# My Marine 2ft cube



## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Hi thought some of you may be interested in my other hobby of Reefkeeping here is a start to present dairy of the tank:smile: 

After finally getting the tank home the first thing on my list was to silicone the wier comb in and the tank connectors then think about the pipe work 



















Then I made a home made strainer for the closed loop pump intake


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

All the pipe work was assembled both with ball valves to isolate pumps then added to the tank connectors (dry fit) and connected to 2 x Eheim 1262's which I am using for the closed loop and sump return which are rated at 3400lph each but am expecting more like 2500lph after head loss.Both the closed loop and sump return are connected with soft pipe to the hard pipe also the closed loop pump sits on some Neoprene sponge mat all to help with vibration noise.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Next was the sump I got a second hand Eco sump from Reefstore fits almost perfect just had to leave the back of the stand and insert width ways into the stand instead of the more usual length ways.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

the moment of truth lets get this thing wet.in the wier I have gone with a stand pipe at first if it's too noisey I will replace with a durso, also i have been worried that using the 1262 as a return pump if it would be too powerful and the wier would not cope with the water volume. I have drilled a hole in the return piping just under the water surface to break the syphon in case of power/pump failure.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

So far so good no leaks in none of the pipe work and the wier is coping really well also as silent as it could be after all because of my design change the drain travells through 2 90 bends down to the sump back to the first post if it was drilled in the base it would be without these. I cant tell if there is enough flow until it's up and running but I can add another closed loop if need but instead of pumping back through the right hand side tank connector I would change this to another drain to another pump and then return both closed loops up and over the tank.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Here are some more picture following the water down the wier to the sump and showing the water movement in the sump.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Painted the back glass blue 










installed my RO unit (50GPD)ps027 ,Varnished the inside of the stand using Yacht Varnish, and also fitted the Durso standpipe.

Filling Up and close up of the modifed Durso









Full View Filling 









After this I added the Mud to the sump then added RO water and as per directions added a cap full of Live Sand from the main tank and had to leave for 3 days to help colonise before turning on the pumps.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

3 days over withps027 Turned on the pumps
Sump (Mud)








Return pump








The water is very dirty from the mud but will clear in the next few days hopefully.
I have also built a new top surround for the tank the other one was to narrow IMHO.
Salted up and new surround








Just need to wait for the tank to clear and get the SG right then I'll start adding some cheato and LR from the main tank to kick start the cycle.


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Built a reef rack to keep LR up of the glass and get extra flow throught/around it 










Lights have been hung this is a single 150w which will not be the light used when stock is in there I have a 250w lowbay(need a new bulb)









Full view with sump lighting


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Started the Aquascaping
Front








Right








Left


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Another View









Need to add sand and maybe some more branching LR but am undecided as I dont want to go over kill on the LR and spoil the look

Added my first fish today a Midus Blenny settling in ok


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Just an up date after weeks of getting the water nice and stable I have added a pair of Wild True Perc Clownfish along with my SPS and other Corals from the main tank,Also have added a Yellow Head Jawfish but am unable to get a pic of him due to the fact he loves his burrow too muchg015 4 new Acro Colonies have been added from Reefstore's last SPS shipment all doing well and signs of good growth to boot hope you enjoy time permitting I will add some better more close up Photosps027 
Full View








3D View


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Clowns and their Zoo Home









The biggest change I have made in the last few weeks is I have added a Skimmer and a Calcium Reactor 

Skimmer (5mins after turning on)









Skimmer (after 2 days running in)









Seriatopora


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Turbinaria








Red Montipora








Orange Montipora Digitata


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Plating Montipora's








Lilac Montipora Digitata








Purple with Green Polyp Acro


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Purple Tip Acro








Blue Acro








Green Slimmer Acro


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Jawfish








View One








View Two








I will try and take some full view shots over the next few days thanks for looking


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Full View








Full View 2








Left Side Front


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Brain Frag








Female Clown








Squamosa Clam


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Turbinaria








Seriatopora








Xmas Tree Worms


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Red Montipora








Purple with Green Polyp Acro








Purple Tip Acro


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Orange Montipora Digitata








Splendid Leopard Wrasse








Right Side








Soz about all the picture been a little snapshot happy


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Sorry about all the pics this has been copy and pasted from another forum below is the write up I did after winning TOTM (Tank Of The Month) in Jan

Like so many others I started life as a fish keeper with tropical fish and always admiring the marine fish as I walked through my local garden centre, and was ill advised that a reef tanks are very hard to keep and was also frightened off by the price.
But found myself looking at the Marine more than the Tropical every time I visited and decided to buy a book on marines also joined a few forums online and asked the questions we all did upon starting. So that was that converted my Fluval 1000 duo deep April 2005 and added T5’s and a Deltec MCE 600, LR and a pair of clowns and the rest is history as they say, there have been a few downs but the ups out weigh these 10 fold.
The biggest thanks has to go to Nigel and Richard at Reefstore who have put me on the straight and narrow and have supplied me with some fantastic stock. If you have not shopped with Reefstore then I strongly urge you too, I cannot recommend them high enough but that goes for all our sponsors.
I will not bore you all by describing the build of the cube, If this interests you here is the link to the thread Baden’s Cube Project 

General Information About My Cube
*Size* 24 x 24 x 24 inches
*Volume *225 Litres / 50 Gallons
*Flitration* 25kg Live Rock, 1” SSB argramax, 2ft sump with Miracle Mud /Cheato
*Heater* N/A
*Auto Top Up* Aqua Medic SP3000 Niveaumat 3lph
*Skimmer* Clear Tides 200 with Eheim 1262 Feed
*Reactors* Calcium Reactor Deltec PF509 / Phosphate Reactor 150
*Lighting* Metal Halide 250W 14,000K / 15W Actinic / 24W PC T5 Sump
*Circulation* Sieo 2400lph x 2, Eheim 1262 3400lph x 2 (1 sump return/1 closed loop
*Turnover* X 49 (9800lph)
*Starting Date* 29/08/06 
*Fish*
*Name* 
Flameback Angelfish (African) (Centropyge acanthops) 
Midas Blenny (Ecsenius midas.) 
Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) 
Splendid Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon bipartitus) 
True Percula Clownfish - Pair (Amphiprion percula) 
Yellowhead Jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons)
*Invertebrates *
Christmas Tree Worm Rock (Spirobranchus porites) 
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab x 7(Calcinus laevimanus) 
Emerald Mithrax Crab x 4 (Mithrax sculptus) 
Marble Sea Star Pink, Red and Yellow (Fromia sp.) 
Nassarius Snail x 3 (Nassarius sp.) 
Peppermint Shrimp x 2(Lysmata wurdemanni) 
RTB Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor)
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) 
Squamosa Clam (Tridacna Squamosa) 
Turbo Snails x 10 (Astraea sp.) 
*Corals* 
*SPS* 
Birds nest Coral – Pink (Seriatopora hystrix) 
Birds nest Coral, Green (Seriatopora caliendrum) 
Birds nest Coral, Yellow (Seriatopora guttatus) 
Millepora, Pink (Acropora millepora) 
Montipora Coral, Branched, Lilac (Montipora digitata) 
Montipora Coral, Branched, Orange (Montipora digitata) 
Montipora Plating Coral, Brick Red (Montipora capricornis) 
Montipora Plating Coral, Red (Montipora capricornis) 
Pocillopora (Pink) (Pocillopora damicornis) 
Various Acropora (Acropora sp.) 
*LPS*
Brain Coral Pink, Green and White (Lobophyllia hemprichii) 
Brain Coral, Lobophyllia Blue/Red (Lobophyllia hemprichii)
Brain Coral, Lobophyllia Brown/Green (Lobophyllia hemprichii)
Scroll Coral, Yellow (Turbinaria reniformis) 
Sun Coral, Orange (Tubastrea aurea) 
*Soft*
Mushroom Rock, Blue (Actinodiscus sp.)
Mushroom Rock, Mint Green (Actinodiscus sp.)
Various Zoas (Zoanthus sp.) Including ope, envy red, fire & ice, pink panthers and solars
Ricordea Florida’s and Yuma’s
*Lighting* 
*Main Lights* Metal Halide 250W S/E BLV 14,000K
*Actinic Lights* 15W Actinic
*Other lights* Moonlights, Sump 24W PC T5 Sump
*Light Controllers* Standard Digital Timers
*Photoperiod* Actinics 10am-10pm,
MH 1.30pm-8.00pm,
Sump Reverse Lighting, 
Moons 24/7


*System Parameters/Chemistry*
*Water Temp* 26.8-27.4
*Specific Gravity*1.026
*PH* 8.2-8.4
*Dkh* 10.2-11.4 
*Calcium* 420-450
*Nitrate* Trace
*Phosphate* Trace
*Water Source* 4 stage RO Unit (50gpd)
*Salt Used* Reef Crystals

*Water Change Schedule* 10% Weekly 
*Additives/Supplements Used* Garlic Extreme, Fish Vits, and Vitamin C
*Top Up Water Info* 3.5lts daily via Aqua Medic SP3000 Niveaumat 3lph
*Maintenance Schedule* 
Carbon Run for 1 week in 6, Antiphos changed when test shows any slight increase in PO4 and water tests performed weekly using Salifert test kits.


I don’t really have a favourite fish or coral to be honest but in the near future I want to add more blues and 
Purples the tank seem to be missing these colour morphs and I want to add one more fish I am really tempted by A Mystery Wrasse but still unsure. Then I just want to sit back and watch it grow out.
I am really proud to win TOTM and even thou its all for fun its still nice to have some recognition for all the time and hard work put into your own tank but with it still being a very young system lets see where it is in 12 months time the proof is in the pudding as they say time will tell.
Once again THANK YOU to all the other members who entered and to the all the voters that took part.
Here are some newly taken pictures lets just say my camera is rubbish (its me really) and I hope you all enjoyed this write up as much as I have writing it
THANK YOU 
Baden


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)




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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)




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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Hope you enjoyed it all I know its picture happy but we all love pics dont we:lol2:


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

thats a really nice set up, its alot of work setting up a tank like that by the looks of it cool fish and inverts and nice pics


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## Stoke Lad (Jan 26, 2007)

brilliant, well done.

i have aways admired marine set ups,

do i need to have all that equipment to have a marine set up?


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## markhill (Sep 22, 2006)

i have no idea what most of what you said means, but it looks brilliant anyway, loads of work and time going to it.


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

I am sooo jealous!!! We have currently just bought a few books on marine tanks as we r eventuall going to get one....we just dont no where to start!!!


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

my god. 

that is amazing, thanks for the writeup, and the pics, it is truly inspireing, i want one ;P


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

that is an awesome little tank you got there. I've seen a fair few marine tanks over te last 10 years, and having been doing alot of maintaining work on a few peoples (as a side bit of work) I have never seen such a great use of a tank. It's not over-crowded, a nice selection of fish, inverts and corals, and quite possibly the perfect amount of live rock

hope you don't mind me asking, but how much did that cost you to setup?


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## bribrian (Jan 12, 2006)

Very impressive,: victory: technology has changed quite a bit since i kept marine fish in the 80's.........


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Thanks for the kinds words its the praise that makes it all worth while: victory: 



> hope you don't mind me asking, but how much did that cost you to setup?


Well not counting Corals,Fish and Inverts I would say around £700 mark, of course I had a lot of the equipment hanging around from my larger set up (5x2x2) and the Live Rock also came from there but most of the cost was from the Calcium Reactor, Metal halide Lighting and Protein Skimmer.



> do i need to have all that equipment to have a marine set up?


Not at all :smile: but it does also depend on what system you would want to set up from Fish Only to Fish Only with Live Rock or a Full Reef then even with a Full Reef what type of Corals you wold like to keep will dictate what equipment you will need. But IMHO you deffo need a Protein Skimmer and Live Rock with plenty of flow through the Live Rock to get the best out of your Live Rock and able to handle your tanks denitrification, this is called the Berlin Method.



> We have currently just bought a few books on marine tanks as we r eventuall going to get one....we just dont no where to start!!!


There are a few good forums online all I would say is decide what type of tank you would like and go from there Nat and research research and research again :grin1: 

Once again thank you all for the kind words and I am by no means an expert but am happy to help anyone out who is thinking or is new to the world of Marine Fish if you take the plunge you wont regret it there is a myth that they are hard to keep but it aint that hard IMHO just time consuming and you must have alot of patience

HTH

Baden


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## Cali2304 (Jan 30, 2007)

looks like all your hard work paid off...it looks stunning mate well done


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## t-bo (Jan 26, 2005)

Lovely looking tank and great pics!


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## eddygecko (Feb 14, 2007)

Wow:mf_dribble:


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## BADGERS MUM (Dec 5, 2006)

ive never wandered into this section,and to be honest i was looking for someone keeping tadpoles,lol,but this caught my eye,im now late for work because i had to look at every picture,i have to say its looks absolutely amazing,ive never seen anything half as good,its just brilliant well done:thumb:


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## baden187 (Apr 11, 2007)

Thank You all I am humbled my all your kind words:notworthy: 

Ps 
New tank build in the making but will be a long project 72L X 30W X 24H spent £900 and only got 2 pumps and pipwork eek:? 
Hence long project:roll2: 

Once again Thanks

Baden


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## Guest (Apr 26, 2007)

nice setup!!!


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## Emerald Serpent (Nov 15, 2006)

:2thumb: In the words of Borat "I LIKE" lol. That is one of the best marine cubes I've seen. It goes to show you don't need a gigantic tank or wallet with wads of cash to have a nice tank, although it helps to have the latter : victory: .


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