80G Cube of Doom

Onebaldman · Dec 28, 2014

LILBUDDHA said:
I like what u did in post # 70 with the hinged door ? for the equipment rack . Are you going to use wide duct panduit ( network cable management ) to finish it up ?

You are correct that it is a hinged door to access the wiring. I will probably start with cable tying everything and running it in bundles (much like network cable management). After I am happy with everything (give it a few months) and I know I won't be swapping anything out, I will then look to see how I can better run the cables to allow for maximum space and yet still allow me to access it when needed.

The other thing I plan on doing is printing address labels and labeling the cables every 6-8 inches. That will allow me to quickly identify a cable anywhere along the path without the need to follow it back to the source/destination.

Right now I'm just happy to be through the Christmas holidays and family gatherings with a finished exterior tank stand. Starting in January, I will open the dry side back up and start with the cable management and running my dosing lines.

I also plan to purchase my IP camera since Santa didn't seem to take the hint... :squigglemouth:

LILBUDDHA · Dec 28, 2014

I was thinking of hinged doors for a new build down the road .lol . I am really dead set with keeping a dry area for equipment since moisture and corrosion is so detrimental to Apex,Reef keeper, DJ power strips etc .. Nothing is worse when you remove the equipment for an upgrade or downgrade only to see the investment in the equipment is now in less than stellar condition . I used clear with black lettering dymo label maker tape over colored electrical tape and it came out well . I recently saw a so called "ultimate tank build on YT and the person wrote on the walls of the closet .He used painting cover some of the tangled wires . The whole build was sponsored from what i saw and all I could think was "jeez can u do better than that ." Ditto on the Xmas with family . Sorry to hear Santa thought u needed something else more than something you wanted this year

Please take lots of pictures of the cabling cleanup . I would love to see your solution .

RUGDOG · Dec 31, 2014

Looks great! Stand is killer as well as electronic cabinet.

Onebaldman · Jan 7, 2015

I was finally able to cut the holes for my dosing pump and hooked up my vodka bottle. You never realize how much you grow to depend on chemicals to take care of stuff until you have quit using them (even in life).

So anyways...things are happy again, my fish are back in their AA meetings and the new algae on the glass is now translucent. Next up will be to hook up the Alk and Cal bottles.

Onebaldman · Jan 7, 2015

On a side note, I just heard my pistol shrimp in my tank. I thought he was dead, but that was definitely the sound of the pistol shrimp. Haven't seen it in forever, but apparently he is hanging out in the rockwork. So far it receiving the award for hide and go seek champion.

Now I'll have to keep an eye out for it and post back if I do find it.

Onebaldman · Jan 9, 2015

Well, when I broke the tank down...I did lose some coral to the lack of light. I was stupid and didn't put back up my radions over the temp tanks, but oh well...that's life.

With that said, my frag tree has been bare for a while and I am a sucker for a ***********s special.

I just put in for an order for:

4 - different Acros
2 - different chalice
1 - Echinata
1 - Pocillopora
2 - different Florida Rics
1 - Sympodium
5 - Different Zoas
and 2 mystery corals.

We will see about the rics. I've had mixed results in the past because I have never found a good spot that they liked, but it's always worth a gamble.

Pictures to come when they get in next week.

Onebaldman · Jan 22, 2015

The new frags came in and most of it survived. A tang decided to strip down one of the acro frags and part of another one :-(

I haven't took pictures because I have loaned out my DSLR and I don't want to take coral pictures with a cell phone.

In other notes: I gave away my long spine urchin. He was starting to bulldoze too often. It was a fight getting it out, and he did get a good stab at my thumb.

My clowns have decided to start spawning again. They are good about putting their eggs in a spot that is a little more hidden, but this time they picked an awful spot:

I thought I had everything squared away with my dosing pumps again, but now I'm having an issue with the lines getting air in them. I currently using air tubing because I have a 2000ft roll of it. It seems to work fine on the input to the pump, but when exiting the pump it appears to have micro bubbles in it. This has caused a loss of vacuum over time and now my tank is not being dosed correctly. Anyone have any suggestions on good dosing lines or maybe new barbs?

Onebaldman · Jan 25, 2015

To continue to log entries here for anyone that does stumble across this thread:

I took a gamble and replaced the barbs connecting my tubing to the dosing pump. This fixed my micro bubble problem and now the pumps are running just fine. I also took the time to hook up the Cal/Alk heads so I am now dosing all three pumps. Before I bought my three head pump, I had a single pump that I was using to dose with. I plan on taking that pump and feeding marine snow or something similar every few days, just to add some nom noms to the tank.

heathd.hd · Jan 25, 2015

Great looking build and tank! Glad you got your dosing pump figured out! :beer::beer::beer:

GHill762 · Feb 12, 2015

cool build!

Onebaldman · Feb 16, 2015

Thanks, it's been a slow process but it's coming along.

I think my biggest frustration right now is, I can get anything but a Chalice to grow in my tank. I'm thinking it's the amount of light I have, but that is just a guess.

TheEngineer · Feb 16, 2015

I really like what you did with the electronics panel. That's a surprisingly large water drop into your overflow. Is that intentional? It must be loud, no?

Onebaldman · Feb 16, 2015

icecool2 said:
I really like what you did with the electronics panel. That's a surprisingly large water drop into your overflow. Is that intentional? It must be loud, no?

Surprisingly it is not loud at all, it clings to the glass since there are no teeth along the top of the overflow. The only time it is loud is when a snail decides to break the tension and crawl up/down the glass for nom noms.

TheEngineer · Feb 16, 2015

OK. That makes sense.

tbdh20 · Feb 16, 2015

Very nice work on the build! I'm also going to try and incorporate some of your ideas to my dry side. Keep up the great job with build and documentation!

Onebaldman · Jun 24, 2015

(Forgive me, I am testing out Google's new photo sharing ability)

Soo...I'm not dead, nor is my tank dead...but there have been some changes in the inhabitants:

While I was on a trip, my Star Blenny decided he wanted to watch TV but couldn't make it back into the tank. Killing yourself, just to watch spongebob isn't worth it.
My one of my anthias tried to play on my PC, and...like the start blenny, couldn't make it back into the tank. Killing yourself, just to watch fish ****, isn't worth it.
The other two anthias and my pygmy angel are missing. I have a feeling the corner of RBTAs had them for dinner.
I replaced the anthias with...more jumping fish...three firefish (https://goo.gl/photos/rM3ax2o5qKb36i3c9) to be exact.
I replaced the Start Blenny with a Midas Blenny (https://goo.gl/photos/2NxD7Vn8TkUBYktG9). It made it 15 days before it decided to jump the tank...stupid 14 day return at LiveAquaria.
I replaced the pygmy angel with a Flame Angel (https://goo.gl/photos/KNxGLMtXo4YycY388).
Purchased two cleaner shrimp (https://goo.gl/photos/JWsEqLWe2dUZ92NC6).
For some reason my green Acro browned out. I checked water parameters and everything was perfectly within reason. Lighting hasn't changed, food hasn't changed, flow hasn't changed. Just went **** up and died.

All of that leads me up to today's update...advancing the water change system.

I have said for a long time now that I'm going to get my water change system fixed. I have the two 30 gallon barrels, one with RODI water and one that's....empty. That empty tank is to fill and mix salt water in. The plan was automate that using the VDM module on my APEX. I would set it up so that they switched a relay and in turn, opens and shuts solenoids. I have the VDM, I have the relay, I have a 12v power supply to power everything. I have the solenoids in place...what I don't have is a pump to pump the water to and from the tank...until today:

The white truck came with my new Stenner Pump (100DMP4) (https://goo.gl/photos/FtruWeLc3WZnX6ug6). Since I didn't get the adjustable one (this one can do 70gpd), I plan on running it once a week to do a half tank water change.

So now I have to get off my lazy butt and put the system together. I still haven't cleaned up my wiring behind my control panel. Time is just not my friend...

Onebaldman · Jun 24, 2015

Oh...and I forgot. I inherited an open brain coral and a ric (I believe) from my nephew. He was needing to break his tank down and new my tank was way more stable than his was.

Excuse the glass...I really need to clean it.

Brain:
Top down https://goo.gl/photos/xve58rCYBf9fSGiF8
Rear Side: https://goo.gl/photos/cZ13xm3CnwUQmjgC9

Possible ric (one on left): https://goo.gl/photos/RfoyUPLofT7XmRRdA

General update on the rest of the tank:

Mushroom invasion :-(
https://goo.gl/photos/c3bv1MKvM1fdxcKC9

Anemone Corner:
https://goo.gl/photos/EqV5dp5TbRwXNGvk8

Hammer, Clam and misc:
https://goo.gl/photos/kFQRqLgrafpyPVh27

Also, if you think I should post the pictures instead of links...I'll be glad to start doing that instead. Just wanted to try this out.

Onebaldman · Oct 1, 2015

Been a few months and I thought I would pop in for an update.

My RTBAs became too much for my tank, so I had to thin them out.

Before:

After:

I thank everyone who bought one from me and hope they are working out well in your tanks. So far I have heard nothing but positive feedback.

While I was taking out the RTBAs, the ATO decided to stay on...and flooded my stand. It wasn't fun. With the amount of fresh water added to my tank, I decided to add an upgrade to my Apex:

I must say that the ability to read salinity is nice, but I am surprised at how much it fluctuates with the temperature.

Current control panel:

My other new addition to the mechanical feature of my tank is an addition to my salt mixing station:

I plumbed in a whole house water filter container to the hold 10 cups of salt for my 20 gallons of mixing water. So far it works out well. I have a pump in my water that circulates up into the salt container, slowly mixing the salt in. This way I can visibly see how the salt mix is going and not wonder if it was thoroughly mixed in or not.

The return goes to the top of my saltwater container and keeps the water swirling.

I have a float switch added to the bottom and to the top of the saltwater tank. This allows my Apex to monitor when the water container is low and then when to turn off when it fills the tank back up with RODI water (the top container). You can see the fill valve at the coming down from the top tank.

Added a Stenner Chemical Feeder (100DMP4) to the setup so that I can do water change with a push of a button. This model does 70gpd. When fully functional, I plan on doing a 20 gallon water change every two weeks but can do an emergency water change at any given time.

I plan on buying another one of the PM2 modules to monitor the salinity/temperature of the salt mixing container, but that is a luxury in the future.

In the upcoming months, my thought is to swap out the 5 gallon Fluval tank I have plumbed in line with my return and put in a 15 gallon column. I really want to host some seahorses and don't want to do the dwarf horses because of their feeding requirements.

On a side note, I lost my beautiful hammer coral. There was some swing in the water chemistry that wasn't showing up and it just dropped it's heads over the course of two months. I never did find out what the problem was, but everything else seems to be healthy.

I will eventually get a new hammer because I think they are beautiful, but my try my hand at a golden one.

I believe this is a long enough update for now, see you in a few months!