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schgr.cube's Ultum Nature Systems 45u - tons of new coral added


schgr.cube

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20 hours ago, Theshallows said:

looks good

Thanks!

 

19 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

I think the slits in the top of the cabinet are a good call,like you said gives you some wiggle room to play with. What are you going to do for 90/45 bends in the tubing,the tubing itself or you going to use say pex elbows with hose clamps ? 

So I am just going to do vinyl tubing from the glass pipes down into the cabinet, where I will have barbed connectors for the tubing to slide over that are connected to the actual PVC for the sump plumbing. I realize now I would have to do ~1 1/4" channels though, as the 1" tubing comes to 1 1/4" OD, so maybe this isn't ideal...

 

Edit: Pretty settled on this, as I think the overflow doesn't need to move around at all, but the lily pipes for the closed loop might need to.

schgpico-0031.thumb.jpg.4057af34f1c66089bf71e93bc3e186be.jpg

 

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Just tested out the AQQA pump, it actually works damn well as a wavemaker! I need to figure out a small leak in my plumbing with that, otherwise I'll just have to throw the pump itself into the sump so a small leak isn't problematic. BUT this gives me hope that my lily pipe closed loop should work just fine. The above edit to how I am going to route through the stand should be perfect as well, so I'm going to start drilling that out tonight and prep the stand for paint.

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Prepped the stand for paint, and just threw down a coat of primer. I can't guarantee any of this will be the best job, but if I care enough about the stand long term, I'll just make a new one that really meets my needs. This is just going to be a rattle can job on a cheap used piece of furniture at this point!

 

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Picked up a cheap set of close up filters to see if I could photograph the coral a bit better, which did seem to help a tiny bit. I realize more than being able to get close up to the coral enough, I honestly just can't seem to get the colors on the AI Prime to my liking for photos.... I had this issue on the IM10 that I had way back, and was able to photograph WAY better on the NanoBox Reef that I had.

 

Honestly, I just kind of miss that light in general... I might try to sell my AI and buy one of them again, or trade or something. It is the light I was definitely the happiest with overall out of anything I've owned.

 

Anyway, the only two photos I got that were okay... I feel like my photography skills have just gone way downhill on reefs lol.

 

schgpico-0033.thumb.jpg.07dc87f7cf4eadfe74f495a84dad56a9.jpg

 

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Dude,I know the feeling. I was so unhappy with the prime spectrum. I felt like it was always missing something. My DIY light I made last was basically perfect,looked like a even smaller Radion G5. But had a better spectrum. 

 

 Pics still look good though,don't down yourself too much. 

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4 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

Dude,I know the feeling. I was so unhappy with the prime spectrum. I felt like it was always missing something. My DIY light I made last was basically perfect,looked like a even smaller Radion G5. But had a better spectrum. 

 

 Pics still look good though,don't down yourself too much. 

 

It's just hard when I feel like I used to take such good shots...I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things with reef photos eventually, I also have to remember I am using a different camera setup than I was last time I had a reef.

 

As for the spectrum, I was debating going DIY eventually to make a hybrid, but wouldn't really want to do that on this tank since its only 17" wide. I think I'm going to start with grabbing one of the new Luxdium pucks for now and see how it does, and if I still don't like it I will look to trade for something else.

 

 

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What camera/lense are you shooting with ? I was shooting with a Canon T3i extenstion tubes and a 50mm and it worked well. 

 

 Well those pucks are only for the older primes,you have a newer 16HD right ? 

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40 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

What camera/lense are you shooting with ? I was shooting with a Canon T3i extenstion tubes and a 50mm and it worked well. 

 

 Well those pucks are only for the older primes,you have a newer 16HD right ? 

 

I have a Canon T7i with the kit lens, a Canon 50mm 1.4, and a Sigma 35mm 1.4. I normally use Prime lenses for my car stuff, so I didn't really invest in anything more adaptable to shoot my reef with. I'm going to play with the kit lens a bit more and see what I can get out of it.

 

They are, but I just have the Prime HD! I am liking the results I am seeing from their testing and beta programs, and it seems like they even have an easier time photographing the lights too due to the spectrum / LEDs used.

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Hmmm,could be some settings though. 

 

 Oh okay,they do look promising though. If ever got an older Prime I would use one. I might replace my NB array with a BlueAcro array or some 3up's from StevesLeds. 

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Getting ready to make the switch:

 

The stands paint is dry, inside and out (minus the doors, I am still working on those...), so I can technically move things over if I want to. I am torn between waiting on the glass plumbing to come in and testing everything or just moving it over now and continuing to use the canister filter for now, which I am more inclined to do. I picked up 10lbs of new sand last night, and will add a little bit of (rinsed) sand from the existing tank, along with some crushed coral for the future goby/pistol shrimp combo to utilize in their home.

 

schgpico-0035.thumb.jpg.6be3b0a083f0ee7f15ad902d8ece3dcd.jpg

Tank mostly set up, just waiting on a few more things.

 

I am still waiting on a bit of other plumbing pieces to make my life easier with the closed loop setup, as well as a new smart power strip to at least make it easier to turn things on and off as I need to (I don't have controller money right now). I'm itching to get this tank filled though, as I have things starting to grow to rocks that I don't think I will want them on when I have a different aquascape.

 

Next picture posted will probably be a filled tank!

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18 hours ago, Theshallows said:

looks good

 

Thank you!

 

 

Doors are painted, will be put on later. Going to go to Home Depot after work and grab some electrical conduit to make an adjustable light mount, and then transfer everything over today. Stoked to see this thing filled!

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Glassware came in! I am super impressed with the quality of the VIV stuff, I hope it ends up working well once I fill it up. I need to heat up the tubing a bit to get it in a better position, but overall I think things look CLEAN as hell! I am so stoked to transfer this over, but I need to buy some 3/4" tubing for the return line of the closed loop.

 

UNS45u-0036.thumb.jpg.02fcec5dcc648907d1027de0e7e12f5a.jpg

 

I know the outflow tubing for the closed loop is pretty damn long, but I wanted to get more flow so I opted for the 17mm version.

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20 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

Oh...yes!

 

 This is SUPER clean so far bud !!! I am loving it. Evetually I will have a super clean setup like this. 


Thank you! I switched everything over last night, and have a little issue with the overflow (return pump too strong I think, will solve momentarily) but the closed loop setup works PERFECTLY. Everyone seems happy so far, but I can’t find my sharknose goby. Hopefully it’s just hiding, and didn’t jump into one of my animals eager mouths. 

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Hell yeah,I give credit where its due. 

 

 So you can't judt dial the pump back or is it dialed all the way back already ? Man,that is not good. It could just be hiding. Does anything even have a mouth big enough to fit the sharknose in it ? I wouldn't think so. 

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1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Hell yeah,I give credit where its due. 

 

 So you can't judt dial the pump back or is it dialed all the way back already ? Man,that is not good. It could just be hiding. Does anything even have a mouth big enough to fit the sharknose in it ? I wouldn't think so. 

 

I tried to dial it back with the built in flow restriction (now completely open), but it was still too much and was not breaking the siphon properly. I plumbed in that gate valve that I got for free with my sump, and now it is working PERFECTLY!!! And no, nothing does besides the RFA, but I have had consistent view of that and it didn't look like it was eating anything. I'll keep my eyes peeled over the next few days.

 

PS; now that I have this set up properly, I do have the canister filter, inline heater, and lily pipe setup from the old build available to sell if you want a semi clean build 😉

 

29 minutes ago, Spencer7 said:

Sump? Don't see on build list

 

Ah, it is a Fiji Cube Fiji-12, I have it listed under "filtration", which is probably not the best way to name that.

 

 

Cloudy shot of the successful transfer, and a little glimpse of just how little the pipes interfere with things:

 

UNS45u-0037.thumb.jpg.63f6b3bc5df5c2e401e40ba4dbe49b4c.jpg

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12 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Wait,you have central air ? Wowzers. Get a clip on fan to mount on the sump. 

 

Nope, house was built in '49 and we have gotten multiple quotes for central in the past, but its always been a huge price since the house is big as hell.

 

I have a clip on fan coming today, but I always hate how much it increases evaporation... I'm hoping that things wont be too bad with the ATO, but I am still going to browse the classifieds a bit for used chillers.

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18 minutes ago, Sturgi_0225 said:

How were you able to use the glass pipes and sump? I wanted to do that so bad and couldn’t figure it out image.png.0424051804e9b3d9e969f53f6a4e7fc9.png

 

So I am using a VIV glass overflow / return for the sump itself, which is probably about 300GPH worth of flow. I then have the other three glass pipes set up with a closed loop wavemaker pump to give me more flow / waves. The only thing I MIGHT add to the display is a float switch for return pump shutoff in case of an emergency, but I want to find a clean way to do this.

 

I do have a second glass overflow and pipes coming eventually, as I was impatient waiting for the set to arrive from China and ordered another set from Sevenports. Let me know if you are interested, I'd just charge what I paid ($128 + shipping).

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Sturgi_0225
15 minutes ago, schg said:

 

So I am using a VIV glass overflow / return for the sump itself, which is probably about 300GPH worth of flow. I then have the other three glass pipes set up with a closed loop wavemaker pump to give me more flow / waves. The only thing I MIGHT add to the display is a float switch for return pump shutoff in case of an emergency, but I want to find a clean way to do this.

 

I do have a second glass overflow and pipes coming eventually, as I was impatient waiting for the set to arrive from China and ordered another set from Sevenports. Let me know if you are interested, I'd just charge what I paid ($128 + shipping).

I ended up drilling my tank and using the xaqua in/out overflow which I’m torn between. While I do love the ability to hide everything and have extra volume I also wish I would have went with my initial plan and used a canister filter with the glass overflow because I don’t need the sump/refugium since my display has mostly macros. 
 

 

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32 minutes ago, Sturgi_0225 said:

I ended up drilling my tank and using the xaqua in/out overflow which I’m torn between. While I do love the ability to hide everything and have extra volume I also wish I would have went with my initial plan and used a canister filter with the glass overflow because I don’t need the sump/refugium since my display has mostly macros. 
 

 

 

Ah right, I forgot I had already seen that. Hopefully you can hide everything with the macros, but I agree that a canister filter probably would have been ideal.

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  • schgr.cube changed the title to schgr.cube's Ultum Nature Systems 45u - tons of new coral added

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