Len's cube 2B

[2balive]

Hi

OK disclosure time. Got the following idea around a reef aquarium.

Want a “naked” :y10: cube, with no visible equipment inside, no cabinet or cladding on top. Also hate noise, so the idea is that all the equipment will sit outside the house in a cabinet. The tank will be on a 50 cm stand, allowing viewing from the top and when sitting on the floor.

Plan to keep LPS and busy changing in favour of SPS in addition to it (instead of soft corals). Would like to keep a few anemones and a fair non aggressive fish load. I intent to have a DSB inside the display tank and a DSB and refugium in the sump.

Currently the dimensions for the tank is:

L = 91.5cm
W = 91.5 cm
H = 70 cm

With a sump of:

L = 91.5 cm
W = 50 cm
H = 60 cm

This will give me a total volume of 861l and the actual amount of water around 575l

Here is the drawing:

I first want to address the flow in the tank. Plan to have a LR in an L shape. 10cm away from the back and sides, with the back leg relatively vertical and the leg going forward sloping towards the front. The rest of the tank will be empty swimming space, with perhaps one or two flat rocks.

Will use two pumps, one to drive the sump return pushing about 2600l/h and a close circuit pump of 9500 l/h driving an Ocean motion 4Way with an option 3 drum, with powers the ports repeating 1 & 3 and 4 & 2,(http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=32&osCsid=e56af99104149f29ad4ba3120524a915). This means that flow to 1 & 3 will be for 15 sec, then all for 15 sec, then 4 &2 for 15 sec, then all for 15 sec, etc.

If you look at the picture, the top returns will handle the sump return pump and be pointed vertically down. The middle (on the side) returns will handle the close loop and will be 1 and 2 (pointing down and somewhat to the front), the bottom two will be on the close loops as well and will be 3 and 4, pointing towards to front along the substrate. The two inlets in the middle will be for the close loop suction.

The idea is to create two gyres in the tank along the sides that will bend over to the overflow and intake. The fluctuation in the inlets should create chaotic flow without sacrificing water flow speed.

Some questions:

• Will this work with all the nozzles in the back of the tank?
• Will I not create a no flow zone in front of the wall?
• Can I move to sump return to the side and increase the overflow length?
• As I will be working against 1 meter of head and trough at least 5 x 90 degree corners and the 4 Way, I understand that I will loose a lot of flow, but is 9500l/h (2500 gallon/h) not be a hurricane?
• Do I need/how much benefit will I get form adding a 2Way or SQRT to the sump return?
• What type of fitting can I use on the close loop suction fittings in the tank? (Worried that I will suck things in at that flow) and are they positioned correctly?

Will handle the rest of the aquarium as I get to it.

PS. Yes I will be using a skimmer.

 

[Rory]

I have a sort of similar tank. It's 60*55*60 with all the hole on the one side, no bracing etc. It has 2 holes as returns, as well as another which are "blanks" at the moment which could be used for a closed loop or something in future. There's a bigger hole with a 90 bend acting as the overflow...

 

[2balive]

I have a sort of similar tank. It's 60*55*60 with all the hole on the one side, no bracing etc. It has 2 holes as returns, as well as another which are "blanks" at the moment which could be used for a closed loop or something in future. There's a bigger hole with a 90 bend acting as the overflow...

Does it work, any dead spots?

 

[Rory]

The overflow not so well, yours is much better... At the moment I have my return pump quite turned down to keep things nice and quiet and have a fairly slow flow through the sump. (OR3500 on 150L of water or so). I have 1 seio in the tank at the moment aimed at the SPS. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have any dead spots in that setup...

 

[Hill]

From your pic I cannot make out how deep the overflow cutout is. But you can always cut back the sump return pump to get it to work.

If the tank has not yet been cut I personally would ensure the cutout is 3 to 4 cm deep. Just to be safe. You can always make it shallower but once it has been cut it is very difficult to make deeper.

Mine was 52cm wide and with a 4500l/h pump it was pushing just over 1cm of water over the cutout. The pump was pushing very little head.

 

[mango]

i like the idea

 

[phat]

me to

 

[leslie hempel]

something fairly complicated apearing so simple and futuristic and presented in a neat fashion.... going to be something to achieve, but then thats what we are here for to push the limits.....

 

[DragonReef]

Len from the plans I don't see anything wrong or lacking as far as your intentions go.

Looks like this is going to be an interesting project, keep us updated.

 

[Tom]

What about going totally naked walk around cube with everything being done through holes in the base, and the sump hidden in the stand? Not that I think your cube is not cool hey!

 

[leslie hempel]

agree with tom going from the base with piping will be even more eye opening but then id consider non return valves....

 

[Alan]

All looks good, you should have enough flow for SPS, as far as LPS goes you may have too much water movement. Some of the LPS colonies dont favour high flow.

 

[2balive]

From your pic I cannot make out how deep the overflow cut-out is. But you can always cut back the sump return pump to get it to work.

If the tank has not yet been cut I personally would ensure the cut-out is 3 to 4 cm deep. Just to be safe. You can always make it shallower but once it has been cut it is very difficult to make deeper.
Mine was 52cm wide and with a 4500l/h pump it was pushing just over 1cm of water over the cut-out. The pump was pushing very little head.

I am only cutting the tank once I have but all the designs together (this time). Currently I had a 1 cm cut-out planned, but you are right, it will be easy to “fill it up” if the cut-out is too deep. I will move the sump return closer to the corners and extend the box to about 50cm. Obviously I would like it as “thin” as possible as it will dictate the surface height.

What about going totally naked walk around cube with everything being done through holes in the base, and the sump hidden in the stand? Not that I think your cube is not cool hey!

Played with that idea initially but there are some serious practical problems (not that this one has none):

First off all, I will have to take the pipes outside trough the floor as I don’t want the noise of all the equipment inside a relative small room. The next one is the overflow, no space for it, and after my experience with one way valves in my pool, I would not like to rely on it for the survival of the tanks inmates during a black out.

agree with tom going from the base with piping will be even more eye opening…

I am thinking of putting one pair of close loop returns in the base near the front corner, pointing 75 degrees up as this will help significantly with flow. As it is on a close loop, power outs is not an issue like with sump returns. What is your take on drilling holes in the bottom? This seams to be a common practice in North America, but seam to be not to popular here?

All looks good, you should have enough flow for SPS, as far as LPS goes you may have too much water movement. Some of the LPS colonies don’t favour high flow.

I am bargaining on the fact that the two gyres will create an eye on the front lower half of the reef leaving it with lower flows than the rest. With the lower light at this depth it should be OK/ideal for LPS? Am I optimistic?

Would ideally like to try a number of pumps to find the “right:” flow for the close loop that will allow for both LPS and SPS, so if you have any spare ones laying around, I promise to run them for less than an our each J

 

[AndreT]

Len, one more suggestion if I may.

The holes on the left hand side seems to be very close to the edge. If you are going to use bulkheads, make sure the rims will not be too wide.

 

[2balive]

Thanks, they are not positioned correctly on the drawing, they should match the ones on the right, will modify the drawing.

Will the place in Randburg know what I am talking about when I ask for bulkheads? Think I should go and buy them, measure them, and actually draw them to make sure they fit.

Anyone got an address for the PVC place in Randburg? Phone number will also help.

 

[2balive]

With correct holes

 

[viper357]

I think it looks pretty good, what about adding one more hole in the middle?

 

[AndreT]

Len,

No they don't know what bulkheads are. They call it connectors. But you don't need their help. Take a basket and help yourself.

I don't have the address, but coming from Hans Strydom, turn into Oxford then carry on till you see them on your left hand side. Can't be more than about 2 clicks from Hans Strydom.

 

[Copperband]

Len

The place is called FAB, coming down Hans Strijdom towards the highway turn right into Oxford and then about 1.5km on your left.

 

[2balive]

Thanks, will go and take a look on Saterday (after the Expo :dft010: )

I think it looks pretty good, what about adding one more hole in the middle?

Not sure if you are joking, apart from being worried about stressing the glass, I need a clean space for the downpipes and only got two outlets to help when something gets sucked into it.

What would another hole help with?