Recommendations on 93g (30x30x24) Cube

[n8n]

Good Morning, I have decided on a tank that I feel in love with and now I need recommendations on getting the tank setup. I'm sure many others have the exact same setup or at least have seen the same setup.

Tank: 93g (30x30x24) Marineland pre-drilled (corner flow)
Stand: Marine Land Venture Stand (inner: 29.25 x 28.75 x 23.5* )
Door: 19.25x19.5 [front]
Back Opening: 29.25 x 18.5

I will always have access to the back opening access wise. I'm going to paint and construct a plywood cover for the back that looks nice that is removable.

I hope to have a marine tank with live rock / fish and some corals assuming they are not super crazy difficult to maintain. My wife is wanting wall-to-wall fish but i'm trying to keep things reigned in to an reasonable bioload.

Plumbing... I haven't done it yet, but I have full intention of silent running, and doing herbie unless its totally not needed. the cornerflow will be the two drain (herbie), and i was going to plumb return pipe on the other corner.

Return Pumps... I have my eye on eheim 900gph or mag pumps 9.5. (head loss drops them to around 600 gph) with about 4 1/2 feet distance to top of tank.

Questions...
1) Can anyone recommend a sump [that will fit]? I'm thinking either a 25x25x16 or 26x13x15 or 26x16x16 are the sizes i've found so far that will fit in the stand. I want to accommodate skimmer, refug, heater, and return +- anything else i might need/want. The calculator says 7.8g needed for overflow power outage, I want to run the system at ~600gph.

2) Can anyone recommend some skimmers [that will fit]? I have 23 5/8" absolute maximum height from stand bottom to glass of tank, subtract out sump glass we should probably call it 23" assuming I can find some way to even tilt/get it in the space. There are alot of skimmers that will fit, and even more that won't fit. I'm hoping for +1 (skimmer rated for ~200 gallons). AquaC Ev-180 (20") will easily fit, seems like reef octopus [they make a wide array[ are hot skimmers but most of them would be super tight fit. Also if you recommend a brand name, please provide the model you are recommending, there are a million variations!

Note: Preference --> Super Quite Skimmer & +1 (designed for 200 gallons), with external drain (so skimmate can goto a small jug or something)

3) Lights.. 30x30x24... any recommendations? I prefer LED, the EcoTech Radion XR15w Radion looks promising but its only designed for a 24x24 area, so centered the outer 3 inches might not be as brilliant, most likely the corals will be growing in the center area only. I also hear people have to turn DOWN the LEDs because they are too bright (which is a good thing if I need them to go a little further). Anyways looking for recommendations specifically for this tank setup.

4) anything else anyone can recommend

I hope to do an apex controller, haven't researched at ATO yet, Wife is pushing for a ROI (haven't researched), heater will be in sump obviously.

Thanks!

Nathan

[Jschrett]

Hi Nathan

I just started a 60 gallon marineland cube 24x24. I found a ruby trigger custom cube sump at premiumaquatics It fits nicely under the stand and has good clearance. I am running a bubble magus curve 7. For lighting I am using an aquaillumination hydra 52. It is plenty for my tank but you may need a little more for a 93 gallon.

Hope this helps
James

[n8n]

Originally Posted by Jschrett

Hi Nathan

I just started a 60 gallon marineland cube 24x24. I found a ruby trigger custom cube sump at premiumaquatics It fits nicely under the stand and has good clearance. I am running a bubble magus curve 7. For lighting I am using an aquaillumination hydra 52. It is plenty for my tank but you may need a little more for a 93 gallon.

Hope this helps
James

James, the trigger systems cube sump is one of the top ones on my list of sumps. The 60 gallon that you have was one of my other top picks when I was picking out tanks. The big difference in setup (other than water volume obviously) is stand size. The 93g believe it or not has a subsantially LOWER height stand than the marine land stand for the 60g. My stand is basically within 1/2" of most of the skimmers i'm looking at, very tight tollerance for height, while your stand is probably ~12" taller providing you a much broader selection of equipment, while you might have a little be less width/depth in your stand.

Thanks for the tip, I was also looking at the Reef Octopus Sump (not quite as fancy) it basically is a 20g high tank but the baffles are adjustable. They have screws that simply put pressure to hold them in place, and you can put them anywhere in the sump, (and even purchase additional moveable baffles). If they work, I think they could make a ton of money just selling adjustable baffles!

-Nathan

[ReefKeep66]

Check out the reef octopus 150 super space saver skimmer. It's rated up to 250g. I've been using it for around 1 1/2 months. Works awesome. It's 21" tall I believe.

[n8n]

Originally Posted by ReefKeep66

Check out the reef octopus 150 super space saver skimmer. It's rated up to 250g. I've been using it for around 1 1/2 months. Works awesome. It's 21" tall I believe.

Is it the XP series Full Cone Skimmer?

Reef Octopus
XP-1000-INT -- Full Cone Internal Skimmer
XP-1000-SSS -- Full Cone Super Space Saving
XP-1000-EXT -- Full Cone External

All 3 have been discontinued & are not available anywhere. I checked Bulk Reef Supply, Marine Depot, etc. Some say "not available", some say "discontinued"...

I think Reef Octopus is pushing the Regal Series over the XP series so they can sell a pump also. The Regal Series (150INT) looks perfect but i don't think they have released it to market yet. I really want the Regal 170 But it just looks like its to tight in the stand for my liking.

If its a different Reef Octopus (classic?) can you let me know, I think you bought the last one they made...

Thanks!

-Nathan

[ReefKeep66]

The one I'm talking about has the pump internal. the 150s a few inches bigger than the 110 so I went with it in case I have a heavy bioload.

[n8n]

Originally Posted by ReefKeep66

The one I'm talking about has the pump internal. the 150s a few inches bigger than the 110 so I went with it in case I have a heavy bioload.

Ok, thats the Classic 150-SSS.

http://www.reefoctopus.com/product_d...&CurrCateID=54

It's one of the ones on my hot list that I haven't researched much. Its right in the right size range 132g-211g. It also is in the size range of 20.8" tall, and it has a very small sump size of 9"x7" will fit in almost any sump. Basically size wise this skimmer wins. The concerns I have [that i have not researched] are the following:

#1 - how does it compare [skim productivity] compared to the other comparable models. -- that seems like a very hard question because very few people have 3 of 4 skimmers lol.

#2 - how noisy is it?

Looking at the picture, it looks like the collection cup at the top makes a flat surface across the top of the chamber, I think the newer designs are more cone shaped. Also looking at the picture I don't see a port in the collection cup for an external collector [which i would really like if i can find one that fits].

#3 - does it have a port on the collector for an external collector? The reason why this is on the list is if I have a really restrictive space for the skimmer to sit in, I would prefer to use an external collection and then get the lid off it once every few weeks to really clean it out, instead of having to mess around in a tight space of my tiny stand a couple times a week.

Thanks!

-Nathan

[MMacro]

Look into the aquamaxx EM 200 or 300.

[n8n]

Originally Posted by Reeferplax

Look into the aquamaxx EM 200 or 300.

That is a great recommendation, THANK YOU!

I totally did not even look into that brand. I'm actually looking at their website and the ConeS CO-1 and CO-2 have caught my eye.

Says silent running, has the external collection, fits in the height restrictions, clearly spells out only 1/2" space necessary to remove collection cup, Cone Shaped, Marine Depot sells them. Sounds like I found a super viable canidate!

The other ones i'm looking at either fit or a tight fit:

Hydor Performor 120 (505), or 150 (705) which is tigher. -- Mr. Saltwater TV likes it but very little few people on YouTube with videos, kinda scared of small market footprint that i'm seeing.

Reef Octopus Classic 150-INT - popular brand

Reef Octopus RO-PS 2000INT - popular brand

Reef Octopus XP 2000INT - The 1000 series was discontinued... is this next?

Reef Octopus Regal 150 INT or SSS --- This does not appear to be on market yet

AquaC EV-180 --- Old & Trusty seems to fallen out of favor

Tonight i'm going to do a bunch of research on aquamaxx, i totally had never heard of them.

Thanks!

[n8n]

Thank you so far! I think I've made some decisions on what I want to do on some of it.

1) AquaMaxx ConeS CO-1 Skimmer. It fits perfect in my small stand, every review is outstanding, seems pretty modern design. it comes completely apart for cleaning, can handle upto 175g tanks, supposed to be super quite, well less than my confined 23" height requirement (its 19.7" + sump), also has collection overflow tubing!

2) Emerald 26 from Trigger Systems Sump. I really like the Ruby 25 square but strategically speaking I think i'm better with a long sump along one side (the back) with a large open area in the stand for other stuff, instead of a square that takes 2/3s of every direction preventing any other large options from being added.

3) I'm thinking Eheim 1262 return pump (900 gph @ head) but will reduce to around 600 gph with the 4 1/2 feet from sump to tank with some turns and stuff. Abit more expensive than Mag 9.5 (which is also a great pump) but I personally think Eheim is a slightly better product. Just not totally sure if this is the right size.

QUESTION: 20.4 gallon sump 4 feet below a 93 gallon tank -- is 900 gph @ the head what i want? -- HERBIE (cornerflow dual drain + additional return)

I tossed together a visio of the 1st concept if anyone wants to take a peak and critique it. still not to late to make changes. Also going to research skimmate overflow, but the aquac collector i think will be compatable and i read something about it having a carbon filter or something to try to reduce smell.

Thank You everyone, especially the lead to the AquaMaxx!

[n8n]

Additionally I snapped a few pictures of my tank and stand if it helps anyone give me advice. [tank is on a blanket so i can slide it around while we get the room setup]

I still need to pick lights if all my ideas so far are good.

Thanks!

-Nathan

[n8n]

So I pretty much got settled on the skimmer, and sump then I found out the skimmer I selected is back ordered 4-6+ weeks.... WOW

I decided to go +1 on skimmer, (AquaMaxx ConeS CO-2), but finding a sump that would fit my tank was especially challenging.... until ....

I found Advanced Acrylics. http://advancedacrylics.com/

They can custom make a sump however you want and really its not to costly. I'm getting a sump now that is the exact dimensions I want for stand, and the end cost is about the same as a Trigger Systems sump. They are making it for me custom, and it will be ready to ship in 2 days. *amazing*!

Anyways I got my AquaMaxx Skimmer order from MarineDepot, and the Sump on order, next will be figuring out all the plumbing and getting plumbing and return pump ordered. I'm sure i'll have questions about plumbing.

If anyone has any tips for Herbie w/ 93 gallon cube, i'm all ears, but right now i'm thinking the two cornerflow tubes as drains to sump and a 3rd return made from PVC or soft tubing that will be on other corner of cube.

Attached is new sump layout w/ pictures of the their 20x18x16 sump that i'm having customized to 28x18x16. (maybe 28" sumps will take off! who needs the extra 2 inches to get to 30" !)

Thanks!

-Nathan

[n8n]

I have a bunch of stuff on order, and starting my newbie build of my first saltwater tank. (still eager for any tips people want to throw out). Skimmer, Sump, & Plumbing for herbie on order some is in the mail. I went my lowes tonight and picked up some rubber matting that goes in the bottom of drawers and put cut mounted it in the stand. Also installed a small (but bright) LED light above the door so when I get in that tight little stand I won't have to hold a flashlight. My hope is to get an Apex system and get the work light hooked to apex so I can easily flip it on and off when I need to get down there to work on stuff.

Pics attached!

Thanks again everyone

-Nathan

[n8n]

So I replaced the outlet I had chosen for aquarium and quickly discovered the outlet goes to the entertainment center half the living room, half upstairs, the lights, and somehow the garage door opener..... Yeh ***. So my pre-aquarium project will include adding a new outlet on its on circuit to box. Master electrician friend said he could put a 20 amp in the box. So it might be a few weeks before I start putting water in the tank. Wife wants fresh coat on wall also.

Also ordered RO/DI I think sprectacare I noticed they are RC Sponsor, skimmer, plumbing, custom sump on the way. Also ordered Apex to get that setup ahead of time.

I sent a request to Ecotech to recommend light and mounting on 30x30x24 cube of radion. I'm all ears for any recommendations, even if the recommendation is a different light.


Thanks

Nathan

[itzonlithai]

Have you looked at the AI Hydra 52? One fixture should cover your cube.

[n8n]

Originally Posted by itzonlithai

Have you looked at the AI Hydra 52? One fixture should cover your cube.

Wow I really like the external tank mounting kit. The way it bolts on the stand and is adjustable is really awesome. I'm going to have to do some research on the light itself.

Thank you very much for recommendation!

-Nathan

[n8n]

Originally Posted by itzonlithai

Have you looked at the AI Hydra 52? One fixture should cover your cube.

After alot of reading, the AI Hydra 52 looks perfect for my tank and I went and ordered one from Marine Depot. Lots of people appear to like it, it has very granular control, covers the 30x30 area easily (36x36 actually).

The mounting setup looks perfect for my rimless setup, plus it has a module that ties into Apex.

Looks absolutely perfect. Super Advice! One more part on its way here.

Hopefully I'll get electrical straightened out next weekend and then start cycling the tank and most of the parts in within 2 weeks.

Thank You Much!

-Nathan

[n8n]

Sump and Skimmer arrived and have been installed. AquaaMaxx Cones CO-2 per RC recommendation. Sump is 35g (28" x 18" x 16") custom by advanced acrylics. pics attached.

[itzonlithai]

Originally Posted by n8n

After alot of reading, the AI Hydra 52 looks perfect for my tank and I went and ordered one from Marine Depot. Lots of people appear to like it, it has very granular control, covers the 30x30 area easily (36x36 actually).

The mounting setup looks perfect for my rimless setup, plus it has a module that ties into Apex.

Looks absolutely perfect. Super Advice! One more part on its way here.

Hopefully I'll get electrical straightened out next weekend and then start cycling the tank and most of the parts in within 2 weeks.

Thank You Much!

-Nathan

Glad to help, this is shaping to be a beastly build

[crackedcorn]

Any updates? Is the height of the sump ok for doing maintenance in sump or removing skimmer etc?

[n8n]

Originally Posted by crackedcorn

Any updates? Is the height of the sump ok for doing maintenance in sump or removing skimmer etc?

I have a lengthy build on WAMAS (local club). http://wamas.org/forums/topic/69822-...3g-tank-build/

To answer your questions directly, I have a custom sump from advanced acrylics. The inside of the stand is slightly less than 30" so if you want something that fits well you will need to go custom.

The sump I believe is 16" tall with 10" baffles. The aquamaxx coneS 1 fits in sump. I had to realm almost max out airvent to dial it in, so I ended up putting it on about 1" of eggcrate (9" water depth), which provides wider range to setup skimmer.

Space wise the aquamax fits with eggcrate under it. It only needs 1/2" to remove top, which I do NOT do very frequently. Instead there is a drain hose that takes 1/2" tubing. I have a few feet of tubing and empty it daily through drain.

It is not very hard to remove collection cup, bug it I tight. I can remove it full without spilling but I find it easier to use built in drain.

The skimmer can also be removed but I is super awkward to do, sine its basically two pieces, a pump and a skimmer. I have to put it sideways to get it over the 16" sides.

I also chose to make custom sliding back door to stand and stand is basically sideways. With sliding door if I remove bulkhead with 95% water in tank and drained sump i could pull all equipment including sump out of stand.

Space wise I have very large sump, 2.5 gallon ATO reserve and a little space left. All the electronics (apex) is mounted in small cabinet next to tank. Salt water and electronics not really good.

I have fish, LPS, soft corals, and a rose tip anemone being hosted by two maroon clowns that I paired.

I manually dose tank with red sea products and next purchases will be vortech UPS and apex DOS.

Feel free to ask any questions. I will post son pics tomorrow or you can goto wamas URL above


Thank you

Nathan

[n8n]

Originally Posted by xgnjh

Good Morning, I have decided on a tank that I feel in love with and now I need recommendations on getting the tank setup. I'm sure many others have the exact same setup or at least have seen the same setup.

PLANNING:

I would start by doing alot of planning. Especially when it comes to measurements and figure out exactly what you want upfront.

Here is a diagram I created to give me a general idea of how I wanted to setup stand. Space is limited (but sufficient) if you use it wisely.



STAND

This is the marineland stand for this tank.

The inside dimensions are 29.25" W x 28.75" D x 24.5" H. There is a lip around the outer 1" area along the top, that makes the height for the outer 1" area only 23.5" H.

The back is partially open, with a space 29.25" W x 18.5" H. The top 8 inches are not available from the back because of a support board, so your sump should not be taller than 18" (although I wouldn't go that high).

WARNING: bottom of stand is not designed to hold weight of sump. -- seriously ***? when you look at it closely it only has a piece of like 1/8" plywood (with no support) across entire bottom of stand. very flemsie. At recommendation of another WAMAS (local club) member, with exact same stand we both reinforced our stand before setup. I think he put a couple support braces across his. I measured and bought some plywood. My entire sump (entire inside o the stand) is litterally plywood to the floor. All the weight of the sump is distributed evenly across the floor. I would totally not trust the stand w/o some kind of additional support to hold sump.

SUMP

With 29.25" to work with, it pretty much eliminates all the 30" sumps. way to go marine land! it would have been super nicer if they would have made tank 31" x 31" so the inner dimensions would have supported standard 30" sumps. You are kinda stuck with a just shorter than what fits most sumps.

I would recommend either a) custom sump like I did, or b) trigger systems (they make a square sump that will fit).

The custom sump I ordered from Advanced Acrylics in california. I emailed them the specs did a pay-pal and they fabricated the whole thing and mailed it to me with a routing number. Showed up on my door step like a week later. those guys are awesome.

My sump is 28" x 18" x 16". The baffles are set to 9" water height (i know i said 10 previously. my mistake i had to look at what i ordered). -- MAKE SURE YOU READ YOUR SKIMMERS DOCUMENTATION FIRST --.

The skimmer worked just putting it in, however I ended up deciding to put it on about an inch of egg crate to put water height closer to 8" to provide more granular adjustments.

Here is how it fits:




ELECTRONICS:
The only real electronics "IN" my stand are the two thermostats for the heaters, and the TUNZI pump controller for the ATO. As you can see I have a big ball of wires zip tied together going out the door. I used weather striping (with a section cut out) to allow the wires to exit the door with the door "appearing" to be shut (even though its really cracked open to let wires out.



This is where all the wires go. Its actually a cabinet for a bathroom that is meant to hang on the wall. (its very narrow and small and readily available at home depot/lowes they have a huge selection to pick from). I drilled a couple holes in back to zip-tie egg create to the back of it behind the shelves and then ziptied all my electronics to the egg crate, and still can use the rest of the space for storage as you can see.

I have hardwood floors, and the gray you see on the floor is actually a tube liner. Wife at first wanted me to cut it to only size of stand, but once SHE spilled some water on floor feeding fish LAUGH! she has decided it is acceptable to leave it extended a few feet on door side so anytime I do maintenance on the sump, or tank from that side I dont have to worry about every little drip of water. makes things super easy.

TOP



Here is my top. I got the marineland glass clip on top. I had it for a week or so and had major heat issues with the tank. My tank hit 81.5 and apex went into cooldown mode every day around 2pm and everything shut off but vortech (by design), and then it would be on/off every 15 minutes for hours.

My wife really really really wanted some kind of top for wraith, hawk fish, snails, prevent friends at parties getting to friendly with the marine life...

Anyways so I went to home depot and bought a drimmel (could be done w/ other tools) as well as a large piece of acrylic. I bought the acrylic that was teh same size (width) as the glass. I cut it to same size as large center piece, then cut a huge square out of center (leaving 2" border around edges.). I also bought all the framing material (same as what they have at Bulk Reef Supply) however had to order from BRS the plastic 1" netting. I now have a screen over the large part of the tank opening and still have a functional top.

In back there is the AI Hydra Fifty Two light (with framing from AI) fits perfect. Apex fish feeder (i feed fish every morning pellets on schedule and in evening to target feeding of frozen). next to it the black pvc is the return. (why? I went herbie and use the two pipes in corner flow for drains). Dunno how much quiter it because I dont have anything to compare it to. My vortech MP-40 is directly below the fish feeder (on purpose) when the fish food drops some of it remains on surface, alot of it drops straight in tank, the vortech shoots it across tank and the fish consume most of it before it even gets anywhere close to the bottom of the tank. I just recently added some livestock to tank, and have been monitoring I have feeder set to minimum and right now i'm hitting tank with 3 rotations at minimum to get them all fed. I kinda like the delay between the rotations so not "too much food' goes in the tank at once.

PARAMS

My tank has been semi-up for 1 month 24 days (probably more like 1 month with saltwater in it).

Currently ---
t: 78.9 (good)
pH: 8.08 (low but ok)
Ca: 410 ppm (good)
Mg: 1400 ppm (my bad over dosing by hand but ok)
KH: 10.5 dKH (high?)
NO3: 5 ppm (its coming down NOPOX + refugium)
NO2: 0.05 ppm (its clear with every so barbly detectable by eye pink - red sea test kit)
NH3: 0 ppm
Salinity: 1.0245 SG
PO4: 0.17 PPM (yeh this is off the chart hopefully NOPOX helps)

DOSING:
Red Sea NOPOX, Red Sea Reef Energy A & B, and as needed Red Sea Foundation A, B, C. (all by hand but do small does that add up to what side of bottle says)

Water Changes:
20% water change last two weekends in a row (nitrates were around 10-14) now that I have nopox the nitrates are coming down. Did 8 gallon this weekend, to get some of my display water over in my quarantine tank.

LIVESTOCK







[url=https://flic.kr/p/qEWUUk]

Rose bubble tip anomone (yeh i know super early to have one) but got super lucky locally getting one....Two maroon clowns that i mated (hosting anomone), three blue green chromis, ruby head faery wrase, 2x cleaner shrimp, 2x red fire shrimp, about 10-15 snails (various), some LPS, and some soft corals. couple frags torch, mushroom, star pollips.

The main "issues" i have right now are the red/green algae taking over sections of stand bed. (high nitrates/phosphates i believe is cause) and the hair algae on the rocks. same cause.

The bright lights behind the tank is a christmas tree btw.

Feel free to ask any direction questions. There are also four pages of updates over on WAMAS:

http://wamas.org/forums/topic/69822-nathans-93g-tank-build/

Still listening for any tips people have.

Thanks!

-Nathan

[PaleHorse]

i had the same tank and setup but sold it due to everything being so tight under there. good luck

[n8n]

Originally Posted by PaleHorse

i had the same tank and setup but sold it due to everything being so tight under there. good luck

It is tight, you have to know that if you go with this stand. If you plan accordingly you can make it work. Space wise the tank fits exactly where I want it.

If you have alot more space there are obviously larger tanks with larger stands.

Keep in mind volume to surface area square is most optimum shape meaning it also has most weight per square inch. Probably that is why stand is shorter than rectangular tanks.