IT's aLiVe! A 12DX is born! My NaNoDiary....

[Jason64]

Hey all,

I have FINALLY decided that I have the time to invest in my neglected 12. I believe I have one the award for the LONGEST LURKER! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have lurked on this site and RC since November of 04'! Needless to say, I have done adequate research!

 

I had a 90 FOWLR for several years, but needed to replace the floor it was sitting on so down she went. So, not having the moolah to invest in a reef conversion, I figured I'd let that big dog sit empty while I get married and move into a more long-term home. Having to get my reef-fix somehow, and NO THANKS TO YOU FOLKS! I bought a 12DX at my LFS. It has sat on my nightstand since December of 04'!

 

I have finally after much reading and conversing, filled the cube with water. Over the next few weeks and months I will be providing updates of the tank and how it progresses.

 

Here's the tank as of 9/28/05:

After tirelessly reading thread after thread on various mods, I decided to make a few:

What I have:

1) Replaced stock pump with a MJ 900.

2) Added Bulkhead and MJ 606 in first chamber

3) Added Moonlight (mounted under feeding lid)

4) Gotta have the HydorFlo.

What I WILL have:

1) The infamous Doriftu cassette skimmer (may make my own mod original mod here)

2) The battery operated ATO. That is an ingenius idea.

3) Who knows....?

Here's a shot of my sump:

The blue sheet underneath is actually vapor barrier/noise reducing Pergo underlayment, it is essentially really dense foam, it's not much, but I think it provides a solid base.

 

A few questions:

1) Do you think this nightstand will sustain the weight of the cube? does other people have their cubes on a nightstand?

2) I'm using Aqua-safe RO/DI hard lined into my water supply and got my tap down to 7 PPM. Just wondering if that's cool or too much TDS still? I discarded ALOT of water before I started using it. If it sits for a while I have to discard about 4 gallons until I can get the TDS down to acceptable(or what I assume to be) levels.

 

Oh, to those who think the stock pump doesn't add heat. My tank jumped from 72.3 when I initially added the RO to 75.3 after I added the stock pump! difference of 3 DEGREES!

 

To be continued....

J64

[inkblue]

Nice, I just got a 12DX myself for $60. I think I'll look into the mods you're doing... good luck with the tank, can't wait to see pics

[Jason64]

Check that baby for cracks under the lid and in the corners....

[inkblue]

I did last nite, but will do it more closely again today... are the 12 nanos affected by this?

[Jason64]

They have cracked, but not nearly as often as the 24's.

 

If your cube was shipped, keep an eye on it. Shipped cubes have the most vulnerability from being tossed around.

[rbaby]

Everyone's cubes were shipped--they all came from China =P...

[Jason64]

Touché!

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

Originally posted by rbaby

Everyone's cubes were shipped--they all came from China =P...

 

 

so i guess when it cracks he willn't have to pay to ship it back...LMAO

[pimpndistress]

jason where did you get the moonlights

[shao-lin nano]

^^^are those real? :woot:

 

Hey jason...that's an ikea night stand!

 

if you're worried about weight why not sit on it and wiggle around a little and see how stable it is. I have one of those night stands too and they seem mighty stable since they're short and heavy.

 

One suggestion: why not trim down the blue mat so it fits the profile of the tank? you can probably take a razor and carefully trim it down...just a suggestion....man and i thought i took my time. Feb-July before water was added.

[EclipseAgent]

Gees, and I thought I took my time.

 

28 Hours to get Sand / Water

 

Looks good, i am not a fan of the PH in first chamber, me's thinks it takes away from filtration

[stoney waters]

jason

 

Nice mod adding the second pump return. You should add another Flo to that side. The random flow created by two Flo's is outstanding.

 

I don't think running a pump in chamber 1 takes away from filtration, as long as you keep a sponge above the pump. You will still have the same volume of water entering chambers 2 and 3 as you would if you did not run a pump in chamber 1.

[Jason64]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the comments.

 

Shao-Lin: Yep, good old ikea. It looked pretty stable to me. It jiggles around a little, but that's only because it's sitting on new carpet. Once it sinks into the padding a little, I think it'll be ok. There's definitely better ways, but I wanted to keep it next to the bed, for better viewing. That's a good idea about the blue mat. I think I will cut it down, maybe not all the way, but pretty close.

 

Stoney: Man, I could not believe how much cut down on flow there is adding the Hydor! My 606 seems to put out more pressure than the Hydor with the 900! Maybe I have the flow restricted? I'll check it out, but if the flow is cut down that much, I might just stick with the duckbill. I was real concerned about adding a pump to the 1st chamber, but I saw everybody else doing it, so figured it was possible, I thought it would suck the chamber dry, but there's just too much return it seems for that to happen. Now if I add the skimmer, will I have problems with that first chamber?

 

lastily, checked my RO/DI with my TDS. It's showing my tank at 8ppm and my reserve(rubbermaid change out water) at 4ppm. Is this a difference I should be concerned about? Do I need to swap out the water? Should I be worried about a Diatom outbreak when I add the salt/rock/sand? Just want to nip it in the bud now when the water hasn't got salt yet.....

 

AND YES, I took some time to set it up! I just wanted to make sure I had the time to attend to it....

 

J64

[Jason64]

Oh yeah,

Nice signature!

Got the moonlights from Marine Depot. They have a rubber grommet around the plug, so I'm hoping that should hold the salt out, their really bright, but the only thing I don't like is that they don't fit under the splash guard. It'll do, but If I had to do it over again, I'd go with the tube version and mount it with the PCs.

 

J64

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

Originally posted by pimpndistress

jason where did you get the moonlights