Crystal Dynamics 72x24x24 Build Thread

Tom Stevens · Oct 24, 2020

Look who came out to visit.

jeffrey750750 · Oct 24, 2020

Great looking tank, thanks for sharing. Gets me motivated

xclintonx · Oct 25, 2020

Tom Stevens said:
Colors are coming in nicely. Pictures taken with an iPhone 11 Pro Max with orange filter.

What lens/filter did you use with the iphone 11?

Tom Stevens · Oct 25, 2020

xclintonx said:
What lens/filter did you use with the iphone 11?

I used the Orphek Reef Aquarium Lenses. Orphek was the only one I could find where the clip had a big enough hole for the 3 iPhone lenses without covering one up.

Caseyz · Oct 25, 2020

I am looking at a 210 CD tank with the same overflow as you. How many GPH are you able to put through the 30" overflow?

xclintonx · Oct 25, 2020

Tom Stevens said:
I used the Orphek Reef Aquarium Lenses. Orphek was the only one I could find where the clip had a big enough hole for the 3 iPhone lenses without covering one up.

Thank you!

Tom Stevens · Oct 25, 2020

Caseyz said:
I am looking at a 210 CD tank with the same overflow as you. How many GPH are you able to put through the 30" overflow?

Interesting question. I got the 30” because Zoya recommended. I also have 1.5” drains which I think influence GPH more in my opinion. I am not sure I would recommend the 1.5” drains though as they seem hard to balance. Also, something to consider is how big your sump is. If you run a lot of GPH, then you have more water in the tank to keep up with the return in the sump. You will need to make sure you have enough room when the pumps are turned off. My sump is OK, but just barely using the Trigger CR44. I could use a tad more room for safety.

Tom Stevens · Oct 25, 2020

Tom Stevens said:
Interesting question. I got the 30” because Zoya recommended. I also have 1.5” drains which I think influence GPH more in my opinion. I am not sure I would recommend the 1.5” drains though as they seem hard to balance. Also, something to consider is how big your sump is. If you run a lot of GPH, then you have more water in the tank to keep up with the return in the sump. You will need to make sure you have enough room when the pumps are turned off. My sump is OK, but just barely using the Trigger CR44. I could use a tad more room for safety.

Also, I run a Vectra L1 at 1/2 speed. I rely on 4 Octo Pulse 4s for flow.

Caseyz · Oct 25, 2020

Tom Stevens said:
Interesting question. I got the 30” because Zoya recommended. I also have 1.5” drains which I think influence GPH more in my opinion. I am not sure I would recommend the 1.5” drains though as they seem hard to balance. Also, something to consider is how big your sump is. If you run a lot of GPH, then you have more water in the tank to keep up with the return in the sump. You will need to make sure you have enough room when the pumps are turned off. My sump is OK, but just barely using the Trigger CR44. I could use a tad more room for safety.

Thanks for this, in the planning stages now and your input is helpful. I am looking at running two Vetra M2's in parallel. Also planning on a 60G sump so hopefully I will have enough room. Anything you would do different with your CD setup now that you have some miles on it?

Tom Stevens · Oct 25, 2020

Caseyz said:
Thanks for this, in the planning stages now and your input is helpful. I am looking at running two Vetra M2's in parallel. Also planning on a 60G sump so hopefully I will have enough room. Anything you would do different with your CD setup now that you have some miles on it?

More room! LOL. The space under the tank goes fast. I ended up putting a cabinet next to the tank for the CaRX. Also, think about cable management.

Billldg · Oct 25, 2020

Tom Stevens said:
Look who came out to visit.

Great picture!!! Never had one, does it hide throughout the day?

Tom Stevens · Oct 25, 2020

Billldg said:
Great picture!!! Never had one, does it hide throughout the day?

Yes, I only see them at night.

I have two to help keep the Asterina Starfish under control. They are very efficient... I hope for their sake not too efficient as they only eat starfish.

mattzang · Nov 21, 2020

your tank was looking great last night man. it boggles the mind to know that it's only a couple months older than mine

do you do the full zeovit thing? with the reactor and what not? i remember seeing you had all of the little bottles, but i don't recall if you showed a reactor or not

Tom Stevens · Nov 21, 2020

mattzang said:
your tank was looking great last night man. it boggles the mind to know that it's only a couple months older than mine

do you do the full zeovit thing? with the reactor and what not? i remember seeing you had all of the little bottles, but i don't recall if you showed a reactor or not

Thank you. I am full Zeovit and it includes the stones. I use the Avast Marine Vibe reactor which makes it easy.

Tom Stevens · Nov 23, 2020

Hi,
I spent some timing testing/playing with new macro lens. I thought I would share some top down snaps. The colors have really improved over the last month or so.

The pictures were taken with a Canon 6D Mark II, 100mm Macro and developed from RAW file in LightRoom. I tried to keep the colors faithful as I could but I am still learning how to compensate for the blue spectrum.

Enjoy!

PC Rainbow

Strawberry Shortcake

Oregon Tort

Walt Disney

Sunset Milli

Another Sunset Milli variant

Z Prize

Dark Knight

Pink Floyd

Tom Stevens · Nov 27, 2020

GC Ultimate Efflo I got from Garrett’s Acropolis. Beautiful coral. Greg warned me this one can be a challenge when it gets bigger. It is a very thick efflo and hard to cut.

Tom Stevens · Jan 29, 2021

The tank has been rock‘n. Here are some pics.

Billldg · Jan 31, 2021

On your primary and secondary drain, did you reduce to 1"?

Tom Stevens · Feb 1, 2021

Billldg said:
On your primary and secondary drain, did you reduce to 1"?

I kept at 1 1/2 inch, but if I did it again, I would reduce to 1”. It is kinda finicky to get a symphony going with an bean animal setup with 1 1/2” drains.