My Dream: 160 Oceanic Cube Build!

[flyingarmy]

Newest piece of equipment to help automate the cube. MRC Calcium Reactor, 10 lbs CO2, ARM Media and MRC Regulator w/bubble counter. I am picking up a PH controller to automate the PH soemtime this week.
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[glxtrix]

sweet deal man...I've been thinking of getting one of those...but A) the start up is too much right now and B) I'm still iffy about them. Im sure one day I'll have one on the tank.

 

[flyingarmy]

After some considerations and since I am going to clean out the refug and add it onto the system soon I have decided to put the becket skimmer in the fuge return section. Not only would this aide in skimming since the water flow is slower in the fuge and can skim more out of the water, it also gives me more room around the sump. It is getting quite packed with the addition of the Calcium Reactor and CO2 Bottle.

Opinions on putting the skimmer in the fuge return section? Slower flow, more skimming is what I have always heard!
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[stroid]

So I guess that bubble counter I gave you came in handy! Or maybe it didnt but either way nice work Mark. May need some of your help with my 100g that will be setup over the next couple months.

 

[glxtrix]

sounds good to me.

 

[haninja]

<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So skimmer in the return section means before it gets back to the main display? If so, I would actually put it in the fuge entry point. I would think you want to skim the display tank and not the goodies coming from the fuge.</span>

 

[flyingarmy]

haninja;104990 wrote: <span style="font-family: Verdana;">So skimmer in the return section means before it gets back to the main display? If so, I would actually put it in the fuge entry point. I would think you want to skim the display tank and not the goodies coming from the fuge.</span>

There is no room to put it at the beginning of the fuge. I guess it doesn't make sense to have it in the fuge since it will not be skimming all the water that goes through the system, just what gets pumped up to the fuge. I know all the water cycles throughout the system, but after thinking about it last night its not the most efficient way of skimming.

I moved things around last night, amazing how much a full 40GAL Frag tank weighs. I move it on my old 55GAL stand and I am now going to use the old frag stand as my fuge stand. Came to this conclusion after trying to move the frag system over on the existing stand. The way I proceeded was much easier. I still need to plumb the fuge into the return and overflow to/from the frag tank. I have been to 2 different Lowes looking for 1 1/4" Spaflex but they don't carry it anymore. I might have to go up to 1 1/2" and just reduce it down at the input to the sump. The cleaning of the fuge went well, as posted on another thread, I found my 5" Florida Whelk I thought had met its demise. (going into Sal's system with a 7" whelk I already passed on to him) Here are a few pic of the aftermath of last nights frenzy! You can see the QT tank I have the fish in that I picked up from beholder. A nice pair of True Percs, Royal Gamma, Watchman Goby and a Golden Coral Banded Shrimp. Thanks for reading and looking!
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[glxtrix]

sweet deal man, things are comin along nicely!

 

[flyingarmy]

Nicely but chaotic...what the picture doesn't show is the floor! Crap everywhere! I am setting up the frag table this weekend and bringing in the rolling file cabinets to organize everything. I'll be so glad once the room gets settled (so will my wife)!

 

[glxtrix]

lol, I can imagine

 

[flyingarmy]

I have found one huge flaw in having a deep tank with a canopy. It is almost impossible to rearrange, move, adjust or grab anything at the very bottom without taking the canopy off. I use tongs etc but they can handle the weight of some of the corals/rocks. And since it is a 2 person job I am thinking of making a new canopy to make this task much easier. Here is a rendering of a canopy design. It will be able to slide back to give me almost full access to the tank. Heat won't be an issue since I'll run clip on fans on the back. It will have the same lights, 400W, 2X75 VHO, 2X2W Blue Moon and I'll be adding 2X96 PC to help simulate dawn/dusk. The front is grey translucent so you can see what it looks like inside. Let me know what you think or any suggestions! Thanks for looking!
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[glxtrix]

yeah man its a PITA, i have to do the same thing with my 24" I can only imagine yours...whats yours 30"?

 

[flyingarmy]

Yep 30"...I can't even reach all the way with my arm without getting my shirt sleeve wet. Tongs work well for smaller items but anything else is almost futile! I'll use this canopy later when I permanently set the cube up when I retire.

 

[eandrews]

Your so fickle.... **** sissy....

 

[glxtrix]

wow...

 

[kevin]

I had a 30" tank (110 gallon), but it sprung a leak. When I ordered the new tank, i went with a 90 b/c it is only 24" deep. I would much rather have a wider tank than a deeper one.

 

[flyingarmy]

Wide is nice but I like the ability to see my tank from 3 side equally. The dept gives you more ability to aquascape IMHO! I've never been one to follow the norm.

 

[flyingarmy]

Update:

I had an eventful day on sunday with the 160 Cube. My LG-4 return pump has been acting up lately. When I would turn it off to feed it would take a while and even some coaxing to get it back going. I thought it might just need a good cleaning and oiling. After taking it off the system and cleaning it and adding a few drops of oil it would not start back up at all. I quickly had to retro fit a Gen-X pump as a return. (this setback honestly worked out quite well, the flow is a lower) This retro led to me having to re-plumb the return for the frag and while I was doing that it led to plumbing the fuge. Well after about 5 hours and many different configurations I finally have the fuge plumbed into the system. A big thanks to Rit for the Cheato donation. I still have to fit the light over the fuge this week. I have a 96W PC that will work just fine. I ended up switching out skimmers and putting it in the return section of the fuge. I am using a Pacific Coast 400, look a lot like a SS knock-off that can handle 400GAL. I am running it with a Rio 2100 but I definitely need the needle-wheel mod or I might just mesh mod it. I'll take some pictures tonight of the set up. This morning it still looked like a hurricane came through the fishroom! Here is a rendering of the setup as it stands right now. Thanks for looking!
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[flyingarmy]

Fuge is up and going! A big thanks to Striod for the LS and cheato. I ended up using some cheato from the old fuge that was in an area that the flatworms couldn't get to. I still could use some more LS for diversity. The skimmer is not working as well as I'd hoped in the return section of the fuge. I am going to try the Needlewheel Mod and see if that improves performance. If not, it's going into the sump or getting switched out again with the beckett. I'll just have to plumb in another bulkhead specifically for the skimmer. I might end up moving the calcium reactor, chiller pump, media reactor and ATO to the fuge just to make room in the sump for the skimmer. Thanks for looking!
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[glxtrix]

good deal man, lookin good! You free tonight for me to stop over and get that MAG?