Ron Reefman's 50g Cube

[hexumjunkie]

Thanks, ill try it out. usually they reappear after awhile where they want, but ill try the edge of rock sand method too. Frost Corals always has a ton of pretty RFA's.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@hexumjunkie , Thanks for the lead. Even though I have a lot of RFA's... I'm always looking for something out of the ordinary and extra special.

 

[Tjm23slo]

Ron - I really like what your doing. I have a 45cube I built and in-tank sump, so I lose about 4” front to back. I am contemplating a rescape and using your idea of raised platform. Since the tank sits in the corner as a end table, a sump is hard, ATO storage, dosing containers and wire hiding is about it.

My first question is > 2-2 1/2” platform bottom above the sand line about right as a guideline?

I am thinking of tiering the platform where the highest points are rear corner the two smaller lower platforms flaming to form an “L” in the back. I don’t have much substrate, maybe under an inch.

Question 2: has the extra power head under the rock work helped in any way?

I am thinking of using some rock rubble to grow the Zoas as I am currently suffering for rapid Zoas growth on 1 large rock and they are hard to frag elbow deep off a base rock.

Thanks for sharing!!
Tom

 

[Ron Reefman]

@Tjm23slo, Tom, look at what you have available in the way of small rocks and maybe flat rocks. Use them along the front edge of the platform to hide it. So let what you have in usable height of that front side rock set your height off the sand. IMHO, 2" is plenty at the front, especially if there will be some higher platform toward the rear or the corners.

I'm jammed up for space now, so I'm considering a rebuild. If I do, I'll start with a bit more open space (sand) at the front because I want room for more rock flower anemones. Some of my older babies are starting to get big (as in bigger than a quarter). And I won't go quite so high in the back. I'm only about 5" from the water's surface, so maybe 1 to 2" lower. And one serious point, make your platform fit snug to any glass walls it's going to be close to. I've had 'stuff' fall through between the back edge of the platform and the back glass. Then it's under the platform and nearly impossible to get out.

I think the small powerhead that is above the platform but blowing it's flow down through the egg crate to move water under the platform is a good idea, but I can't say I've seen any real difference in the tank. And it's just a small powerhead, so not a lot of flow.

You said, "I am thinking of using some rock rubble to grow the Zoas as I am currently suffering for rapid Zoas growth on 1 large rock..." Ha! 'Suffering' from rapid zoa growth. I think a lot of reefers would like to 'suffer' just like you! But I do understand what you mean. Consider making the wall at the front edge of the platform with rubble and putting zoas there.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to try and help. If you have suggestions or ideas, I'm more than happy to hear and discuss them. If you just want to chat about our cubes, I'm happy to do that as well. BTW, I would love to see your tank as well.

 

[Tjm23slo]

Thanks Ron-

Here is the set up as the tank is just waking it’s a little blue

As you can see very little room to store, but I love the 7” table top around the tank so the table is actually useful. I think more stands should be built with a ledge even if it’s only a couple of inches. I want a 120 in the dining room, but the wife wants a 2 floor laundry first. I also need to check weight on the main floor as this is an older house. I don’t want it in the basement. That I at least a year off.

Meanwhile back in the living room, here are some shots of the tank. I like the rock work, but there is a lot of supporting rock that could be used better. These rocks could be sledge hammered into rubble. I sourced my rock from Arc Reef. It’s been very good with bio diversity. This tank has never had GHA.

View from one coach seat.


View from my couch seat.

I am contending with The tail end of Dino’s. I got to chasing numbers vs watching the corals and pretty much starved out all the micro fauna causing a Dino bloom and bad stuff to Zoas and Goniopora Goni is still recovering . Some of the sps need fragging to cleanup some dino damage and the Zoas occupy the prime real estate.

I am finding the flow is much more important than light, however a single Kessil leads to fade on the non-lit side. I have a second Kessil coming.

My idea was to shift the 3 main rocks up and back towards the power head wall and black back wall. Freeing up more substrate space in front and have caves underneath for the gobies, shrimp, crabs. Never did. A sand softer star as I had very little sand space. But I think I also suffer from sheer cliff syndrome and need to make the scape flatter or less abrupt.

I do have one crazy spot of something Dinoesque , but cannot properly identify. It only seems to grow on the new coralline Algae or something white ish that looks similar. I can blow it off like Dino’s but it comes back in 3 days. It’s rust colored like Dino’s, it has some fuzziness but not stringy it’s slow moving. I don’t think it’s good either

 

[Tjm23slo]

Thanks Ron-

Here is the set up as the tank is just waking it’s a little blue

As you can see very little room to store, but I love the 7” table top around the tank so the table is actually useful. I think more stands should be built with a ledge even if it’s only a couple of inches. I want a 120 in the dining room, but the wife wants a 2 floor laundry first. I also need to check weight on the main floor as this is an older house. I don’t want it in the basement. That I at least a year off.

Meanwhile back in the living room, here are some shots of the tank. I like the rock work, but there is a lot of supporting rock that could be used better. These rocks could be sledge hammered into rubble. I sourced my rock from Arc Reef. It’s been very good with bio diversity. This tank has never had GHA.

View from one coach seat.


View from my couch seat.

I am contending with The tail end of Dino’s. I got to chasing numbers vs watching the corals and pretty much starved out all the micro fauna causing a Dino bloom and bad stuff to Zoas and Goniopora Goni is still recovering . Some of the sps need fragging to cleanup some dino damage and the Zoas occupy the prime real estate.

I am finding the flow is much more important than light, however a single Kessil leads to fade on the non-lit side. I have a second Kessil coming.

My idea was to shift the 3 main rocks up and back towards the power head wall and black back wall. Freeing up more substrate space in front and have caves underneath for the gobies, shrimp, crabs. Never did. A sand softer star as I had very little sand space. But I think I also suffer from sheer cliff syndrome and need to make the scape flatter or less abrupt.

I do have one crazy spot of something Dinoesque , but cannot properly identify. It only seems to grow on the new coralline Algae or something white ish that looks similar. I can blow it off like Dino’s but it comes back in 3 days. It’s rust colored like Dino’s, it has some fuzziness but not stringy it’s slow moving. I don’t think it’s good either.

 

[Ron Reefman]

So my new tank design idea has been slowly moving forward. I've now fix it at 36" x 30" x 20" which is 85g. I'm going to use white RTV silicone and white acrylic for the overflow weir at the back of the tank and a white acrylic base under the bottom glass. That base will have shallow groves cut out with a router so the side glass panels will actually sit on the acrylic and be attached to the bottom glass at the edges rather than having the side glass set on top of the bottom glass as most tanks are made. The groove in the acrylic base will provide more stability to the side glass than just the silicone could by itself and the 3/8" acrylic and 3/8" glass base should be more stable than just the glass bottom would on it's own. I'm using white silicon and white acrylic because I want a different look from everybody else's tanks and my stand (made with 2 kitchen cabinets) and all the other cabinets in our kitchen and bathrooms are all high gloss white as well.

 

[NY_Caveman]

So my new tank design idea has been slowly moving forward. I've now fix it at 36" x 30" x 20" which is 85g. I'm going to use white RTV silicone and white acrylic for the overflow weir at the back of the tank and a white acrylic base under the bottom glass. That base will have shallow groves cut out with a router so the side glass panels will actually sit on the acrylic and be attached to the bottom glass at the edges rather than having the side glass set on top of the bottom glass as most tanks are made. The groove in the acrylic base will provide more stability to the side glass than just the silicone could by itself and the 3/8" acrylic and 3/8" glass base should be more stable than just the glass bottom would on it's own. I'm using white silicon and white acrylic because I want a different look from everybody else's tanks and my stand (made with 2 kitchen cabinets) and all the other cabinets in our kitchen and bathrooms are all high gloss white as well.

I cannot wait to see it, Ron! Hope you are feeling well.