I want a sweet build thread ( 60 cube )

[olkeller]

this is it in my house it does not match my decor but it will

In this one you can see my pulls I picked.


This is the child locks


When the magent is against the door it relases the locks
I am sure if someone really wanted to get in they could but my son cant and I think anyone who might want to help me feed my fish or something will have to ask how to get in there.

This is my first creature do you think he is reef safe



My Rodi should be here wednesday and the bulkheads either tuesday or wednesday so I can hopfully finish setting up and get the stand screwed together

[DonSh]

I have used those maglocks here at my house for ~9years now they still work great, even if the kids did figure them out years ago...

Awsome piece of furniture you built there, your clients must keep you busy also...

[maroun.c]

Child control area, good idea.
Looking good sweet kid you got there.

[olkeller]

Thats good to know that they have held up for that long I like that they are mostly plastic Too we will see how well they hold up on an aqarium though thanks for the compliments.

I wish all I did was build custom pieces like this it would make work alot more enjoyable.

[lizardarm]

One solution I see is that you could make each side of the canopy double hinged. It would open once the way your pictures show, then the rear sides of the canopy have another set of hinges to open all the way back and flush with the book case. That will give you some elbow room to work inside the tank.

That's exactly what popped into my head too!
Looks like it's too late though. That is however a real nice looking book case/stand you've built there. What kind of wood did you use?
-Chris

[olkeller]

It's knotty alder that i disstressed and glazed and drybrushed. It then has an extremely low sheen finish on it so it is not glossy at all which is the reason in the pics it almost looks cartoonish it doesnt look like that in person.

[olkeller]

Man I had a heck of a time. My DIY skills are definatly lacking, and its obvious why I am not a plumber. I had to redo almost every joint because of leaks and after breaking two bulkheads I finally got it done. Then I had to wait for the sand to clear. This is the pics of the aquascape.



This is the side



This is the sump and refugium

[olkeller]

What do you think of the aqua scape also The rock seems pretty lifeless and there isn't any local reefers I need to find someone to donate a little sand to better seed my tank

[reefaffinity]

Leaks at every joint? Did you glue those joints or where they barbed? Also, how did the bulkheads break?

[olkeller]

They were glued not every but seemed like it atleast 4 of them I figured out my problem but at that time I had aready glued it all up then I didnt catch the leaks One bulkhead broke from over tightening the other for some reason broke when I pushed the pvc up into it it was just cracked and I probally could of used it but I did not want to chance it.

[olkeller]

I checked all the params and no amonia I wonder if since I cooked that live rock I missed the cycle I figured I would get one from the sand. I dont know if it could of spiked in less then 2 days. I am going to georgia for a week and I guess I can see if what happens by the time I get back.

[olkeller]

more leaks on the return i was using flexable pvc that went to an enductor. I think it was too much pressure. i finally decided to hard pipe it all and after draining my sump i also went with a ball valve before the unions so i can shut off water and take off the pump. I didn't even think of that it should of been obvious. No leaks and it has been running for a couple hours.

The noise from the air intake on my asm skimmer was driving me nuts so i found an air valve for a penguin powerhead and pulled the silencer off of it. worked perfect and i did not notice a decrease in bubbles.

Thats good because i was thinking serious about hurrying and buying a new skimmer now i can wait awhile.

[reefaffinity]

Be careful with the hard plumbing and unions, the combination can be prone to leaks because of the unions failing, and the fact that hard plumbing doesn't deal with accidental bumps nearly as well as soft tubing because it's all rigid. Also, did you use pvc glue on the soft tubing the way you would hard pvc pipe, or did you use barbed connections? The pressure from your pump shouldn't be nearly enough to cause a leak.

[olkeller]

i have not seen much for life so i ordered some chaeto and got some sand and rock with it. i have not seen any life except 2 bristle worms and some strange looking algea. i added that sand last friday. i also ordered a clean up crew from keys critters 12 astrea and 25 mini ceriths. I also asked if they could help me with my biodiversity they said they would through in some sand from there outside holding tanks. i want to wait until i see more life before i add any fish that eat life.

[phenom5]

I did it like that because my wife hates my hobby and I figured if I gave her a big nice peice of furniture she would like it a little more.

Very nice build so far olkeller. I've been thinking about upgrading to a larger cube tank, but I've been trying to figure out a way to get the wife on board with the project. Building a bookcase around the tank...excellent idea. She's been bugging me to build her a bookcase. Now if I can just get my skills up to speed to build something that nice, we'll be in business.

Funny story about those child locks...when we first moved into our house, there was this magnet thing stuck on to the fridge. We couldn't figure out what the heck it was for (didn't even think to look on the inside of the cabinets), so after a few weeks I said screw it & threw it out. Sure enough, a few days later as we were cooking dinner, the lock on the cabinet with all our pots and pans "tripped". Oh...that's what the magnet was for. Nothing like making a run to Home Depot 15 minutes before they close, without any idea of what the name is of what your looking for.

Man I had a heck of a time. My DIY skills are definatly lacking

Obviously your DIY skills are lacking, I mean look at that stand you through together...I'm amazed it holds the weight of the tank.


Quick question (sorry if I missed it). What are the dimensions of the tank? 24x24x24?

[olkeller]

thanks for the compliments it is 24x24x24. ya i keep missplacing the key good thing the algea cleaner magnet works.

[olkeller]

I got the snails from keys critters and i am extremely happy they sent some gross looking sand with it and i had to debate if i wanted to put it in my fuge. I finally decided it wouldn't hurt. After a couple of hours i noticed some reddish worms and some otherstuff. All the snails seem to be doing fine also me chaeto has almost doubled in size. If i get a chance i will take some pics of some of the stuff that i haven't noticed in any of my old tanks.

[olkeller]

I turned off my skimmer thinking it would be like feeding tank phyto. Later that night I got thinking what if a new snail dies maybe i should leave skimmer on. Its a modified ASM so it recirculates and when I turned it on the bubble level never changed i thought it was funny so I pulled of the silencer and all of a sudden it was overflowing. WHen I checked the top hole it was completely pluged. I have no idea how long it was but at least I know to watch that it doesn't plug again. I am glad i noticed before i got the tank stocked.

[olkeller]

I have pretty much deglected my tank. I havent really had ant fish in their and you should see all the critters I want to get back after it and I am trying to pick fish do any of you have any suggestions. I am thinking I want two true percs but I am open from there

[RyanMcLaughlin]

Firefish, Shrimp gobies, neon gobies, longnose hawk, royal gramma.

[olkeller]

I thought about the fire fish and neon gobies I like an orchid dottyback more than the royal gamma and I'm nervous of the hawkfish with shrimp and the shrimp gobies and a shrimp I plan on having tons of zoas and stuff down low and dont want sand irritating them