60g cube with custom stand.
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- Thread starter Oberst Hajj
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OP
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Oberst Hajj
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I don't work for an acrylic group, I own my own laser (I have an online business that uses it). Making the auto feeder shelf and tank cover was a lot of fun. I just engraved them because I could! lol
Thanks, but I can't take credit for them. The guy the I bought the system off of picked those out and installed them.
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Oberst Hajj
Well-Known Member
awesome tank, I love the details you are putting into it! looks like this tank was sold to the right person
Thank you. I was really hesitant to buy a used tank, but once I saw the attention to detail he put into building this one, I knew I would be happy with it and that it would be a good foundation for me to enter the hobby with.
OP
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Oberst Hajj
Well-Known Member
So it's been about a month since I have updated this thread. Not a lot has been going on with my tank as we are preparing to move at the end of this month. I did have a snail make its way from the DT down to the sump. I'm assuming it traveled down there via the emergency drain since the main drain is gated for flow. Knowing that a snail (or anything else) getting stuck down in the pipes could be very bad, I made a cover for the top of my overflow.
I did not want to have to try and make a true lid, as matching the curvature by bend and glue a lip would have been really hard. So instead I just made a flat cover that sat on top. I was worried about one of the larger snails just push the cover up and off, so I had to make it thick enough so that the tank cover that sits above it would hold it in place. None of my clear acrylic was the right combination of thickness to achieve this, so I decided to layer some colored acrylic that I had on hand. A sandwich of red-black-red worked out just about perfectly and it matched the rest of the tank pretty well too. I did have to add a brace on the bottom of the rear tank cover that push pressure on the overflow cover. This way nothing can get down into the overflow unless it is small enough to go through the weir.
In the last 2-3 weeks I've had some hair algae come back. I know this is normal for a new system like mine, but I still want to combat it as much as possible so that it does not get out of hand. To that degree, I added a GFO/Carbon reactor in the sump.
About a week after adding the reactor, my plate coral started to have issues.
I think the reactor might have stripped the nutrients out of the water too fast for this coral. After more research and thinking about it, I believe I might have way too much GFO and Carbon in my reactor. I just sort of mixed more carbon to less GFO and then filled the reactor about 2/3 full. I did not fully understand why BRS had a calculator for carbon and GFO, but I think I do now. I've turned the reactor off and I am spot feeding the plate coral every other day with either some fresh raw shrimp or larger chunks of LRS Reef Frenzy. I think I'm starting to see it recover some (a slightly wider section of color at the edges ), but it is hard to tell after just a couple of days.
If the plate coral recovers, I'll have to decide what to do about the reactor. I can either dump out the GFO and carbon that is in there and buy new to start all over again (kind of a waste of money) or I could just run the reactor as is, but only for an hour or so each day. The latter option would save me money, but it would be difficult to figure out the correct about of time to run it. Then once it was depleted, I'd have to start over again anyway...
I did not want to have to try and make a true lid, as matching the curvature by bend and glue a lip would have been really hard. So instead I just made a flat cover that sat on top. I was worried about one of the larger snails just push the cover up and off, so I had to make it thick enough so that the tank cover that sits above it would hold it in place. None of my clear acrylic was the right combination of thickness to achieve this, so I decided to layer some colored acrylic that I had on hand. A sandwich of red-black-red worked out just about perfectly and it matched the rest of the tank pretty well too. I did have to add a brace on the bottom of the rear tank cover that push pressure on the overflow cover. This way nothing can get down into the overflow unless it is small enough to go through the weir.
In the last 2-3 weeks I've had some hair algae come back. I know this is normal for a new system like mine, but I still want to combat it as much as possible so that it does not get out of hand. To that degree, I added a GFO/Carbon reactor in the sump.
About a week after adding the reactor, my plate coral started to have issues.
I think the reactor might have stripped the nutrients out of the water too fast for this coral. After more research and thinking about it, I believe I might have way too much GFO and Carbon in my reactor. I just sort of mixed more carbon to less GFO and then filled the reactor about 2/3 full. I did not fully understand why BRS had a calculator for carbon and GFO, but I think I do now. I've turned the reactor off and I am spot feeding the plate coral every other day with either some fresh raw shrimp or larger chunks of LRS Reef Frenzy. I think I'm starting to see it recover some (a slightly wider section of color at the edges ), but it is hard to tell after just a couple of days.
If the plate coral recovers, I'll have to decide what to do about the reactor. I can either dump out the GFO and carbon that is in there and buy new to start all over again (kind of a waste of money) or I could just run the reactor as is, but only for an hour or so each day. The latter option would save me money, but it would be difficult to figure out the correct about of time to run it. Then once it was depleted, I'd have to start over again anyway...
rushbattle
Valuable Member
So it's been about a month since I have updated this thread. Not a lot has been going on with my tank as we are preparing to move at the end of this month. I did have a snail make its way from the DT down to the sump. I'm assuming it traveled down there via the emergency drain since the main drain is gated for flow. Knowing that a snail (or anything else) getting stuck down in the pipes could be very bad, I made a cover for the top of my overflow.
I did not want to have to try and make a true lid, as matching the curvature by bend and glue a lip would have been really hard. So instead I just made a flat cover that sat on top. I was worried about one of the larger snails just push the cover up and off, so I had to make it thick enough so that the tank cover that sits above it would hold it in place. None of my clear acrylic was the right combination of thickness to achieve this, so I decided to layer some colored acrylic that I had on hand. A sandwich of red-black-red worked out just about perfectly and it matched the rest of the tank pretty well too. I did have to add a brace on the bottom of the rear tank cover that push pressure on the overflow cover. This way nothing can get down into the overflow unless it is small enough to go through the weir.
In the last 2-3 weeks I've had some hair algae come back. I know this is normal for a new system like mine, but I still want to combat it as much as possible so that it does not get out of hand. To that degree, I added a GFO/Carbon reactor in the sump.
About a week after adding the reactor, my plate coral started to have issues.
I think the reactor might have stripped the nutrients out of the water too fast for this coral. After more research and thinking about it, I believe I might have way too much GFO and Carbon in my reactor. I just sort of mixed more carbon to less GFO and then filled the reactor about 2/3 full. I did not fully understand why BRS had a calculator for carbon and GFO, but I think I do now. I've turned the reactor off and I am spot feeding the plate coral every other day with either some fresh raw shrimp or larger chunks of LRS Reef Frenzy. I think I'm starting to see it recover some (a slightly wider section of color at the edges ), but it is hard to tell after just a couple of days.
If the plate coral recovers, I'll have to decide what to do about the reactor. I can either dump out the GFO and carbon that is in there and buy new to start all over again (kind of a waste of money) or I could just run the reactor as is, but only for an hour or so each day. The latter option would save me money, but it would be difficult to figure out the correct about of time to run it. Then once it was depleted, I'd have to start over again anyway...
You need to pull the reactor now that you shut it off. If you turn it back on it will likely have major consequences. It has gone anoxic without oxygen carrying water flow. At least you know what to do! You can still use the contents, you’ll just have to rinse them. I wouldn’t just turn it on once a day for the same reason. Hope you get this before you turn it back on!
OP
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Oberst Hajj
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info Rush. I'll pull it off the tank tomorrow after work and clean it out. I think I'm just going to trash the GFO and carbon and order new to set it up right.
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Nice job!
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Oberst Hajj
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Thanks.
OP
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Oberst Hajj
Well-Known Member
We finished the move into the new house and despite everything having to temporary tanks for three weeks (had some unforeseen issue with where I wanted to put the tank), things are looking pretty good in the display tank again. I'll be keeping a close eye on everything over the next week to make sure nothing is amiss, but I think the move went well.
