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The Ultimate CUBE ! 280g...The obsession continues...


cbort

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My obsession of cubes has finally reached it's peak…so far I have had:

 

40g custom acrylic cube 24x24x16T:

 

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80g Oceanic semi cube 36x30x18T:

 

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30g custom acrylic cube 24x24x12T:

 

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57g custom shallow cube 36x36x12T:

 

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Now that you have seen my previous tanks and witnessed my obsession with the cubes....On to my new Ultimate CUBE...

 

 

This is the tank before we tore it apart and brought it home:

 

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This is how i got the tank home:

 

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Here is the tank off of my Durango:

 

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Now for the SPECS and PLANS for the new Ultimate CUBE

 

Tank:

48x48x28T 1/2" custom acrylic cube. The tank has an external overflow with a 2" drain and is drilled for a CL.

 

Lighting:

The cube will have 2-ATI 48" 10 bulb Powermodules hanging over it. 20 TOTAL BULBS !!

 

Flow:

The cube will be fed with an Iwaki 1200gph return pump, and 2 CL systems:

System 1 will be powered by a Dart 3600gph pump and will be returned through a Ocean Motion 4-way through the bottom of the tank.

System 2 will be powered by a Dolphin 3600gph pump and will be returned through 4 Ocean Motion Revolutions through the top of the tank.

 

Sump

The sump that i will be using is a 30x20x18T custom made acrylic tank. It will hold my skimmer, the filter socks and a refugium.

 

Frag tank

I will be using my 57g custom glass 36x36x12T cube as my frag tank. It has the perfect height for a frag tank and has a lot of room for lots of frags!

 

Water Storage

My water storage will consist of a 55g drum freshwater storage container and 2 salt mixing tanks. Both are custom 45g acrylic tanks.

 

 

Vision

This tank will be located in my "man cave" in my finished basement. A fish room will be located on the backside of this room to house all filtration, frag tanks, water storage and misc. fishy items.

This tank will be viewable from 3 full 48"x28" sides. I would like each view to be a "main viewing" side. On most of my tanks i just worry about what the view from the front looks like and the sides get left out and don't turn out the way i would like. So when building the rockwork I will keep this in mind. The rock work is going to be minimalistic with lots of branches, overhangs, arches and small caves. I plan to keep it open for swimming room. The tank will be stocked with everything from Acans to Zoas and everyhing in between.

 

 

Hope to have more updates daily let me know what ya think! :)

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Man those are some serious tanks!!! I wish I had the room for those size tanks. I can just imagine the looks you got going down the street with that cube on top of your durango. I would have followed you to your house if I saw that on the road. It looks like a clear hot tub,lol. Im following this one on its stocking journey!!!!!

 

Where do you live so I can come see your man gave..... good luck with the build!

 

didnt mean to hit reply on that previous post... sorry guys

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GUDAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice cube!!!!!!! that beast is sick!!!

im gona be follower on this thread!!! cant even beigin to imagin how this thing is gona look complete!!!!!

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Light Fixtures

 

I have always wanted a 48"x48" cube, so when I purchased my lighting i kept that in mind. I tried out a 36" nova fixture on a previous cube and really like thed bulb combinations of the T5 type bulb. I also wanted a fixture that held as many bulbs as possible so that i could utilize the endless possibilities of bulb combinations. Lastly i knew i would need 2 fixtures to completely cover a 48"x48" area. So....i my selections became pretty narrow with all of this in mind and i ended up going with:

 

2- 48" ATI 10 bulb Powermodule T5 fixtures

 

 

Fixture #1

 

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Fixture #2

 

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Paleoreef103

Holy @#$% ! That tank is huge! Any evidence of bowing on that bad boy? 1/2" acrylic seems a bit thin for a 28" tall tank. Awesome equipment though. I'm keeping my eye on this one.

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ok, Offically JEALOUS as hell!!! I cannot wait for more on this! This is the EXACT size of my dream tank....

 

Ok, I got the paper and pencil out to take notes.....

 

I would love to hear where the tank came from, your budget, and your plans.....

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It's big!

 

Ya i has taken over the man cave!

 

Man those are some serious tanks!!! I wish I had the room for those size tanks. I can just imagine the looks you got going down the street with that cube on top of your durango. I would have followed you to your house if I saw that on the road. It looks like a clear hot tub,lol. Im following this one on its stocking journey!!!!!

 

Where do you live so I can come see your man gave..... good luck with the build!

 

didnt mean to hit reply on that previous post... sorry guys

 

I am in Iowa, you are invited anytime! Thanks for the compliments!

 

Holy crap this is gonna be SICK!!!!!!!!!!

 

I hope so ! :P

 

Definitely following along.

 

Thanks, i will try and keep updating daily!

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Welcome to my man cave...Not too much to look at as of right now. (we are just finally closing on our new house) But it has the “man cave” essentials aquarium, plasma, beer! The tank is sitting pretty much where i will be building the stand. I put one of the two ATI units over the cube to light it up for pictures.

 

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Here is where my corals are currently sitting...This room is directly behind where the cube is sitting now. It is going to be the new fish room! ATI fixture number 2 is currently hung over the soon to be frag tank!

 

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Holy @#$% ! That tank is huge! Any evidence of bowing on that bad boy? 1/2" acrylic seems a bit thin for a 28" tall tank. Awesome equipment though. I'm keeping my eye on this one.

 

 

When i went over to the guys house to pick it up it was actually filled and running. Looked great, it has bracing all around the top. I don't think i will have any problems in that department. Thanks for the compliments!

 

Wow this cube looks amazing! Cant wait for the next one 800 gallons! ha

 

 

Actually my ”if i was a millionaire“ tank would be a 96x96x30T...I better go buy a lottery ticket! :)

 

WOW, that 40g is sweet the 280 is going to be INSANE.

 

Thanks! I really hope i can make this one as nice as the 40g. Tho the 40g was pretty darn full! :)

 

GUDAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice cube!!!!!!! that beast is sick!!!

im gona be follower on this thread!!! cant even beigin to imagin how this thing is gona look complete!!!!!

 

Thanks! I will update often!

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ok, Offically JEALOUS as hell!!! I cannot wait for more on this! This is the EXACT size of my dream tank....

 

Ok, I got the paper and pencil out to take notes.....

 

I would love to hear where the tank came from, your budget, and your plans.....

 

 

Thanks!

 

The tank came from a guy in the KC area that actually built this tank himself. Tho he was helped by a guy named Scott who owns ASD of KC who builds tanks for a living. The tank came out really really good! Little to no bubbles on the seams.

 

For my budget, what ever my wife says yes to! :) I already have about 200-300lbs of LR 4-5 pieces that don't hardly fit in 5 gallon buckets, and tons the size of footballs, softballs and baseballs. I have lots of corals, fish, and sand. For pumps and equipment that is going into my fish room, i have pretty much already collected. The only things i am missing at the moment is the water storage tanks, the Ocean Motion, possibly 1 more CL pump, and some plumbing. All of which will be picked up in about 2 weeks at an unbelievable price. The price for the tank/stand/canopy cost me very little. Since the guy was getting out of the hobby (300.00). To put together this entire setup i am not even gonna guess. All i know is if i were going to go out tomorrow to buy all of this my wife would probably make me choose between her and tank....

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First stages of the stand build are done. There will be 2 more vertical braces on each left and right side of the stand. I got all 4 corners done and wanted to see if i like the height...Turned out pretty good, i will have about 1-2 feet worth of space to work with above the tank. Not what i am used to but i will adjust to the change. :)

 

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looks good...... are you painting it? staining it? or just leaving it as is?

 

oh, i am far from done. It will get skinned, trimmed and doors added eventually then it will get stained an ebony black!

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ive been following this build over at r2r as well.... very nice and I cant wait to see what you do with this cube...

 

How do you go about "designing" your cube aquascape? Curious as all of your tanks seem to have a different look, but always turn out looking great

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ive been following this build over at r2r as well.... very nice and I cant wait to see what you do with this cube...

 

How do you go about "designing" your cube aquascape? Curious as all of your tanks seem to have a different look, but always turn out looking great

 

 

Thanks for the wonderful compliments!

-all of my tanks are very very well planned out before hand....But never end up they way they were planned! :P I draw it all up on paper but once you begin laying the rocks in place it always takes a different shape.

 

For this tank i have a few different ideas...

1.) from above you see a capital letter I with the bottom curving a bit towards the corners forming 3 canyons on each viewing side

2.) placing the rock so that when you look from above you can see a letter X in the sand. So basically the fish could swim from each corner of the tank to the other. Essentially 4 stacks of rocks each at different heights.

3.) a large U shape with the bottom of the U against the back wall coming forward leaving a deep valley in the center.

4.) finally my most favorite reefscape of all time:

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I would do something just a bit different since zoas are my favorite coral and i would use that wall of rock on the leftside as my zoa-cliff. I would place that wall about 7-8's away from glass and create shelfs with a different color of zoa on each shelf....

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