Zer0's 25G Trimless LED Cube

[obaptista]

Hey -Great build. I just finished a build with the same tank with a glass-holes 700 and a 3/4 return. I was looking for high flow rate and a little room in case a snail or fish or other thingy blocks the overflow. For my location, even a small tank overflow would be catastrophic. That brings me to my point. I am looking at your overflow elbow pic and the reducer. I'm also looking at the hose size. It appears that you may be reducing the I.D. from the expected size that the super nano was built to use. If you are, that will slow the flow rate. This means you will have to throttle your pump or get a smaller pump and you will have no margin for error if the overflow gets blocked. Also, I find that if I reduce the flow over my GH overflow, it makes it louder.

 

Disregard if the ID is not reduced. I look forward to tagging along.

[Mr. Microscope]

This is looking fantastic! If I could make one suggestion before you fill the tank, I'd move the it a little away from the wall. I once heard a rule of thumb to give 4 inches between a tank and a wall. That way there is enough room to reach behind to be able to clean and do any maintenance including retrieving fish that jump out of the tank.

 

Good luck!

[Zer0]

Hey -Great build. I just finished a build with the same tank with a glass-holes 700 and a 3/4 return. I was looking for high flow rate and a little room in case a snail or fish or other thingy blocks the overflow. For my location, even a small tank overflow would be catastrophic. That brings me to my point. I am looking at your overflow elbow pic and the reducer. I'm also looking at the hose size. It appears that you may be reducing the I.D. from the expected size that the super nano was built to use. If you are, that will slow the flow rate. This means you will have to throttle your pump or get a smaller pump and you will have no margin for error if the overflow gets blocked. Also, I find that if I reduce the flow over my GH overflow, it makes it louder.

 

Disregard if the ID is not reduced. I look forward to tagging along.

 

Well, the elbow they gave me was 1-3/8". I used a reducer to get it down to 1". Inside diameter of the hose is 1". Shouldn't be a problem. I did the same thing on my last cube build and everything went fine and the flow was fine too. The return chamber in my sump isn't very large either, so if the drain got clogged at all, only about a gallon and a half would be poured back in to the display. Not much. Still, I'm taking in to consideration what you have said and we'll get to see what happens once I leak test the plumbing and run the whole system.

 

Thanks for the concern and thanks for following along!

 

 

This is looking fantastic! If I could make one suggestion before you fill the tank, I'd move the it a little away from the wall. I once heard a rule of thumb to give 4 inches between a tank and a wall. That way there is enough room to reach behind to be able to clean and do any maintenance including retrieving fish that jump out of the tank.

 

Good luck!

 

Yeah, I plan to put some space between the tank and wall, but not 4 inches unfortunately. I don't have THAT much space in my room, especially in the section that the tank resides. The tank already sticks out quite a bit.

[Zer0]

Alright quick update. This is what we've all been waiting for! And I am very excited to finally be able to use this technology.

 

I am the proud new owner of 24 Cree LEDs! 12 Royal Blues, and 12 Cool Whites:

 

 

 

I know that I said in a couple threads that LEDs weren't exactly old technology and were still in their testing phases, but evidence supporting otherwise has lead to me changing my mind and changing that statement. I see all these awesome tanks with LEDs, and how amazing coral coloration is under them. So with the price I got these at, I just couldn't pass up the chance to give them a try.

[Rehype]

Alright now get to work

[Zer0]

Haha gotta wait for the heatsink to arrive, which I just won on ebay btw lol. 8x8 heatsink for 23 bucks shipped. And it's black. Instead of 35 bucks from heatsink usa. I win.

 

Also, here's a couple more shots taken with a better camera then my iPhone:

 

FTS with flash:

 

 

And two macro shots of the Crees. I like the second one because it shows the LED bubble.

 

 

 

 

That's all folks.

 

Also, after thoroughly blinding myself, all of the LEDs have been tested and they all work. These things are seriously bright. And to make a correction in my previous posts, there 12 XP-G Cool Whites and 12 XP-E Royal Blues. x2 Constant current meanwell drivers.

[iDream]

[Zer0]

 

I know right!

 

 

Also want to thank evilc66! He really helped me out with choosing LEDs and god only knows how many PM's I sent him, to which he replied and helped me every time. Whether it was about LEDs or lighting in general. Great guy, knowledgeable and really nice. Thanks evil!

[Zer0]

Another update.

 

So I really wanted to get a fairly nice sized skimmer for this tank, and I was able to score the exact one that I wanted for a great price from Rehype. Bubble Magus NAC3+. It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it setup on my tank. It's also a bonus knowing it came used from his awesome shallow masterpiece.

 

So anyways, here's how it looked:

 

 

And here's how it looks now, after some hours running through a vinegar bath.

 

 

 

P.S.

He offered to clean it for me but since he was giving it to me for such a great price I told him not to worry about and that I would clean it myself. I really wanted to try out the vinegar bath to see how the results were.

 

Thanks Hype! You're the man!

[seabass]

I wish you could unscrew the main tube to clean it out better. Oh well...they work reasonably well and don't take up much space.

[Zer0]

I wish you could unscrew the main tube to clean it out better. Oh well...they work reasonably well and don't take up much space.

 

Yeah I agree. Doesn't bother me much at all though considering in a months time it will be dirty all over again lol.

[DreTheReefer]

I wish you could unscrew the main tube to clean it out better. Oh well...they work reasonably well and don't take up much space.

That's why I like the eshopps cone disassembles completely

[jonny roks]

zero zero zero, excellent job on this build. Everything is amazing so far. whats up with the rockwork? hmmm hmmm

[BOMBreef]

Very nice! I went with the same style light bar for my Mu series. I'll be following along as our builds should be up and running around the same time!

[Zer0]

zero zero zero, excellent job on this build. Everything is amazing so far. whats up with the rockwork? hmmm hmmm

 

 

Thanks Jonny! I'm keeping the rockwork under wraps until it's ready to be put in the water. Soon though, it will be revealed lol.

 

 

Very nice! I went with the same style light bar for my Mu series. I'll be following along as our builds should be up and running around the same time!

 

Yeah I love that light tree. Thanks for tagging along, and your build is awesome too!

[Rehype]

Another update.

 

So I really wanted to get a fairly nice sized skimmer for this tank, and I was able to score the exact one that I wanted for a great price from Rehype. Bubble Magus NAC3+. It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it setup on my tank. It's also a bonus knowing it came used from his awesome shallow masterpiece.

 

So anyways, here's how it looked:

 

 

And here's how it looks now, after some hours running through a vinegar bath.

 

 

 

P.S.

He offered to clean it for me but since he was giving it to me for such a great price I told him not to worry about and that I would clean it myself. I really wanted to try out the vinegar bath to see how the results were.

 

Thanks Hype! You're the man!

 

 

Np bro. You did a great job.. it super clean. You wont be disappointed that skimmer was a beast.

[Zer0]

Np bro. You did a great job.. it super clean. You wont be disappointed that skimmer was a beast.

 

Thanks dude! I really can't wait to use it. I saw the picture you posted of the really dark skimmate it pulls out in another thread, so I'm pretty syked to see it work when I start putting lots of fish in my setup.

[thewire]

Another update.

 

So I really wanted to get a fairly nice sized skimmer for this tank, and I was able to score the exact one that I wanted for a great price from Rehype. Bubble Magus NAC3+. It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it setup on my tank. It's also a bonus knowing it came used from his awesome shallow masterpiece.

 

So anyways, here's how it looked:

 

 

And here's how it looks now, after some hours running through a vinegar bath.

 

 

 

P.S.

He offered to clean it for me but since he was giving it to me for such a great price I told him not to worry about and that I would clean it myself. I really wanted to try out the vinegar bath to see how the results were.

 

Thanks Hype! You're the man!

 

nice skimmer. I wanted to get one of those but the guy i was going to trade didn't even respond back to me ..boo..so i ended up with Tunze 9010 skimmer.

[Zer0]

nice skimmer. I wanted to get one of those but the guy i was going to trade didn't even respond back to me ..boo..so i ended up with Tunze 9010 skimmer.

 

That sucks.

 

How's the Tunze so far?

[Zer0]

Another quick update.

 

Did some work on the stand today in order to finalize everything. Everything is now set and once the sump gets here, I'm going to test the entire system probably for a day, maybe two, and then get my scape, sand, and saltwater in the setup and start the cycle. Should be completely functional on Wednesday.

 

Sorry for the bad pictures, it is night time so the lighting sucks and the flash on the camera isn't good, and I was rushing a little. Moved the tank away from the wall about 4 inches as well.

 

So the first thing I did was silicone the seams in the bottom of the stand. I did this so no water could ever get in between the pieces of wood. The wood is put together pretty tight, but I did it as a precautionary measure. Just in case.

 

 

Next, I mounted all of the power strips to the back on the stand, and then plugged in my timer and set up the times. It has two outlets on it which is perfect, because now I can program the timer to keep the Royal Blue LEDs on for a half hour after the Cool Whites turn off. I will get better pictures of the setup tomorrow during the daytime. I also have one more thing to add and that is a shield to cover both power strips, in the event any splashing or water drips come near the strips.

 

 

Then, I cut off the excess conduit on my light tree. It was sticking out pretty far, so I just matched it up with the edge of the tank. Once I finish my LED fixture and I have the correct measurements, I will chop off the rest of the excess conduit.

 

 

 

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the layout of the outlets and the timer. The timer is set off to the right side of the stand and I have complete access to the controls on the timer. Everything seems to be falling in to place just as I planned.

[Rehype]

Awesome job man! Looks so clean. Can't wait till you get it filled.

[Zer0]

Thanks Hype! I really can't wait to get it filled either! So excited to finally be in the very last stages of setting this thing up.

[iDream]

I'm also excited to see what this tank has in store, and it seems like you're really motivated to finally get a tank up and running and looking great.

 

I'll definitely be watching this thread more often!

[Zer0]

Thanks bro! Glad to know you'll be watching.

[thewire]

That sucks.

 

How's the Tunze so far?

Tunze is great..it's really quiet! I love it so far! It's very light and small footprint