Dcropley's 34g waterfall build
 

Hello all,
I am new to the community and figured I post my new build. I reciently bought a Deep Sea Aquatics 34G Starfire cube with waterfall return. It has a glass sump and came with some equipment but I plan on swapping it out for new stuff. Going BB and getting reef saver rock from BRS soon. Just finished the stand and what a chore to sand and buff that thing but I have to saw it came out nice. I soft plumbed the 1 1/4'' drains to start and added some pink knobs for my coming daughter.

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looks cool so tell us more about this water fall..
does the return fall down the back?

Yes, The return is the waterfall. It fills up and overflows. When I get some water in it and start the cycle I'll post a video. Its pretty cool, I will have 2 mp10wqd's on the back wall for water movement, the water fall creates nice surface agitation and oxygenation. Sounds nice too not the typical running water sound I'm use to with sumps. I am going with the Syncra Silent for the return and a Reef Octopus 110SSS. And a XR15w Pro. Also going bare bottom with Starboard.

I got the bottom in last night looks good I like it.
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So I played with some news paper to get a idea for my hard scape. Any input is appreciated.

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Are you actually going to leave some of the rock outside the water like that? If so thats pretty BA, never seen that idea before plus the water fall? Amazing ideas.

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Yes, The top of the arch is going to be out of the water with the waterfall behind it. Going to get some mangroves for the back corners also. Thanks for the comment.

Placed my order with BRS supplies should be here this week, can't wait to get the water cycling and rock cooking.

Looking good so far lucky little girl to have that in her room. Lol.

Well I got my order from BRS and finished the hard scape. Now I just need to install the return and Ill be all set to fill it.
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following this one for sure. Love the Scape and interested to see how the waterfall looks.

The scape was harder than I though. First time working with dry rock and reef scaping. It took me 4 hours, 6 designs to get one that would work and stand by its self. Then using reef epoxy stuck it all together.

following
tank looks awesome. need more update
GL w/build

Well I have the tank filled and the cycle is started. dosing with ammonia and monitoring. I did some researched and found threads talking about exposed rock in reef tanks and read the even though the rock is exposed it wicks the water and will actuality have coraline algae grow on the exposed sections out side of the tank.

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This is so amazing i cant wait to see "ventureing" hermits becoming the king of the hill. Also I think it would be very fascinating to watch coraline grow outside the water.

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Interesting idea

So small update, I ordered 2 spears gate valves for the drains so I could fine tune them, and what a difference is sound. Having one over flow submerged and only a trickle down the other makes this almost 100% quite. Was kind of a pain to redo the plumbing but I had to do it and glad I did. Have to say the valves were $50 each! Also my Ecotech Radion xr15w Pro came in last night, I need to get the hanging kit but I had to un-box it and turn it on. Crappy pictures but figured Id share. I have to say this is one of the brightest led's I have seen. Need to get the reef link to play with the spectrum and set the schedule.

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Yesterday I hung the fuge light and am happy with the Kessil. Nice quality light.

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Tank looks awesome so far

great idea on running the kessil. I'll be following along to see how that works for you. Been wanting a sleek and clean light to run my fuge. Right now just running live rock, but will add some macro in the not to distant future.

Ya thanks, the kessil was a pricey light for a fuge but figured I'd give it a shot. I love the form and light output. The one thing about the Ecotech vs the kessil is I thought the case on the Ecotech was going to be aluminum like the kessil. Both are great quality but I feel the quality with the kessil. But I'm happy with both. I see your running the same Ecotech on the same footprint tank.

My tank is cycling I have a spike in nitrite and am keeping the ammonia at 5ppm, never done a fish less cycle before, and one have tips or suggestions ? Time like for the nitrite to drop and I get a spike in nitrate? Also I don't have a heater yet water is 70 degrees (room tempature) the heater will be here today and the controler by the 13th. Not sure if the tank will cycle properly ?

I did a fishless cycle on all 3 of my tanks. I just ghost fed my tank daily, I also used Stability daily for a week, then a 50% water change in the end (my 50 cube I just setup I only did a 10% as I was in an emergency move from my 21gallon)

I have had the same thought. One thing that surprises me about the ecotech is how heavy it is, even with being plastic. My concern with kessil was how "focused" the light is. was worried I would burn up my corals if I went crazy on the settings.

What lens are you using the 120 or the 80? I haven't checked what one is in the light now, the hanging kit arrived today so I will be hanging it tonight.