45 Gal Cube Build

[jrwiechman]

Hello all! Been away from reefing about 2 years now because of a move. I had a 125 with a sump placed in the basement. It was a great system to maintain, but I dont have the wall space for my old set up and I sold it.

This build is a SCA 45 cube I bought used for a song. It has a small trigger systems sump the original skimmer and an AI Hydra 26 HD for lighting. Everything else has not been settled on yet.

I have the stand built and painted and now ready to plumb. Unfortunately it only has a 1" and 1/2" holes drilled in the overflow. I think I will run the return up the back and use the 1/2" for an e-drain.

 

[Mikey Mane The Flare]

Fallowing. I wish I would of went with the hydra 26s but I went ai prime:/

 

[jrwiechman]

Getting some parts together for the plumbing. I decided to go with a Herbie design.

 

[jrwiechman]

I ordered a Jebao DCP-3000 for the return pump. I over sized the pump a bit in case I decide on running reactors later.

 

[jrwiechman]

Dry fitting plumbing

 

[jrwiechman]

This sump is proving to be a little to tall for my liking. Id prefer something a little lower and wider.

 

[jrwiechman]

Mounted the light after roughing in the plumbing. I have it about 15" off of where the water surface will be.

 

[jrwiechman]

There is that familiar glow! The family is getting excited. Rock should be here next week, I ordered from reefcleaners.com. Not sure on what the livestock list will be. Still deciding whether or not to go bare bottom.

 

[Mikey Mane The Flare]

Lookin good

 

[jrwiechman]

Plumbing is finished and tank is leveled. I am ready to start checking for leaks!

 

[jrwiechman]

I picked up a sheet of HDPE for mounting the controllers to, it also helps to hide the wires. I never realized how cheap this stuff is, I bought this sheet from Amazon for $13, it is 12" x 36".

 

[jrwiechman]

Put some fresh water in it. No leaks so far. This is the first time I have used a herbie setup. I am very impressed with how quiet it is. Im sure the DC pump helps as well. Rock is next, still deciding on bare bottom or sand. Any opinions?

 

[Bps619]

Looking good.

 

[Mikey Mane The Flare]

Put some fresh water in it. No leaks so far. This is the first time I have used a herbie setup. I am very impressed with how quiet it is. Im sure the DC pump helps as well. Rock is next, still deciding on bare bottom or sand. Any opinions?

I’ll tell you how I feel about my sand. Every water change I think maybe I’ll suck it out little by little but then I feel bad for my gobies and sand star lol. I really wanna go bare bottom just so the tank can stay cleaner on it’s own. By simply adding a extra power head at the base of the tank you can keep it pretty clean except for few dead spots. Sand beds you have to clean pretty often at least I do.

 

[doughboy]

I've done sand, then bare bottom, now back to sand.
its a personal choice.
to me, bare bottom is fine when it is clean, but it gets harder and harder to clean the crap that accumulates (not everything can be blown off by powerhead), and eventually, looks ugly (subjective of course). You can always add sand later I suppose.

good setup. I have the same 45 gal cube that I use over the top return. but the return pipe is not centered (I think one side of the return has slightly more flow than the other) because I want the AI tank mount to be centered. I like your mounting the light on the wall better.

 

[jrwiechman]

Rock , sand and water are in. I started the cycle with some Ammonia and bottled bacteria. The HDPE I used to mount my controllers worked excellent. It is very easy to work with.

 

[jrwiechman]

I grabbed an old iPad to use as an external display for the Apex, worked great!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Can

Mounted the light after roughing in the plumbing. I have it about 15" off of where the water surface will be.

You tell me about the bracket for the hydras? Where did you find them?

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Tanks going to look great!

 

[jrwiechman]

Can

You tell me about the bracket for the hydras? Where did you find them?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ID7QNI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a TV mount. I took the backplate off for the TV and bought 2 90* angles to mount the light. It works incredible. I seen it done on another thread some time ago.