Steelerfan's 46g cube

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Steelerfan747

Steelerfan747

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Sweet tank! Reef Savvy makes amazing tanks! I've got a 45g cube (not from reef savvy) and I love it! Thats a nice light setup, I'm a big fan of T5's. ATI make's great bulbs. I'd get at least 1 bulb of the purple plus. It'll make your pinks, reds, and purples really stand out. Keep the pic's coming!



Does ati make 18" bulbs? It's difficult to find different bulbs for it. Even uvl came out with some but they were manufactured to small so I cannot mix and match
 
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Steelerfan747

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Hey guys, sorry I have not posted in a few days but I had to spend some time with the wife as having the nba playoffs every other day is not allowing us too much alone time so I hung out with her yesterday.

Well back to business. Since my tank is 22" but the light fixture is only 20", I was not able to use the included legs to place the fixture on top of the tank (not that I wanted to anyways) But since I am not familiarized with hanging kits, I decided to purchase a hanging arm kit.



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Here is the tank with the hanging arm kit installed.....



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And with the lighting fixture hung.....



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Steelerfan747

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And then God said "Let there be light"




This is with only the first stage actinics



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And this is with the second stage or all 6 bulbs illuminated



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While the T-5's are extremely bright and great for coral growth, the one thing I do not like is that they give off no shimmer so I decided to do a bit of a DIY and attach some leds.

I chose these fixtures by Current which unfortunately are no longer available




First I cut a thin piece of wood to size and installed some L brackets



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I then installed the lights mounting hardware....



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and finally attached the lights themselves.....(they are the 50/50 kind by the way)




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I angled them forward and attached them directly to the fixture itself using the fixtures own screws.....




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Ahh shimmer :)
 
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Steelerfan747

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Hey guys. Im sorry for not updating in a bit but with crazy work hours and the need to spend some times with the wife plus the NBA finals every other day, it has not been easy. Now that it's over and I have the weekend off, I will try and post a bit tonight or tomorrow
 
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Love the build, it looks great!!

btw your daughter is such a cutie!! :D

Thanks, I appreciate that. The build is one of my favorite parts of the hobby, all the anticipation of getting new equipment and seeing it all come to gether is awesome
 
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Initially decided to use an American Dj fixture I had for electrical outlet control.



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Recycled the fixture and frame/housing I was using on my old 120g. Glad I kept it....



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Had Felix of Reefsavvy make me a matching sump as well.....



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Matching in every way down to the black background and logo :wink:




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Special delivery :tongue:








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New filter sock holder






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And installed......






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Steelerfan747

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That glass square in front of the sump is a skimmer stand I also had good folks at reefsavvy build for me






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Here's a pic of the sump with the return pump included. It gives you a basic layout idea of the sump.






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The water comes in through the back right, goes through the filter sock, then the skimmer, through the bubble trap and on to the return chamber.






And here's a pic with the skimmer installed.....






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I always like to have a refugium but when I started this build and looked into the sump I never thought it would be possible to add a quality skimmer and still have a large enough fuge so I decided to try out a hob fuge






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BarbH

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Sump is looking good. Had thought about doing a hob fuge would be interested in hearing your opinion on it once you get things up and running.
 
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Added the sand, will top it off with live sand






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Moved it around with an extra board I had in order to get it as evenly distributed as possible






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And then it was time for water. Living in Miami Florida, I am able to get my hands on natural sea water at a very economical price so it it my weapon of choice as I feel you cant get more natural than natural






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Sweet pics and i dig all of your goodies. Love the reef savy sump too. I am hoping one day to have them build me a tank. Question about the natural sea water...do you go through a store or someone personally...i would be interested myself. I am up in ft lauderdale.
 
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Sweet pics and i dig all of your goodies. Love the reef savy sump too. I am hoping one day to have them build me a tank. Question about the natural sea water...do you go through a store or someone personally...i would be interested myself. I am up in ft lauderdale.

Thanks, the goodie shoping and build portion is one of my favorite parts. I would recommend reefsavvy for you the day of tomorrow. You will not be sorry. I get my water from VIP reefs, it's a lfs. Have never had a problem with their salt water or fresh
 

When to mix up fish meal: When was the last time you tried a different brand of food for your reef?

  • I regularly change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 41 23.3%
  • I occasionally change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 60 34.1%
  • I rarely change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 55 31.3%
  • I never change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 16 9.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 4 2.3%
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