New Custom 40g cube is here!

aural · #1 04/10/2006, 10:03 PM

Well it has been a long time coming at this point, but my new custom tank got here today. wanted to share some pictures of what i've gotten done so far.

quick recap of what i am using on this tank:
return is a Rio 1700 HF Y'd off with 4 outputs
AquaC Remora Skimmer
Aqua Medic 250w MH Pendant 15k bulb
Tunze 6000 w/ controller
I'm using a phosban reactor to run a ZEOvit system. you can read about it at www.zeovit.com

Crate it came in. I was VERY impressed with the packaging that oceanimage.net did.

This is with the top of the crate removed and the top pice of styrofoam taken out.

Here is a picture of the stand the way it came. no bottom, top, shelf or door. those came in a seperate box.

This is the inside of the stand with the other pieces installed

Stand fully assembled

tank in place

the back wall overflow

pendant hung... what a pain in the A$$ that was.

close up with the pendant and the return outputs installed

and finally here is my piece of starboard that i am adhering sand to

this is as far as i got tonight. I'm going to water test it tomorrow. My indonesian live rock from Reef Science comes wednesday. I'm pretty excited to see it. more updates to come as i get more done!

mr.bear · #2 04/10/2006, 10:48 PM

man imma be in and out checking this topic for sure...i just know its gonna be really cool.

aural · #3 04/10/2006, 10:52 PM

hey thanks for the kind words and definitely check back and see the progress. i have some really nice SPS pieces that are going in this puppy as soon as my rock cures. I'm excited about getting it set-up!

D-Rod · #4 04/11/2006, 12:01 AM

If you dont mind me asking? how much $ for the tank only?

D-Rod

Citrus · #5 04/11/2006, 01:00 AM

That looks really good. Keep this thread updated.

IsThisNameTaken? · #6 04/11/2006, 02:08 AM

do you plan on putting any netting or something to prevent snails and such from getting back into your overflow box?

Great project. I look forward to its progression.

chocolateblnt · #7 04/11/2006, 02:13 AM

LoL ... I have the same pendant and it takes some patience to get it hung proper

Gonna be a super nice tank/thread! Can't wait to see what you do with it ... similar to Calvin's :P

navyav8tr · #8 04/11/2006, 05:48 AM

Very nice. Can't wait to see how it comes along.

aural · #9 04/11/2006, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by D-Rod
If you dont mind me asking? how much $ for the tank only?

The starphire tank with black back was $340

Quote:

Originally posted by Citrus
That looks really good. Keep this thread updated.

thank you! i'll definitely keep things up to date. any excuse to take pictures

Quote:

Originally posted by IsThisNameTaken?
do you plan on putting any netting or something to prevent snails and such from getting back into your overflow box?

Great project. I look forward to its progression.

as of right now i do not have any plans to impede the overflow with anything. I'm trying to make this as minimal and clean as possible. if i loose some snails, so be it. they can clean in the overflow for all i care :P

Quote:

Originally posted by chocolateblnt
LoL ... I have the same pendant and it takes some patience to get it hung proper Gonna be a super nice tank/thread! Can't wait to see what you do with it ... similar to Calvin's :P

Hanging the pendant was a trying process to say the least and my wife got the brunt of the frustration. I better watch myself of there wont be another tank in my future.

Quote:

Originally posted by navyav8tr
Very nice. Can't wait to see how it comes along.

thank you! i can't either!

alien9168 · #10 04/11/2006, 08:02 AM

Nice tank. I think this is going to be a really cool setup. I bet you were excited when you go those crate

aural · #11 04/11/2006, 08:06 AM

funny thing was i wasnt expecting the tank to come until wednesday so i was a little confused when i got home and there were boxes filling my front portch. confusion passed and i definitely got excited. It's amazing how slow things come together though. i worked on the tank for about 5 hours last night and didnt even get it wet!

alien9168 · #12 04/11/2006, 08:23 AM

*crates

alien9168 · #13 04/11/2006, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alien9168
*crates

Sorry. I was amending my sp. error.

Yeah that had to be awsome. I cant even imagin how excited i would be if my tank came so early

impur · #14 04/11/2006, 12:02 PM

Thats a sweet tank. Did they make the stand too?

aural · #15 04/11/2006, 01:53 PM

Yes they also made the stand. It is REALLY well made. 2x4s and MDF with a nice black finish. It has a door and adjustable shelf. They charged me $175 for the stand including shipping. I honestly dont think i could have made it for very much less than that - and its construction has given me a good idea on the proper way to construct a stand in case i want to get crazy and build one for my next tank

I put water in it today to see how it fares wet. if all is well by tomorrow afternoon, i'm just going to cure the liverock right in the tank. (was going to do it in a rubbermaid). I'll snap a picture of it with water this afternoon when i get home from work.

aural · #16 04/11/2006, 09:48 PM

ok just one picture update... its wet and its not leaking.

Chris from www.oceanimage.net gave me a call this afternoon just to see how things were going with the aquarium. I thought that was pretty cool that he called just to make sure i was happy with it. I honestly couldnt say enough good things about the aquarium, its construction, the stand, the way everything was packaged, etc. I highly recomend getting a custom aquarium from these guys. they offer TONS of options when you are building. Go check out their site some time. Its really nice as well.

Tomorrow the live rock from www.reefscience.com comes... i'm excited to see how it looks. I'll definitely update after i get it in.

cward · #17 04/11/2006, 09:55 PM

Very nice tank!!! I think I remember seeing their display at MACNA and I was impressed with the quality of the display tank.

Mikeeal · #18 04/12/2006, 12:05 AM

Very nice. Looks like it's coming along. Those are good prices as well. I'm looking forward to seeing that rock too. What are the dimensions of the tank?

aural · #19 04/12/2006, 12:28 AM

the full tank is 20x25x19 - the display is just about 20x20x19. it ended up being a bit bigger than i had imagined, but that's okay.

I'm getting a $hitload of microbubbles from the remora. i hear they do that when they are new. i'm hoping that it will settle down a bit. if not, i'll have to find a different HOB skimmer.

the Rio 1700HF pump is vibrating and making some kinda crazy noise. if i cant figure out how to quiet it, i might need to find myself a different pump. me and noise dont get along very well.

Mikeeal · #20 04/12/2006, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by aural
me and noise dont get along very well.

Ha, I'm with you on that one.

alien9168 · #21 04/12/2006, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mikeeal
Ha, I'm with you on that one.

Join the club

alien9168 · #22 04/12/2006, 08:07 AM

Oh. and yeah, remoras do give off alot of microbubles! but it settles down, just give it some time.

aural · #23 04/12/2006, 07:40 PM

Indonesian Live Rock came today from www.reefscience.com - overall i am very pleased with it. I got some very interesting shaped rock and it is full of holes and whatnot. doing final aquascaping should be fun.

I ordered 45lbs and i dont think its quite enough. one of the LFS has some similar indonesian rock in stock so i might pick up 10-15 lbs more tomorrow. I'm also going to pick up whatever it is i need to start the ZEOvit system. I got a phosban reactor that i am going to use for ZEOvit media. should be an interesting project.

here is the rock in the tank. no aquascaping done, just needed it in the tank so it can cure:

here is one of the pieces of rock. check out the amazing orange color on this one. never seen that before:

here is what appears to be a dead piece of acro. too bad it didnt make it. free coral is always the best coral:

mr.bear · #24 04/12/2006, 07:54 PM

coming alont nicely i must say

jman77 · #25 04/12/2006, 10:57 PM

nice tank...but am i the only one that think that glass looks a bit on the thin side?