Mattyice 240G cube - Complete reef setup

[mattyice]

Well its time to get the dream tank going, its mostly planned out just waiting for some things to come together and then its time to start ordering and setting everything up so here are the plans

Total and complete mixed reef (LPS, SPS, Clams)

TANK

-Custom made Acrylic 240G cube (48x48x24) that has a 24x5x23 overflow with a 1.5" drain
-Sides and front a 1" Acrylic, the back is 3/4" acrylic, the bottom is 1/2" and the Eurobrace is 1"
-Custom made stand - made out of square tubing and welded then painted with marine epoxy with dimensions of 48x48x36 (still trying to decide on oak, cherry,exotic wood, or wrapped in metal)
-Hood will be bare polished metal and im goign to jazz up the lumenarc pendants
-Returns from the Panworld 100PX-X will be plumbed through an OM 4 way with the plumbing entering the tank in the corners and all of the facing towards the middle of the tank all on penductors

EQUIPMENT

-100G rubbermaid stock bin for a sump
-PanWorld 100PX-X pump for return, will be plumbed into the tank using penductors
-GEO Media Reactor
-GEO 624 Calcium reactor
-Reefflo Orca skimmer
-custom in sump fuge
-Vortech x4 with wireless controller
-Lighting will be 2x Aquatinics Constellations with two iwasaki 6500K spotlights
-Neptune Systems AquaController III (2 DC8's, 2 pH probes, Aquanotes Software)
-LiterMeter III For dosing kalkwasser
-LiterMeter III Top Off Module
-LiterMeter III Water Exchange Module


PLANS

-Two islands - SPS island and LPS island with clams scattered in the open space
-SPS island will be large and be made out of shelf and big chunks to create caves, overhangs and tunnels
-LPS island will be smaller and will be limited to rare LPS (acan lords, micros, chalice, and brains at the base)
-Clams will be mostly crocea and maxima in the 3-4" range (about 3-4 of them)
-Purple or Blue carpet anemone
-Will have a fine 1" layer of sand in the tank (the vortechs or penductors should not affect this)
-as for fish here is what i have so far that i think will really look amazing in the tank
-Achilles Tang (small about 3-4")
-Purple Tang (smaller at about 2-3")
-Clown Tang (baby about 2" now)
-Pair of wrasses (looking at rare fairy wrasses, most likely 2 pairs)
-Pair of angels (either watanabei or zebra)
-Group of Flavicauda anthias (I'm thinking 5 strong in this one)
-Pair of Crosshatch triggers
-To finish it off a Christmas Island Imperator Juvie

Here are some SketchUp Models of the tank









I have a set price from Envision Acrylics, anyone who wants a custom acrylic tank should not look at any other company besides Envision!

Total with shipping = $2,350

i will be getting pictures soon, the building of the tank starts the first week of October and it will be done by/on the 19th of October it might seem like a long time but pretty much thats around the corner and gives me time to get the equipment together and ready to get this tank up and running

So everything is ordered through Salty Critter and i picked up some of it yesterday and the rest is being drop shipped to my office...here are some pics of what i have so far

i have the constellation over the frag/temp tank so thats why its soooo bright









Updates will be posted here as soon as i get more stuff and start on the stand and tank room

[GSMguy]

Sweet. I cant wait to help you set the tank up.

[GSMguy]

can you do a mockup of the live rock matt?

[mattyice]

i will try to get something designed

[mike660r]

What program are you using for your sketches? I think that is pretty cool.

[mattyice]

i used google SketchUp, you just google that name and download the program and you can do a ton of stuff with it

[ironheads]

Is the stand included in that price ...Looks real nice

[mattyice]

no im building the stand myself, going to be welded square tubing with a wood skin over it, i have decided to make it 36" tall with a 4" riser to get extra height to where you dont have to bend down as much to look into the tank, as for the wood skin, im looking to get some ideas for you on wood choices, i would like to do maple alder, leopard wood, or just a classic oak with a dark cherry stain

[mattyice]

well i started on the tank room tonight

this is the main area, i still have to make a custom table to hold the frag tank and fragging stations


this is where i will be coming through the wall and draining into the skimmer and from the skimmer to the sump


the rest of the equipment will be here this week and next week so im pretty stoked about that, the next update will be the frag station, frag tank, RO/DI repositioned, and the curing process of the LR

[Bax]

Very nice project.

[GSMguy]

nice tank room

[mattyice]

yeah the only problem is that i need to change some things around to get more equipment in there, i am getting a furniture dolly like they use at lowes to move the gun safe further in the back of the room, to give my more space for fragging supplies and tools, i have another room to clean up so i can transfer as much out of that room as i can

[lilchris]

I absolutely love it. I will definitely be following this one. That is my dream set up when I retire and buy my own house. Great start.

[mattyice]

well thanks lil chris

and i got another shipment from salty critter today, pics will be up within the hour

[mike660r]

I hope your gun safe has a good protective coating. Everything I had cramed in my fish room aged 30 years in 3 if it was metallic.

[mattyice]

it will actually be placed in the back corner of the room...also, it will have a fresh air damper, exhaust fan, and dehumidifier in the room so humidity and corrosion wont be much of a concern

[mike660r]

Opps... I forgot what your profession was

[mattyice]

yeah if you need any help with your new tank room and some stuff just let me know and i can give you the hook up on it

[mattyice]

wooo hooooooo i love getting new goodies





most of it is here now, just waiting on the Litermeter III main unit, litermeter remote pump, GEO 624 Calcium reactor, and the Reefflo skimmer...in this pic is the CO2 tank, another bottle of ARM reactor media, a salifert nitrate test kit, the two panworld 100px-x pumps, 1 aquatinics hanging kit, and 1 aquatinics mounting legs (most likely will be exchanged for another hanging kit)


These are what im really looking forward to, the litermeter III top off control module (how i will control the top off through the kalk reactor and top off the tank)


The best thing i could ever invest in, the water exchange system for the litermeter III, i will most likely do a 1G water change per day and once i go to a full bore stocked reef with heavy feeding i will up it to about 3G per day


and the GEO Kalk reactor


Im starting the design of the tank room tonight and going to fine tune it over the next few days before i really get started, i will be having two 55G drums to use 1 will be for top off, and the other will be for salt water, i will have a 30 breeder frag tank hooked up to the system, and the flow for that will be from the other panworld pump, i will be making my own overflow for it

[mattyice]

well next week the rest of the equipment will be here which is the skimmer, litermeter and remote pump, and calcium reactor

anyone have any recomendations on how to setup the litermeter III?

here is my plan, it can only control three devices so i can use the main pump for dosing the tank with the Ca reactor water, the remote pump and water exchange module for water changes constantly throughout the day, would i be able to get another remote pump for top off with kalk? or should i get a Tunze osmolator and have it pump the top off water through the kalk reactor in return dosing the tank with kalk and top off water?

i would really like to get the precision control of the Ca reactor with the litermeter and it will end up being cheaper and more accurate to go with the tunze osmolator and then return the top off control module and not have to worry about getting a second remote pump, plus from my understanding spectrapure doesnt highly recommend relying on the top off control module specifically for top off because the water level has to drop approximately an inch before it will turn back on

also pics of the fish room will be up in a few minutes

[mattyice]

and we have a tank room folks

[fisheebill]

Great thread!
Love the details.
I have a LM3 for top off. I just got it.
I can't wait to see your water exchange details... Good luck!

[mattyice]

yeah im hoping for the best...so far so good, i got word from james at envision acrylics that they will start on my tank tuesday at the latest and it will be at my house by around the 19th

I'm even more excited because next week i will have my shipment of Marco Rocks here, it is semi-dry fiji and tonga rock but look at the size of these pieces...all of which were cherry picked for me















7 pieces of LR totalling 112 lbs dry, now when its full cycled and wet it will weigh in at over 220 lbs so i would say im perfect on the rock, the aquascaping will be made using threaded nylon rod, nylon washers, and nylon nuts the rock will be bolted together but the nylon rod will not be seen, this will help me achieve my large overhangs and caves im trying to create

[chwcdw]

Great start Matt! I love cube and penninsula tanks. My wife is pushing for a cube in the next house.

The rock looks awsome, who are you getting it from?

[mrpet]

sweet looking great. what did the water exchange module cost you i have a litermeter 111 as well tank is not done yet so sorry can not help you with how to set it up yet.