SeaHorse_Fanatic's new Dual RR Cube (2' & 30") Tanks Journal

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

So, finally got all the equipment and pieces for doing my dual teardown & new RR cube tank builds.

First of all, had to teardown my non-RR 2' cube that I've had going for about 6-7 years at least.



Replaced this with a RR 2' cube that I bought back from my friend Laurie "The Guy". This much traveled tank looks and works great. Fits exactly into the existing stand/setup but is Reef-Ready and now plumbed into the common sump (2' x 2' x 1' high) under the other cube tank.



My friend John giving me a hand plumbing the tanks together (usually I would do it but he volunteered and who am I to say No? )

At the same time, had to tear down my RSM 130 and tripled the volume by changing it over to a 30" x 30" x 24" semi-cube RR tank.




The stand is only 26" tall so I built a "stand" for the stand out of a 2x10 from RONA and painted black. You can see the 2x10 in the bottom right corner before I finished with the touchup painting job. Here's also the final plumbing job and it all works beautifully.



Here's the new bigger cube getting topped up with IO water.

[Tn23]

Nice setup Anthony! Time for more Coral

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Day eleven and everything seems to be doing fine.

The only casualties were a couple of sps frags (fell down into the cracks and RTNed before I could rescue them) and one small sps colony. None of these corals though were from the original two tanks but were transferred from the main 165g. Probably had a harder time adjusting from a long term stable environment to the new tank all of a sudden.

Probably the Dendros and the zoas have "enjoyed" the switch over the best out of my corals. The zoas because they were in my other sump/frag system for a couple of months waiting for the switchover. The other corals and clam, though, are doing fine as well, thank goodness.

Most of the fish seem quite happy with larger, more spacious accommodations.

Got a new flame hawk and a couple of blue-eyed cardinals from JCharles's tear down.

Have a new 3-4" cowfish for the 2' cube on special order.

Now looking for a nice Marine Betta or two and long nose hawkfish to add to each cube. If anybody has one available, please pm me.

Thanks for looking.

Anthony

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

So stayed up all night again, but this time to redo my aquascaping on my main tank, a 165g full reef with 90g wide sump. I also added a couple of large media reactors into the sump with Hydroton so I can sell off some of my spare Live Rock to create more space for a bigger skimmer and the media reactors.




Here's the open sand bed section I just created by removing the smaller rock structure that occupied this area before:






Here's the 93g (30" cube):






And finally the 2' RR cube:

http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/SH...2f514.jpg.html









Both reef tanks are only about 2 weeks old and the final result of my latest upgrades.

Thanks for looking.

Anthony

[The Guy]

These cube tanks are even nicer to see in person, Big tank looks great with the open sand area, Great job bud.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by The Guy

These cube tanks are even nicer to see in person,

I totally agree. Just can't seem to capture their true look with the camera.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

So I pulled an all-nighter to get the tank setups finished and to transfer in all my livestock, live rock and newly washed sand bed (was outside in shorts & t-shirt washing sand with my garden hose at 4 in the morning) First pics of newly set up reef -



93g Starfire RR semi-cube (30" x 30" x 24")
Black stand with 2x10 "lift"
Custom DIY LED with 10w emitters (3 blues - 445nm & 460nm) & 3 whites (6500k; 10000k; 20000k) and a single center 1w blue LED moonlight. Its got built in timers and dimmer switches on each pendant controlling blues & whites separately.



Pic of 93g cube from the livingroom side



2' RR cube

These are pics taken on Thursday morning shortly after setup was completed. Started the teardown and new builds Wednesday afternoon. Finally got to sleep around 10:30 am Thursday.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

So it's now day 4 and I've had the skimmer running for a couple of days. Here's what 2 days of skimmate looks like with my Deltec Recirc skimmer using Aquabee 2000 pump:



Pic taken by Felicia

Here's a wider view of sump section:



Have an 18w Coralife UV sterilizer and a Jebao DC6000 return pump. Will be adding a couple of media reactors containing Hydroton bioballs and ROWA phos, as well as hanging a bag of Purigen in the sump.

Here's pics of the tanks on day 4:



From my work desk - 93g RR Starfire cube



From dining room



From living room

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Here's the new RR 2' cube - day 4



Seen from the loveseat - btw, exact same pendant as used over the 93g cube hung with SS DIY hanging kit.



Seen from the couch

And here is a view of both cubes from the living room area:



Both cubes have a single Jebao WP 25 for flow.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

And here's my main display reef (165g custom Starfire with external overflow on right side with custom DIY lights (28 x 10w emitters - blues 445nm & 460nm; whites are 6500k, 10000k, 20000k) and 90g wide sump utilizing a Deltec recirc skimmer and new Jebao DC6000 return pump.







Thanks for looking.