151-720 liter 190L Cube - Newbie aiming towards SPS (advice welcome)

[AI_Reefer]

 

The Nuvo INT 50 already has this covered.      

 

 

[AI_Reefer]

5 minutes ago, PerS said:

bonding the rear panel to the glass.

 

I.e. I think the rear balck panel is actually perspex, hence the molecular bond with Acrifix. As I agree, Silicone will not work. But Acrifix should do it. 

[AI_Reefer]

7 minutes ago, AI_Reefer said:

But Acrifix should do it. 

I could be wrong about this though. I'll likely do a test run with a small piece of perspex and acrifix inside the rear overflow section. Just to check that the molecular acrifix bond really works first. 

Ändrat 23 juni 2021 av AI_Reefer

[PerS]

You could also make a shelf out of black perspex that sits on the bottom of the tank. Something like this:

You can add reinforcements that are hidden by the rocks and sand if needed.

[PerS]

1 minute ago, AI_Reefer said:

I could be wrong about this though. I'll likely do a test run with a small piece of perspex and acrifix inside the rear overflow section. Just to check that the bond really works first. 

Perspex is acrylic, so it should work.

[AI_Reefer]

Yes, the shelf is a good idea too! 

[PerS]

Looking forwards to seeing the result, floating reefs can look awesome

[AI_Reefer]

 

Cardboard first draft of the structural supports....

 

 

[AI_Reefer]

Final design for the bracing. Hopefully it's strong enough and low enough. Also with enough room to be able to clean the sand bed underneath. 

 

 

 

[AI_Reefer]

 

Happy midsummer everyone!

 

I am wondering if their is any advantage in starting to cycle the dry rock and the sand in a plastic bin this week using just some basic tank starter kit? 

 

Its either that or I wait until the live rock and the sump, and all the fittings and pumps arrive, then start the cycle with both dry and live rock together in the main display tank. Although this would probably take a month or two longer than if I just start up the dry rock cycling in a plastic bin this week... ?

[Guest]

I would start the dry rock in a bin with a small pump and some bottle bacteria
Happy midsommar

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[AI_Reefer]

Hmm, I guess I will need to buy a RO set up, the pump and the salt first... Also a heater I guess too. 

 

Better start a new shopping list. 

[Kim Rosenqvist]

1 timme sedan , AI_Reefer skrev:

Hmm, I guess I will need to buy a RO set up, the pump and the salt first... Also a heater I guess too. 

 

Better start a new shopping list. 

Go for the bigger size if possible, the small ones can have extremely slow flow, which will be really frustrating (especially if you're planning to maybe upgrade in size in the future) 

[AI_Reefer]

That is good advice Kim. I also figure I can use it for filtered drinking water at work too.   

 

I could go for a 600l Aquamedic - https://www.seaflowerstore.com/aqua-medic-premium-line-600-osmose-apparaat/ 

 

Or maybe go for the full filtered drinking water solution. But its very hard for me to find these since I cannot search google in Swedish.      Let me know if anyone knows of any good solutions in Sweden that include a drinking tap and revivor. I could go up to 3000-4000 SEK I guess for the drinking water solution.   

[AI_Reefer]

 

I also did this today...     

 

Tomorrow I will start to glue the rocks in some form that can be essentially "draped" over the top of the plexiglass supports. 

 

 

 

Ändrat 26 juni 2021 av AI_Reefer

[AI_Reefer]

 

In future, I will add as much live rock as I can onto this base frame, and also have some isolated live rocks perhaps standing alone in the sand bed. 

Ändrat 26 juni 2021 av AI_Reefer

[Kim Rosenqvist]

4 timmar sedan, AI_Reefer skrev:

That is good advice Kim. I also figure I can use it for filtered drinking water at work too.   

 

I could go for a 600l Aquamedic - https://www.seaflowerstore.com/aqua-medic-premium-line-600-osmose-apparaat/ 

 

Or maybe go for the full filtered drinking water solution. But its very hard for me to find these since I cannot search google in Swedish.      Let me know if anyone knows of any good solutions in Sweden that include a drinking tap and revivor. I could go up to 3000-4000 SEK I guess for the drinking water solution.   

 

I know @Thomas Salt has helped others with some advice on reverse osmosis, not sure about the price of that unit but users have been real happy with it

[AI_Reefer]

 

Here is my list to get the dry rock plastic bin to begin cycling. It is only a guess, since I'm an uber rookie. Please let me know if i've got anything wrong. 

• RO filter of some sort
• Plastic bin of some sort
• Salinity checker of some sort
• (for main display later) Nyos Viper (5.0)  1000-5000 l / h   -- Variable pump - SPS tank turnover 20 times per hour...  200x20 = 4000L/h (ish) 
• 5Kg Aquaforest Sea Salt - väldigt prisvärt salt för akvarium med inriktning på fisk

• Heater - Eheim Thermopreset (150W)

• Some kind of bacteria source

  • I'm still not sure what to use. 

• Some kind of Ammonia source

  • I'm still not sure what to use. 

• Should I add "pods" at any point?

 

 

[Thomas Salt]

Yes I have had the pleasure of helping others regarding a great RO filter, mine is 3 years old now and one of the better investments I have made, and that's why I reccomend it to anybody that want's a high performance RO system. 

 

https://rent-postevand.dk/shop/Vandfiltre/Omvendt-osmose/RO600BL 

And of course this bad boy filter https://rent-postevand.dk/shop/Extras/Harpiks/DI0817 

 

[AI_Reefer]

Wow, what a beast! At a good price too. I can start brewing beers with this one too.      Thanks for the link Thomas!

[AI_Reefer]

I've been thinking about which salt and other additives to use. I figured that the Tropic Marin Basic Care 03 strategy will hopefully work. Not sure if this is the ideal brand/method, but I guess it'll do the job? I've already ordered a different brand of bacteria starter kit though (Brightwell Aquatics MicrōBacter Starter, Clean, & QuikCycl), but I'm guessing this won't be a problem especially since I plan to add live rock soon after the cycles has started. 

 

Apparently according to the video below if I get keen I can build my own "all for reef" too. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GoxznwVVk4

 

Feel free to let me know if anyone thinks this strategy is a bad idea for any reason? 

 

 

Image from -  https://www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com/fileadmin/user_upload/tropic-marin.com/Dateien/Pdf/Biener_Ratgeber_GB_2_19_-_online.pdf 

Ändrat 9 juli 2021 av AI_Reefer

[Kim Rosenqvist]

12 timmar sedan, AI_Reefer skrev:

I've been thinking about which salt and other additives to use. I figured that the Tropic Marin Basic Care 03 strategy will hopefully work. Not sure if this is the ideal brand/method, but I guess it'll do the job? I've already ordered a different brand of bacteria starter kit though (Brightwell Aquatics MicrōBacter Starter, Clean, & QuikCycl), but I'm guessing this won't be a problem especially since I plan to add live rock soon after the cycles has started. 

 

Apparently according to the video below if I get keen I can build my own "all for reef" too. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GoxznwVVk4

 

Feel free to let me know if anyone thinks this strategy is a bad idea for any reason? 

 

 

Image from -  https://www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com/fileadmin/user_upload/tropic-marin.com/Dateien/Pdf/Biener_Ratgeber_GB_2_19_-_online.pdf 

I'm pretty sure tropic marin is one of the highly recommended brands when it comes to salt (as well as other products of course). 

Some cheaper brands only contains the major elements found in sea water. Don't know how big of an impact the minor elements make, but I try to maintain almost all (measurable) minor trace elements in my own tank. 

 

Also think tropic marin have chemical grade salt, which means that it will be pure. 

[AI_Reefer]

Its a good day today I hope, I finally gathered the courage to glue on the base support structure. It is two Acrylic arms glued in an X shape. I tested their breaking limit which was around 8kg per arm if the weight was all placed at the very end. Which was phenomenally stronger than I had anticipated. I glued them in place with Acrifix 0192, and used the same glue to cover them in sand so that they hopefully blend seamlessly behind the surrounding live rock and coral structures.

 

Tomorrow I will test the strength of the whole structure, most importantly the glue bond between the black acrylic rear plate and the clear acrylic coral support frame. Acryfix 0192 is a molecular polymer bond so technically it should be enormously stronger than silicone (if it worked). Fingers crossed it can hold a lot of weight!

 

 

Ändrat 23 juli 2021 av AI_Reefer

[AI_Reefer]

I tested the strength of the floating reef structure, is truly Epic! It feels as solid as metal girders.

 

If I am keen, I will be able to hang an enormous amount of live rock and coral onto this frame. It can carry 10-15Kg+ of stone and coral with ease. Although, I'll likely only add a few Kg of LR to get it looking good with plenty of space for coral to grow.  

 

I am pretty relived that it worked, since it is a permanent change to the tank, and will be nearly impossible to remove without using a circular saw. I can highly recommend this method to anyone that is willing to permanently optimize their tank for floating reef style aquascaping. Just keep in mind, that this bond is insanely strong, and almost impossible to break, it is similar to a metal weld, you can likely only break it using a circular saw or dremil drill.

 

 

Ändrat 24 juli 2021 av AI_Reefer

[Kim Rosenqvist]

Well done my friend! It sounds like it's more likely that the overflow box let's go before the arms do

 

It will be really nice to see the rock architecture on top of it. 

But tonight you open up the nice bottle of whine, you've reached a key milestone in your floating reef vision!