Pak's 7.5g Rimless Cube

[ccapasso]

Thanks for the pics and explanation of your sump! Very helpful.

 

I put a response to your comment in my thread as well.

 

Thanks again.

[asstastic]

your sump confuses me? why are there teeth on that one part is there is holes on bottom? what is point of bubble trap if thats not where drain or return is?

[SnakPak]

your sump confuses me? why are there teeth on that one part is there is holes on bottom? what is point of bubble trap if thats not where drain or return is?

 

There are teeth and holes on the same side. The holes on the bottom are to connect the return section to the fuge. So if I didn't have the holes there, only the water in the return section would drop down from evaporation. It's a small section of water, so it would be subject to quicker water level drops. By connecting the fuge and return section through the bottom, I've essentially made the entire sump subject to evaporation and won't require an ATO that is constantly running to keep up with the evap. I took this idea from Mr. Microscope's thread on his cube 7.5 gal sump.

 

You must not have read my post explaining why my drain line was positioned in the fuge. It's temporary. I didn't have anything to connect my return pump to the fuge to circulate the water, so for the time being I moved the tank farther back in my stand so that it drains into the fuge directly over the chaeto for circulation.

 

I have an open tee right now from the return line that is just pumping water back into the return section. It's a very small connector (airline hose small) and I'm planning on using this to feed the fuge for very minimal flow. Once I do that, I will move the tank forward so that the drain is back in the proper position. I goofed on my teeth size when I cut them and right now they aren't long enough to be functional if I still want to use the bubble trap (which doesn't do much anyways in my case).

[asstastic]

ahh now i get it

[Reef Casa]

no more bare bottom?

[SnakPak]

no more bare bottom?

 

No, I decided to go back to sand. I had a love/hate affair with bare bottom. It was awesome because it was super easy to keep detritus in the water column for filtering, but at the same time, I was growing tired of the look.

 

I did notice though when I removed the rocks to take the tank down for drilling that there was a massive build-up of detritus underneath them. It was very surprising to see actually considering I had my flow turned up pretty high with the MP10.

[SnakPak]

No crazy new updates. I have noticed that my feather duster is MIA. I'm not sure if he died or if he moved out of his tube or what, but he hasn't shown himself in a while now. Not going to lie, I miss the little bugger. He was definitely an attractive feature of the tank.

 

Aside from that, I did a small re-scape as the MP10 was blowing stuff around like crazy. Ended up having my frogspawn on top of a lot of my corals, which caused some tissue loss unfortunately. My green encrusting SPS took the brunt of it and isn't fairing so well. I hope it recovers as it was coloring up wonderfully under the AIs.

 

I'll try to get some photos up with the new scape.

[chippwalters]

What kind of sand did you use? Was it too fine or would you rather have had coarser, heavier sand? Have you been able to find a setting where you didn't blow everything around?

[SnakPak]

What kind of sand did you use? Was it too fine or would you rather have had coarser, heavier sand? Have you been able to find a setting where you didn't blow everything around?

 

Chipp,

 

I'm using CaribSea Reef Sand. It's a little heavier grade, but the undertow in this tank is pretty strong and always sucks the sand back towards the pump. I'm not running my MP10 that high, I don't think it even hits the half-way point on the dial.

 

Previously I was getting all the sand sucked out from the middle of the tank, now it's in the middle front as you can see in the pic below. I've got my frogspawn anchored now with a couple of small pieces of live rock, so hopefully it won't move again. If it keeps moving the sand around, I might have to either dial it down or position it a little higher.

 

March 10, 2012 FTS White balance is a little off as my sky-light in the house dumps a lot of natural sunlight right onto the tank.

[JayPagi]

Still looking great Pak!

[Jmifland]

Would you be able to post a picture of the stand you are using? I saw you post on another thread with a link to the shelf you are using but I am curious how you made yours look. You said you have a door on it but I don't see that one comes with what you linked so I would like to compare your stand with the IKEA MICKE stand.

 

You tank looks great and I am planning the exact same setup. Which overflow/return did you pick from glass-holes? I was looking into the 1/2" return kit and the super nano overflow box with teeth.

[SnakPak]

Would you be able to post a picture of the stand you are using? I saw you post on another thread with a link to the shelf you are using but I am curious how you made yours look. You said you have a door on it but I don't see that one comes with what you linked so I would like to compare your stand with the IKEA MICKE stand.

 

You tank looks great and I am planning the exact same setup. Which overflow/return did you pick from glass-holes? I was looking into the 1/2" return kit and the super nano overflow box with teeth.

 

Sorry I haven't answered you. I haven't been on in a while.

 

Here is a list of the products from Ikea (All Besta products) by article #:

 

50102157 - Shelves (3) (Screwed together to make 1 large unit)

90196535 - Black glass panel (sits on top of the 3 shelves)

80105833 - Door

 

I can get some pics tonight if your're still interested.

[SnakPak]

Well, I had my first tank disaster yesterday. Sometime during the day, the power went off in the house. No big deal, I had planned for that sort of thing. I took all the necessary precautions in setting the water level in the sump so that it would not overflow when everything shut down.

 

So when my wife called me yesterday and said there was water everywhere, and that the water in the display tank was all the way to the top, I was completely baffled. Surely there was no possible way my overflow had failed or become blocked. When I got home, there literally was water everywhere. The sump was extremely low, my top off water was empty and I could see no sign of what caused a failure. What really puzzled me was the sheer amount of salt residue on all my plumbing. Considering that I had so much water on the stand, I needed to tear down everything to make sure everything dried out.

 

So I started tearing down the tank. Drained it almost completely, started removing the plumbing. Removed the cover to the drain in the overflow box, then took the overflow box off. As I was putting it aside, low and behold, a hermit crab in the largest shell I have plopped out. Curse you little hermit, curse you!! I have no idea how he squeezed in there, but he did it. My error was putting a live rock too close to the overflow box, therefore allowing him to even get into it.

 

Lesson learned.

[chippwalters]

Well, I had my first tank disaster yesterday. Sometime during the day, the power went off in the house. No big deal, I had planned for that sort of thing. I took all the necessary precautions in setting the water level in the sump so that it would not overflow when everything shut down.

 

So when my wife called me yesterday and said there was water everywhere, and that the water in the display tank was all the way to the top, I was completely baffled. Surely there was no possible way my overflow had failed or become blocked. When I got home, there literally was water everywhere. The sump was extremely low, my top off water was empty and I could see no sign of what caused a failure. What really puzzled me was the sheer amount of salt residue on all my plumbing. Considering that I had so much water on the stand, I needed to tear down everything to make sure everything dried out.

 

So I started tearing down the tank. Drained it almost completely, started removing the plumbing. Removed the cover to the drain in the overflow box, then took the overflow box off. As I was putting it aside, low and behold, a hermit crab in the largest shell I have plopped out. Curse you little hermit, curse you!! I have no idea how he squeezed in there, but he did it. My error was putting a live rock too close to the overflow box, therefore allowing him to even get into it.

 

Lesson learned.

 

Ouch! Everyone's nightmare. It's a constant worry for me with my DIY HOB overflow. Of course the same can happen with a single bulkhead overflow (like what I'm using on my 60F). Have you thought about drilling yours while it's down?

 

 

Would you be able to post a picture of the stand you are using? I saw you post on another thread with a link to the shelf you are using but I am curious how you made yours look. You said you have a door on it but I don't see that one comes with what you linked so I would like to compare your stand with the IKEA MICKE stand.

 

You tank looks great and I am planning the exact same setup. Which overflow/return did you pick from glass-holes? I was looking into the 1/2" return kit and the super nano overflow box with teeth.

 

You should consider drilling yours instead of HOB (if possible). Ask around, you may find someone to drill it for under $30.

[SnakPak]

Ouch! Everyone's nightmare. It's a constant worry for me with my DIY HOB overflow. Of course the same can happen with a single bulkhead overflow (like what I'm using on my 60F). Have you thought about drilling yours while it's down?

 

 

 

 

You should consider drilling yours instead of HOB (if possible). Ask around, you may find someone to drill it for under $30.

 

Mine's drilled. I'm using the glass holes 1" overflow kit with a 1/2" return kit. It was much easier drilling than I thought it was going to be, though a bit nerve racking.

[SnakPak]

So I've been MIA for a while now. I guess it's a good time to provide some updates. After some serious slacking on water changes, I'm now battling high phosphates and red cyano. I should have taken a hint when I would get a massive dusting of algae on the glass after only a day or two after a water change, but decided to be an idiot and ignore the warning signs. Cyano bloomed like whoa and I've been doing massive water changes to try to drop the phosphate level down. So far this week I've changed out 10 gallons of water and will probably do another 4 gallon change tomorrow.

 

I have added some new inhabitants this week though now that the tank is starting to look a lot better. I finally purchased a maxi-mini nem and I'm in love with it. I've always wanted one and now I want more. I also added a few frags of monti caps (tyree blue polyp, green polyp, a yellow piece that supposedly has purple polyps), a toadstool and red goniopora. I also picked up a pom pom crab, though he has disappeared from sight since his introduction. Everything looks fantastic right now.

 

The tank is now sporting mangroves, shaving brush plants and in the refugium I added some other macroalgaes.

 

The only thing that is really suffering is my green goniopora. It's been closed up for a very long time and only extends for a short period in the morning. I have a feeling it's due to the high phosphate level, so I'm hoping all my water changes will eventually allow it to open back up to it's true beauty. It still is one of my favorite corals in the tank.

 

I have been considering purchasing a phosban reactor to keep the phosphate levels in check. Any thoughts from anyone with one?

 

I'll try to get pictures up this weekend.

[jgpico]

Wow pak the tank is lookin amazing! I'm sorry if you mentioned this earlier but I was wondering what kind of sand that is. I am working on my 120 gallon build and I think I will be going with a larger grain sand and I love the look of the sand you used. I can't wait to see the pictures you are going to post.

[jonny roks]

hey, i just read through your tank thread. Great progress.

 

I have the mp10 in both of my tanks and my 60f is a pain to get just right. Its always creating some sort of hole in the sand. i run yellow mode right below half way at the top left corner of my tank.

 

I personally run 2 reactors. A TLF with carbon and the new CPR Nano-reactor for GFO.

 

If you only wanted to get a single reactor and went with the TLF you would have to run both medias together so it would actually slight tumble the GFO. The little amount of gfo needed wouldnt work properly alone in a tlf [thats my opinion]

 

I bought the cpr nano reactor [you can see on page 14 in my thread] as a first design and was offered on ebay. im not sure if the final product was released but i am overall happy with it, it does what i need done and i rid myself of all horrible algae. Its great for small tanks that need such a little amount of GFO.

 

 

Good luck with the build ! subbed!

[SnakPak]

Thanks jonny! The MP10 is a pain, but I've found a pretty good balance so far. I might have to look into that reactor. I think I figured out that one of my live rocks was leaching phosphates back in. I had added a few pieces about a month ago and ever since the tank has been doing horrific. So I took out 1 piece and I'm waiting for my maxi mini to detach itself from the other so I can remove it. I put it directly under the center of the light the other day thinking that would do it, but it's stayed. Anyone know how to encourage a maxi mini nem to move?

[milk]

Anyone know how to encourage a maxi mini nem to move?

 

a mini banjo and mini police officer? its a hard road out there

[SnakPak]

a mini banjo and mini police officer? its a hard road out there

 

Lol, nice.

[SnakPak]

Really starting to dislike this hobby. What was once a fun, beautiful tank has quickly turned into a nightmare. I am constantly battling cyano. I have no idea what is causing it, but I've been doing water changes like a madman to no avail. I took out one very large live rock yesterday thinking it was the cause of it all. I added it about a month to month and a half ago and my problems started happening after that. Hopefully that does it..

 

Really unsatisfied with my scape (moved my shroom rock to the display tank from the sump) for more corals so its not just a bunch of bare looking rocks with some small frags. My goni is most certainly dying. I thought it could recover, but it just looks worse and worse each week. Wondering if I should even bother trying to save it anymore and just remove it from the tank altogether.

 

Actually considered yesterday just taking everything down and taking a small hiatus from the hobby. Very frustrated to say the least.

[chippwalters]

Really starting to dislike this hobby. What was once a fun, beautiful tank has quickly turned into a nightmare. I am constantly battling cyano. I have no idea what is causing it, but I've been doing water changes like a madman to no avail. I took out one very large live rock yesterday thinking it was the cause of it all. I added it about a month to month and a half ago and my problems started happening after that. Hopefully that does it..

 

Really unsatisfied with my scape (moved my shroom rock to the display tank from the sump) for more corals so its not just a bunch of bare looking rocks with some small frags. My goni is most certainly dying. I thought it could recover, but it just looks worse and worse each week. Wondering if I should even bother trying to save it anymore and just remove it from the tank altogether.

 

Actually considered yesterday just taking everything down and taking a small hiatus from the hobby. Very frustrated to say the least.

 

Ouch. So frustrating. I have a Two Little Fishies reactor with PhosGuard and it has helped considerably with algae. I still run into problems now and then. Just installed a nano skimmer and am looking to try Zeovit soon (just purchased the kit).

 

Good luck!

[JayPagi]

Pak how's the battle going?

[SnakPak]

Pak how's the battle going?

 

Well, I turned up the flow on my MP10 and it seemed to be helping. I still had some lingering cyano that just would not go away. I've been debating in my head for the last couple of weeks what I ultimately wanted to do with the tank. It was either going to be taken down and I was going to take a small break from the hobby, or I was going to do something else pretty drastic. I didn't want to give up on the hobby altogether, so I made some pretty big changes. I'll let the picture do the talking.