Ron Reefman's 50g Cube

[Ron Reefman]

I finally took a couple photos of the new return plumbing that is over the back glass. Back in post 31 I showed a couple of close ups of the design out of the water. Now you can see them at work. They move a bit of water away from the back glass and they create some movement on the water surface which is the best thing you can do for gas exchange between the water and the air. The water gives off CO2 to the air and the air puts oxygen into the water. I believe (and have read) that this is even better than the gass exchange a skimmer does. But there rea; purpose is to be anti-siphon holes. The instant I turn my return pump off these 'holes' start to suck in air and the siphon of water out of the DT to the sump stops almost instantly. The water level in the DT may go down about 1/8th of an inch. I did the math, that's about 0.3 tenths of a gallon. And if you look at the overflow box in the middle, there is a hole with a pipe you can see just inside the hole. That is what used to be the return and had one of these loc-line nozzles threaded through the hole. Now that pipe is an, I hope never to be used, emergency drain! Now I want to make a prettier box to fit on the top of the overflow. You can see the top of the current overflow only goes down about 3 inches into the water. So I can just lift the old top off and set a new one with better screening to stop anything (like snails or RBTA's) from getting into the overflow box and eventually in the drain and clogging it up.

Over the last few days I've taken lots of my spare rocks and drilled holes in them so frag plugs will fit in clean and easy. I've done this before and I've found that it doesn't take too long (a couple of months) and the unused holes just look like normal holes in the rock. I think I'll have to do a few more given I have no spare holes in the rockscape that is already in the tank and I have over 40 frags waiting in the refugium! It's a nice situation to have when you downsize and you can keep a frag of every coral you want to have in your new smaller tank from your old bigger tank. Of course that assumes your old bigger tank had a lot of coral! I'll get a couple of photos when I start the actual rockscape.

I've also started on the egg crate platform. I went thru a couple of design changes as I was building it. My first idea was to just do a slope from high on the back glass down to the sand about 1/4th or 1/3rd of the way off the front glass. That would leave room for the rock flower anemones. The platform will go all the way from side to side with just a 1/2" gap to the glass. I have no intention of cleaning the glass below the rocks as the will be close to, touching, or even leaning on the side glass. While the side glass below the rocks stays clear, we can see what is going on in the 'cave'. But I know that the glass below the rocks will eventually get covered with coraline algae, calcium deposits or whatever and we won't be able to see under the rocks.

My wife suggested that this was too flat and needed some shape or undulations, maybe even do a couple of more horizontal steps. She wasn't wrong, even I saw that the platform was very flat, but I figured that the rocks would provide the texture and shape sitting on top of the platform. Then we came up with the idea of being able to see under the rocks, or at least, inside the 'cave' from the front of the tank. So I shortened the ramp and added a flat shelf sticking out the front. The front edge would be 1 to 3 inches off the sand so we could see inside. I wasn't completely happy with that. so I opted for a cave entrance in the center and the front edge of the shelf will have some rubble or rock wall that goes from the sand up to the platform and hiding the egg crate. Then I cut a path for a short tunnel into the cave. A big rock will stretch from one side to the other and that way the opening of the cave will be rock instead of egg crate. This is the current version of the platform build.

Today I'll get some black spray paint like Krylon Plasti-kote and paint the entire structure black and bake it in the Florida sun for a day or two to harden and allow all the chemicals that want to 'evaporate' out of the paint and into the air. I've painted egg crate and used in in other aquariums, it's perfectly OK. Besides, it's Wednesday already and I have a weekend full of auto-cross to get ready for on Friday. So the soonest I'll get started with pulling corals and rocks out of the tank is Monday or more likely, Tuesday.

Here are a couple of close ups of how the pvc pipe legs are attached as well as the shelf. The pvc pipes have small holes I drilled and I used small cable ties to hold them in place.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I finally took a couple photos of the new return plumbing that is over the back glass. Back in post 31 I showed a couple of close ups of the design out of the water. Now you can see them at work. They move a bit of water away from the back glass and they create some movement on the water surface which is the best thing you can do for gas exchange between the water and the air. The water gives off CO2 to the air and the air puts oxygen into the water. I believe (and have read) that this is even better than the gass exchange a skimmer does. But there rea; purpose is to be anti-siphon holes. The instant I turn my return pump off these 'holes' start to suck in air and the siphon of water out of the DT to the sump stops almost instantly. The water level in the DT may go down about 1/8th of an inch. I did the math, that's about 0.3 tenths of a gallon. And if you look at the overflow box in the middle, there is a hole with a pipe you can see just inside the hole. That is what used to be the return and had one of these loc-line nozzles threaded through the hole. Now that pipe is an, I hope never to be used, emergency drain! Now I want to make a prettier box to fit on the top of the overflow. You can see the top of the current overflow only goes down about 3 inches into the water. So I can just lift the old top off and set a new one with better screening to stop anything (like snails or RBTA's) from getting into the overflow box and eventually in the drain and clogging it up.

Over the last few days I've taken lots of my spare rocks and drilled holes in them so frag plugs will fit in clean and easy. I've done this before and I've found that it doesn't take too long (a couple of months) and the unused holes just look like normal holes in the rock. I think I'll have to do a few more given I have no spare holes in the rockscape that is already in the tank and I have over 40 frags waiting in the refugium! It's a nice situation to have when you downsize and you can keep a frag of every coral you want to have in your new smaller tank from your old bigger tank. Of course that assumes your old bigger tank had a lot of coral! I'll get a couple of photos when I start the actual rockscape.

I've also started on the egg crate platform. I went thru a couple of design changes as I was building it. My first idea was to just do a slope from high on the back glass down to the sand about 1/4th or 1/3rd of the way off the front glass. That would leave room for the rock flower anemones. The platform will go all the way from side to side with just a 1/2" gap to the glass. I have no intention of cleaning the glass below the rocks as the will be close to, touching, or even leaning on the side glass. While the side glass below the rocks stays clear, we can see what is going on in the 'cave'. But I know that the glass below the rocks will eventually get covered with coraline algae, calcium deposits or whatever and we won't be able to see under the rocks.

My wife suggested that this was too flat and needed some shape or undulations, maybe even do a couple of more horizontal steps. She wasn't wrong, even I saw that the platform was very flat, but I figured that the rocks would provide the texture and shape sitting on top of the platform. Then we came up with the idea of being able to see under the rocks, or at least, inside the 'cave' from the front of the tank. So I shortened the ramp and added a flat shelf sticking out the front. The front edge would be 1 to 3 inches off the sand so we could see inside. I wasn't completely happy with that. so I opted for a cave entrance in the center and the front edge of the shelf will have some rubble or rock wall that goes from the sand up to the platform and hiding the egg crate. Then I cut a path for a short tunnel into the cave. A big rock will stretch from one side to the other and that way the opening of the cave will be rock instead of egg crate. This is the current version of the platform build.

Today I'll get some black spray paint like Krylon Plasti-kote and paint the entire structure black and bake it in the Florida sun for a day or two to harden and allow all the chemicals that want to 'evaporate' out of the paint and into the air. I've painted egg crate and used in in other aquariums, it's perfectly OK. Besides, it's Wednesday already and I have a weekend full of auto-cross to get ready for on Friday. So the soonest I'll get started with pulling corals and rocks out of the tank is Monday or more likely, Tuesday.

Here are a couple of close ups of how the pvc pipe legs are attached as well as the shelf. The pvc pipes have small holes I drilled and I used small cable ties to hold them in place.

The platform came out very cool!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks, I can't wait to get to rockscaping but I have a full weekend schedule with autocross so it will have to wait. I painted the rack black yesterday and it's spent 2 days now baking in the sun.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

That was not what I expected when you first described it - I hadn't realized how high off the bottom you had intended the eggcate to be. Not saying anything is wrong with it; I had just thought 5-6" like you see others do. Looks great and I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but should there be some large holes in the sides of the PVC supports at or near the bottom so they get a little flow-thru and don't become detritus traps?

 

[Ron Reefman]

That was not what I expected when you first described it - I hadn't realized how high off the bottom you had intended the eggcate to be. Not saying anything is wrong with it; I had just thought 5-6" like you see others do. Looks great and I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but should there be some large holes in the sides of the PVC supports at or near the bottom so they get a little flow-thru and don't become detritus traps?

The front edge of the platform is just 4 inches tall and it will be pushed down into 2+ inches of sand. So it won't be that high at the front. And I want the back end to be up close to the water surface. As you suggest, we'll see how it works out. If it is too tall I can always cut down the pipe legs.

You could be right about the legs collecting some debris. But I had legs like these on my last 2 builds (2 years old and 7 years old) and I never had any issues. In fact, life seemed to really flourish under the rocks. But your idea of adding holes is good food for thought. Thanks!

 

[Katrina71]

I'm loving this idea!

 

[Ron Reefman]

OK, I took Monday to recuperate from auto-x (I won my class for the first time!) and get some things set up for the rockscape rebuild. Tuesday morning I set up containers for the frags and rocks in the tank. Then added some saltwater I had made last Friday. So here is what the tank looked like before.

And after I took all the coral and rock out of the tank.

Here is the big picture. The bins are full of rock and coral. This is part of why I wanted work space next to the tank. If you have the room, and a spouse that will allow it, it makes working in the tank a lot easier!

Here's a look inside a couple of the bins. One is all RFA's, mini maxi's and RBTA. The other is rock & coral.

Then I loaded the new platform into the tank (I had to remove the led fixture). It was a tight fit around the center overflow but being snug is probably a good thing.

This isn't the final rockscape, but it's close and at least you can see the basic look... a rock slope/wall.

The fish are crazy about having the 'cave' under the platform and almost everybody else in under there as well. I guess that makes them safe from my hands. I don't know how long we'll be able to see in from the sides like we can now. I assume that will get covered with coraline algae in time. But for now we can see that all the inhabitants are doing OK. And my wife thinks being able to see the life under the rocks is cool. That's just so much the better for me! So far I'm happy with where it's going. I just hope I have enough holes for all the corals. There were close to 50 that were already in the tank and only a couple green paly colonies aren't going back in. But then there are 50 more corals in the sump! Fingers crossed. BTW, when is the last time you did a rockscape and were concerned you may have too many corals for it?!?! ;Nailbiting

More to follow.

 

[dbl]

Looking good Ron...nice project. Congrats on the win too my friend...that's awesome news.

 

[NY_Caveman]

OK, I took Monday to recuperate from auto-x (I won my class for the first time!) and get some things set up for the rockscape rebuild. Tuesday morning I set up containers for the frags and rocks in the tank. Then added some saltwater I had made last Friday. So here is what the tank looked like before.

And after I took all the coral and rock out of the tank.

Here is the big picture. The bins are full of rock and coral. This is part of why I wanted work space next to the tank. If you have the room, and a spouse that will allow it, it makes working in the tank a lot easier!

Here's a look inside a couple of the bins. One is all RFA's, mini maxi's and RBTA. The other is rock & coral.

Then I loaded the new platform into the tank (I had to remove the led fixture). It was a tight fit around the center overflow but being snug is probably a good thing.

This isn't the final rockscape, but it's close and at least you can see the basic look... a rock slope/wall.

The fish are crazy about having the 'cave' under the platform and almost everybody else in under there as well. I guess that makes them safe from my hands. I don't know how long we'll be able to see in from the sides like we can now. I assume that will get covered with coraline algae in time. But for now we can see that all the inhabitants are doing OK. And my wife thinks being able to see the life under the rocks is cool. That's just so much the better for me! So far I'm happy with where it's going. I just hope I have enough holes for all the corals. There were close to 50 that were already in the tank and only a couple green paly colonies aren't going back in. But then there are 50 more corals in the sump! Fingers crossed. BTW, when is the last time you did a rockscape and were concerned you may have too many corals for it?!?! ;Nailbiting

More to follow.

Came out really nice. I am glad the fish and your wife like it.

Congratulations on your win too!

 

[Ron Reefman]

In the earlier post a pajama cardinal kind of blocked the view of the cave entrance. Here is a better look at it and this time he is just inside the cave. And unless some critter is very skinny, this is the only way in and out of the cave. Light can get through gaps in the rocks and through the side glass (for now). But the openings are too small and the platform and rocks go from just 1/2" off the side glass to touching the side glass on both sides and at the back.

A bit wider view without the camera flash. What you see then you look in the cave opening is the light from above getting through the rocks and reflecting off the sandy bottom.

Here is a side view looking under the platform with the tang and pajama cardinal swimming around. I'm a bit surprised at how much light gets through to the sand. But in the long run I think that will be a good thing. And I suspect that as the zoas reproduce and spread, they will probably start to block some of the light. We'll see how much light gets through once I have the final rockscape in place and all the coral installed.

 

[Katrina71]

That is a way cool scape!

 

[Ron Reefman]

OK, all the corals are in place, but some may move so the better looking (fluoresces better) coral is up front. I did pay much attention to that as it was white light when I moved them all in. I will be doing the wavemakers different. I got a low profile unit from Reef Breeders and I intend to put it up high on the side glass near the back and aim it at the middle of the front glass (L to R & top to bottom). Then I may use 1 or both of the Current wavemakers I've had on the back glass on the other side or on the back glass and side glass. It depends on how it looks and how well I can control the flow. I may even put the different brands on timers so the current flows one way for 3 hours, then both systems for 3 hours, then the other way for 3 hours and back to both for 3 hours. That would kind of simulate the tides. Not that anybody in the tank is going to care, but I think it would be cool!

Here are my clowns hanging out together under the platform.

This is the view looking down from the top along the front glass. Anemones at the front in the sand. Some of the RFA kids are up in the rocks now and I still have some more to figure out what I'm going to do with them. Then there is the short vertical wall and then the slope (where the led reflections are).

And finally, here is how I'm leaving it for today. I'll take a good look at it tonight under blue leds in a dark room and decide if any of the really good fluorescing corals are at the back. I placed the frags with more heads toward the front so it would look better in the normal daytime white light. So you can see the frags all over the place and most have some room to reproduce and spread. But even during daylight outside and with the blue leds on in the tank, it looks like little jewels of red, orange, yellow and green that are lit up from behind. So far I couldn't be happier. I have some holes in the vertical front wall which will eventually get filled with some of the best corals (assuming the anemones aren't going to reach up and sting them. But I'll need to work on a mounting system as the holes are a bit too big and the frags fall out. If anybody has an answer for how to do it, I'm open to suggestions. I'm thinking to pack some JB Water Weld putty around the stem of the frag plug and push it into the hole.

 

[NY_Caveman]

This came out very cool. Great work.

 

[Ron Reefman]

This came out very cool. Great work.

Thanks. I moved a couple of corals around last night. Now that they are all opened up and I could see what colors I had where. But honestly, I hand picked all these corals from the 3 tanks I shut down and sold. So I pretty much knew they all fluoresced pretty well. The daylight pics don't do it justice. But I think that once the zoas start to reproduce and spread off the frag plugs and fill in the gap (give it 6 months or a year) and it will look good during the day. However, at night when the corals are fluorescing under blue leds the tank pops from across the room!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I just changed out a very old black box led fixture (only the white channel worked) for a Kessil H80 led over my refugium. I've never been a big fan of Kessil leds for my DT, but this fixture is just what I was looking for to mount over my refugium. I like that it can go from very red spectrum (good for macro algae) to a mixed red and very cool white (good for algae and some corals) to a very cool blue/white (good for most corals). I sometimes use my refugium as a place to put a frag rack and hold new frags before they go in the DT or to hold frags I've just made from corals already in the DT. But most of the time I'm just trying to tumble chaeto. So having the 3 spectrum options works great for me. I also like that it's so small and slim. Now I have a lot more room above the refugium.

A friend in our local club gave me a bag of chaeto to get the refugium started. After I get the few corals and the big frag rack out of the fuge and get the chaeto in, I'll take a couple of photos.

 

[Jason boles]

Awesome tank Ron!! Following along.

 

[stAlphonzo]

I'm thinking to pack some JB Water Weld putty around the stem of the frag plug and push it into the hole.

I realize this thread is getting old but, I have to ask...did you use the JB water weld to mount your frags? I was thinking of doing the same thing and figured I should just ask here rather than make a whole new post. Thanks!

 

[Ron Reefman]

No I didn't.

The holes I drilled in the rock is just right for some frag plugs (snug fit) and too big for others. So on the others I've just been putting them back in the holes when they get pulled out. I'm debating using a small plastic 'wedge' like a section of toothpick or wrapping the stem of the plug with something like fishing line to make them a better fit. I really don't want them to be too permanent. But I'm 90% sure the JB Water Weld will work. You might have to turn off your skimmer for a some period of time (like hours to maybe a whole day) because the JB Weld will make the skimmer go foamy (if I remember correctly).

Let me know what you end up doing.

 

[JRAD]

Really cool reef! How big is that pj cardinal? He looks waaaay bigger than mine!

 

[stAlphonzo]

No I didn't.

The holes I drilled in the rock is just right for some frag plugs (snug fit) and too big for others. So on the others I've just been putting them back in the holes when they get pulled out. I'm debating using a small plastic 'wedge' like a section of toothpick or wrapping the stem of the plug with something like fishing line to make them a better fit. I really don't want them to be too permanent. But I'm 90% sure the JB Water Weld will work. You might have to turn off your skimmer for a some period of time (like hours to maybe a whole day) because the JB Weld will make the skimmer go foamy (if I remember correctly).

Let me know what you end up doing.

Thanks for the reply. I will let you know! I feel like it's probably ok since so many use JB Water Weld for the aquascape, why not the frags? My tank is only about a month new, no fish yet (and no skimmer either) but I've been adding some hardy LPS and Zoanthids to build up the lifeform complexity. I just clipped the extra long stem from my zoanthid frags and it's happy enough where I put it, so I will mount it this weekend. Will pop back with pictures in a week or so, figure that should be enough time ...