Pat's 60 gallon CUBE

[patedship]

New tank is up and running. Here are some pics of the set up.

Here is the 32 gallon sump/fuge, when up and running it will hold about 20-24 gallons of water.

Refugium section.

Top view of sump.

Sump area thru the tank.

Return pump, mag 9.5

 

[patedship]

Here is the tank filled with sand; 50lb of Carib Sea Ocean Direct sand. It is very nice sand and I am happy with the look of it. The tank is 25x25x24.

A simply pic of the durso.

Here are some pics of the first attempts of my aquascaping... I have since changed it. I am using roughly 150lbs in the entire system. About 30-40lbs are in the fuge. Sorry the pics are dark, these were taken before I had lights over the tank.

For flow I have 4 Tunze 6025's, 2 are modded and push 1100gph. My return is a mag 9.5.

I have calculated it all out and here is the turnover and flow breakdown:

Mag 9.5 @ 4ft = 800 gph
Tunze 6025's true flow rate is 710 gph x2
Modded Tunze 6025's flow rate is 1100 gph x2

With this being said the turn over is 73x per hour. This is very good because I plan to have this tank SPS dominant with a mix of micros, echinos, and palys.

 

[patedship]

Now onto to the equipment, for my lighting I am using a Geismann 250watt pendant with a Phoenix 14k bulb and 4 24w t-5's.

Here is the pendant.

all of the lights are approx. 6" off the water.


Next is my skimmer, I started with a stock Euro Reef 6-2+

Then I modded it with the recirculating mod, feed mod, and gate valve mod.

Here is everything needed for the recirculating and feed mod. (except the pvc)

First you need to fit the pump with an elbow, it had to be sanded in order to fit snug.

Then you will be able to see where the hole for the pumps intake will need to be made. Here is the pump aligned with the skimmer in order to fit into my sump. (the black vinyl hose are used before hard plumbing for the ease of moving and testing)

 

[patedship]

After I located where I would like the hole I began drilling the 1.75" hole, with a hole saw for my 1" uniseal.

GO VERY SLOW

Uniseal in place (beautiful!!!!)

Here it is test fitted with the vinyl hose.

Now its time to hook up the new pump that I will use to feed the skimmer, I am using a maxijet 900 or 1200 I forgot which I decided to use. Anyways you need to use a 1/2" TAP which are fairly hard to find and pricey ($25). I drilled a small hole to get it started then began screwing the tap in with a cresent wrench, be careful while doing this. You must go VERY VERY VERY slow or you can risk cracking the skimmer. It took me about 15 minutes to get the tap all the way thru.

Then teflon the elbow and screw it in;

Here is the final product of the skimmer after it has been modded with the recirculating mod and the feed mod. (note I removed the vinyl from the previous pics and hard plumbed it with the PVC)

 

[patedship]

Now time for the gate mod. Here are the pieces that you will need.

Just a few pics of it after putting it together.

(Note, I have since removed the filter box that is seen in the first pics of my sump. I could not fit the modded skimmer in the sump with the box in there.)

Also after modding the skimmer my ORP went from 220 to 330!!!!-devil

Here is my Premium Aquatics controller that I got from Jakem. I am still in the process of setting it up but it should be done very soon.

 

[patedship]

Here are some full tank shots with the new aquascape!

Moonlights w/ camera flash.

Actinics only.

FTS actinics only, in the canopy I have 2 temp controlled 4" Ice Cap fans.

MH and actinics.

Top-off is a Tunze Osmolator that feeds from a 20gallon holding tank. It lasts roughly 1.5 weeks.

Kalk Reactor is a Coral Vue.

Total system is around 80 gallons.

 

[patedship]

I have yet to add corals from my frag tank, only my sps pieces. I still have about 30 paly frags. 15 micro frags. And 3 echino colonies as well as 6 echino frags. This tank is going to be packed!

 

[patedship]

Also here is my fish stock list:

1 pair of clowns
1 yellow tang
3 fairy wrasse's
1 Wantanebei angel
1 japanese swallowtail angel

 

[ryno212]

great job...the tank looks sweet!!!!

 

[surfn]

wow, very nice.

how is that flow with the nanostreams working?

i have a 50g cube i'm setting up (24"x24"x20"), and i was thinking about doing the same thing. b/c i figure the 6045's would be too strong since the tank is only 24" wide.

whats the deal with that big grey box in your sump?

 

[patedship]

The box was a filter box, I had filter floss, lr rubble, and carbon in it. But after modding my skimmer if wouldnt fit so I just tossed it.

As for the nanostreams you should probably mod them like I did. It helps control flow in certain areas.

 

[surfn]

The box was a filter box, I had filter floss, lr rubble, and carbon in it. But after modding my skimmer if wouldnt fit so I just tossed it.

As for the nanostreams you should probably mod them like I did. It helps control flow in certain areas.

do you have a diagram of what exactly you modded? i'm pretty sure you are just talking about modding the cover, right?

 

[fishes2889]

Very nice set-up man!

That's a crap load of flow!!!

 

[ficklefins]

I am also curious about the mod you did on your 6025. Is it one of the mods described on RC?

 

[patedship]

Yeah it is the one that you just cut away the flow restrictor. In the thread on RC there is someone who measured the flow in gph before and after the mod it jumps a lot. I got an extra pump for free so if anything happens to either of them I can replace it without a problem. (just so everyone knows I bought one from a friend and he had an extra and just gave it to me)

 

[jafoca]

Looks sweet pat!

I hope I can come see this tank sometime!!

 

[patedship]

Okay guys there are a few more things I need to get for this set up, I just picked up my Kalk Reactor yesterday and all I need to get to get it up and running is a PH probe for my controller. So I am looking to you guys on some stuff to get for my tank. I saw a recent post on here about running Ozone but I REFUSE to do that, I have heard too many horror stories and am worried about ozone leaking into the house.
But like I said help me decide on how to "spend" some money...

 

[surfn]

Okay guys there are a few more things I need to get for this set up, I just picked up my Kalk Reactor yesterday and all I need to get to get it up and running is a PH probe for my controller. So I am looking to you guys on some stuff to get for my tank. I saw a recent post on here about running Ozone but I REFUSE to do that, I have heard too many horror stories and am worried about ozone leaking into the house.
But like I said help me decide on how to "spend" some money...

so what else do you need to set up? looks like you got everything you really need.

personally, i LOVE the neptune aquacontrollers, very awesome stuff, totally worth the expense.

i'm guessing you are using a calcium reactor since this is mostly sps?

 

[patedship]

No, I am just using a Kalk reactor. I just bought this guy on Sunday, I dont want to invest the $800 into a calcium reactor. http://www.thereefshop.com.au/index...id=258&zenid=54caa2cf2b77026957f0f883ba4cfb9f it is pretty sweet. I got it from my LFS new in box for $150 tax included, they just had a HUGE sale so I really lucked out.

 

[surfn]

No, I am just using a Kalk reactor. I just bought this guy on Sunday, I dont want to invest the $800 into a calcium reactor. http://www.thereefshop.com.au/index...id=258&zenid=54caa2cf2b77026957f0f883ba4cfb9f it is pretty sweet. I got it from my LFS new in box for $150 tax included, they just had a HUGE sale so I really lucked out.

yeah, i was in the same boat, bout the same size tank and going with alot of sps.

i didnt want an expensive calcium reactor either, then having to get a CO2 tank, plus media, plus a regulator....then you pretty much have to have a pH probe (or two) hooked up to a controller. and that just adds up to alot of $$$.

i ended up going with the 2-part method via 2 dosing pumps (litermeter 3), yeah its a bit expensive, but it was still cheaper than a calcium reactor IMO with less equipment and less fuss. i fill up my containers once every 2 months which i dont mind at all.

but i have heard people able to get away with just kalk on sps systems, so its definitely not unheard of.