here we go again, setting up my new 130gal (semi)cube

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/15/2007, 10:04 AM

Hi there

When I left the US, I had to sell my old tank, broke my heart but there was no way around it. Now that I have settled in my beloved Berlin I had to start a new tank, of course.
It took quite a while to decide on a good spot, mainly because I live in on the 3rd floor of a 100 year old house with wooden floors. For a larger tank the only option is to fix it to a wall. The walls in the house are brick, they can hold quite a bit. After quite a few discussions with my boyfriend we decided on one corner in the dining room. The picture was taken during the move, sorry for all the mess

The dimensions of the tank are 90x80x70 cm (35.4x31.5x27.5")
The stand not only had to support the weight of the tank but also distribute a large portion of the load agains the wall. Looking for the right material I came across some reinforced aluminum profiles that are connected with stainless steel connectors.

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/15/2007, 10:18 AM

The aluminum frame of the stand is bolted into the wall with eigth so-called "Frame Anchors" normally used to hold large doors in place. I am pretty sure that this will hold the tank in place...at least I hope so

After the stand was built, the glass was put on top....why do these things have to be so freakin' heavy?
We needed 4 people to lift that thing, luckily the helpers were kind enough to help with some other stuff as well, because the Riffkeramik (Reef Ceramics) were put in at the same time as well.
This is me in the tank, and fellow reefer Ruediger

The Ceramics were custom made in two pieces, one for each wall. The seam between the two pieces was later closed by glueing smaller pieces into the gap, making it basically invisible. Another thing that had to be covered up was the emergency overflow, in case the normal overflow clog up the water can bypass it, avoiding any ugly spills. However an open plastic pipe does not look too nice, therefore the pipe was also covered with smaller pieces of ceramics

On the left corner of the overflow is the seam between the two pieces, covering up works pretty well. The dark stuff on the emergency overflow is polyurethane foam.
I am a great fan of clean tanks but think that barebottom tanks look really ugly. One manufacturer in Germany offers his tanks with a coating of dark grey polyurethane foam, that stuff is hard as a rock, absolutely chemically inert and will be eventually be covered in coralline algae. I bought some of that raw material and used it to cover the bottom of my tank. Working with this stuff is an absolute pain, after mixing the two components you have a reaction time of 30 seconds (yes seconds!), so you better only make small portions and work really fast. It took me about 4 weeks of trials before I figured out how it works, this stuff is nasty!

Jah2707 · 05/15/2007, 10:25 AM

very cool. Keep us informed.

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/15/2007, 10:33 AM

For this relatively small area of bottom it took me several hours to get all the foam in, this is how it looked after I was done.

A thin layer of sand will be put on to of it, but as I have quite a bit of current in the tank there will be some bare areas.
For pumps I installed the following: Two Tunze Stream 20000l/h (5800 gal/h), one Tunze wavebox, return pump is a Red Dragon 6500 l/h (1700 gal7h). The wavebox is fully integrated in the decoration, no ugly plastic box, just nice Reef Ceramics. You can only see the hole for the pump in the picture above.
The return pump does not have an outlet at the water surface but about 3" above the bottom, so I have a nice bottom current. In the Reef Ceramics wall, a pipe was already built in, including a diverter that makes a nice and smooth outflow, no ugly nozzles or tubes here.
The only thing I hadn't though of before was the braces of the tank, they were in the way for the return line. But with a good glass drill this wasn't much of a problem.

Installing all the technical stuff into the cabinet was quite an adventure, a bit like playing Tetris. All the electrical stuff went up under the roof, the wet stuff stayed at the bottom. Hopefully this will avoid some electrical problems. Inside the cabinet there is a 15 cm (6") high basin that is absolutely watertight. Most spills are not catastrophic but just a gallon or so. If this is all on the floor it is ugly enoug. This basin will hold quite a few gallons, hopefully I will never figure out how many....

Of course things did not work out as smoothly as I thought, the one bulkhead that was almost impossible to reach leaked, and the only way to fix it was to get into my speedos and jump into the tank.
This is a link to the picture, but be warned, an adult male in speedos!
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/JensKBerlin/Einstiegkl.jpg

Thats all for the moment, I will keep you updated about the progress. Liverock will arrive tomorrow...slowly it's becoming a real reeftank.

Jens

NealNano · 05/15/2007, 10:43 AM

Nice setup. I havent seen anyone do the polyurethane foam thing before.

ctreefer · 05/15/2007, 11:49 AM

Nice! Does the Reef Ceramic requiring "curing" to bleed off pH as does concrete? What are you going to use for lighting?

Can't wait to see it stocked.

Gobey · 05/15/2007, 12:50 PM

Nice work - we miss you around these parts!

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/15/2007, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ctreefer
Nice! Does the Reef Ceramic requiring "curing" to bleed off pH as does concrete? What are you going to use for lighting?

Can't wait to see it stocked.

HI

The ceramic does not need any curing, it is absolutely pH neutral. It does give off some Calcium and Magnesium, promoting coralline growth. Some users experienced drops in alkalinity, basically the coralline is growing, thereby taking Mg and Ca from the Ceramic and the Alk from the water. Keeping a close eye on the Alk is advisable, but that's basically it.
For lighting I got the brand new Giesemann Spectra, 400 W MH plus 4x24W T5 http://www.giesemann.de/userfiles/do...0512130024.pdf
Don't ask me for the price of that beauty....it cost more than I got for my old Chrysler Voyager that I sold when I moved back to Germany.

Jens

ShiftNation · 05/15/2007, 05:53 PM

Looking great man thanks for updating us . I was gonna do the foam as a background but that ceramic looks great .

cato · 05/15/2007, 07:22 PM

Awesome man! This will be fun!

Der_Iron_Chef · 05/15/2007, 07:30 PM

Nice speedo

And beautiful set-up there! The Riffkeramik is superb. Sehr gut!

reefman13 · 05/15/2007, 07:47 PM

Ya, dieser FischbehÃ¤lter ist ehrfÃ¼rchtig! Uns informieren, wann du Viehbestand in ihm hast!

REEF-DADDY · 05/15/2007, 08:38 PM

Nice I love cube style stanks!

Obi-dad · 05/16/2007, 03:23 PM

Nice, good to hear from you Jens.

One question on the statement 'The return pump does not have an outlet at the water surface but about 3" above the bottom', - what happens if the return pump stops (say if the power goes out)? Doesn't the water drain out if the return is low in the tank?

Herpn · 05/16/2007, 09:38 PM

Get some fish it there!

haha... Good luck, looks like you are off to a great start..

Along for the ride....

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/17/2007, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Obi-dad
Nice, good to hear from you Jens.

One question on the statement 'The return pump does not have an outlet at the water surface but about 3" above the bottom', - what happens if the return pump stops (say if the power goes out)? Doesn't the water drain out if the return is low in the tank?

Hi Greg

There is a small hole (1/8) at the top, rigth where the elbow sits. It is usually covered with a piece of blue foam but I removed it for the picture. I will post another picture over the weekend showing the details. Yesterday I added the live rock and some sand, not a lot though. about 30 lbs of rock and 10 lbs of sand. Pics will follow

Jens

SERVO · 05/18/2007, 07:48 PM

Can't wait to see this one grow and mature!

bleedingthought · 05/21/2007, 02:52 PM

Wow, this looks very nice so far!!!

May I ask what the tentative fish and corals list for this tank is looking like?

frederickk · 05/22/2007, 04:16 AM

Very nice!

Jens Kallmeyer · 05/22/2007, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bleedingthought
Wow, this looks very nice so far!!! May I ask what the tentative fish and corals list for this tank is looking like?

HI

Only very small fishes, mainly pipefishes, a group of Apogon leptacanthus, one pair of clownfishes and perhaps a group of dwarf angels. A friend of mine has a group of three C. potteri...I am tempted.
In the center of the tank is now a small reef structure, on top of it I will try to settle a Heteractis magnifica for the clows.
Regarding corals, some SPS, lots of Gorgonians and soft corals (both photsynthetic and non-photosynthetic).
There are some new pictures on my camera, I just haven't had the time to post them. I also ordered the doors and the 6" rim around the top but the company ran out of some parts, so I have to wait for a few days.

Jens

N-A-S-O · 06/15/2007, 11:36 PM

any updates jens?

chk4tix · 10/19/2007, 03:13 PM

wow that is amazing!!!

glassbox-design · 12/04/2007, 11:31 AM

well done jens. the aquascape hides everything nicely. how are you liking the giesemann?

mg426 · 12/04/2007, 12:44 PM

Nice looking work, I will be following this one for sure.

Devtech · 12/04/2007, 01:16 PM

tagging along!

05/15/2007, 10:04 AM	#1
Jens Kallmeyer Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 521	here we go again, setting up my new 130gal (semi)cube Hi there When I left the US, I had to sell my old tank, broke my heart but there was no way around it. Now that I have settled in my beloved Berlin I had to start a new tank, of course. It took quite a while to decide on a good spot, mainly because I live in on the 3rd floor of a 100 year old house with wooden floors. For a larger tank the only option is to fix it to a wall. The walls in the house are brick, they can hold quite a bit. After quite a few discussions with my boyfriend we decided on one corner in the dining room. The picture was taken during the move, sorry for all the mess The dimensions of the tank are 90x80x70 cm (35.4x31.5x27.5") The stand not only had to support the weight of the tank but also distribute a large portion of the load agains the wall. Looking for the right material I came across some reinforced aluminum profiles that are connected with stainless steel connectors.

05/15/2007, 10:25 AM	#3
Jah2707 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: springfield Posts: 889	very cool. Keep us informed. __________________ 24x24x18 cube tank - set up 4/18/16 (from established tank) led, Jebao RW-4s, Eshopps 20 sump. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2575082 Current Tank Info: 24x24x18 cube

05/15/2007, 12:50 PM	#7
Gobey Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: All Over CT Posts: 1,124	Nice work - we miss you around these parts! __________________ Rich Bouvier Current Tank Info: A Fish Tank

05/15/2007, 05:53 PM	#9
ShiftNation Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: MA Posts: 1,673	Looking great man thanks for updating us . I was gonna do the foam as a background but that ceramic looks great . __________________ PBITAWA "It's the route your about , what tool? If all you have's a flathead then everythings a screw." Current Tank Info: 58 gallon custom setup w/foam epoxy background

05/15/2007, 07:22 PM	#10
cato New England Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: CT Posts: 5,450	Awesome man! This will be fun! __________________ -Cato I swear it's an illness... Current Tank Info: On Hiatus

05/15/2007, 10:18 AM	#2
Jens Kallmeyer Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 521	The aluminum frame of the stand is bolted into the wall with eigth so-called "Frame Anchors" normally used to hold large doors in place. I am pretty sure that this will hold the tank in place...at least I hope so After the stand was built, the glass was put on top....why do these things have to be so freakin' heavy? We needed 4 people to lift that thing, luckily the helpers were kind enough to help with some other stuff as well, because the Riffkeramik (Reef Ceramics) were put in at the same time as well. This is me in the tank, and fellow reefer Ruediger The Ceramics were custom made in two pieces, one for each wall. The seam between the two pieces was later closed by glueing smaller pieces into the gap, making it basically invisible. Another thing that had to be covered up was the emergency overflow, in case the normal overflow clog up the water can bypass it, avoiding any ugly spills. However an open plastic pipe does not look too nice, therefore the pipe was also covered with smaller pieces of ceramics On the left corner of the overflow is the seam between the two pieces, covering up works pretty well. The dark stuff on the emergency overflow is polyurethane foam. I am a great fan of clean tanks but think that barebottom tanks look really ugly. One manufacturer in Germany offers his tanks with a coating of dark grey polyurethane foam, that stuff is hard as a rock, absolutely chemically inert and will be eventually be covered in coralline algae. I bought some of that raw material and used it to cover the bottom of my tank. Working with this stuff is an absolute pain, after mixing the two components you have a reaction time of 30 seconds (yes seconds!), so you better only make small portions and work really fast. It took me about 4 weeks of trials before I figured out how it works, this stuff is nasty!

05/15/2007, 10:33 AM	#4
Jens Kallmeyer Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 521	For this relatively small area of bottom it took me several hours to get all the foam in, this is how it looked after I was done. A thin layer of sand will be put on to of it, but as I have quite a bit of current in the tank there will be some bare areas. For pumps I installed the following: Two Tunze Stream 20000l/h (5800 gal/h), one Tunze wavebox, return pump is a Red Dragon 6500 l/h (1700 gal7h). The wavebox is fully integrated in the decoration, no ugly plastic box, just nice Reef Ceramics. You can only see the hole for the pump in the picture above. The return pump does not have an outlet at the water surface but about 3" above the bottom, so I have a nice bottom current. In the Reef Ceramics wall, a pipe was already built in, including a diverter that makes a nice and smooth outflow, no ugly nozzles or tubes here. The only thing I hadn't though of before was the braces of the tank, they were in the way for the return line. But with a good glass drill this wasn't much of a problem. Installing all the technical stuff into the cabinet was quite an adventure, a bit like playing Tetris. All the electrical stuff went up under the roof, the wet stuff stayed at the bottom. Hopefully this will avoid some electrical problems. Inside the cabinet there is a 15 cm (6") high basin that is absolutely watertight. Most spills are not catastrophic but just a gallon or so. If this is all on the floor it is ugly enoug. This basin will hold quite a few gallons, hopefully I will never figure out how many.... Of course things did not work out as smoothly as I thought, the one bulkhead that was almost impossible to reach leaked, and the only way to fix it was to get into my speedos and jump into the tank. This is a link to the picture, but be warned, an adult male in speedos! http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/JensKBerlin/Einstiegkl.jpg Thats all for the moment, I will keep you updated about the progress. Liverock will arrive tomorrow...slowly it's becoming a real reeftank. Jens

05/15/2007, 10:43 AM	#5
NealNano Moved On Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gilbert, Az Posts: 764	Nice setup. I havent seen anyone do the polyurethane foam thing before.

05/15/2007, 11:49 AM	#6
ctreefer Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: southern CT Posts: 3,274	Nice! Does the Reef Ceramic requiring "curing" to bleed off pH as does concrete? What are you going to use for lighting? Can't wait to see it stocked.

05/15/2007, 07:30 PM	#11
Der_Iron_Chef Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Calgary, AB, Canada Posts: 841	Nice speedo And beautiful set-up there! The Riffkeramik is superb. Sehr gut!

05/15/2007, 07:47 PM	#12
reefman13 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: CT Posts: 4,323	Ya, dieser FischbehÃ¤lter ist ehrfÃ¼rchtig! Uns informieren, wann du Viehbestand in ihm hast! __________________ Regards, Dave ______________________________________________________________________ "One day I will be back in this hobby..." spoken like a true High School student... Current Tank Info: None for now...for now...

05/15/2007, 08:38 PM	#13
REEF-DADDY Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: CT Posts: 3,164	Nice I love cube style stanks! __________________ Steve 280 Gallon BB mixed reef PM bullet 3 powered by a PCX-70,400w HQI Radiums,Tunze Wavebox,AC III Litermeter III,PCX-70 pushing 2 Eductors,Geo 624 Ca Reactor,125 sump, Dart Return Current Tank Info: 280 SPS reef

05/16/2007, 03:23 PM	#14
Obi-dad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: CT Posts: 4,314	Nice, good to hear from you Jens. One question on the statement 'The return pump does not have an outlet at the water surface but about 3" above the bottom', - what happens if the return pump stops (say if the power goes out)? Doesn't the water drain out if the return is low in the tank? __________________ Greg, member of ARKSC and CTARS Visit our CTARS club website by clicking my RC name then 'visit homepage' - and please support your LFS Current Tank Info: 75g mostly stonies. DIY LEDs (24 CW XP-G, 48 RB XR-E) on dwizum CAT4101 drivers, DIY Hydra controller, SSB, Korallin Ca Reactor, Euroreef skimmer

05/16/2007, 09:38 PM	#15
Herpn Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Clinton, CT Posts: 1,373	Get some fish it there! haha... Good luck, looks like you are off to a great start.. Along for the ride.... __________________ Tanks, Chuck Current Tank Info: 110 and a 75 with Aquatinics 5 54 watt T5's softies, LPS, SPS, 200lbs Live rock and a 26 Bow with 150 Watt HQI MH 14K 75 lbs live rock.

05/18/2007, 07:48 PM	#17
SERVO Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Keller, TX Posts: 1,305	Can't wait to see this one grow and mature!

05/21/2007, 02:52 PM	#18
bleedingthought Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Acworth, GA Posts: 422	Wow, this looks very nice so far!!! May I ask what the tentative fish and corals list for this tank is looking like? __________________ -Thiago-

05/22/2007, 04:16 AM	#19
frederickk Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,712	Very nice!

06/15/2007, 11:36 PM	#21
N-A-S-O Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 1,973	any updates jens? __________________ Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience. Current Tank Info: 110g sps

10/19/2007, 03:13 PM	#22
chk4tix Moved On Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Utah Posts: 53	wow that is amazing!!!

12/04/2007, 11:31 AM	#23
glassbox-design Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: SF Posts: 3,041	well done jens. the aquascape hides everything nicely. how are you liking the giesemann? __________________ GLASSBOXDESIGN the modern reef blog LEDs are a 50,000 hr investment. Choose wisely. Current Tank Info: ...a new glassbox is coming

12/04/2007, 12:44 PM	#24
mg426 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: maryland Posts: 6,923	Nice looking work, I will be following this one for sure. __________________ I found a way to make a small fortune running a reef tank. Start with a large fortune. Unofficial President of the SEACLONE haters club Current Tank Info: 125 mixed reef 110 lbs LR, 1x250watt XM 20K MH 2x175watt XM 20K MH on Magetics 2X96 watt actinic PC, 220 watt VHO actinic, 30 gallon refugium, closed loop system powered by Sequence Dart MSX 200 skimmer 38 gallon sump, Oceansmotions squirt

12/04/2007, 01:16 PM	#25
Devtech Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Miami,Fl Posts: 176	tagging along! __________________ >>GiO<< >>Click The Red House To See My Solana 34 Gal All In one Build<< Current Tank Info: 90g Reef (Starting to be reef) still in works// 34g Cube tank from Current-USA w/ 150 HQI built-in for Bedroom