Quint's Cube 150g Mixed Reef

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Hello, fellow reefers.

I decided to start a tank build thread on my 150g mixed reef cube tank. " Jaws " is one of the best films ever made IMO so i'll pay some hommage by designing my tank to resemble the ORCA ...Captain Quint's iconic fishing boat from the movie.

First a background info. My last reef tank was nearly 15 years ago. I had a 55 bow front acylic and 30g nano. My heart was broken when they crashed. Not long after we bought a new home and never got back into the hobby until now.

Now this thread is more of a flashback than present day update ...but ill get there.
It all started about 2 years ago. My wife said she wanted hardwood floors and i said i wanted a another fish tank. It was a hooby we both enjoyed and i love DIY projects. So we picked out new flooring and found a brand new cube tank on a classifed listing.

The guy selling it owned a LFS that i supported when i first got into reefing. He retired after 35years and was liquidating out of his home garage. So i bought a Marineland 150g reef ready tank with starfire glass and welded metal frame stand for $1000. Which seemed cheap compared to what in business lfs had. It sat in my spare bedroom while we did the remodel in living room.

So i got started on the floor. 3/4" solid mahogany. $1300 later it was done. Next up was a new GFCI with 6 outlets that would be behind tank. No outlet existed there so i had to cut out drywall and drill through frame and run new romex cable to breaker box.

Next up water. My last tank required weekly trip to LFS to get RODI water but i wasnt doing that again. On Ebay i bought a Liquagen 5 stage RODI system. I found that while i was getting 0TDS water there was alot of waste water and it takes for ever to get 50g like 2 days. Put on a booster pump and pressure guage but it only boosted my pressure up to 35psi. Before the pump it was only 20psi. I found that i had a incoming regulator with max psi rating of only 25psi....so i taped into the pipe before the regulator with a 3/8" line and feed that to my RODI by pasding the booster pump i dont need any more. Now my pressure is 70psi. I have since upgraded my system to 2 DI chambers and 150g water saver from BRS. I can now produce 50g in 6 hours. I bought two 50g drums to store my water.

Ok well i'll let you guys chew on this for awhile, ask a couple Qs if like and tomorrow i'll post about live rock, dry rock and how i cycled mine. Thanks for following along and happy reefing.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Following.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Thanks flipper ... thought i was on an island by myself.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thanks flipper ... thought i was on an island by myself.

Let me call the troops.

#reefsquad

 

[JoshH]

Thanks flipper ... thought i was on an island by myself.

No islands here! Well atleast not one you're alone on pretty neat plan you have and can't wait to see it all come together!

 

[Scurvy]

Sounds like fun, I'll be singing ye old Spanish ladies til tomorrow's update.

 

[HotRocks]

Looking forward to this one!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Following along

 

[saltyhog]

So.....you have to get a tatoo of the Indianapolis now!

Looking forward to your build!

 

[Crabs McJones]

@Captain Quint !!

 

[Big G]

The room has got to have "three barrels" . . .

 

[Fudsey]

Nice idea on the tank ! ! ! And nice floor too

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looking good so far. Thanks for sharing the details!

 

[Chrisfish]

Congratulations on your new tank and the new floor, looking forward to seeing more

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Hey thanks everyone for the cudos. Please follow along on my journey.

 

[Captain Quint]

@Captain Quint !!

Present and accounted for. Following along.

 

[Captain Quint]

Awesome thread Steve_Skullsplitter0 thanks for sharing and can't wait to see more updates.

 

[Captain Quint]

.......... " Jaws " is one of the best films ever made IMO so i'll pay some hommage by designing my tank to resemble the ORCA ...Captain Quint's iconic fishing boat from the movie..................

I agree. One of my favorite movies as well Steve.

I collect various autographs. These would look great in your fish room.

Robert Shaw autograph signature has faded a bit over the years. I should have encased it behind museum quality glass. Arg.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Rock and aquascape

Being that my tank is cube shaped i wanted to have more of a columb or several pillars of rock. I also love the look of schooling fish so large areas of open water is a must.

My tank dimensions are 36L x 36W x 30H.

I chose dry rock from BRS. 20lbs of tonga shelf, 20lbs of branch, 20lbs of pukani, and 20lbs of fiji rock in nano size. Topped it off with 20lbs of rubble for my sump.
I also bought some marco rock with flat sides and one pedestal rock.

The flat marco rocks i siliconed to the back wall of my tank... i figured i wanted it covered with coraline algae anyway.

They were held in place by cheap expanding shower curtain rods from Walmart. Once the silicone cured they were solid as... well rocks frankly.

Now the dry rock had lots of dried up sponges and other organics. So i scrubbed them with a brush. Rinsed in RO water and placed in a 50g brute trash can. Added a power head, heater and salt water mixed at 1.030SG, set temp to 82 degrees.

The small rubble i put into mesh laundry bags along with some seashells my family collected at the various beaches. Including Waikiki beach Hi, Mission beach Ca and Hollywood beach Fl.

I cycled the rocks with IO Biospira. I never did get much of a ammonia spike. I fed the bacteria just a couple of pellets every 2 or 3 days. Nitrates did get high though... 50ppm using redsea test kit. The water got a yellow tint too. I did a 50 percent water change. That helped alot. It was down to 10ppm a day later. The nitrates never got above 20 again. I tested phosphate too, then I read that the Redsea kit doesnt read below .08PO so I disregarded those tests as unreliable. I did 50 percent water changes once a month for the next 6 months while I worked on setting the tank and plunbing it.

The shelf and branch rock were large size. Over 24 inches long. The 2 pieces of pukani I stacked up, drilled a 1/4"hole down the middle of both and inseted an acylic rod for stability. I cut the bottom flat with a wet tile/brick saw. Some of the nano pieces I made pillars out of them by doing the same thing.

Theres a good video on BRSTV on how use the acylic rods to secure your aquascape. You can't even tell they are there. Just a dab of gel superglue helps too. I tried the hard epoxy putty but it just didnt stick to rocks very well.

For sand I used fiji pink caribsea and crushed coral that also cycled in my trash bin. About 80lbs in all. The sand bed is about 1" deep in most places. A little more in others.

Hmmmm 80lbs of sand, 80lbs of rock, 150g of water, metal frame stand, 1/2 thick glass tank. Thats alot of weight. All in a 36" x 36" foot print. Next time i'll show ya what I did about that. Ask Qs if you got one and follow along if you like. Thanks for reading.

Ill see if can find more pics of aquascaping.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

I agree. One of my favorite movies as well Steve.

I collect various autographs. These would look great in your fish room.

Robert Shaw autograph signature has faded a bit over the years. I should have encased it behind museum quality glass. Arg.

Wow now that's a nice collection. They would look nice next my tank ... what are worth ?