Keith_Man Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Go for the black silicone...especially if you decide to paint the back black... I have a 20" starphire cube with clear silicone and I wish I had it made with black silicone... i'm even tempted to take the tank apart and redo it with black silicone as its still sitting empty at the moment Link to comment
jemram Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Go for the black silicone...especially if you decide to paint the back black... I have a 20" starphire cube with clear silicone and I wish I had it made with black silicone... i'm even tempted to take the tank apart and redo it with black silicone as its still sitting empty at the moment Yeah, black does look cleaner. But the tank is going to sit in the middle of my lounge and will be viewable from all four sides (and you still wont see any equipment). The one thing that black does do is put a visual 'frame' round each glass panel, which works nicely with a tank that is against a wall but I want the cube to look as frameless as possible, which I think clear silicone would do better. I've done a quick photoshop of Fish's tank (hope you done mind Chad) with black silicone. I'm still not sure! Clear: Black (photoshoped): Link to comment
Cam barr Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 i dont think this will help but w/ the clear it looks like a glass box kind of floating, the black i think takes away a little bit but it kind of looks like a picture frame. sort of neat i like boath but i would go whith the clear if it was my tank Link to comment
Keith_Man Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Just to give you an idea here is what my tank looks like with clear silicone Link to comment
jemram Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Just to give you an idea here is what my tank looks like with clear silicone That looks nice and clean with the clear silicone. I think the black will frame it too much, and I want the tank to be as invisable as possible. Thanks for the pic. That looks like an arcadia series 3 pendant, the same as I'm looking at buying, is it any good? Link to comment
ninjafish Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Jeremy, I would go with the clear... Especially with an 18" cube, as long as they do a neat job of it, the silicone will be even less noticable than mine. The tank will draw less attention to itself and more attention will go to what's inside it. - Chad Link to comment
jemram Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Jeremy,I would go with the clear... Especially with an 18" cube, as long as they do a neat job of it, the silicone will be even less noticable than mine. The tank will draw less attention to itself and more attention will go to what's inside it. - Chad Yeah that's exactly what I want to achieve. On a different matter I'm not clear on how much live rock I'm going to need. The tank is going to hold 25 US gallons. Link to comment
ninjafish Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Yeah that's exactly what I want to achieve. On a different matter I'm not clear on how much live rock I'm going to need. The tank is going to hold 25 US gallons. I would shoot for around 30lbs give or take. With 360 degree visability I am assuming that you are going to aquascape a pinnacle jutting up the center of the tank with open water all around it? The best thing that I ever did with my cube is epoxy all of the rockwork into one solid piece (or two). It is much easier to work with and doesn't pose the risk of toppling over. I just used that 2-part epoxy that you kneed together and built it up one rock at a time (a good job to do before you stock the tank). Cheers, - Chad Link to comment
jemram Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 I would shoot for around 30lbs give or take. With 360 degree visability I am assuming that you are going to aquascape a pinnacle jutting up the center of the tank with open water all around it? The best thing that I ever did with my cube is epoxy all of the rockwork into one solid piece (or two). It is much easier to work with and doesn't pose the risk of toppling over. I just used that 2-part epoxy that you kneed together and built it up one rock at a time (a good job to do before you stock the tank). Cheers, - Chad Yes I will be having the liverock going to a pinnacle jutting up the centre of the tank. I just need to be careful it doesnt look like a pile of rock in the middle of a glass box! Link to comment
Kelpie Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 jemram, Are you planning to run a sump? Link to comment
jemram Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 jemram, Are you planning to run a sump? It's going to be a closed loop running to the circulation pump, so even if I wanted to, I couldnt. Link to comment
Jared Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 a closed loop is the best way for this kinda setup, that way you can drill through the bottom of your tank to hide some of the equiptment aquascaping is hard when your trying to make a 360 degree view, it always looks like a pile of rocks, i deffinatly reccoment using some aquascape epoxy Link to comment
jemram Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 a closed loop is the best way for this kinda setup, that way you can drill through the bottom of your tank to hide some of the equiptment aquascaping is hard when your trying to make a 360 degree view, it always looks like a pile of rocks, i deffinatly reccoment using some aquascape epoxy I plan to have the ONLY equipment visable being the metal halide pendant Link to comment
Jared Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 the only thing that will be visible on mine will be the lighting as well, are you going to use a canister filter? if so make sure you go alot bigger then needed, i went too small and now i have to use a powerhead for extra current until i upgrade my canister filter Link to comment
jemram Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 the only thing that will be visible on mine will be the lighting as well, are you going to use a canister filter? if so make sure you go alot bigger then needed, i went too small and now i have to use a powerhead for extra current until i upgrade my canister filter I'm going to be using an Eheim external pump rated at 900 GPH. That would be enough for a 25 gallon tank. There will be no filtration at all, other than live rock and twice weekly 20% water changes. Link to comment
Kelpie Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 the only thing that will be visible on mine will be the lighting as well, are you going to use a canister filter? if so make sure you go alot bigger then needed, i went too small and now i have to use a powerhead for extra current until i upgrade my canister filter I'm looking at a Red Sea Ocean Clear cannister right now. Thay are about 5 gallons but I don't know what the water circulation path is in them. Link to comment
Kingofthejungle Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 here what are you gonna do about the heating? Im planning a 360 degree 10" cube with a closed loop, but with a Maxijet 1000. But im stumped on the heating... More UK nanoers!Brilliant! Link to comment
jemram Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 here what are you gonna do about the heating? Im planning a 360 degree 10" cube with a closed loop, but with a Maxijet 1000. But im stumped on the heating... More UK nanoers!Brilliant! One of these: http://www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/acatal...TER_STATS_.html Link to comment
jemram Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Update, I went to see Paul who is going to be building my tank today who is a top bloke. He runs www.tankbuilduk.com and really knows his stuff, and very clearly understands what I'm looking for. He took the time to think through how I'm going to setup the tank etc, and did suggest ways that a sump could be run, but we couldnt find a way to run one while having all the equipment hidden. So it's going to be to original design with a few minor alterations. The strainer is going to be custom made and larger than normal strainers at about six inches high and Paul assures me it will never block up, so I can 'bury' it in live rock. The return to the tank is going to have about six inches of hard pipe with a T-piece on the top with a 90 degree on each end of the T-piece. This will allow me to direct the flow exactly as I want it. On the underside of the tank it's going to have a valve on both bulkheads so I can do any work/alterations on the pipework without having to drain the tank, and then the valves will have hosetails on them for Eheim hose to run to the pump. I've paid for the tank in full and should be collecting it on Friday Link to comment
fras Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 sweet, make sure you post pics! Too late now but I guess you could have gone for an overflow pillar in the middle with LR built around to hide it, maybe with the return hidden in the same rock somewhere. Link to comment
jemram Posted September 19, 2006 Author Share Posted September 19, 2006 sweet, make sure you post pics! Too late now but I guess you could have gone for an overflow pillar in the middle with LR built around to hide it, maybe with the return hidden in the same rock somewhere. There will be pictures, lots of them, but at the moment I have nothing to take pictures of.....roll on Friday! We did discuss fitting an overflow pillar. One thing I want is for this whole setup to be nigh on silent, so want to avoid any trickling water noise. Paul has a very effective design which is silent, but needs two returns. We worked out that to fit at total of three bulkheads and then have a pillar build round them would need a pillar nearly 6x6" which would leave only 6" between the edge of the tank and the pillar which be just too little room. On a 24x24x24" or larger cube it would work very well though. Link to comment
ninjafish Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 There will be pictures, lots of them, but at the moment I have nothing to take pictures of.....roll on Friday! We did discuss fitting an overflow pillar. One thing I want is for this whole setup to be nigh on silent, so want to avoid any trickling water noise. Paul has a very effective design which is silent, but needs two returns. We worked out that to fit at total of three bulkheads and then have a pillar build round them would need a pillar nearly 6x6" which would leave only 6" between the edge of the tank and the pillar which be just too little room. On a 24x24x24" or larger cube it would work very well though. If your builder has a silent approach to an overflow than it is probably the "Herbie Method" that I mentioned earlier (named after the RC member who posted it). It also requires two drain bulkheads and is so effective that I am baffled why reefers are still using durso and stockman setups Can't wait for the pics! - Chad Link to comment
jemram Posted September 19, 2006 Author Share Posted September 19, 2006 If your builder has a silent approach to an overflow than it is probably the "Herbie Method" that I mentioned earlier (named after the RC member who posted it). It also requires two drain bulkheads and is so effective that I am baffled why reefers are still using durso and stockman setups Can't wait for the pics! - Chad Maybe, I'm not sure if his method had a name, but it had a weirbox to control the level in the tank, then inside the weirbox it had one standpipe about 2 inches higher than the other and the shorter one has a valve in the plumbing that goes down to the sump to control to flow so that most goes through the shorter standpipe and a small amount just skims the surface through the taller one. It works well, but it takes up too much room in an 18" cube. On a larger tank, it's clearly the best way though. Link to comment
Cam barr Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 do you have any pics of the overflow and pump of this tank in the left corner, it looks very unique??? cb Link to comment
ST33LR4T Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 if you are going to T your dosing pump to your ehiem's intake will it not draw from your dosing pump? Link to comment
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