That's not a cube!
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- Thread starter W1ngz
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
More stuff! Ordering bit by bit is way more fun than all at once. It's like Christmas once a week!
I got a box full of packaging. So much bubble wrap. You'd think the aquarium industry would be a little more conservationist... *sigh*
At least it looks good down there! This is the Fiji Cube 30.
Slowly coming together. You can see the blue and red PVC in the foreground too. I'll need to build a simple base for the sump to properly support it and prevent warping.
I got a box full of packaging. So much bubble wrap. You'd think the aquarium industry would be a little more conservationist... *sigh*
At least it looks good down there! This is the Fiji Cube 30.
Slowly coming together. You can see the blue and red PVC in the foreground too. I'll need to build a simple base for the sump to properly support it and prevent warping.
Adalius
Active Member
I thought the *same* thing when I opened up my Red Sea Peninsula. There was sheets and sheets of styrofoam, the crappy kind that breaks into little closed cell balls and blows everywhere, sticks to everything. I was like really? They couldn't do it with something a bit more a) environmentally friendly or b) stable so it at least makes it to disposal without blowing out into the woods from the garbage truck in tiny pieces?
I'm glad lots of places use air fill, and my dry rock from BRS came with a butt ton of peanuts, but they're the kind that dissolve in water to corn starch.
DanConnor
Valuable Member
Hey- I had concept build my current tank also. 200 peninsula with external overflow and their steel stand. They do nice work and the price is right. I'm surprised I don't see more people using them.
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
It's a nice tank for the price, considering it's made to order and came with the powder coated steel stand. However, I can see a few details on mine where I understand why people willing to pay top dollar would go elsewhere. Little things, like the eurobrace seams are almost 1/4" gaps filled with silicone. My edge polishing was done on both sides of the glass, so my outside corner seams have a bevel that's been back-filled with silicone, instead of being flush.
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
It's alive! And bonus, my floors are dry. The whole thing is still turned around backwards so I can play with it.
Picked up a Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0 today, along with a bit of vinyl tubing and barb fittings. After boiling the tubing (literally - I boiled water in the spaghetti pot and put the tubing in the water for about a minute) to get it straightened out and round again, I was able to cut the correct length, held my breath, and plugged it in. We officially have water movement up and down in all the right places. I found one small section of plumbing that I somehow forgot to glue that started dripping, other than that I was able to geek out for a couple of hours tuning the overflow to get it quiet, doing some power off/on and blocked primary tests. Everything works as planned! Not brave enough to let it run unsupervised overnight yet, a longer test will come tomorrow while I do the laundry, housework and bide my time before the big Game of Thrones finale.
The specifics, with some how and why for anyone who might read this and wonder how it works:
Sicce Syncra 3.0 return pump, through a small section of vinyl tubing. Why the bit of tubing? Vibration dampening. I'm wondering if silicone tubing might do a better job of that though, because I still get a noticeable hum from the sump. Definitely less than if it were hard plumbed to the pump though. From there, it's up through a manifold for the frag tank and a reactor, and through a 3/4 wye check valve to the display. Why? To cut down on the back siphon and splashing when the return is turned off/on for feeding and maintenance. For the militant anti-check valve crowd: the check valve is NOT there as a safety measure, rather for the convenience of having less water moving around when the pumps stop. I still have to do some testing with the valve jammed open to see where my water levels go in the sump. I'm confident I have room to spare.
Once the water is in the display, it leaves through an Eshopps eclipse L. The max gph on the large size overflow is overkill for a 90, but it gives me the 3 drain bean setup which is the only way I would ever run a tank. The siphon line has a cone style strainer over it, and leads down to a gate valve. This is the first time I've used a gate valve instead of a ball in that position, and man what a difference it makes to tune things. An easy 1/8 to 1/4 turn to get things dialed in, instead of tapping and hoping and swearing at the clumsy and coarse ball valve tuning. The main and secondary plumbing both end a short distance below the water line to allow the siphon.
The secondary is easier to see in the photos, it's a street 90 inserted into a standard 90. Why? The street 90 saves about 3/4 of an inch which means I have room to wiggle the parts around to adjust things as opposed to two standard 90s butted together with a piece of PVC. There's one small hole drilled in the 90 at about the 45deg position, putting it right at the level of the dry emergency drain. This allows the secondary to go full siphon at the same time the emergency starts taking water, to make sure the level never climbs above the top of the emergency for more than a few seconds. If there's a block in the main, the whole thing starts making a heck of a lot of sucking and splashing noises as the secondary siphon starts and breaks, and the emergency dumps water directly into the skimmer chamber. Why the 90s at all? That keeps the trickle sound from the secondary under water, making it run silent.
All of that water, whichever drain it ends up taking, goes into a Fiji Cube 30" sump. Another first, I've only ever had an old 30 gallon DIY sump that I borrowed long term from my brother in law. It served it's purpose, and works fine, but I wanted the flow-over filter floss drains instead of socks and the refugium.
Picked up a Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0 today, along with a bit of vinyl tubing and barb fittings. After boiling the tubing (literally - I boiled water in the spaghetti pot and put the tubing in the water for about a minute) to get it straightened out and round again, I was able to cut the correct length, held my breath, and plugged it in. We officially have water movement up and down in all the right places. I found one small section of plumbing that I somehow forgot to glue that started dripping, other than that I was able to geek out for a couple of hours tuning the overflow to get it quiet, doing some power off/on and blocked primary tests. Everything works as planned! Not brave enough to let it run unsupervised overnight yet, a longer test will come tomorrow while I do the laundry, housework and bide my time before the big Game of Thrones finale.
The specifics, with some how and why for anyone who might read this and wonder how it works:
Sicce Syncra 3.0 return pump, through a small section of vinyl tubing. Why the bit of tubing? Vibration dampening. I'm wondering if silicone tubing might do a better job of that though, because I still get a noticeable hum from the sump. Definitely less than if it were hard plumbed to the pump though. From there, it's up through a manifold for the frag tank and a reactor, and through a 3/4 wye check valve to the display. Why? To cut down on the back siphon and splashing when the return is turned off/on for feeding and maintenance. For the militant anti-check valve crowd: the check valve is NOT there as a safety measure, rather for the convenience of having less water moving around when the pumps stop. I still have to do some testing with the valve jammed open to see where my water levels go in the sump. I'm confident I have room to spare.
Once the water is in the display, it leaves through an Eshopps eclipse L. The max gph on the large size overflow is overkill for a 90, but it gives me the 3 drain bean setup which is the only way I would ever run a tank. The siphon line has a cone style strainer over it, and leads down to a gate valve. This is the first time I've used a gate valve instead of a ball in that position, and man what a difference it makes to tune things. An easy 1/8 to 1/4 turn to get things dialed in, instead of tapping and hoping and swearing at the clumsy and coarse ball valve tuning. The main and secondary plumbing both end a short distance below the water line to allow the siphon.
The secondary is easier to see in the photos, it's a street 90 inserted into a standard 90. Why? The street 90 saves about 3/4 of an inch which means I have room to wiggle the parts around to adjust things as opposed to two standard 90s butted together with a piece of PVC. There's one small hole drilled in the 90 at about the 45deg position, putting it right at the level of the dry emergency drain. This allows the secondary to go full siphon at the same time the emergency starts taking water, to make sure the level never climbs above the top of the emergency for more than a few seconds. If there's a block in the main, the whole thing starts making a heck of a lot of sucking and splashing noises as the secondary siphon starts and breaks, and the emergency dumps water directly into the skimmer chamber. Why the 90s at all? That keeps the trickle sound from the secondary under water, making it run silent.
All of that water, whichever drain it ends up taking, goes into a Fiji Cube 30" sump. Another first, I've only ever had an old 30 gallon DIY sump that I borrowed long term from my brother in law. It served it's purpose, and works fine, but I wanted the flow-over filter floss drains instead of socks and the refugium.
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
OP
OP
W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Two issues I'm currently working on:
This is my first acrylic sump, and it has an acrylic rim and plastic covers for each compartment all around the top. The return line passes through a bulkhead in the top rim, which amplifies the vibration, making the covers also vibrate. Vinyl tubing has worked fine for me when the plumbing is connected directly to a bulkhead on the glass, but isn't effective enough it seems in this particular application. It's no louder than say, an older refrigerator, but noticeable all the same. I've ordered some proper silicone tubing to try and alleviate it.
And since I'm obsessing about every sound this setup makes, there's a slight trickle sound coming from the tank side of my overflow. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it, but I honestly don't get how people with a durso standpipe can tolerate having that in their house! The slightest trickle gets me alert to some kind of problem. More on the trickling here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tuning-eshopps-eclipse-l.602731/
This is my first acrylic sump, and it has an acrylic rim and plastic covers for each compartment all around the top. The return line passes through a bulkhead in the top rim, which amplifies the vibration, making the covers also vibrate. Vinyl tubing has worked fine for me when the plumbing is connected directly to a bulkhead on the glass, but isn't effective enough it seems in this particular application. It's no louder than say, an older refrigerator, but noticeable all the same. I've ordered some proper silicone tubing to try and alleviate it.
And since I'm obsessing about every sound this setup makes, there's a slight trickle sound coming from the tank side of my overflow. Most people probably wouldn't even notice it, but I honestly don't get how people with a durso standpipe can tolerate having that in their house! The slightest trickle gets me alert to some kind of problem. More on the trickling here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tuning-eshopps-eclipse-l.602731/
OP
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Managed to get my hands on just a little silicone tubing. Minimum was 10’. So 40$ later I have 6” of it keeping the vibration contained, and 9’ of spare tubing collecting dust. Ugh.
I was also able to find the sweet spot where the trickle noise is all but gone, the gate valve on the primary is as open as it can be, and it passes the blocked primary test!
I was also able to find the sweet spot where the trickle noise is all but gone, the gate valve on the primary is as open as it can be, and it passes the blocked primary test!
OP
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Here we go!
Started in thursday night breaking things down a little at a time.
First to get cleaned out is my little side frag tank, which has turned into more of a refugium since I stopped buying/fragging corals and went into a holding pattern. Yuck!
I definitely need to add a bit of cleanup crew to this when it gets set back up.
Started in thursday night breaking things down a little at a time.
First to get cleaned out is my little side frag tank, which has turned into more of a refugium since I stopped buying/fragging corals and went into a holding pattern. Yuck!
I definitely need to add a bit of cleanup crew to this when it gets set back up.
Wrangy
Valuable Member
Dang that's one heck of a setup man!! Consider me tagging along and with my fingers and toes crossed that once the dust settles on the battlefield that it's a smooth victory for everyone 
OP
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Victory!
Thank god my dog's breakfast of a sump is gone, I have something neat and tidy to work with. The sump is almost prettier than the display.
And magnetic side panels! - possibly the best decision I've ever made in my entire life. I can crack the whole thing wide open, and there no @$%%#! doors to get in the way!
There will need to be a few adjustments to the aquascape before I'm really happy with it, but for now a quick front view under the whites only. The rocks are in a U shape, sloping down toward the front on either side. This gives me a 3 side view, so 3 different aquascapes to work with. The middle has a few isolated islands for my xenia and green stars.
Oh, and I'm in love with low iron glass. It's a much more dramatic change to the view than I expected it to be.
Thank god my dog's breakfast of a sump is gone, I have something neat and tidy to work with. The sump is almost prettier than the display.
And magnetic side panels! - possibly the best decision I've ever made in my entire life. I can crack the whole thing wide open, and there no @$%%#! doors to get in the way!
There will need to be a few adjustments to the aquascape before I'm really happy with it, but for now a quick front view under the whites only. The rocks are in a U shape, sloping down toward the front on either side. This gives me a 3 side view, so 3 different aquascapes to work with. The middle has a few isolated islands for my xenia and green stars.
Oh, and I'm in love with low iron glass. It's a much more dramatic change to the view than I expected it to be.
OP
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W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Casualty report:
My apex temperature probe suffered a bad fever (38C/100F), and had to be put down.
The coral banded shrimp lost a claw in the rumble in the livestock bucket.
My kole tang has been banished, there just isn't enough swimming space in a 30x30 footprint. He was a jerk anyway even in my 75, frequently pinning the clownfish into a corner for days on end. Traded him to a local reefer for a few gonipora and mushroom frags.
MIA: Wheeler's goby. I see the burrow and the pistol shrimp is working hard, but no sign of his pal anywhere. Not unusual for a day or two. Hopefully he comes out soon, and didn't get trapped under a rock. All the base rock was put in right on the glass before the sand and water, and wasn't moved. I really hope he found his way underneath those and is just too freaked out to show his face for now.
My apex temperature probe suffered a bad fever (38C/100F), and had to be put down.
The coral banded shrimp lost a claw in the rumble in the livestock bucket.
My kole tang has been banished, there just isn't enough swimming space in a 30x30 footprint. He was a jerk anyway even in my 75, frequently pinning the clownfish into a corner for days on end. Traded him to a local reefer for a few gonipora and mushroom frags.
MIA: Wheeler's goby. I see the burrow and the pistol shrimp is working hard, but no sign of his pal anywhere. Not unusual for a day or two. Hopefully he comes out soon, and didn't get trapped under a rock. All the base rock was put in right on the glass before the sand and water, and wasn't moved. I really hope he found his way underneath those and is just too freaked out to show his face for now.
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