RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down

[Veng]

You know, I've seen this thread keep popping up on my notifications, and I've viewed the awesome pictures, but I haven't had a change to sit down an review the sump plans. It looks fairly cool. In lieu of me finding time to look through them, I'll offer this advice from when I built my sump. There's a reason why the off the shelf sumps are a way they are, make sure you understand that reason when you deviate from the standard design.

[RollaJase]

You know, I've seen this thread keep popping up on my notifications, and I've viewed the awesome pictures, but I haven't had a change to sit down an review the sump plans. It looks fairly cool. In lieu of me finding time to look through them, I'll offer this advice from when I built my sump. There's a reason why the off the shelf sumps are a way they are, make sure you understand that reason when you deviate from the standard design.

Thanks Veng, duly noted. I have full intension of testing the sump layout before going ahead with this design. I have seen a few sumps designed similarly before so I know something like this can work if I play my cards right. I plan on making the sump and ATO chamber out of glass but the other chambers will all be acrylic. This will allow me to do a (semi) dry run before I bust out the caulking gun and fix everything in for good. Either way I look at it the sump as a whole has to be that size so making that first will allow me the time to fine tune the internal working.

 

Also I forgot to mention preiously that my original design does not show the planned elevations of the chambers, once I get the design digitized it will make a little more sense.

[Felicia]

Nice new stuff you got! I'm glad it all arrived looking pretty good. I love that little pink pocci and the pop of red on the zoas Good luck with the sump design. I've never owned or built a sump, so I'm not particularly qualified to offer any advice on that front

[markalot]

Did you try painting the blue tort with superglue to stop the tn? Not sure how well it works on acros but I've used it on stylophora and pocillapora with great results.

[gena]

I can't wait to get it started . I'd really like to get the hard lines plumbed first though. I also have to order automotive sound deadening to cover the internal walls of the stand as well, this sump has to be as silent as humanly possible.

With some tweaking, I was able to get my sump really quiet. The noisiest part of it is the cooling fan. I really need to find a better one.

[Zia]

Woa, crazy progress on your sump design! You went bananas on that thing. Can't wait to see what it looks like all drawn out in Sketch up.

 

How's the new shipment of kandy's doing?

[RollaJase]

Nice new stuff you got! I'm glad it all arrived looking pretty good. I love that little pink pocci and the pop of red on the zoas Good luck with the sump design. I've never owned or built a sump, so I'm not particularly qualified to offer any advice on that front

Thanks, I'm glad you like the new additions, the pink Poci is definitely one of my favorites . Thanks, the sump design is comign along well, still no time to digitize it though .

 

Did you try painting the blue tort with superglue to stop the tn? Not sure how well it works on acros but I've used it on stylophora and pocillapora with great results.

I haven't tried that yet but I will make sure I give it a shot. Tomorrow after work I am planning on removing it from the rock, trimming the dead pieces off and splitting the remaining over two frag plugs. I'll use some superglue to seal off where I cut it.

 

With some tweaking, I was able to get my sump really quiet. The noisiest part of it is the cooling fan. I really need to find a better one.

With the knowledge I have obtained I think I'll be able to get it to work this time really well. I have a ton of PC fans laying around so finding a suitable pair (intake and exhaust) shouldn't be an issue. If the get to loud I'll just under-volt them from 12v to 7v.

 

Woa, crazy progress on your sump design! You went bananas on that thing. Can't wait to see what it looks like all drawn out in Sketch up.

 

How's the new shipment of kandy's doing?

Cheers mate. Yeah I think I went overboard but it should do the trick. I jest need to play around with it a little bit more before I can finalize it though. Update on the new kandy's soon, I promise .

[RollaJase]

After the tank clean Saturday morning I took care of my new additions.

 

I trimmed down the frag rocks the zoas came in on:

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And I moved the new SPS frags onto the frag rack and off of the sand:

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Here are a few new close up shots now that everything is looking happy and healthy:

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Here is the Blue Tort, not looking too good:

http://img513.imageshack.us/i/ncrj.jpg/'>

As I mentioned above, I will be attempting some surgery tomorrow after work on this one.

 

To finish up, here is a cute shot of the hermit who has taken up residence in the zoa garden. He literally spends all his time right here:
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[Felicia]

Sorry about the tort Everything else is looking great though! Hermit crabs are so goofy and cute!

[21093r53]

I like your tank

[RollaJase]

Sorry about the tort Everything else is looking great though! Hermit crabs are so goofy and cute!

Yeah its a bit of a shame. I performed surgery last night and cut out about 1/3 of the dead tissue. I thin sealed any cuts with super glue as Mark suggested. Hermits are goofy, cool little characters to have in a tank though. Lots of people complain about them but I have never had an issue.

 

I like your tank

Thank you, glad you like it .

[gena]

Oh...I hope the surgery works for you!!!! Pictures turned out great!!!! I'm not a big SPS fan, but seeing your SPS turns me into one. I love your zoa garden too.

[Gramophone]

 

This makes me smile

 

Tank is looking great! Good luck with that tort. I know how finicky they can be.

[RollaJase]

Oh...I hope the surgery works for you!!!! Pictures turned out great!!!! I'm not a big SPS fan, but seeing your SPS turns me into one. I love your zoa garden too.

Thank you Gena . SPS is definitely worth the work in my mind, it is what I have always aspired to keep in this hoby. I really liek how the zoa garden is filling in, I love the colours. So far it looks like the surgery was a success, I haven't any seen any additional tissue loss.

 

This makes me smile

 

Tank is looking great! Good luck with that tort. I know how finicky they can be.

Thank you for the kind works . Hermits are quirky crustaceans, always getting into weird places. The tort looks to be doing ok so far, there isn't any additional tissue loss that I can see.

 

 

I will have another small update after work tonight, nothing massive but I want to get in before I go away for a few days .

[gena]

Great news about the tort!!!!

 

You're going away? Business or pleasure? Either way, enjoy it.

[RollaJase]

Great news about the tort!!!!

 

You're going away? Business or pleasure? Either way, enjoy it.

Yep leave tomorrow morning bright and early, the friends I am going away with left this morning. We are heading interstate to go watch the Australian leg of the MotoGP Championship at Phillip Island which is taking place this weekend, it's about a 2,000km (1,250 miles) round trip. Downside is I have to drive the whole way there by myself tomorrow, not looking forward to 12 hours in the car. I am leaving tomorrow (17th) and wont be home until late Monday (21st).

[RollaJase]

Well a minor update as promised.

As mentioned above I am going away for a few days, road trip with the boys to see the Australian leg of the MotoGP.

 

On the sump front it is pretty much on hold for now, until I get back and have a little extra time on my hands. Next week I plan on ordering the sound deadening foam for the stand. Once this is installed I can focus on making the sump to fit the now slightly smaller internal space. Once that is done I can mount my intake and exhaust fans, add another 6 or 8 port powerboard and mount one of my spare PAR38 globes from the roof of the stand as a fuge light. The additional powerboard will be run off of a timer and will run the reactors, the skimmer and the ATO, turning them off at night for easy sleeping.

 

Besides that there is not much left to tell right now. See you all in a few days .

[Gramophone]

How was the trip? Did the tank manage without you?

[RollaJase]

How was the trip? Did the tank manage without you?

The trip was great, thanks for asking . The tank was fine thanks to the ATO and my mother and brother feeding for me while I was gone.

 

I did notice some worse then normal algae growth and over the last week and a half it has been getting worse (cleaning the glass daily out of necessity worse). I believe this is due to the Rainsfords Gobie finally kicking the bucket in the rock work somewhere. My Sea Star is also on it's last gets I think, not regenerating the limb it lost anymore and it has shrunk down a lot. It does actively hunt the glass and water surface for algae slime though. The blue tort also didn't make it .

 

As I have no RowaPhos yet I decided to bust out that media reactor I have been saving and run some of the PhosGuard (with a bit of carbon) that I purchased on sale in an attempt to lower the what I image to be quite high levels of phosphate. I rigged it up to just hang on the side of the tank and am floating the pump next to the skimmer. I'm hoping this does the trick and helps bring the algae back under control.

Here is how it looks running on the tank:

 

I will be going to the LFS to purchase some more carbon this weekend hopefully, I need to get some more carbon as well as I'm almost out so may as well make the trip.

 

In other tank news I ordered the the sound deadening foam for the stand and the filter socks that I ordered arrived. I will be purchasing some reinforcing brackets for the stand as I believe they will be required after the removal of the shelf to make room for the sump. I am also hoping the get the glass cut for the main structure of the sump soon with any luck.

[RollaJase]

Don't worry, I'm still hanging around here. Been really busy lately with work and a few other things and haven't had much time to spend on the tank.

 

I lost my starfish part way through the algae bloom, the change in conditions were probably too much for the poor guy.The reactor has helped a lot at reducing the amount of alge but I believe the PhosGuard is exhausted already. I am trying to source some GFO locally that isn't insanely expensive ($50-$60 for 1 pound/.5Kg), eBay is cheaper (about $40 shipped for BRS GFO) but I don't have the luxury of waiting for it to come in this time. I am also going to see if I can find a RedSea foundations pro test kit locally to compliment my API salt water master test kit. I plan on upgrading the API kit to a RedSea kit also but don't have the spare cash to do that right now. I'm also planning on picking up a Hanna Phosphate checker when I get some spare cash or perhaps a Salifert one as I have heard good things about that kit on the cheap.

 

I did make a trip to the LFS over the weekend and may have picked up a few new additions (I couldn't help myself). I will definitely have a picture update over the weekend, with any luck.

[jack1978]

"May have".

[RollaJase]

"May have".

Allright, yes I did make a few purchases . You will have to wait until later this week to see what I ended up purchasing though. Probably not the best thing to do with my current algae situation but I couldn't help myself .

[jack1978]

Allright, yes I did make a few purchases . You will have to wait until later this week to see what I ended up purchasing though. Probably not the best thing to do with my current algae situation but I couldn't help myself .

 

Ha ha. Story of my life.....against better judgement.

Can't wait to see them.

[RollaJase]

Well as promised, update time.

 

Last weekend when I went to my LFS to grab some carbon and a few other things for the tank I was taking a look through their tanks and almost jumped for joy. Sitting in their leather coral tank they had two clown goby (1 citron and 1 black clown). I really loved my Green Clown and had no issues with it ever nipping at the SPS pieces I had at the time. I have been on the search for a goby to replace it since it jumped. I ended up bringing both of them home with me.

The SPS are a bit stressed by the new additions (reduced polyp extension etc.) but I have not caught the two nipping at the corals at all. I am hoping the SPS will get used to the presence of the goby's and go back to normal. If things start to take a turn for the worst I may have to consider taking them back to the LFS, or removing my SPS pieces. My SPS haven't been looking too flash of late anyway, hopefully my new red sea test kits that I ordered will be able to shed some light on this. It would be quite easy for me to remove the SPS if I had to as none of the pieces are fixed to the rock.

 

The LFS also had a $5 a polyp sale on their mushies and I picked up tow pretty cool pieces:

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I am starting to stockpile some more bits and pieces for my new sump. I really need to calculate how much glass I need and get that cut soon as I would like to get everything installed in my two weeks off over Christmas.

[Felicia]

Yay! I'm glad to see an update and new photos! I love the two cute new clown gobies! And $5 was a steal for those mushrooms! They're very cool looking