My secret little build--Modded 29 gallon bio-cube (1 Viewer)

[ReefMaster32787]

Thought that I was far enough into this project now that I would post some pics for you guys. This tank was one of the grand prizes from the first ever Reef Currents event so that alone gives it coolness points. But now that we've moved we aren't allowed to have 200 gallon tanks in the house so my attention has turned to our little cube. Its been a long battle with this one mostly because of flow and algae issues so after trying different things like skimmers, lights, GFO/carbon, and adding wave makers, flow seemed still seemed be a major issue. So what do you do next?... why you change everything! After watching a video on youtube I decided to give this cube a makeover by copying what this guy had done to his. I started by making a temporary home for the live stock once everything was removed from the cube I began to remove back plastic panel(this had to be carefully destroyed piece by piece) I took me about 3 hrs to remove everything including cutting the outside plastic trim. I went ahead and ordered the drill bits and overflow after removing the back panel since I didn't break the cube in the process . While waiting for the overflow to arrive I went to lowes and bought 5 sheets of acrylic .220 thick(was about 100 bucks) and went to work measuring the inside of my stand, cut out the sizes that I needed and built my sump. Here's a few pics of what I've don't so far

Also here is a youtube link that was my inspiration---https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPXTpTQ0rbU

 

[ReefMaster32787]

 

[ReefMaster32787]

Not bad if I do say so myself next is todays water test

 

[ReefMaster32787]

Look at that ridiculous flow!! The pump that is hooked up is an older Quiet One 4000 also the pump that I plan on permanently keeping on this tank. I can swap it out if need be with the use of unions and there is also a valve incorporated in the hard plumbing to restrict flow. That's as far as I've gotten so far. Still have some small little things to do to the tank like painting the back of the tank to cover up that square you see and add some black caulking around the cuts in the trim. I used weld on #4 from tap plastics then went back over the seams with weld on #16 on the sump---- ran into a bit of an issue here bubbles started forming in the #16 when it was curing. I did call the manufacture prior and they said it would be ok to apply #4 and follow it with the #16 so I don't know what went wrong but just to be certain I am going to apply MORE #16 either it will help or make things worse.

 

[Mark L.]

Looking great Zach! I don't think I've ever seen one of these tanks modded like this. Can't wait until it's finished.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

Thanks I'm just waiting for the weld on 16 to come in tomorrow after that its cure time and a water test for several days.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

So....I found out why there were bubbles in the weld on 16 and thought I would it share it with anyone who may be wanting to do a project like this. Apparently there are always bubbles in weld on 16 something to do with the curing process. Ultimately I feel that I ruined my sump with this product even though it does hold water it is very unsightly and makes me wonder how long it will last. Like a said earlier I used weld on 4 for the initial seal(very happy with weld on 4) and then followed with the 16. There are hundreds of little tiny bubbles in the seams now, some of them are 2"-3" inches long I could poke them with a butter knife and go right to the edge of the seam. So I want to advise anyone thinking of doing this to seriously consider your acrylic weld options and I DO NOT recommend (SCIGRIP WELD-ON 16) also I believe there are "bubble-free" options that I only just recently found out. Good luck