d2mini's 130g Rimless Cube

[Rodrigo_BG]

beautiful project, nice work!

[d2mini]

So far the water level in the overflow is holding steady.
And it's still DEAD SILENT!!!
If you didn't hear the low hum of the skimmers or vortechs you wouldn't know the tank was even running. The Eheim pump is silent as well.

Now I'm just going to let the water go round and round for two weeks before i get back into town and get my rock. I'll just be keeping an eye on it for the next 3-4 days to make sure it solid.

Here's a full room shot.
Still need to get those carpet tiles for the floor around the stand.

[greech]

Wow, just wow. Nice job.

[theyammieguy]

You should get tank of the year for the next ten years. Beautiful.

Can I come live with you? Lol

[eaglesrx]

Originally Posted by d2mini

So far the water level in the overflow is holding steady.
And it's still DEAD SILENT!!!
If you didn't hear the low hum of the skimmers or vortechs you wouldn't know the tank was even running. The Eheim pump is silent as well.

Now I'm just going to let the water go round and round for two weeks before i get back into town and get my rock. I'll just be keeping an eye on it for the next 3-4 days to make sure it solid.

Here's a full room shot.
Still need to get those carpet tiles for the floor around the stand.

Wow! Just gorgeous!! Oh, the tanks nice, too. Haha. Everything's gorgeous!!

[alphaferret]

Beautiful!-The only thing that would bother me -is the light set up on the diagonal?-Man I'm so pitiful for even complaining-everything is top notch-Nice house and killer kitch.!!!

[Briney Dave]

If the biotic matchs the a-biotic you have already; that will be the best cube I have ever seen. It is refreshing to see such a well planned and careful build.

I have been lucky enough to vist Houston a couple of times. Great city, I love the energy and diversity. The clean lines against the windows and outside sort of remind me of the spirit of the town. Familiar yet new

Very well done

[mnml]

Looking great, Dennis. What kind of sand are you going to be putting in there?

[cet98]

Dennis....eveything continues to impress
question for you, what dimension is the water line below the top edge of the tank?

[kevantheman35]

man it just gets better and better, this tank is amazing

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by greech

Wow, just wow. Nice job.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by theyammieguy

You should get tank of the year for the next ten years. Beautiful.
Can I come live with you? Lol

Haha, thank you.
Can you cook?

Originally Posted by eaglesrx

Wow! Just gorgeous!! Oh, the tanks nice, too. Haha. Everything's gorgeous!!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by alphaferret

Beautiful!-The only thing that would bother me -is the light set up on the diagonal?-Man I'm so pitiful for even complaining-everything is top notch-Nice house and killer kitch.!!!

Thanks! I know what you're saying, it's just hard to see from the pics what's going on. If you look at this earlier pic I posted, this is probably the orientation of the light that most people would have done.

But as you can see the stand itself (maybe not perfectly set yet in that photo) is on a 45 degree angle to the room. IMHO, orienting the stand this way allowed for optimal viewing from different angles and almost begs you to walk around it. It also places the corner overflow at the very rear, closest to the windows. So now my corner overflow in a square tank has become a rear overflow in a diamond tank. Now if you look at that pic above and imagine that big overflow box is installed, you will see that a good portion of that one corner of the light would be over the overflow, which is a waste.
So what I decided to do was position the light at a 45 degree angle to the tank. What this does is make the length of the light fixture parallel to the front face of the overflow. If you were to stand directly in front of the tank, facing the windows and the front corner of the tank, the light is sitting perfectly "normal" as if you were in front of a regular tank. Does that make sense? It's hard to describe. It's more like the fixture is hung normal, but the tank is at a 45 degree angle.
Basically, when you're standing there in front of the tank, it all looks perfectly normal!

Originally Posted by Briney Dave

If the biotic matchs the a-biotic you have already; that will be the best cube I have ever seen. It is refreshing to see such a well planned and careful build.

I have been lucky enough to vist Houston a couple of times. Great city, I love the energy and diversity. The clean lines against the windows and outside sort of remind me of the spirit of the town. Familiar yet new

Very well done

Thanks!
We actually went against the grain of the typical housing mentallity in Houston. Typically, they just knock down the "old" (houston is not very old at all!) and throw up huge monstrosities. But we took our new to us untouched 1960 "modern" ranch home and gutted it on the inside and made it modern for today. The exterior, other than a coat of paint and a lot more windows, is the same. So people drive up and it mostly just looks like any other old house on the street. Then they are surprised when they enter the home.

Originally Posted by mnml

Looking great, Dennis. What kind of sand are you going to be putting in there?

All rock, sand and cuc will be coming from Tampa Bay Saltwater. So whatever sand is sitting in the Gulf off of Florida.

Originally Posted by cet98

Dennis....eveything continues to impress
question for you, what dimension is the water line below the top edge of the tank?

Thank you.
The water sits at 7/8's of an inch from the top edge of the tank.
In the overflow it's sitting at about 2.5" from the top.

Originally Posted by kevantheman35

man it just gets better and better, this tank is amazing

Thanks!

[d2mini]

Btw, does anyone has any ideas on where to install my Turbo Twist UV?
I think I'm going to hang it on the right side of the sump over the return.
This way the water has already gone through the skimmer and fuge.

[smp]

That's a stunning design, well done. Execution is flawless.
One thing concerns me though, the dry pipe that you have the wiring running through. Are you concerned that water could get in there? I'm nervous about salt water and electricity. I prefer to keep all electrical outlets etc exterior of the stand, but that's just me.

Also, speaking from experience, you will get a lot of light spill from that pendant. It doesn't bother some people but when I had an open top, square tank with a pendant it did start to bother me. Your house looks really nice, and warm. The 'cool' lighting from that pendant will change the ambiance for lack of a better word, from warm (incandescents, halogens, whatever you have) to cool, blue light. Again, it doesn't bother some people but to me, I prefer warm light in my living space.

It's totally beautiful though in any case and you've incorporated the design into your home very appropriately. Well done!

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by smp

That's a stunning design, well done. Execution is flawless.
One thing concerns me though, the dry pipe that you have the wiring running through. Are you concerned that water could get in there? I'm nervous about salt water and electricity. I prefer to keep all electrical outlets etc exterior of the stand, but that's just me.

Also, speaking from experience, you will get a lot of light spill from that pendant. It doesn't bother some people but when I had an open top, square tank with a pendant it did start to bother me. Your house looks really nice, and warm. The 'cool' lighting from that pendant will change the ambiance for lack of a better word, from warm (incandescents, halogens, whatever you have) to cool, blue light. Again, it doesn't bother some people but to me, I prefer warm light in my living space.

It's totally beautiful though in any case and you've incorporated the design into your home very appropriately. Well done!

Thanks for the comments!
It was definitely important for the tank to match the rest of the house so I'm glad you and others have picked up on that.

1. The dry pipe is even with the top edge of the tank. If the water gets that high (with my plumbing set up there is a nearly zero chance of that happening) the water will be flowing over the edge of the tank and onto the floor. At that point I have bigger problems. All I have to do is slip a 45 degree elbow under that bulkhead and any water that flows down the pipe would be directed into the sump, but due to what i mentioned above i haven't bothered yet. Probably will though. I also the electrical cords come out into the stand, drop down a bit, than go back up to the ballasts which are hung at the very top of the stand. So any water that drips down would never make it to the ballasts.
If I had a fish room or basement, I would definitely pull all electrical out of the stand, but in this case I don't have a choice. But have thought carefully about how to make it as safe as possible.

2. Being a 24" fixture over a 36" tank, there really isn't much spill. Even if the tank had a canopy, there is still so much blue-ish light being projected out of 4 sides of the tank that the room is going to be blue when the room lights aren't on. Plus with the rest of the house being yellow, it's nice to walk in and see some cool blue tones surrounding the tank. It's refreshing.

[somdinwong]

gorgeous tank. all i have to say is wow. i am looking into having a 40x36x24 built and will be using a ati i think. just picked up my vortechs but am having a problem with one of them.will be following the progress

[TRITON1]

Everything looks amazing. I love the way it blends with your house.

Just onen question....Why are you going with TBS live rock? I have never seen it in person, but all I have seen online makes it look very dense and boulder-shaped. Seems contrary to your goal of a minalist aquascaping. Why not use dry rock from Marcos rocks or Bulk reef supply? You would get better shapes and not have to deal with any introduced pests. (and cheaper) If you do want traditional live rock, I have recieved nice pieces from LiveAquaria in the past.

[dcook]

w o w

[theyammieguy]

Is third coast and saphire in the same spot? I need a skimmer but I think they are closed on weekends and thats the only time I can get out there.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by TRITON1

Everything looks amazing. I love the way it blends with your house.

Just onen question....Why are you going with TBS live rock? I have never seen it in person, but all I have seen online makes it look very dense and boulder-shaped. Seems contrary to your goal of a minalist aquascaping. Why not use dry rock from Marcos rocks or Bulk reef supply? You would get better shapes and not have to deal with any introduced pests. (and cheaper) If you do want traditional live rock, I have recieved nice pieces from LiveAquaria in the past.

Thanks!
Getting the tbs rock because I want all the life that comes on it, and in the sand. I won't have to worry about the die off, so it will be a quick cycle and it seems that you really get your money's worth with all the life on it and extra critters, sponges, and other stuff thrown in. Need to get the stuff in my other tank moved over to this one asap. Also, i figure I could take a hammer to some of it if it's too boulder-esque.
Even the stuff from live aquaria is not going to come with much of any life on it by the time it gets to my door.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by theyammieguy

Is third coast and saphire in the same spot? I need a skimmer but I think they are closed on weekends and thats the only time I can get out there.

Yup. Open on saturdays.
Call and check to see what product is in stock before you head out there. Sapphire is mostly selling through distribution now.

[d2mini]

Here's a few more pics of the tank from various viewpoints in my home.


Standing by the tank again, behind the tv entertainment center.



View from within the kitchen and what should be the dining room table once i clean up the mess



And view from the sofa in the living room.

[cet98]

well.....I hate to say it, but....
I really don't care for the view from the LR sofa
I think the fireplace obstructs my view....you should probably remove the fireplace!!!

J/K....looks sensational Dennis

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[theyammieguy]

Good deal. Should I call saphire or 3rd coast? Tried calling saphire all day yesterday but I guess they are closed for the holiday's.

[Deputy1234]

I love the tank and the house.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by theyammieguy

Good deal. Should I call saphire or 3rd coast? Tried calling saphire all day yesterday but I guess they are closed for the holiday's.

pm dreamersdisease (aka sapphire) on Marsh or ask in their sponsor forum on marsh.

Originally Posted by Deputy1234

I love the tank and the house.

Thanks!