Well i have had this set up with the ponies for a while and figure it would be nice to add some water volume and a place to add some extra rock/fuge. this would help keep the tank a little more stable add some space for the pods to flourish, hide some of the equipment and use the damn cpr cs-50 that i can't sell
Equipment:
Biocube 29 and stand
Reefkeeper light controller, with sl2 unit.
maxi jet 1200 for return (might bump it up to a tunze 1073.02)
Bubble magus 3.5 cone skimmer
tunze osmolator
and other necessities (tlf reactor with bio-pellets, heater etc.)
so first thing is first. since i would be taking out the shelf that is in the stand i had to figure out a way to mount the electronics in the inside of the tank. i took some eggcrate and made a decent little wall that i zip-tied all components to.while they are all still near the water i think i have spaced them far enough away to avoid potential damage. i might string some poly in front of them to prevent agains splashes.
that takes care of that problem!.
Next i was on a mission to find a sump that would fit in the stand that would not cost me an arm and a leg. I checked all of the lfs around here and was initially going to go with a 5 gallon aquarium. I was directed towards industrial paints and plastics to find a water holding tank for boats. found one for about 30 bones.
next hooked up all of the plumping with some 1/2 pvc for the return and 3/4 pvc for the overflow...
Ripped out all of the 1/2 pvc because it was really damn loud, still debating switching the 3/4 inch for some flexline because you can hear the bubble flow all the way down.
after that was all done i installed a float switch to kill the return pumps if the tank water level gets too high. I have heard horror stories of the cpr overflows for breaking siphon because they use an aqualifter. this way if the siphon does not start the pump will turn on and off in a wave maker type motion keeping the water in the tank.
I will grab some more picture when the skimmer stops pumping out micro-bubbles and when i have cleaned up the electronics a little bit better.
