2ft cube design

[Claudey]

'lo, is the beginning of my 2nd reef :D

My 6gal nano sump is pretty basic, and only really consists of 2 baffles to partition the sump and fuge. This time i'm gonna get it a bit more right and hardcore, so .....

I am having a 2ft cube built and i want some hardcore filtration/plumbing, and here is what i propose.

2 sumps in the cabinet below the tank, 1 as a lit fuge, the other as a mechanical filter/equipment bay etc. In the cabinet there will be a shelf that the fuge will sit on, and the sump will sit underneath.

As such ....

I know there are alot of sump designs out there and this one is pretty basic, so if you want to try and jazz it up, feel free :)

The skimmer would be housed in the mechanical filtration bay (so the bubble traps are effective

As the water leaves the display it will enter a 24/7 lit refugium, the water will enter into a weir and pass over the weir to leave the fuge via another weir (i want to keep the flow as low as possible and figured letting the water run over the surface would be a good idea.

The water will exit the refugium and pass into the mechanical filtration bay, where i will fit a skimmer and some mechanical filtration doobies. Then once the water has navigated the bubble trap it will enter the equipment bay which will be nice and roomy for return pumps/heaters etc.

As for the cube i will hide powerheads and overflows behind a false wall (made of coloured acryllic) I also like the idea of a low flow cryptic area, so i thought i'd encorporate that into the right hand side of the tank.

My main objectives are:-

1. Keep powerheads etc. hidden (i want as close to zero equipment on show in the main tank)
2. Keep it as quiet as possible (noise will determine whether the tank is situated in my bedroom or study).
3. to have as much and as random flow as possible

I've been fiddling about and have come up with the following thus far:-

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/6748/sumps7ig.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3672/cube4ip.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5720/cube21mz.jpg

edit: the "from sump" arrow shoule be attached to the spraybar inlet

[thesaent14]

this is my 24X24X24 cube i will be using this as a overflow

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/thesaent14/my%20diy/100_0072.jpg

i built the cube my self and i will do 98% diy

this is the cube
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/thesaent14/my%20diy/100_0064.jpg

nunber 1 mistake i made was not drill the bottom it will be beter if you do the stand pipe in the center of the tank isted of the back but whats done is done i like the way you trying to make yours good look just tink about it before you cut and drill

[flyingace2005]

Sorry for the unrelated topic, but what software did you use to design that tank?
Thanks

[Atomahawk]

thesaent14, whats the thickness of your glass on your cube, it looks pretty thin for something that high?

[thesaent14]

1/4 and 1/2 in the bottom

[Atomahawk]

Did anyone suggest this or did you just estimate it? Personaly I think 3/8 would have been a lot safer for something that high.

Anyone else think 1/4 is fine?

[Maxius]

1/4 inch should be god up to 3 feet you might end up putting eurobrases

i custom made a 12 gallon tank with the standard glass from 2 10 gallons and those 2extra gallons where bowing the front and back glass
since i did internal overflow out of glass i only needed to brase the front glass

all oceanic tanks use 1/4 inch glass and the size is pretty close
to the cubes they sell

[Claudey]

Hi, my cube will be 24" and have 10mm thick glass, also it will not have a hood (well it will have a 2" trim around the top) as it will have a halide hung above.

Program used is sketchup

[rivdog]

shouldnt the water from the refuge return to the tank without being filtered or skimmed so that all the little critters get back into the tank. Also the gph from the refuge may not be enough to feed your skimmer

[Tampico]

Can I ask where you bought the cage for the overflow? I was just going to cut slots in pvc to make a cage of sorts... its a pain and the DIY $ savings are not appealing on this part of the project.

[Claudey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6694445#post6694445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rivdog
shouldnt the water from the refuge return to the tank without being filtered or skimmed so that all the little critters get back into the tank. Also the gph from the refuge may not be enough to feed your skimmer

Nice thought, i was thinking that i shouldn't skim before fuge as it will take out nutrients required by the macro algaes etc, but i see your point

[thesaent14]

i gotit at a local store here in florida

[Claudey]

Cabinet is on the production line, tank is about to be discussed tomorrow.

Thus far i've come up with ......

http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/149/glassmodel0ws.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5520/glassmodel49rp.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/415/together9sr.jpg
http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/627/together11zy.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4464/together23eh.jpg

... still yet to work out the plumbing

Will be interesting to see how it pans out compared with designs. Might strugle to get a camera shot like the last one tho

[Atomahawk]

Claudy 10mm is around 3/8 that's the thickness you want and with your bracing you got yourself a winner, you could reduce your bracing to 50mm and I'm sure you'll have more than you need to support from bowing , but it's your choice to sacrifice some space.

thesaent14 1/4" or 6mm is the bare minimum on the thickness at that dimension, I looked it up here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/articles/technical/glass_complete/

Maxius My 36" X 18 X18 tank is 10mm or 3/8 and is braced all around, it's not even a custom tank, so if Oceanic use's 6MM glass on a 24" high tank , I know what company to stay away from :)

[thesaent14]

so i have to make all around 3/8 corect with a 1/2 bottom i guess ill do that

[rivdog]

to satisfy the refuge and the skimmer split your drain line between the refugium and the skimmer and have the outflow from each enter the return area

[Atomahawk]

thesaent14 , from that link 3/8 or 10mm is safe for that dimension and the 1/2 bottom is good. Sorry for the trouble , but better safe than sorry when glass and water are concerned. You could get away with 1/4 for a long time , just like it could last 10 minutes, but why risk it?

[thesaent14]

i know man thats why i will make a difrent one now thanks for your conserned

[RichConley]

My oceanic is 24" high and has 1/2" glass.

[Simms142]

I would keep the flow through the sump at a minimum, like 200 gph or so, and run a closed loop for flow. Besides not having all your eggs in one basket, or one pump lol you have a backup. Plus you wont need some energy hog to fight the head pressure as much. I would also install an oceansmotions 4 way, and plumb the closed loop through that. I would have my sump return where you have the powerhead grate or at the top edge of the overflow. Are you going to use a canopy because if you are i would run the plumbing on top of the tank and through the brace. That would be sweet. I love 24" cubes they look so nice...

[Simms142]

Since you havent made that tank yet, have you considered an external overflow? That would be sweet and you could then drill the back for returns with your closed loop...another reason for the closed loop is when you have a power outage, your returns towards the bottom of the tank are not affected and dont drain your tank.

[Claudey]

the tank will be flush against the wall, so no real room for an external overflow. I want to keep clutter to a minimum

http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/5066/combined18ma.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8452/combined126vq.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/5231/combined137xk.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9585/combined141te.jpg

Hooked up the sumps to the main tank :)

I'm going to put a SCWD and divide the return into 2, i am also toying with the idea of mounting a surge device above the tank in a nearby cupboard. Also there will be a powerhead housed behind the false back that will be for circulation only and have a wave generator attached to it

Q: anyone know of any surge devices that are housed below the main tank?

[blfuller123]

I dont have any input on your setup, but what software are you using?

[Claudey]

sketch up, neat init?

[Claudey]

I'm toying with the following design, suggested to me on another forum.

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/1641/2standpipes4ow.jpg
http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/6910/2standpipes12je.jpg
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/9779/2standpipes21ip.jpg

Basically there is 2 standpipes, the shorter of the two is the workhorse and is 100% fully submerged. This is achievable as the outlet flow is controlled by a ball valve. The second outlet is a backup incase the first one gets blocked. I have yet to mod the diagram in that the 2 outlets will not share a common pipe into the lower sump.

[gmatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6697229#post6697229 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Claudey
Cabinet is on the production line, tank is about to be discussed tomorrow.

Thus far i've come up with ......

http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/149/glassmodel0ws.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5520/glassmodel49rp.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/415/together9sr.jpg
http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/627/together11zy.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4464/together23eh.jpg

... still yet to work out the plumbing

Will be interesting to see how it pans out compared with designs. Might strugle to get a camera shot like the last one tho

What application did you use to create these plans?

Thanks in advance.

[Claudey]

FFS! SKETCHUP I've already mentioned it twice in this post!!

I want feedback on my plans, not my drawing ability thanks.

[gmatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6722304#post6722304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Claudey
FFS! SKETCHUP I've already mentioned it twice in this post!!

I want feedback on my plans, not my drawing ability thanks.


Please accept my humblest apology.


I was taken by the moment. I should have read the entire thread before I said anything to you.

[BruiseAndy]

Long as you are drilling why not drill in some more closed loop stuff. I am in process of building a two foot cube and this is what I modeled mine after... http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=652876&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Excellent job on that tank

[Claudey]

Nice idea but, the thing that narks me is people spend so much time and effort creating a dream reef, only to have ugly flow nozzles poking out everywhere! The tank you linked to is a prime example of that. I am trying to have minimal equipment on display, while also generating a decent flow.

[Claudey]

Any comments as to how 'do-able' this plumbing is?

Any more ideas for a better design?