My Latest Project 10 Gallon Custom Semi Cube.

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MGDMIRAGE

Shoulda been a fish!
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
1,042
Location
Spokane Valley, Washington
I've missed my 5.5 gallon desktop ever since i tore it down and i've toyed with the ideas of putting up another 5.5, but i remember what i hated about the 5.5: 8" of space from front to back and super thin glass. After looking for tanks with the dimensions i wanted i couldn't really decide on a AIO. So i decided to make my own tank, a 15"x15"x10"(10 gallons) semi cube out of 1/4" glass(plenty strong). I even got a deal on the glass, i got it for 29.99! The silicone i already had, a full 10oz caulking gun sized tube.

Once i had the tank made and water tested it for 4 days with zero leaks i decided to start ordering gear. I ordered 2 koralia nano's, 1 18" T5HO 18Wx2 SLR nova extreme. On order also is a AquaticLife Mini Skimmer 115, it should be here mon or tuesday. I then picked up approximately 12lbs of base rock and a tube of aquamend and 12 little tubes of superglue and set forth to create an arch! I will be modifying a Skilter filter for the fuge as i have like 4 of them laying around and they have a ton of room inside. Heater will be a 50W Hydor Theo. I will be putting a black or dark blue background on, not sure which yet. I also have a 1" piece of polystyrate under the tank to help level the pressure on the bottom glass.

I have yet to decide on a type of sand for the tank yet, i know that i really don't like the sugar sized sand in displays since it blows around a ton if you have a good turnover rate. I am almost thinking i would like the white/black mixed subtrate, any ideas would be appreciated!

Livestock i am planning on transfering most of my zoos to this tank, and the 20 will be the SPS/LPS tank with a few zoos left over. As for fish i'm not sure what i want in here, i've always loved the dottybacks but that sort of eliminates having small inverts like sexy shrimp, however if i do get a dottyback Psuedochromis Springeri would be my choice. Or i may go the sexy shrimp/pom pom crab motel theme with a couple of tiny gobies.

I'm currently running the tank with tapwater to rinse off the rocks and get a feel of how it looks with water in it. I have my RO system making water right now to get this fired up, i just need sand!

Anyway here are a few pics of the progress, and equipment.

Glass.jpg


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closeup.jpg


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My archway is sort of Returnofsid's fault, i loved the rock in their nano so much i wanted one too :p
 
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Love to see tanks built from the ground up, keep the pictures coming. I just finished putting together a 60 gal with euro bracing myself. Did you cut your own glass or did you have it cut?
 
I didn't cut the actual glass no, i got such a decent deal on the actual glass. It was salvage glass, most places quoted me 45-55 dollars but this place gave me a deal for 29 bucks since it was salvage. All the pieces are scratchless so far, i'm impressed. The cuts themselves though could have been better, however.
 
My skimmer got here this morning, and i'm breaking it in, hope it works as well as the hype!

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Good deal on MarineDepot was $55 shipped. Only good until 31st of this month.
 
Recent FTS, I added a nice flat piece of live rock that i found while digging through mine. The flat surface of the rock should prove great for growing some zoos or other low growing softy.

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Waiting on cycle is boring, my ammonia is almost all gone now and my nitrites are fully pegged out, trates are about 20 or so PPM.
 
Recent FTS, I added a nice flat piece of live rock that i found while digging through mine. The flat surface of the rock should prove great for growing some zoos or other low growing softy.

9-9-09.jpg


Waiting on cycle is boring, my ammonia is almost all gone now and my nitrites are fully pegged out, trates are about 20 or so PPM.

I definitely picture an awesome mixed zoo colony on that rock.

Shane
 
A very neat looking tank

This is a very neat looking tank. Looking forward to seeing it develop. Are you going to put some wood trim around the bottom to hide the styrofoam? Lowes and Home Depot but have plastic and foam trim with wood gain photo finish that may look great and resist water damage. Might be able to use small magnets or velcro so the trim is removable. I never thought of using styrofoam to insulate the bottom, always just sat the tank directly on the stand.
 
This is a very neat looking tank. Looking forward to seeing it develop. Are you going to put some wood trim around the bottom to hide the styrofoam? Lowes and Home Depot but have plastic and foam trim with wood gain photo finish that may look great and resist water damage. Might be able to use small magnets or velcro so the trim is removable. I never thought of using styrofoam to insulate the bottom, always just sat the tank directly on the stand.

thank you! That is a great idea about the trim, i never thought about it, i will have to check it out :) I decided to put styrofoam down incase desk gave in a spot and possibly fractured bottom, i probably didn't have to worry as the tank is made out of 1/4", plenty strong for a 10 gallon, but hey hehe.
 
Tests as of today reveal zeros across the board Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, I'm actually quite surprised that it didn't take longer using base rock.

CUC and zoanthids to follow!

Also i got some nice Diatoms atm...
 

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