Plans for my 30G Cube

[Jf2381]

I got bored, I miss my reef too much, I hate going to all my friend's house and looking at their reef so I decided to start messing around with a 30g cube that I had laying around.
I expect this project to be finished in about 6 to 8 months. This is my when I get a free moment project.

Here are my plans.






I cut out the over flow slot. Rich (rstimeout) is building the external overflow box. I was going to drill the 3 holes for the closed loop system but I'm going to wait until I set up the main drain and return. I don't want to drill the holes in a place that they are going to be in the way. The sump is going to be a custom acrylic cube (RichT we'll talk soon ). I haven't decided if I'm going to run a skimmer but I will have a 1" hole drilled anyway.


Again this project is going to take forever so don't expect weekly updates.

 

[Phyl]

Looks good! I knew it wouldn't be long before you'd be back

FWIW, we had a scwd on our 65 for a while. We needed a mag9 to do the same turnover that we get with a Mag7 without it. I really just didn't like it. I also felt like it was diminishing its ability over time. Not a big fan of them and won't use another. I'm sure there are lots of folks happy with theirs... I'm just not one of them.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it after you've implemented it.

 

[Carlo]

I wasn't happy with mine either Phyl. I found about the same pump increase requirement as you to get the same flow. I don't know about you but I found it to be quite noisy too.

I'd look into a sea swirl or wavy sea instead of the scwd. I've got two of the wavy sea plus units in my main tank and love it.

 

[JohnS_323]

Nice drawings, Jose! What program did you use for them?

One thing that looks a little funky is having your return lines coming out right in front of your overflow box. If it were me, I'd have it on the opposite side of the tank so that you ensure some circulation. Other than that, I like the setup, it looks like it'll work pretty well.

I still have that SCWD for you if you want to use it. As Phyl said, ours cut down our flow quite a bit but we were using a non-pressure rated Mag pump. I'm not sure if you'd see the same drop off with a pressure rated Pan World 40 pump. It's up to you, you can have to check it out if you want it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[kabal2]

for the SCWD, you can look into ocean motions, they have one that is 2 ways, and people talk great about those, and i bet they will give you better turnover for the pump you going to use

Gabe

 

[Absinthe]

I like it.

 

[Carlo]

Yea the Ocean Motion has the same effect as the SCWD except it uses a motor to do the work so it doesn't rob your water pressure. You can get the Ocean Motions in different configurations (2,4,6,8) outputs and can "rebuild" your current model to more outputs by changing the disk inside it. You can get disks that output each output 100% of the time or shift from one output to the next to having multiple output at the same time. It's quite flexible.

I've played around with a lot of wavemaker devices and have finally found my "perfect" setup. On my current tank I've got two Wavy Sea Plus units installed on the cross bars. The Wavy Sea comes with a bracket that allows a MaxiJet to be installed on it so I attached a 1200 to each Wavy Sea. I also use the nozzles it comes with and have both Wavy Seas attached to a Mag 24 pump via a T connection. On each of the MaxiJets I attached a Hydor Circular output nozzle. The nozzle attachment on the MaxiJet creates some pretty cool currents and hits spots the closed loop wouldn't hit on it's own. It also helps create a lot of random patterns. As if this wasn't enough (never) I attached (still in playing mode) a Hydor #4 pump to each nozzle via a couple of rubber bands.

So I've got the Wavy Sea Plus running the closed loop (pointing 90 degrees) with a Hydor #4 powerhead attached to it pointing downward and a MaxiJet 1200 with the rotating disk which hits a lot of spots the other miss and also "breaks" into the streams of the other two flows and creates some really random patterns. I've got the MaxiJet slightly to the left of the built in closed loop powerhead and the hydor #4 to the right of the nozzle. So even with it's built in lateral swing motion I'm covering a lot of water movement. It really creates a wave type affect.

Since I've got two of these setups in the tank and since the Wavy Sea's have the ability to set how fast they move from right to left I have each setup on a different speed setting. So the tank is constantly getting different movements based on the two wavy sea's going back and forth plus the diffusion of the MaxiJets with the Hydor rotating/circular disk on it. It's the best random flow I've been able to create to date with all my playing.

Now if I could only peal the fish off the rocks I'd be in business (just kidding). It may sound like a lot of flow but I'm still looking for more. Once I get the group buy hydor pumps in (2 #3s and 2 #4s) I'll set them up stationary to get more into and behind the rockwork to keep everything from settling.

Carlo

 

[Jf2381]

Thanks for the heads up about the scwd. Good thing I'm in the planning stage and I have not ordered any equipment. I will look into the wavysea and the ocean motion.

 

[Jf2381]

Nice drawings, Jose! What program did you use for them?

One thing that looks a little funky is having your return lines coming out right in front of your overflow box. If it were me, I'd have it on the opposite side of the tank so that you ensure some circulation. Other than that, I like the setup, it looks like it'll work pretty well.

I still have that SCWD for you if you want to use it. As Phyl said, ours cut down our flow quite a bit but we were using a non-pressure rated Mag pump. I'm not sure if you'd see the same drop off with a pressure rated Pan World 40 pump. It's up to you, you can have to check it out if you want it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I used MS paint to draw it up.
I was thinking of relocating the return to the side of the tank. When I first drew the plans up I was going by the AGA RR tanks that have the return coming out of the overflow box.

 

[Jf2381]

I'm going to play with the closed loop and the return to see if I can hit enough spot that I will not have the need to add any powerheads (fingers crossed).

 

[Jf2381]

Update.
I just order a ocean motion 2 way, an Iwaki MD 20RLXT, and all the bulkheads.

 

[JohnS_323]

Cool! I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together. Make sure you take some pics of the process.

 

[Jf2381]

Once I get started building I'll start taking pictures. Right now all I'm doing is collecting equipment. I have a lot of things to buy. Hopefully I will be able to take advantage of the premium aquatics group buy.

Now that I think about it...Did I post this in the right section?

 

[jazzsam]

I know what you mean about collecting equipment. I have not even finished the setup I am working on now and I want to start on another!

 

[Jf2381]

This time around I don't want to run the tank and buy equipment as I go. I want to have everything setup when I get it going.

Can you guys recommned a skimmer for this tank? I was thinking of a MRC - 1...I know that's over kill but I wouldn't run the skimmer all day/night long.

 

[RichT]

I was thinking of a MRC - 1...

I saw one up for sale in the sale/trade forum.

 

[RichT]

Now that I think about it...Did I post this in the right section?

I guess once you get going it should be moved to the Nano section.

 

[Jf2381]

Equipment are starting to show up at my door steps.
I have another iwaki 20, t5 retro and my parabolic reflector coming in this week or the next..

 

[Jf2381]

I was thinking of a MRC - 1...

I saw one up for sale in the sale/trade forum.

Thanks...I saw that...I'm debating if I should buy it.

 

[Jf2381]

I will have updates for you guys on Sunday.
I'm going to build the stand and canopy, and drill the holes for the closed loop.