling wrap on top and the oil would stick to that. That worked much to my surprise. I e now drained the tank as a precaution and in the process of filling it back up again. Fingers crossed that issue is gone. Regardless I’m going to run some carbon in a filter sock for a bit to pull out anything if it’s still there.

Here is a thread detailing all that:

Oil slick on tank while water testing

I’ve started filling my tank with RODI water to leak test it and planned to mix salt in afterwards. While filling it up I’ve noticed an oil slick on the surface of the water. I’ve been skimming water off the surface to try and get rid of it and it’s helped, but there is still some there. Is it...

www.reef2reef.com

I also with the help of my dad a couple weeks ago put in a wall in the basement right under the tank to give a little extra support. I had a squeak in the floor near the tank that as soon as I put the wall in disappeared and no bounce that you can feel anymore. Please excuse the mess.

 

[ScottD]

Well it’s happening, finally got the tank filled and starting getting salt in the tank. The kids got to put the first scoops in. Hoping tomorrow to get the remainder of the salt in and maybe some sand. Less than 2 years from getting the tank to getting salt in it, not too shabby. Was beginning to think at one point it wasn’t going to happen.

 

[esquare]

Looking good

 

[StickyThwomp]

Congrats on the milestone!!! I'm excited see what comes next!

 

[ScottD]

Looking good

Thanks

Congrats on the milestone!!! I'm excited see what comes next!

Thanks, it’s taken awhile to get here but sure feels good to be here finally. Now I need to figure out my next steps. I had planned on using tbs sand to help seed the tank but with them about to get hit again with another hurricane I’m not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon. I’ve been wanted to check out what a local fish store has for fish so maybe I’ll check that out tomorrow and see what they have for rock to help seed.

 

[ScottD]

So sand has been in the tank for a little over a week now and last Sunday I threw a raw shrimp in to start the cycling process. Been testing the last 4 nights and have ammonia showing up. Testing tonight still showing Ammonia as well as nitrites rising now and a hint of nitrates as well.

 

[StickyThwomp]

Exciting! Do you have a first fish/coral picked out that's going to be your inaugural inhabitant?

 

[ScottD]

Nothing to exciting at first. I’ll probably do the usual clownfish pair.

As of right now here’s what I’m thinking for stocking but all subject to change and in no particular order

Clownfish pair
Tail spot blenny
2-3 wrasses of some sort
One spot foxface
Tomini or bristletooth tang
Royal gramma
Maybe some banji cardinals to help fill out the tank but would be open to something else a little more colorful to school at the top.

 

[StickyThwomp]

Oooh, I love the cardinals, they look so cool One to add to the potential stocking list on my end. I've got zero understanding of what a good variety/quantity are for this size tank, so unfortunately no feedback aside from the trivial from me!

Can't wait to see two happy clowns in that tank! You're getting closer!

 

[ScottD]

Oooh, I love the cardinals, they look so cool One to add to the potential stocking list on my end. I've got zero understanding of what a good variety/quantity are for this size tank, so unfortunately no feedback aside from the trivial from me!

Can't wait to see two happy clowns in that tank! You're getting closer!

Ya I go back and forth on them, not sure where I’ll land in the end.

I’m hoping this weekend I might have the clowns in there. Last night I tested my ammonia levels and was 0.2 vs 0.4 the night before, down from 1.2 that it was 2 nights ago. I’m going to test again tonight and then probably dose it with some ammonium chloride to see how long it takes to clear.

 

[ScottD]

So a little off topic but slightly related post. I came home from work today to this.

Ground was broken today for my future workshop.

It’s been a dream for quite along time and it’s finally happening. I always thought I’d retire by 40 and spend my time in my woodworking shop. Well I won’t be retiring by 40 but the workshop will be my consultation prize.

 

[ScottD]

So a little more testing tonight and my ammonia is still at 0 again tonight and my nitrite has dropped to 0.3-0.4 from the 1+ it was last night. It didn’t occur to me until after I tested last night that my test kit only goes up to 1ppm and it’s been sitting at the max color the last 3 nights. So tonight I diluted it and found it to be 0.05-0.1. Ran it again undiluted just to confirm and it was somewhere around 0.3-0.4. I dosed the tank with 25 ml of ammonia chloride which by my calculations should bring me to around 2.0ppm ammonia. I’ll check again tomorrow night and see how well the tank did at clearing it. If I’m at 0 then looks like I’ll be going fish shopping this weekend.

Oh and tonight I finally added some RODI water to top off. I added about 2 gallons. Not bad for 2.5 weeks worth of evaporation.