12"mr.aqua cube! Drilled!

[gulfsurfer101]

some recent shots. sorry low grade pics but my camera just doesn't captured pics of the boost bulb so I had to supp some actinic white light to take pics with just so they would show up.

this one is from my 30g tank.

edit:smore pics!....

[gulfsurfer101]

[Markushka]

[gulfsurfer101]

Gettin kinda tight in here and my damn rock formation on the left side came apart when I was applying the black background so this was the latest scape. I know I need to clean up the wires but I plan to move my bigger tank to theliving room and finish up on this one. I might still add an overflow to sump, just don't know yet what direction to go.

[Zepo.]

Looking good so far. I think it would look better with sand but that's just my opinion. I'm curious to see if my zoas morphed at all. I just moved the ones I sold you to my new 10g and they all got amazing colors to them under a crap 10,000k light

[gulfsurfer101]

They look 10x better in here than in my 30 under my pheonix/t5 actinics straight up. I'll see if I can get a pic up. I don't keep sand because getting it stirred up in such a small space will most likely cause some kind of unwanted spike of some kind. Besides I have gotten used to seeing all of my tanks run bb.

Edit: pic of zoas I got from zepo and some other things opening up in the mini reef system.

[gulfsurfer101]

I'm thinking of adding an overflow box to this tank and plumbing it into my 30g aio. It would give my tank more stable water parameters and give me more stocking options without worring about overloading the tank and would take care of eliminating one water change out of my weekly regimine.

[BigBad82]

I'm thinking of adding an overflow box to this tank and plumbing it into my 30g aio. It would give my tank more stable water parameters and give me more stocking options without worring about overloading the tank and would take care of eliminating one water change out of my weekly regimine.

 

Sounds like great idea if you've got the time. Great looking tank got the thread link from ur post on mine. Love the stand and the whole look in general you've gotta kind of Elos look going on!

[gulfsurfer101]

Thanks a lot but this aint no elos tank. I think I saved some serious cash by going with the mraqua tank. I just wished I waited till they went on sale. I plan on trading in some spare equip to get me a good overlflow box or two and may just add a 20t sump to both my tanks and gut my 30g aio for a bigger display area.

[BigBad82]

I'll be watching for progress

[gulfsurfer101]

I'll be posting as things progress.

[gulfsurfer101]

Big plans for this tiny tank today. I got all livestock in a busket overnight.

[gulfsurfer101]

Nother day in the busket for this tank.

[gulfsurfer101]

Here's what I've been working on lately for this tank.

and my busket

 

Got the silcone trimmed down and will finsish plumbing it to my 30g tommorrow after I get the back painted with some krylon fusion.

btw:scissors don't cut glass!

[Maeda]

I'm so glad you drilled. It looks a million billion times better already.

[gulfsurfer101]

I'm so glad you drilled. It looks a million billion times better already.

Thanks and yeah, the ac30 was like a toy. I was no where near satisfied with the tank before and am much happier with it now. I give props to Kyle over gulf cost reef for hooking me up and getting it drilled right there on the fly as I waited and scoped the place out for futre stocking plans.

[gulfsurfer101]

This was the latest fts before tearing it down to drill. I was really pleased with the rock scape and hope to get it back somewhat similar to what I have going on here. I am really suprised by how much you can do with such a small space.

[gulfsurfer101]

I couldn't get the water levels to stable out in my 30 when I ran them together so I ended up plumbing into a 20 tall temporary till I can get somewhere tommorrow without the worries of being trampled by black friday shoppers and look for a creal box or some kind of container to fit underneath such a small stand to convert into a small fuge. I also ditched the large tokota rock into my 30g as sps wasn't looking too hot from being stored away in a bucket for the last few days.

[Maeda]

I require more pictures.

[gulfsurfer101]

Will do once I finish the sump. I also am looking into fixtures that hold the bulb a little higher over the tank.

[gulfsurfer101]

So I gave up trying to find the perfect sump for this size tank and am convinced that it doesn't exist so I will have to biuld one myself at a later time. I got tired of having a 20 tall sitting in my bedroom floor as well and just painted a small 3g trashcan I bought for 2 bucks and stuck a peice of acrylic in it as a temporary divider to keep the macro from getting sucked into the return pump and that is now my sump temporarily. I was ready to keel this tank since it would't stop slurping and burping but I got it to quite down by placing a ball valve in the overflow line and restrict some of the air that was getting sucked into the drain. It worked out nicely as the tank is now near silent and I hear more action out of my 30g.

[Maeda]

.. until it overflows and you're left with a mess.

 

Try to drill another hole for a 'herbie' style overflow

 

or

 

build a durso elbow (the least effective IMO but better then nothing)

 

for a tank with a hole on the side of the tank, you have to do it like this for the herbie...

 

you don't need the internal box portion, that's largely cosmetic.

 

or this for the durso

 

----

 

and as far as your sump goes, go pickup a cheap glass tank (10g aga or 20g aga) and go to the glass shop and get some baffles cut, and silicon those in yourself. Cheap and nice sump.

[gulfsurfer101]

I basically did the herbie overflow with a my own little twist. I'll have to get pics up tommorrow to explain it propperly.

 

Edit: ok here it is, herbie with a twist of maim.

[Maeda]

I basically did the herbie overflow with a my own little twist. I'll have to get pics up tommorrow to explain it propperly.

 

K. I happened on it by accident myself many moons ago. It works awesome.

[gulfsurfer101]

I found it pretty hard to get the scape back to it's former look after adding a 2" thick overflow box in such a small tank so I busted up the remaining rocks and this is what I got.

Super ghetto sump design.

My wife said I could do whatever I wanted with my sideof the room so I did the only natural thing anybody would do and set up a couple of reeftanks.

I am still working on getting the bulb raised higher and will eventually ditch the fixture I'm using now once I'm satisfied with whatever diy fixture I can put together. You can see some very dark spots along the rear wall where I added the overflow box. If I raise the bulb about 1' higher this is no longer a problem. This tank is still a work in progress and no where near complete as of yet.