Fish's new cube

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Corey

Have you thought about maybe using a thin layer of insulating foam and then covering it in fine sugar sand, I am planning on doing it with my nano, you have the asthetics of sand with the ease of cleaning like a BB.

Corey,
I have heard of people doing this before but haven't really seen any pictures of how it turned out. Definitely somthing to consider...

- Chad

[deacon hemp]

Chad even better than a foam bottom,use black sand and make a resin faux sand bed it looks really natural but its bare bottom! You would have to research on rc how to do it but ive seen them,they look good.

[Fish]

deacon,

I am also considering that. Some of the posts that I have read claim that a resin sand bed looks good at first but after the biofilm grows on it, it can't be cleaned like a BB or sifted like real sand.... ?


Here is an update on my progress. As though one hole inside the cannister filter wasn't enough , I drilled it again and added a hydor 50w heater.







I went with the hydor because it was the shortest one that I could find and I like that fact that I can just bolt it to the underside of the cannister top out of the way. I have heard mixed reviews on this heater so I will be running it with an electronic controller to manage the temp. I made the holes just barely big enough to squeeze the wires through and then used a hole tube of silicone to seal it all up - cause dang, 7.5gals would not look good on the floor of my office...

- Chad

[Fish]

Tonight I hooked up all the plumbing to the filter to do a leak/ temp test. I was so pleased with the results that I moved everything over to the cube for a couple days before moving it all to work.
Here are some pics I took while everything was still settling:


















I hope you like!

- Chad

[muck]

I like!!

[deacon hemp]

Looks tight,are you going BB or are you gonna add a thin layer of sand?

[Fish]

Thanks deacon. The testing was just done BB, but when I set it up at the office, I am going to put down a thin sand layer.

And thanks Ryan

Cheers,

- Chad

[deacon hemp]

Sorry chad another question? Is your LR made up of a few peices or is it all one peice? And same question for the 2 gal?
YGPM

[Fish]

It was made of three pieces stacked ontop of each other but when I moved it over to the cube tonight, I epoxied them all into one big piece. I think it will be a lot easier to work with now....

- Chad

[Fish]

Update:

I set up the new cube at my office this morning at 6am. It became immediately apparent that the new, larger bulkheads were not going to fit through the same electrical conduit that the 2gal did (a measurement error on my part). Right now the tank is on the edge of the desk up against one wall - hence no 360degree view . I believe that if I raise the tank up a couple inches so the bulkheads are off the desk, the hoses will fit through ok.
Aside from that setback, I am really pleased with how smoothly everything went. The flow is just right and the aquascaping turned out better than I imagined. And the look of the tank with the white sand is incredible! Ike actually looks happier and was out quite a bit today - despite the early morning trauma of being dropped on the carpet (he actually started running across the carpet and I caught him by putting down a sour cream container in front of him so he'd run inside ).
Also with Ike is a handsome little blue damsel and looks great under the 20k bulb. I promise to take a photo tomorrow.
The goals I have right now are:

1 - Moving the tank back to the original spot
2 - Seeing whether or not the single 70watt halide will be enough
3 - Keeping the sand white (I hope it stays like this forever)
4 - Figuring out the proper dosing rate for my auto topoff

Cheers,
- Chad