Fortunato's 150G Marineland Cube

[d5332]

You dont need to use pressure treated wood, I assume you dont want the canopy to rot but if you vent it or make it open top than it will never rot and if you paint the inside and poly coat it then it will really really never rot.

Also wanted to mention to you to consider selling any fish you have that grow to be large and focus on fish that can make good use of the 150 cube for many years to come.

At least for me, the fish is what kills me and pushed me to change tanks 3 times. In a year or so I am probably going to sell or give away the tangs that are outgrowing the tank and focus on reef fish that dont grow as quickly or to be as large as some of the fish I have.

 

[n3hihz]

Glad you found a tank man, it looks great. Almost like you got it made for that corner.

Cant wait to see it up

 

[reefs4life]

I would use 1/2" birch plywood , very strong and light enough . I would paint the inside of the canopy gloss white. What kind of pressure treated wood , are you going to have doors in the canopy ? Or have it lift up ?

That's what I ended up going with 1/2" birch plywood and as a frame I'll be using 1"x2" pine studs. I'm going to paint the inside that gloss white you suggested. I used Behr Marquee Exterior Paint for the exterior of the stand and canopy. I was wondering if I could use safely use the same paint for the interior of the canopy. I would like to have the canopy permanently remain on the tank but I also want the 2 front sides to fully open up for the whole width of those sides. I still have not figured exactly how I'm going to do that and primarily how I'm going to make it look asthetically pleasing. I am undecided as to whether I want to put a top on the canopy or just leave it open to achieve the best ventilation possible.

You dont need to use pressure treated wood, I assume you dont want the canopy to rot but if you vent it or make it open top than it will never rot and if you paint the inside and poly coat it then it will really really never rot.

Also wanted to mention to you to consider selling any fish you have that grow to be large and focus on fish that can make good use of the 150 cube for many years to come.

At least for me, the fish is what kills me and pushed me to change tanks 3 times. In a year or so I am probably going to sell or give away the tangs that are outgrowing the tank and focus on reef fish that dont grow as quickly or to be as large as some of the fish I have.

Thanks for the advice. Luckily I should be ok with keeping all the fish I have left and maybe just get a few small fish if I want anything new but aside from that I'll be stocked from the beginning. Not changing tanks ever, or at least not while I'm in my parents house and it's definitely not going back into the basement so I'm kind of stuck in my plans for a while, which I am perfectly fine with that. Nursing school and work is going to have me so busy I won't have much time to worry about anything outside the routine maintainance that a tank needs.

Glad you found a tank man, it looks great. Almost like you got it made for that corner.

Cant wait to see it up

Thanks! I'm so excited myself especially since it took forever to find. Hopefully it will be up by Christmas but I won't hold my breath on it, my dad isn't really providing any great help at the moment.

 

[reefs4life]

So far I repainted the stand...things left to do:

- Drill/cut out wall for plumbing between floors. Dual 1" drains, dual 3/4" returns. All flex pipe.
- Level stand
- Build canopy. 2 sides against wall remain stationary, 2 front facing sides need to open. Debating on a top for canopy, would make it easier to mount the light.
- Rearrange sump. Glue all precut baffles, plug unneeded holes.
- Slightly reorganize existing manifold.
- Decide on sand depth and what sand to use. Definitely not buying used again, just too dirty and taking too much risk especially when doing a DSB.
- Decide on aquascape.

 

[trinimaddness]

Gl with build..if u need a hand/tools/parts lmk

 

[reefs4life]

Gl with build..if u need a hand/tools/parts lmk

Thanks bro! I'll keep that offer in mind.

 

[reefs4life]

So as an update...tomorrow I should be drilling the holes for the basement to 1st floor plumbing and once that's done everything should take off.

One other thing I'm debating on is sand. Anyone recommend anything in particular? I personally have looked into Tropic Eden Reef Flakes, ESV Ultra White Calcium Carbonate substrate and one of the Caribsea sands (except pink or black). I would like some opinions on this. Also, I definitely don't want to do a DSB again, right now I have around 4-5", I'm thinking of doing 2" or less. But is there anything different I should be aware of with going with a shallower sand bed? I do keep haddonis and like burrowing fish and wrasses so will it still be ok?

 

[reefs4life]

Geez guys...don't all jump at once now...

 

[marrone]

Stay away from the ESV Ultra White Calcium Carbonate substrate, it turns dirty looking over time and things don't like to go into it.

 

[d5332]

Lol, I meant to give my two cents

Wrasses whrn small dont need much sand to burrow, buy small and you will be ok with very little sand, keep a bunch of sand in a rear corner and just a snow blanket in thw front and middle

As for brands and or types of sand, inexpensive aragonite

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Reefs

 

[Arati]

i used the carrib sea with all the tiny shells in iot I know people say not to but for 1/2 of sand it is heavy and stays in place and is all covered in corraline liiks nice

 

[reefs4life]

Yeah I think I'll go with 120lbs of CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand which should give me close to a 2" sandbed.

Marrone, thanks for the advice on the ESV, I kinda didn't like that ultra cleanliness to it, which is why I wasn't to sure about it. Too clean or white make it look unnatural and I can imagine it turns to $%#t with time, which is why I turned away from some of the CaribSea sand types.

 

[reefs4life]

UGH! Another debate now...so I just realized that if I don't paint the sides that are parallel to the walls, all I'll see is the color of the wall which are peanut butter color and totally not a suitable color for a fish tank background. I will be using decoart acrylic paint to paint the glass panes but I'm not sure what color I should use. Either black, tropical blue or navy blue. Colors are below, please chime in with your opinion.

We all know what black looks like lol blue below

Tropical Blue

Navy Blue

 

[lnevo]

Navy

 

[thirty6]

Navy

+1 navy

 

[FocusReefing]

I like the navy as well but why paint it? That tank is gorgeous and paint just seems so permanent. The blue backgrounds wont work?

 

[usctom]

Black. Makes everything pop.

 

[reefs4life]

I like the navy as well but why paint it? That tank is gorgeous and paint just seems so permanent. The blue backgrounds wont work?

it's acrylic paint and is on glass so once it's dry I can just scrape it off with a razor blade if I don't want it anymore

 

[albano]

I think the trop blue is closer to mine, and would brighten up the tank and room.

 

[Zuska]

Nice tank! cant wait to see this set up I have the 90 cube and the back is black and the side facing the wall is clear. I never clean that side so its covered by coralline algae.