Joann's 60g cube...a work in slow progress

[DiverGirl82]

IM USING 2 IN OPPOSITE CORNERS BUT PRETTY MUCH FACING EACH OTHER AND APPEARS TO BE WORKING FINE. THIS WEEKEND I'M GETTING A HYDRA 26 WITH CONTROLLER. CURRENTLY ONLY HAVE AN ai NANO, BUT LOOKS GOOD JUST NOT ENOUGH DEPTH.

Well you sold me on the 4s. Hopefully I can sell the 8s. Have you tried using them on any of the higher power settings with both? If so is it too much?

 

[MrGemini]

I was using the rw8 on lowest setting on wave mode and blew too much sand around.

 

[DiverGirl82]

IM USING 2 IN OPPOSITE CORNERS BUT PRETTY MUCH FACING EACH OTHER AND APPEARS TO BE WORKING FINE. THIS WEEKEND I'M GETTING A HYDRA 26 WITH CONTROLLER. CURRENTLY ONLY HAVE AN ai NANO, BUT LOOKS GOOD JUST NOT ENOUGH DEPTH.

Let me know how you like the hydra 26. I'm researching all my led options. I'd love to see a pic once you set it up.

 

[MrGemini]

Will do!

 

[DiverGirl82]

Getting ready for my rock. Tomorrow needs to hurry up and get here. I've been cruising the cube club looking for inspiration.

And I only had to tape it twice. Next time measure twice, tape once.

 

[MrGemini]

Remember to leave a little space in the rear for cleaning and future equipment upgrades, just enough to put your hand through.

 

[DiverGirl82]

Well I figured while I wait for ups to drop off my rock I might as well go ahead and start running the ro/di to make up some salt water. Now I knew from researching that the flow outta these things is slow but actually seeing is a whole other story. The term "watching paint dry" comes to mind.

 

[revhtree]

Can't wait!

 

[MrGemini]

You could mix the salt alreaady, just make sure you keep water circulating and a heater so it is good and ready to be poured into the tank. Make sure you have the right salinity for what your gonna keep!

 

[DiverGirl82]

Well that turned into a nightmare!

I have 2 20g Rubbermaid totes that have been filing with ro/di all day, and it took ALL day. So once ups dropped off my mangled boxes I got to work on the scape. That was more difficult than I thought. I got a lot more large pieces of rock than I had hoped. I ended up with three pretty big pieces left over but I had ordered a bit extra.

So I spent several hours stacking and restacking and periodically checking on my water until I had something I thought wasn't half bad. So I go to check on my water again and the floor is absolutely sopping wet. As in when I step on it it makes squishy noises. They weren't full so the only thing I can think is the pump I had mixing the salt in one tote must have shifted and been spraying the water up over the side, though I never saw or heard it happening. With the water in them the totes are too heavy for me to move. I had planned on leaving everything for the night and getting it all in the tank tomorrow but I realized I would have to do it tonight so I could move the totes. So I had to do a rush job moving my aquascape over to the tank and of course wasn't able to replicate it exactly. I got extremely frustrated trying to come up with something I could live with in a hurry.

Finally got the rock situated and went to check the water. I had already mixed salt into one but when I checked it with the refractometer it was nowhere near where it should be. It took a lot more salt than the bag said it would. So I got both totes where they needed to be and pumped them into the tank.

I'm now waiting on all my towels to finish in the dryer for the second time so I can sop up more water. And tomorrow I'm going to have to run out somewhere and get more salt because now I don't have enough to fill the whole thing. The closest lfs is 30 minutes away and their salt is ridiculously over priced. So I may end up running an hour and a half down to Palm Desert to get some. Plus I have to fill the stupid totes again. So it's turned into a very very long night and tomorrow looks to be a very very long day.

And my entire body HURTS! Oh Lord I sure hope this comes out looking halfway decent.

My original scape...

What I ended up with...

 

[MrGemini]

it looks great anyway, yes it is a trial and error type of hobby but just take your time and I'm sure it will end up great. I would recommend buying the salt by the bucket as in long run will be cheaper also you always want to make sure you have some on hand for those rare occurrences that something toxic dies in your tank and you need to do an emergency water change. also depending on if you have the room I would get a brute trash can and add a float switch so you always have water on hand for topping off and water changes.

 

[steelheader.262]

I like it!!!

 

[abecker]

I like your aquascape! Also, I have found some pretty good prices for salt on amazon and prime shipping.

 

[DiverGirl82]

Thanks everybody. I wasn't 100% happy with it and I'm still not so sure but I think I just need to try to imagine it with coral on it. And it does have some nice little ledges for placing corals.

 

[DiverGirl82]

I like your aquascape! Also, I have found some pretty good prices for salt on amazon and prime shipping.

Yeah I saw that. I kinda wanted to get the salt today so I could get it all finished. However, I woke up kinda sore so I might just go ahead and order from amazon and just spend today making more water and tidying up. It looks like my living room was hit by a tornado.

 

[DiverGirl82]

My not so little helper inspecting the rock yesterday.

 

[MrGemini]

he's making sure no illegal hitch hikers hiding within the rock. lol

 

[DiverGirl82]

Getting frustrated and nervous. I finally got the whole thing filled and only flooded my living room twice. Thankfully the second time I remembered to put a tarp down. So only a tiny bit of water got on the floor.

The sump is filled up to the last ballast so I plugged in the return. The return pump pumps the water out faster than the compartment can fill back up. I unplugged it and put in a little fresh water to fill it up some more (the salinity was just a tad high anyway) but it's still doing it. Not as bad though. Do I need to just keep putting in more water or is my return pump too strong for my tank? I don't want to fill it up too much because I'd like to leave room in case of ATO emergency. I believe the woman I bought the set up from called the pump a mag 9? And I believe my sump is 20g.

So while I was under there messing with all that I see dripping. Not a lot and not frequent but it was from both the return tubing and the tubing flowing in. So I've turned off the return for the night and coated both at the areas of dripping heavily with aquarium silicone. I'm hoping that does the trick but it has me very nervous. I wish there was someone I could hire out here in the middle of nowhere to take a look and make sure everything is good. I'm going to be laying awake all night listening for a sudden gush of water.

 

[MrGemini]

the maximum I would go with for a return pump is a mag7, thats what I'm running on mine. make sure your sump is big enough to catch/hold the water if the pump ever shuts off and it siphons water back to your sum, if not it may overflow your your sump and make a big mess

 

[MrGemini]

make sure if your using pvc that everything gets glued.I tried being lazxy with that once and I almost flooded my living room with 125g of saltwater!