Custom 24x24.5x8 rimless shallow cube

J

jgreen

New Member
Here are some pictures of my new custom aquarium I picked up yesterday. It's a 24x24.5x8 inch tank designed to be viewed from the top down.

This first photo is a comparison photo with a 20oz bottle of soda to show how shallow the depth of the tank is.



Top down view. This is how the tank is supposed to be viewed.



Plumbing of the tank. Please excuse the messy background.



Close up of plumbing



View from front side of tank



Top down showing circulation and drain plumbing



Credit goes to Fish and Jemram on N-R for their inspiration for this tank. I need one more pound of live rock to go on the right side of the tank. I'm also thinking about adding LS.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
reefman23 said:
Awesome tank... REALLY looking forward to seeig this one develop.

Jesse
Click to expand...
Thanks Jesse,

I'm going to go real slow with this one. I want to get one more pound of LR and add some LS tomorrow. The canister will become a canister/ref by Friday of this week.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Update:


Added Live Sand and about 4LBs of dead rock.





Now for the long wait while the tank cycles. I'm going to wait for at least 4 weeks before I add inverts.

I tried to connect my Quite One 4000HH for more flow and to remove the hidden powerhead out of the tank. This did not go so well and the pump only managed to put out as much flow as my canister puts out. I think the pump is broken or I'm just not doing something right. So, I removed the pump and will stick with the powerhead and pray that it doesn't break on me once my tank establishes itself and inverts/corals are added.

until the next update.
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Do you have plans for this tank already or are you playing as things come?
 
M

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Very nice; but you are going to have a ton of evaporation.... And be careful with your fishes they will carpet surf on you when you shut off the lights....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
mike's right on the evape - i get about a gallon a day on mine - i like this cause it lets me add a ton of kalk. i use an IV dripper but an ATO would be easier

and as for fish, i have a pair of clowns that someone gave me, and they do fine, but i tried an algae blennie when i first set it up and he didn't stay in the tank a week - if you want jumpers you may have to cover it with eggcrate, but that kinda defeats the purpose of a top down tank right?? IMO

have you looked at my figi tank thread? there may be some ideas in there for you
http://nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3029
 
J

jgreen

New Member
skipm said:
Do you have plans for this tank already or are you playing as things come?
Click to expand...
This is going to be an invert/coral tank, no fish. I think the tank is too shallow for fish. However, if I do decided to add fish, there will be only one fish.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
mikeguerrero said:
Very nice; but you are going to have a ton of evaporation.... And be careful with your fishes they will carpet surf on you when you shut off the lights....
Click to expand...
I like the fact there is is a lot of evaporation. I think it's more natural this way and I don't have to rely on water changes so much. As for fish, this is going to be mainly an invert/coral tank.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Update:

Today I noticed a lot of micro organisms moving around the tank. They are so small I can't get a good picture of what they look like. Some are small worm like animals. The others look like small dots that move around.

I believe that these came with the LS. My tank is alive now. The next three week goal is to keep my hands out of the tank. I'm always trying to re-aquascape my tank.

My Cheato should be here today and it will go into the canister today. The light is delayed for some reason. I should have just paid extra $2 and I would have gotten it by now. I do have some Bonsai plant lights that I can use and I'll use them until the submersible lights arrive.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
reefman23 said:
You mentioned that you are going to put the chaeto in your canister... how is it going to get its light?

Jesse
Click to expand...
I brought a submersible light that I will drill into the canister. However, due to weather conditions in CO and me not thinking when I ordered the light, I told the store to send the light via regular mail instead of priority mail. Well as you can imagine, my product is just sitting right now. It only takes 3 days to mail something from the East coast to the West coast. But for non priority mail, they get to it when they feel like getting to it which means they wait until at least the 2 week deadline before they move your mail. I know this because my mother worked for the Post Office and she always told me never send anything via regular mail, always use priority.

For now, I have the Chaeto in my canister and I have two Bonsai desktop lights suctioned on the outside of the buttom half of the canister. I'm hoping that this will keep my Chaeto alive until my light gets here. The Bonsai lights are 9-watt, 1200 lumens, full spectrum fluorescent lamp each with automatic timers that shut off according to season of the year. Thus, I have a total of 18 watts, 2400 lumens pointing at the Chaeto right now from the outside of the canister.

I put the Chaeto into my canister and my water became really cloudy. It's starting to clear now. I'll keep my eye on this for the next couple of days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Update:

The Cheato went into the canister on Thursday. My light is still delayed. Due to the fact Monday is a holiday, I want most likely get my light until Wednesday when the USPS decides they've held my package long enough.

According to the tracking number, it's is sitting again in a distrubtion center and has been sitting there for 2 days now.

Lesson learned, never send anything via regular mail. I just pray that the light I provide the Cheato during the night is enough to keep it from dying.

Currently, I have the Cheato lights running on 12 hours a night. Then I let the natural light in on the tank and turn off the Cheato light.

Stay tuned.
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Update:

My light finally arrived in the mail yesterday. Following Fish's instructions, I drilled a hole and wired my light into my canister. I wasn't sure which kind of silicone he used. So, I used GE Silicone I Kitchen and Bath. At first I had a leak so I had to seal the handle just as fish did. I began this process at 8pm yesterday and let the silicone dry over night. At 8am this morning, it was still a little wet underneath the silicone. But the outside was dry. I plumbed everything to the tank and gave it a test run. No leaks. :lol3:

I now have a canister/ref. Sorry I don't have pictures I have to head back to bed. I am very sick. :iill I think I have a very bad upper respirtory infection. I feel better today than I did yesterday and the previous 3 days. But I'm still weak.

As for this tank, well, I think I'm set now. It is time for it cycle for about 3 weeks before I begin to add CUC.

Stay Tuned.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
You might want to check that silicone. Chances are that it contains anti-mold ingredients. In small print it will say 'not for use in aquariums'. I know because i made the same mistake.
 
R

reefman23

New Member
Trogdor said:
You might want to check that silicone. Chances are that it contains anti-mold ingredients. In small print it will say 'not for use in aquariums'. I know because i made the same mistake.
Click to expand...
I too think that that silicone has an anit-moild agent that isnt good for your tank. the silicone you wnat is the GE Silicone I Door and Window.

Jesse
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Trogdor said:
You might want to check that silicone. Chances are that it contains anti-mold ingredients. In small print it will say 'not for use in aquariums'. I know because i made the same mistake.
Click to expand...
Can you explain your situation a little more detailed?

It does say not for aquariums. However, I was under the impression from HD staff that this meant that if you are using this to bound glass together that it was not intended for this.

The silicone tube does not list the ingredients. I'll send Fish and Jemram and email since both of them have used this method and have reported no problems.

Thanks for the heads up.
 
R

reefman23

New Member
If it says anythign about mildew resistance or anything like that then you do not want to use it. what you want is 100% clear (or black) silicone... NO mildew resistance etc.

This is the one that you want...

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

These are the ones you DO NOT want. They all contain MicroBan...

1) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

2) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

3) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

4) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

5) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none


Jesse
 
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