68G cube becomes a 95G Reef :)
 

I am finally setting up a proper reef again after a few years of trying to mix aggressive fish and corals. That was fun but I want to get back into sps after about three years away from keeping them.

I have changed tanks soooo many times over the past two years due to moving several times but I have finally decided on two. The bigger one will stay as my fish only and the new 68G will be the reef.

Both tanks are similar heights and are directly across from each other, so the stands are made to match...or will be (the new one is not finished).

The 68G was bought from a member here on Canreef and was going to be sumpless/skimmerless. After a few months, everything is doing great that way and actually I have had the best growth I have ever seen in my sps but I hate not having a sump.

The tank was already drilled, so I am not adding a sump and eventually a skimmer.

I have lots of pics but I will just start with the empty tank for now...

Well kind of empty. My cats claimed it the moment it hit the floor.

This is where its going...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Digi064-1.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Digi065.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Digi067-1.jpg

Oh and not quite a real cube...30x30x18. I prefer that over a deep tank.

Nice size! The cats look impressed. What's in the terrarium beside it?

Yes the cats loved it.

The terrarium is housing this guy:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture006-1.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture002.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture004.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture005.jpg

Cute....but the kitty looks like it wants to eat it ;)

I'm not fammiliar with the arboreal geckos, is it a gargoyl, or crested?
I have an 8yr old female leopard gecko.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...Dec2007400.jpg

Nice Leopard!

Its a Gargoyle. The cats actually doesn't seem to want to eat it. He had a chance once and doesn't. In that last pic he is meowing and the gecko talks back with some very strange noises.

Im not kidding...they communicate. I thought it was just a coincidence at first but then I realized when the cat (only the little one though) lays by his terrarium, the gecko will come out and see him. Sometimes making weird noises.

So weird.

Very neat... my husband had a bunch of cresteds before I met him....till the cat got into them :(

I keep the reptiles downstairs where the cats can't go because Mr Pickles (Drew's cat) is just a little bit evil.

(My cat, of course, is perfect lol)

Plumbing the tank...has been a huge pain!

I wish I had decided right away to go with a sump. Plumbing it full of water has been terrible.

I did not want to take up space with an overflow box, nor drain the tank, so I got an idea from someone on RC to use a PVC overflow. In my case ABS since I like using ABS.

This is the idea. The people who have tried it absolutely seem to love it. I am not going to go coast to coast like this (only about a foot) but same idea.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...h/DSCN2447.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...h/DSCN2462.jpg

I have mine done but not running yet. The problem I am trying to solve is noise. The guys who used this method have found ways to keep the thing silent but most of their idea will not work for me for various reasons.

So far with mine, I have the PVC overflow, bulkhead, "T" (drain and a way for air to escape), then down to a few 90's and to the sump. What I am trying to figure out is how to have the water enter the sump.

I will take pics since its hard to follow along with just words but I think I may have another "T" on the end of the drain plumbing right at the water surface to release any air from the water before it hits the sump.

I know people do this...does anyone have any pics? How quiet is this?

Oh no...I would hate to see what my cats would do to him if I did leave them alone together for a while :neutral:

The little grey and white cat is mine and the big one is my fiances. I am not even going to try to pretend my cat is perfect. He is a little terror. My fiances cat is really close to prefect I think though. She says its because she raised him :mrgreen:

So this is my small version of the overflow.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture001-2.jpg

Nothing fancy but since its right up near the top trim of the tank, you barely notice it. So much nicer IMO than having a huger overflow box. I wouldn't do this in a bigger tank or with a large return pump though. This along with a gate valve regulated drain would be ideal. I didn't have a second hole drilled though for an emergency drain so I couldn't go with the gate valve safely.

Hopefully it will work out like this though!

Actually this is a good picture. I put the return Loc Line Plumbing beside it for size reference.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture004-2.jpg

Never seen an overflow done like that! Not too invasive and looks cool too. Guess it can't be married with a Herbie really...that method brought me TOTAL silence when I finally got my gate valve perfect.

Yes it can. You need a second hole though that is just a bare pipe extending up just above where the PVC overflow skims water. So it will only kick in if the water rises up too high in the display. Just like in a normal overflow box except this emergency drain is separate from the main overflow.

Does that make sense?

Basically the emergency drain can be anywhere as long as it leads back to the sump and is above the water level of the main drain.

It has been done by a guy on RC on a 180G tank (I think). He says its dead silent and he has a coast to coast overflow. Not really seen in the tank.

I wish I had the second hole! That is my favorite way to plumb a tank by far. It really is dead silent.

The lights.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture003-2.jpg

I just made a simple box to retrofit lights I already had. Dual 400 watt Metal Halide and 2 - 24 watt Actinic T5's.

Overkill for a shallow tank but so far so good. I love them and my corals really seem to be happier than ever. I am running the 14K bulbs 8 hours a day and Pure Actinics 12.

Originally I hung the fixture from the ceiling but I felt uneasy because it is a bit heavy and the ceiling is concrete. Getting a good anchor in it was hard. Oh and ceilings are 14' tall in my place so the cables were really long and just didn't look right.

I rigged up a way to use the fixture I built though in a unique way. I will post pics soon of how I did it. I absolutely did not want a canopy this time.

Anyone have any ideas for reflectors to replace those ones? It would need to be something that has the same footprint to fit where those ones are. They are not great and I want to chnage them eventually.

Yeah I was referring to your lack of a second hole sorry should have mentioned that. 14 foot ceilings does make it tough. can you mount the canopy to the wall so it cantilevers out over the tank? I was going to do this but the wife vetoed and made me go the fixture route...

Oh ok...I misunderstood.

No I don't want to drill onto the walls. They too are solid concrete and then finished with a thin coat of a nice concrete that crumbles really badly when you drill them.

In the first pic you can see a plam tree. That thing is 10' tall. So gives you an idea of the height.

I will get pics of what I have done with the light tomorrow. I think its ok but am looking for new ideas.

Is this similar to how some people are using a T near the end of their drain line to get air out and hopefully keep everything a bit quieter?

Advice?

Red is where air would be escaping the drain.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...mith/quiet.jpg

So if that would work ^^

Would this work just the same? Anyone know if this is how "T"'s are used to keep things quiet going into the sump?

I really can't remember but I know its something kind of like this. Or is it pointless to have both the "T" at the top of the drain and near the bottom?

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...npsmith/V2.jpg

I wouldn't mind getting this glued tonight if someone knows...

I've never tried it but I think if nothing else, that the worst case scenario you have to account for is that the lower T may need a pipe that goes all the way back up to the top to ensure water will never come splashing out of it. I suppose even if it did it would just empty into your sump so maybe it's not a big deal.

Sorry, I probably shouldn't reply to a thread when my answer really can be boiled down to "DUH, I actually don't know, DUH" but I thought I'd throw my two bits in.

Tank build looks great. Can't wait to see the results of your drain idea.. Why not just try it dry fit for now (yeah, the joins will leak a tiny bit but it would be enough to tell you if your idea is workable or not.. ??)

Yeah I am going to dry fit first but I was hoping to just kind of find someone who had done this. I remember seeing someone on RC had done this to keep the water emptying into the sump quieter. I just don't remember how it worked exactly.

I think I will just try everything without the T first and then see if I even need it.

This is the rubbermaid sump I am using. You can see, not much space to work with but at least I was able to get a 30G sump out of it. On the shelf to the left is a bucket that will be the Auto Top off (kalk). I would have preferred to keep using the garbage can I have been using for auto top off but there was no where to put it this time. Oh well...better than nothing I guess.

Not much else yet. You can see the drain plumbing on the right is not done. I have no idea at his point what I want to do with that.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics129.jpg

And this is the overflow in the tank. You don't see it at all when viewing unless you are looking for it.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics139.jpg

This gives a good idea of how small it is. Hopefully it is relatively quiet too but I have my doubts.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics131.jpg

You can also see in that last pic the "rails" that are supporting the lights. I may stick with this since I don't mind it but I will put a face on the front. I am also going to put it on a track that will allow it to slid back and forth across the tank.

This is what I mean by a "facing"...So it looks like a mini canopy with the light box on top.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cs1312copy.jpg

And while I am at it. A few pics of the fish. This is all the fish there will be. Yellow Tang and a pair of clowns. Eventually the tang will go in my fish only I think. We'll see how fast he outgrows this tank.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics137.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics138.jpg

This is my favorite view of the tank so far. From the left side. Everything is just very small frags at this point but growth has been really, really good actually. Most of these have doubled in size the last month.

The picture looses most of the depth of the tank but there are three small islands and one large one. Tons and tons of open space and even the back of the tank behind the rocks has corals to try to give the tank a more realistic feel. The tank would be viewable from all sides if it were not for the wall :)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...th/Pics134.jpg

This is the entire clean up crew, who even ate the clean up crew. Actually he left the Tiger tail Cucumber alone but he is the most amazing scavenger I have ever had. He does try to eat the clowns though, hopefully he will continue to fail.

He is about 6" across from leg to leg.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/Arrow2.jpg

Anyone have any advice for taking good pics of corals? The fish pics turn out fine but the corals loose most of their color whenever I take pics of them. I have no idea how to fix this but it really annoys me!

wow looking really good what is at the front of your tank right hand side bottom looks kinda purple anymore pics of that?

Yeah its a purple photosynthetic gorgonian. I will get some pics of it tomorrow. Its been getting more and more purple as the months go on. I have been super happy with that one. It grows very fast too for a gorgonian.

Hopefully I will get the plumbing going tomorrow and then decide on a skimmer. I have not decided yet because I need to see how much room I have.

It will be nice to get the refugium going on this tank though right away. There have been no nutrient or algae problems even without it but it can't hurt.

cool chair...where did you get it?

The airport??? :p

Hey,

The drain type you're looking for would be an "external durso". The idea of the T off the back of the tank, with an air vent is to create a tunnel of air down the center of the pipe, so the water flows quietly down the pipe; this won't be silent, but quiet.

If you're not running the T or air-flow into the pipe, and just a 90, then you would be trying to create a syphon (herbie) which you cannot do with that type of overflow.

Do you have plans for a backup drain?? :idea:

I cannot find the proper picture of the bottom drain for in-sump that I was thinking of... but this is something similar: (found on nano-reef)

http://www.daemonfly.com/images/2.5g/lowerdurso.jpg

Thanks. You can do a herbie with this overflow but you need a second hole drilled. I have seen it done and it works the exact same as a regular herbie. So its just in my case that it can't be done.

Off the back of the bulkhead is a T for airflow. I am also wondering though about putting a T somewhere near the bottom. I know some people were apparently doing this to make things even quieter but I can't remember why or how?

Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

Yeah that link is basically what I am talking about I think.


The only thing I worry about with that one is how the water drains down to a "U" and then back up. I don't like the idea of having anywhere in the drain line with back pressure or a place for things to get stuck easily. I think I will do something like this but without that "U" in there.

Thanks again, that gives me a good idea.

Plumbing is always interesting, one thing I've seen posted on RC about durso style, is they quiet down over time once you get a 'slime coat' on the inside of your pipes. My nanocube is running a 1" herbie and is almost dead quiet. It makes splashing noise entering the overflow box though, hopefully going to fix that tonight :)

Not sure if you saw this link I posted in some other threads, but it's a very neat concept I'm going to put on my 75g;

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/s...ow-system.aspx

Yeah I agree, there is a different style... but I cannot find the diagram for the life of me! I think I have it in my favorite's at home though...

So whats the plan for backup drain? :razz:

No back up drain since I am not doing the herbie. Just the traditional single drain plumbing. Same as if say I bought an already drilled tank from the store with a single overflow.

You don't need an emergency as long as the drain keeps up with the pump. The reason for the emergency with the herbie style is because you are restricting the drain pipe so much that all kind of stuff could get stuck in there. Although on my big tank, the herbie is dead quiet and nothing has ever been stuck in it. The emergency drain is never used.

But I am sure you already know that :)

You just need to adjust the valve to get the water level higher and eliminate the splashing. With mine, it doesn't even look like water is going over the overflow I have matched it up so perfectly.

I was under the impression that the flow rate through a durso can change very easily, especially caused by salt creep blocking the air vent.

Personally I'm just a paranoid freak when it comes to a tank overflowing! Knock on wood I've never had a spill yet! I just prefer to have a measure of safety, "just in case".

Man I would love to have a cube tank... or a shallow cube like yours :)

Haha, you're killing me with this "I post 2", "You post 2" !!

The problem with the nanocube is I'm using the built in 'false wall', which has three chambers .. the center chamber runs at a different height (which has the drain), than the chamber where the water enters..

I'll post pics once it's all done, and I'll resist hi-jacking your thread :drinking:

Oh I see....yeah thats a tricky one then. Do you have an idea of how to deal with it?

The flow rate can and will change with any drain but as long as the drain can handle the maximum flow your pump can put out then your fine. In my case, the pump is so small it will never be a problem. So the only other problem really is things getting into your plumbing like snails and clogging it up. Which of course would flood your display. But with mine, there is no way anything big enough to clog a 1-1/4" pipe can get through that small opening in the overflow, so anything that may get into the overflow should just end up in the sump. If I had a herbie though, it would probably get stuck in the gate valve and slow the drain down making the water level in the display rise. The herbies are just much more sensitive to things getting into the plumbing because of the restriction. I love them though and wish I had the second hole for an emergency drain!

This is the drain plumbing coming off the back of the tank.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture005-1.jpg

And here is what I decided to try near the end of the drain. Just another durso type thing. I don't know if it will do much but I seem to remember people doing this and saying it was quieter. I think I will cap it still and drill some smaller holes in the cap like the other one.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture007-1.jpg

Anyone using this stuff? Does it regenerate well? I bought it because I like the idea of being able to recharge the media. Hopefully its worth $50!

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...cture008-1.jpg