15g acrylic sps cube

spikehs · #1 10-30-2009, 02:34 PM

Might be a bit early to start a thread on this but why not. My goal is to keep things very simple and equipment to a minimum. Here are the specs so far:

Tank:
16x16x14 acrylic cube made by macilwu on ebay.
- 4x4 overflow
- 1 return drilled in the center of the tank.

Lighting:
150w viper MH, bulb is 14k. Since the tank might get kinda hot with that I purchased two solar powered fans off of ebay for $10, to be powered by the MH. Not sure if they'll work as well as I hope, but they were cheap enough to experiment with.

Filtration and Flow:
One Rena XP3 will provide flow and filtration for the tank. Its rated at 330gph, filled with media I was thinking it'd provide about 200gph? That should turn my tank over roughly once every 5 minutes. It will be plumbed from the overflow, and then return through the hole in the center of the tank. In the filter I will have carbon/phosphate remover / etc, to help keep the water really polished and clear.

Top Off:
Will have a reeffanatic auto top off hooked up to a 10g reservoir of kalk.

Controller:
RK2. I'm going to have the auto top off hooked up to a timer here, set to the bare minimum needed to top off the tank. This way if BOTH float switches fail, the tank wont overflow as the timer will cut off. It'll take some experimentation as to how long to keep it on.

Rock: Got all my rock from bulkreefsupply, will not have any live rock. Going for a minimalist approach, with a small island in the center (covering the return from the filter).

SPS: I'm going to use just frags, and keep it to a minimum (3 or 4) so they can grow out nice and big.

Fish: Zero idea at this point, but I want to keep the number low and to hardier types.

sphelps · #2 10-30-2009, 03:46 PM

If that solar panel doesn't work out for you and you're up for trying something a little different you could power a small fan with the heat generated by the halide. It's called thermoelectric and all you need is a Peltier plate which you'll mount to a hot spot on your light fixture and it will generate a small amount of electricity, should be enough to power a small computer fan. The whole system will probably be smaller and less noticeable.

A Peltier plate looks like this:

You may need a heat sink on the one side to increase the heat flow through the plate.

spikehs · #3 11-02-2009, 12:55 AM

interesting... the viper MH does throw off a lot of heat, i wonder how well this would work? Could I wire it directly to a computer fan, or would I need something in-between, other than a heat sink?

sphelps · #4 11-02-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spikehs

interesting... the viper MH does throw off a lot of heat, i wonder how well this would work? Could I wire it directly to a computer fan, or would I need something in-between, other than a heat sink?

Should be able to wire it right to the fan.

spikehs · #5 11-11-2009, 07:20 AM

Some pics of the construction, pics aren't the greatest quality. Should be here end of next week.. so two weeks from final order to delivery, not bad. He included an overflow cover, no charge.

lastlight · #6 11-12-2009, 04:57 AM

That's a pretty tank for sure. I also like your simple game plan and keeping it to a handful of corals. I have similar plans (frags mostly and keep my colony count down) only scaled up a few notches.

banditpowdercoat · #7 01-06-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphelps

If that solar panel doesn't work out for you and you're up for trying something a little different you could power a small fan with the heat generated by the halide. It's called thermoelectric and all you need is a Peltier plate which you'll mount to a hot spot on your light fixture and it will generate a small amount of electricity, should be enough to power a small computer fan. The whole system will probably be smaller and less noticeable.

A Peltier plate looks like this:

You may need a heat sink on the one side to increase the heat flow through the plate.

I know pelt's cool on one side, and give off heat on the other when electricity APPLIED to them. never knew they could generate elec as well???? All those 12V Koolatron coolers use pelt's. I used to use them in hardcore computer overclocking. it's neat watching it get Ice cold as you apply electricity to it

Edit, used google AFTER I posted LOL. NEAT!!!

PS Awesome Tank

lastlight · #8 02-07-2010, 02:37 AM

ok seriously...you're too old to be babysat.

what gives?

spikehs · #9 02-08-2010, 01:56 PM

Ha! I'll see if I can get some pics tonight, although there isn't a lot to see. Got water/rocks and a couple of damsels in there (decided, for now, to go with cheap fish)

Having a terrible microbubble problem though, perhaps with some pics people will be able to give me some suggestions, cause its driving me nuts.

spikehs · #10 02-14-2010, 04:00 PM

F@#$! No pics for a while now, because I'm an idiot. Was changing the filter and didn't have a backup valve on it, snapped the handle and dumped ALL the tank water onto my floor. Managed to get it absorbed without too much damange, but now every single banked is soaked, my rug is toast. I suppose it could have been worse, as it didn't leak to the downstairs condo (I dont think).

Lesson learnt. I wan't to grab an eheim pump today to replace it. I would assume Golds has the best prices?