Ron Reefman's 50g Cube

[Ron Reefman]

Let me start by giving out a little background. I’ve been in the hobby for nearly 15 years and have run at least 10 different aquariums and as many as 5 at one time. The biggest system was a 180g DT with a 75g anemone tank and a 180g sump/refugium. Here it is as I finished the rough build of the stand.
P5010003 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And here it is as it was after a couple of years.
P1060001R1 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I’ve also made 6 tanks on my own, the biggest being the 65g shallow reef (4’x2’x14”).


A couple of months ago I sold my 65g shallow reef and 25g frag tank system and very recently sold the 125g DT, sump and stand that my 50g cube was attached to. So now I am down to just the 50g cube that I made a couple of years ago.

This is the what the system looked like before I sold the 125g tank and stand.
20170223_155902 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And these are pics of the making the 50g cube that is in the above photo.
P9130001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P9180001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
200 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr


Before I sold my 125g I sold off most of my livestock except for the ones I wanted to keep in the cube. That would be all my rock flower anemones (30+), some rose bubble tip anemones (about 7) and a lot of coral frags and very small colonies (about 40 in the rockscape and 40 more on the frag rack).


I am currently working on getting a new sump put together for this system as the sump it used for the last 2 years went away with the 125g DT and stand. I used the stand that the cube sits on (a reinforced kitchen cabinet) for all the old electrical controls and an auto top off tank.
P9230010 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Now the stand will have what I call a ‘drip tray’ which is a liner for the stand made out of 3/8” PVC sheet material and 3M Co 5200 Marine Adhesive. This tray will collect any drips, splashes, leaks or overflows from the 40g DIY sump/refugium. The drip tray will have a drain that goes out the back of the stand and is plumbed under the shelves on the right hand side, through the concrete block wall and out of the house.
20180622_143948 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

This is the new DIY sump/refugium that will sit inside the drip tray inside the stand.
20180622_144013 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
20180607_103900 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

The two PVC lines go to a 1hp chiller behind the house in a plastic storage unit. It will probably be sold. The lower black hose is the drip tray drain going out of the house.
P9100006 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Currently, as you can see, I have the plumbing that was to and from the old sump, running to and from a Brute garbage can with a double filter sock on the drain and a too small pump for return. Once my new skimmer arrives from Reef Breeders (the old one went with the 125g DT) I’ll fit a divider into the sump and plumb a Jebao DC6000 return pump and the skimmer into the system.
20180622_143629 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I have two Current Orbit wavemaker powerheads in the tank and it is lit by a 16” Reef Breeders Photon V2 led fixture. I have a Next Reef Reactor that I will plumb into the system, but I rarely run Carbon or GFO except in case of an emergency.

I have two long term goals at the moment. One is to have a good looking 50g reef and second is to propagate and grow out the colorful rock flower anemones. I’ve had at least two spawning events as I have parents that are 3-4” in diameter, a first spawn population that is now about ½” to 1” in diameter and a more recent population that is 1/8th to 3/8ths of an inch in diameter.
20180622_143642_resized by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

 

[mtfish]

Hate to see your other tanks go away, but good luck with the downsized one. Sounds like you have a good plan. I always thought rock flower nems are cool even though I do not have any.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Ron I followed you when I started on the other big forum and always enjoyed your posts, mostly because I've been separated from my beloved Florida coastline for six years now and seeing your snorkel trips or Sanibel trips made me happily homesick. I'm glad you started a build thread here on R2R for your 'nems. Looking forward to seeing it progress. Heck, looks good now!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Let me start by giving out a little background. I’ve been in the hobby for nearly 15 years and have run at least 10 different aquariums and as many as 5 at one time. The biggest system was a 180g DT with a 75g anemone tank and a 180g sump/refugium. Here it is as I finished the rough build of the stand.
P5010003 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And here it is as it was after a couple of years.
P1060001R1 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I’ve also made 6 tanks on my own, the biggest being the 65g shallow reef (4’x2’x14”).


A couple of months ago I sold my 65g shallow reef and 25g frag tank system and very recently sold the 125g DT, sump and stand that my 50g cube was attached to. So now I am down to just the 50g cube that I made a couple of years ago.

This is the what the system looked like before I sold the 125g tank and stand.
20170223_155902 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And these are pics of the making the 50g cube that is in the above photo.
P9130001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P9180001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
200 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr


Before I sold my 125g I sold off most of my livestock except for the ones I wanted to keep in the cube. That would be all my rock flower anemones (30+), some rose bubble tip anemones (about 7) and a lot of coral frags and very small colonies (about 40 in the rockscape and 40 more on the frag rack).


I am currently working on getting a new sump put together for this system as the sump it used for the last 2 years went away with the 125g DT and stand. I used the stand that the cube sits on (a reinforced kitchen cabinet) for all the old electrical controls and an auto top off tank.
P9230010 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Now the stand will have what I call a ‘drip tray’ which is a liner for the stand made out of 3/8” PVC sheet material and 3M Co 5200 Marine Adhesive. This tray will collect any drips, splashes, leaks or overflows from the 40g DIY sump/refugium. The drip tray will have a drain that goes out the back of the stand and is plumbed under the shelves on the right hand side, through the concrete block wall and out of the house.
20180622_143948 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

This is the new DIY sump/refugium that will sit inside the drip tray inside the stand.
20180622_144013 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
20180607_103900 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

The two PVC lines go to a 1hp chiller behind the house in a plastic storage unit. It will probably be sold. The lower black hose is the drip tray drain going out of the house.
P9100006 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Currently, as you can see, I have the plumbing that was to and from the old sump, running to and from a Brute garbage can with a double filter sock on the drain and a too small pump for return. Once my new skimmer arrives from Reef Breeders (the old one went with the 125g DT) I’ll fit a divider into the sump and plumb a Jebao DC6000 return pump and the skimmer into the system.
20180622_143629 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I have two Current Orbit wavemaker powerheads in the tank and it is lit by a 16” Reef Breeders Photon V2 led fixture. I have a Next Reef Reactor that I will plumb into the system, but I rarely run Carbon or GFO except in case of an emergency.

I have two long term goals at the moment. One is to have a good looking 50g reef and second is to propagate and grow out the colorful rock flower anemones. I’ve had at least two spawning events as I have parents that are 3-4” in diameter, a first spawn population that is now about ½” to 1” in diameter and a more recent population that is 1/8th to 3/8ths of an inch in diameter.
20180622_143642_resized by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Great write up! The drip tray was my favorite part. It is very cool that you are getting rock flower anemones to spawn. How many did you get from each event?

EDIT: LOL, reading your other thread now. Never mind.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Ron, I've followed you and your tanks for sometime now. New cube looks very good! Nice downsize!

 

[SPR1968]

Great looking Cube Ron!

 

[NoWaiAma]

Let me start by giving out a little background. I’ve been in the hobby for nearly 15 years and have run at least 10 different aquariums and as many as 5 at one time. The biggest system was a 180g DT with a 75g anemone tank and a 180g sump/refugium. Here it is as I finished the rough build of the stand.
P5010003 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And here it is as it was after a couple of years.
P1060001R1 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I’ve also made 6 tanks on my own, the biggest being the 65g shallow reef (4’x2’x14”).


A couple of months ago I sold my 65g shallow reef and 25g frag tank system and very recently sold the 125g DT, sump and stand that my 50g cube was attached to. So now I am down to just the 50g cube that I made a couple of years ago.

This is the what the system looked like before I sold the 125g tank and stand.
20170223_155902 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

And these are pics of the making the 50g cube that is in the above photo.
P9130001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P9180001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
200 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr


Before I sold my 125g I sold off most of my livestock except for the ones I wanted to keep in the cube. That would be all my rock flower anemones (30+), some rose bubble tip anemones (about 7) and a lot of coral frags and very small colonies (about 40 in the rockscape and 40 more on the frag rack).


I am currently working on getting a new sump put together for this system as the sump it used for the last 2 years went away with the 125g DT and stand. I used the stand that the cube sits on (a reinforced kitchen cabinet) for all the old electrical controls and an auto top off tank.
P9230010 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Now the stand will have what I call a ‘drip tray’ which is a liner for the stand made out of 3/8” PVC sheet material and 3M Co 5200 Marine Adhesive. This tray will collect any drips, splashes, leaks or overflows from the 40g DIY sump/refugium. The drip tray will have a drain that goes out the back of the stand and is plumbed under the shelves on the right hand side, through the concrete block wall and out of the house.
20180622_143948 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

This is the new DIY sump/refugium that will sit inside the drip tray inside the stand.
20180622_144013 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
20180607_103900 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

The two PVC lines go to a 1hp chiller behind the house in a plastic storage unit. It will probably be sold. The lower black hose is the drip tray drain going out of the house.
P9100006 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Currently, as you can see, I have the plumbing that was to and from the old sump, running to and from a Brute garbage can with a double filter sock on the drain and a too small pump for return. Once my new skimmer arrives from Reef Breeders (the old one went with the 125g DT) I’ll fit a divider into the sump and plumb a Jebao DC6000 return pump and the skimmer into the system.
20180622_143629 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I have two Current Orbit wavemaker powerheads in the tank and it is lit by a 16” Reef Breeders Photon V2 led fixture. I have a Next Reef Reactor that I will plumb into the system, but I rarely run Carbon or GFO except in case of an emergency.

I have two long term goals at the moment. One is to have a good looking 50g reef and second is to propagate and grow out the colorful rock flower anemones. I’ve had at least two spawning events as I have parents that are 3-4” in diameter, a first spawn population that is now about ½” to 1” in diameter and a more recent population that is 1/8th to 3/8ths of an inch in diameter.
20180622_143642_resized by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

What do you charge for custom setups . Beautiful work man

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hate to see your other tanks go away, but good luck with the downsized one. Sounds like you have a good plan. I always thought rock flower nems are cool even though I do not have any.

I hated to see them go away as well. It's not because I'm any less into the hobby, but more due to being retired and finding more things to do (shell ambassador volunteer, Miata car club, photography, auto-crossing, beach walks, building a hot rod, travel... ) than there are hours in the day. LOL!

Ron I followed you when I started on the other big forum and always enjoyed your posts, mostly because I've been separated from my beloved Florida coastline for six years now and seeing your snorkel trips or Sanibel trips made me happily homesick. I'm glad you started a build thread here on R2R for your 'nems. Looking forward to seeing it progress. Heck, looks good now!

It's nice to know there are people here who know me from the other forum. Thanks for letting me know. I wish R2R had a snorkel/scuba forum. I may just try and do something similar here in my build thread. What part of Florida did you live in? Between beach walks, volunteering for the Bailey Shell Museum and snorkel trips, we probably do 10% of our time by the water! And thanks for the tank compliment. I'm looking forward to it getting better and my getting better photos.

Great write up! The drip tray was my favorite part. It is very cool that you are getting rock flower anemones to spawn. How many did you get from each event?
EDIT: LOL, reading your other thread now. Never mind.

LOL! In the 8 or 9 years that I have done the 'drip tray' I've probably saved myself at least a dozen small floods. I had a remote skimmer collection cup and I overflowed it more often than I care to think about. I've found about 10 to 15 babies both times, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more and maybe some were lost to a hungry wrasse. I hope someday I see it happen and can catch it on camera and video.

Ron, I've followed you and your tanks for sometime now. New cube looks very good! Nice downsize!

Thanks. I hope I can keep this thread more up to speed than I have in the past, now that I have one tank instead of four and I'm not editing a newsletter anymore!

Great looking Cube Ron!

Thanks. We'll see where it's at a month from now.

 

[Ron Reefman]

What do you charge for custom setups . Beautiful work man

I've made a couple of DIY tanks for local club members. And I always enjoy helping others get started or work on new set ups. If you want to discuss a build, I'm open to the idea and for me it's more about the fun, I'm not in it to make money.

I'm starting to plan for a new tank build as a test. I want a rimless tank with white seams rather than black. So instead of using black RTV silicone, I'm going to try 3M Co 5200 Marine Adhesive and not have any material except between the glass panels (i.e. no silicone bead inside the tank to get beat up by scrapping the inside of the tank for algae).

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

It's nice to know there are people here who know me from the other forum. Thanks for letting me know. I wish R2R had a snorkel/scuba forum. I may just try and do something similar here in my build thread. What part of Florida did you live in? Between beach walks, volunteering for the Bailey Shell Museum and snorkel trips, we probably do 10% of our time by the water! And thanks for the tank compliment. I'm looking forward to it getting better and my getting better photos.

Grew up in Ocala, spent most of my life in South Florida. The majority of my recreational time was spent fishing the Keys and in and around Flamingo, as well as taking the kids out to Alligator/Sombrero and Coffins Patch, but our favorite coastal destinations always have been Capitiva and Sanibel. In fact my dog is even named Sanibel! I'm a fan of the Pine Island area in general and it's where I'd like to settle when we return. Thanks for asking.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Very cool. I moved to Naples in 1999, Sanibel in 2000 and Cape Coral in 2001. I love it here. Now that my wife and I are both retired we found the Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum started a new volunteer program about 2 years ago. We are called Shell Ambassadors and we wear Museum t-shirts that identify us as Shell Ambassadors and invites people to ask us questions about anything. For the most part we answer questions for people who are shelling on Sanibel or Captiva. It's a blast. But then I always wanted to be a teacher.

Shell Ambassador Ron by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr


We also do beach walks on Sanibel after the very rare cold front goes thru in the winter. For those who don't know, we only get about 3 to 5 real cold fronts per year this far south in Florida. The day after a cold front the sun is out, the wind is blowing in off the water, low tide is early in the morning and we are lucky if the air temperature is in the 50's! It's not a good 'beach day', but it's a spectacular 'shelling day'!The cold front brings a strong NW wind and lots of good stuff gets washed up on the beaches. While everybody else (some snowbirds and lots of tourists) are shelling, I'm looking for sponges to tear apart where I find and save the porcelain crabs, pistol shrimp, the odd peppermint shrimp and occasionally a small sea star, anemone, gorgonian, or any other stranded critter that I can keep in my tank. I used to be able to take a lot as I had 4 tanks and 600 gallons of saltwater. But now I only have a 50 gallon cube and it's just about full to capacity right now, waiting for the 40g sump/refugium to get installed... hopefully next week! One cold front a few years ago I came home with 40 porcelain crabs (the legal limit for my wife and I for one day). They sell for between $10 and $20 each online, so I dropped $400 to $800 worth of porcelain crabs into my old 180g reef! Yikes!

Yellow snapping shrimp by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
20180114_181205_resized by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr


Take a good look at this photo. The big blob of an animal is a filter feeding sea cucumber. And crawling on it are a couple of porcelain crabs and a yellow pistol shrimp.
sea squirt and friends by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

If you ever get back to SW Florida, even for a short visit, send me a post.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

We are called Shell Ambassadors and we wear Museum t-shirts that identify us as Shell Ambassadors and invites people to ask us questions about anything. For the most part we answer questions for people who are shelling on Sanibel or Captiva. It's a blast. But then I always wanted to be a teacher.

If you ever get back to SW Florida, even for a short visit, send me a post.

Living well! That's a great program and good PR for the museum, too.

I almost bought a home off Burnt Store Rd in CC with gulf access during the housing down turn, but didn't go through with it. As it turns out I would have had to move to TX anyway. But I do come back to FL as often as I can so next time I'm on the "best coast" I'll let you know.

 

[dbl]

Said it before, I'll say it again. Ron, it's great to see you back active here at R2R. To all, Ron is a very knowledgable guy that I've had the pleasure of knowing for about five years now. The latest system he just took down was a gorgeous set up and having seen it going up, it was sad when he announced in was coming down.

Happy to have you here Ron and am looking forward to your sharing your experience with us.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Said it before, I'll say it again. Ron, it's great to see you back active here at R2R. To all, Ron is a very knowledgable guy that I've had the pleasure of knowing for about five years now. The latest system he just took down was a gorgeous set up and having seen it going up, it was sad when he announced in was coming down.

Happy to have you here Ron and am looking forward to your sharing your experience with us.

Thank you David, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comments. Especially since I was just about to abandon the hobby altogether. When I was putting the 120g tank up for sale I considered selling the cube with the 120 and/or selling it separate. But I feel re-energized now that I have so much less work to do... and having found old friends here at R2R. I'm very much looking forward to having a stunning 50g cube and having lots of aquacultured rock flower anemones.

BTW, to everybody here, when I had a 180g reef that sprang an unrepairable leak, David loaned me a huge black plastic tub to help keep some of my livestock in while I shopped for, ordered, and built a new system. He probably saved half my corals and fish! The comment under his avatar and screen name is his real attitude!

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Hi Ron - are you still using that commercial RO system we helped you with?

Russ

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hey Russ, thanks for asking. And for even remembering who I am!!! I hope you and Buckeye Hydro are both doing well?

To everybody else here, Russ and Buckeye Hydro helped me out so much with this used system I got from a friend. They got me PDF's of the owners manual, they have these extra big RO membranes in stock and they even got me new end caps for the RO membrane canisters as mine were cracking due to old age and the fact that plastic just doesn't last forever in SW Florida!

Yes, the commercial RO is working just great! Zero TDS using a standard size DI canister (located under the stand for the 45g storage tank) and it lasts 6 to 12 months depending on city water quality. And it makes roughly 30gph. I removed the RO and pump off the old 35g pressure tank since I wasn't using it and a friend had a use for it. I have a 45g storage tank for the RO/DI water and I my reject water goes into an old well system 180g cistern hooked up to an external pump and I use it to do laundry. I usually run out of reject water a little while before I need to make RO/DI water.

This is the main system with my old 75gpd system above it on the wall as a backup.
20180626_102607 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

This is the real guts of the system. There is a pre filter (right), two RO membranes (in the center), a post filter (left) and a 120psi pump and electric motor.
20180626_102626 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Just to the left of the RO and a door is the water heater/heat pump and the cistern for reject water. At the base of the cistern on the left side you can see the little external pump and the washing machine is just a bit further to the left (out of the picture).
20180626_102641 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Did you modify the plumbing on the RO so that both of the white housings are now PREfilters? The default config one that system has one before the membranes, and one after the pressure tank.

 

[Ron Reefman]

No, I have one pre and one after the RO but before the DI. It would probably be better your way, but it works so well now I'm not to inclinded to make more plumbing work. Besides, my wife hates when I 'improve' something that is already working as designed! LOL!

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

OK - we'll you need a sediment filter before the carbon block, and I'd just leave the that post RO housing empty, or use it for DI. Carbon does nothing for you in the post-RO housing as long as you're not using the pressure tank.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Here is a feature that I had built in to may last three builds, but I didn't do in this one. It involves lifting some or most of the live rock off the sand! I didn't do it in this build (yet) because I was in a hurry moving corals that I was going to keep from my 120g tank to the 50g. And I had a lot of work to do to get the other corals sold and start selling off the system and a lot of the spares and backup hardware that was specific to the big tank.

OK, so you have 'x' amount of sand in your tank. I usually have about 2-3". So I figure out how I want the rock to be laid out first. Then cut some standard egg crate in roughly the same footprint as the rocks in the sand, only a little smaller.
P8310001 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P8310002 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Now my sand was 2" deep, so I cut 3 1/2" legs out of 1" PVC pipe to go in the sand under the egg crate. I also drilled small holes at the end of the leg and attached the legs to the egg crate with very small cable ties to keep everything for moving so the platform would be stable.
P8310003 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

I put the platform in the tank, press it down into the sand until it hits the bottom glass.
P8310004 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P8310005 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Then put the rocks back into the tank as I had designed earlier.
P8310007 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Now you have rocks that are above the sand, but it looks like crap! So I take much smaller rocks and some flater rocks and use them along the edge of the platform. They go in the sand and are big enough to cover the gap between the sand and the egg crate and main rocks. Now it looks good normal.
P9020001 R1 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

However, you now have more open sand for the critters like serpent stars, sea cucumbers and wrasses who need open sandy spaces. And it's under the rocks so it's very protected. You have also exposed the entire rock, including the bottom that would have been buried in the sand, so it can all develop useful bacteria for processing ammonia and nitrite. You now get some water flow under the rocks and because it's mostly dark, you get more sponges, small feather dusters and some other critters that help with cleaning. And it creates lots of room for shrimp, crabs, mollusks and other animals that like to hide out during the day a place to do it. I even found that because I had better flow around and under the rocks (now that they are off the sand) that I had less issues with cyano developing on the sand.

To be perfectly honest, the only drawback to using this technique that I found, was that I spent a little extra time designing my rockscape and then an extra couple of hours building the egg crate platforms. Other than that, everything was good and most people who looked at the tank never had any idea that the rocks were off the sand.