Joe's 60G Reef Cube!

[Jflip2002]

Im thinking of making/buying a sort of cabinet deal that opens from the back, or maybe that has the back fully open, since you cant see behind the tank anyways, unless youre looking. And having it so you cant even see the skimmer. After all this disguising, it probably would have been cheaper to have the tank drilled and use my old 20g acrylic for the sump though lol. But at least I'll save $.45 a month on my electric bill =\

[crvz]

Sorry to hear about your troubles there, Joe. Good luck figuring out the stand. I almost hate to mentions something else that isnt complimentary, but I've heard that silicone won't bond to acrylic. I know this is the case in pressure situations, and your overflow is surely not to hold water in a strucutral manner, so it may be no big deal. Also, a lot of folks will use it to put acrylic baffles in glass sumps, but I'm just not sure how well it will hold in an acrylic-acrylic bond. Maybe you've dont it before, but I just wanted to make sure you're aware of this.

Anyways, I'm pulling for you and good luck with the stand!

[Jflip2002]

I actually heard this as well. So I took my 2 pieces of acrylic that I was going to use to make the overflow, and I glued them outside of the tank. These things were real mothers when I tried to tear them apart. The GEI stuck very well to the acrylic. SO I redid them, and I think they'll hold up again. But like you said, its not holding much weight. Since most of the overflow area will be full over water anyhow.

As for the stand: I fixed it. I got a flat 30x32" piece of pine or some sort of wood. Under that I laid some 2x4s, so the majority of the reccess was filled in with wood. I put that piece of pine, the wood thats like multi layered, so the outside edges are UGLY, and I glued and nailed it to the top of the stand. Then I got about a 1" piece of moulding that has just a plain 2 groove design on it, and covered up those edges, and where the new top meets the original part of the stand.

And now Im in the process of staining it "ebony" which looks ALOT like black lol.

I wish I woulda taken pics of the stand before I put the top on it. But its too late for that. I'll take some pics when Im done applying the semi-gloss top coat.

[Jflip2002]

Alright, so the stand is in the living room, woo! lol. Im not exactly the biggest handyman, so I thought this came out nice.

[Jflip2002]

I still gotta take some 1200 grit or so and knock all those little bubbles off the clear coat, and slap on some new hinges.

[Jflip2002]

Now if I can figure out how ot hang up the MH properly lol

[tims]

stand looks great!

[Jflip2002]

Thanks Tim. I put in the 14k Current USA bulb, and boy is this thing blue with the actinics. It looks like a 20k. I guess its back to the 10k for me. Maybe a better 10k than the current USA one, like the XM.

I filled the tank up with hose water and put the light fixture on the tank, using the legs. Im gonna let it sit on there today and see if it gets the tank too hot. If it doesnt, then I may be able to avoid havig to hang it from the ceiling. I know it got the 20 a little too hot, but thats also 1/3 this size.

[Jflip2002]

So the tank is full, and no leaks. Also very pleased with how my diffuser box works. And when the tanks full, you really cant even tell its in there too much. The skimmer also doenst look too bad, its mainly hidden behind the light fixture. LEts just hope I Can keep the fixture this low. But man these lights are blue!
Pics...

[fish.freak]

Very nice!!!


How far down is the intake pump in the overflow, and how is your bubble trap working so far?

Oh and what did you add to the stand?
NEVER TOO BLUE

[Jflip2002]

Its the superskimmer, so it sticks down stock length, im not sure what that is. Minus about 1.5-2" for the overflow to drop into it.

The bubble trap is working great, not a single bubble in the display tank!

[Jflip2002]

Tap water drained, then about 98% of it was removed. I couldnt get like 2" of it in the overflow without risking breaking the overflow, so I just left it in there.

[Jflip2002]

RO/DI water in.... Along with the rocks...

[Jflip2002]

Actinics only on..

[Jflip2002]

Actinics, and this 14k bulb that looks like a 30k both on..
Along with the crabs, a couple snails, and a CB shrimp.