# My new tank 150G Starphire Cube



## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Hi All, After a few years without an aquarium i decided to get back to the hobby. I always had a weak spot for cube aquariums, i tend to think that i have many sides to view my aquascape in different perspective. 

Here is the tank and stand, its a 38" sides, 24" high, 150G cube, Starphire sides, this is before i set it up. The tank is been cycling for a month now, more pictures to come. Tank is not new it was used previously by a fellow hobbyist who decided to take a break, but it was manufactured by Miracles Aquarium.


The stand was made out of 2x4 and then skinned with oak veneer and the doors were made with plywood, all stained to dark brown.

Thanks
Uma


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

For now i have decided to use an ATI Hybrid PM 4 x 39W T5 plus two 75W LED modules. I was testing the light out but seems bright enough for starters. Im not a big fan of LED, just like the shimmering effect of it. I have always loved the T5's maybe for future i will supplement with additional 4 x 39W T5's.


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## Dis (Apr 16, 2010)

Great start

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## nfa1987 (Jul 5, 2016)

Excited to see the progress..


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Thanks guys, its great being back to the hobby, feels like an empty void just got filled, also my Credit Card got filled too 

But here are more pic's of the sump and plumbing :

Sump is 24 x 24 x 16 - 40 Gallon Acrylic, all pumps are plumbed externally for reducing clutter inside the sump. i am planning on running carbon and some sort of bio filtration in the other canister.

I also have it plumbed for connecting an external 3/8" tubing for auto-top off, water removal, and adding salt water. This is still pending for future work.

I am using an Alpha Kone 170 as the skimmer (debating to upgrade to BK later)

I am going to upgrade my return pump currently Ehiem 1262 to Ecotech Vectra M1


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## aks72ca (Apr 19, 2014)

*150 gal cube*

Excellent, Uma ji,

Very neat & clean job with the plumbing and the sump layout.
Definetely following this build.

My preference is also star fire cube aquariums (reef ready)..
Have a 242 gal BIG cube with closed Loop and just set up a 60 gal cube for my clown fish breeding pair over the Victoria day weekend.

You may view a video posted on YouTube 
You can paste the link in YouTube or search " Big Cube " 242 Gallon Home Coral Tank Display:

Video Link:






Good Luck ! Anil
Mississauga


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Anil that's a massive tank you got there, lots of nice corals and fishes, I'm sure it looks even nicer in real view. Hope to see it one day. You also have some heavy plumbing going in there also, with the CL

Thanks
Uma


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## aks72ca (Apr 19, 2014)

*242 gallon BIG cube*

Good Evening Uma,

Closed Loop (CL) plumbing is the best (in my opinion).
Tremendous flow through out the Tank.

Have 2 X Pool pumps running - Reeflo Dart Snapper + Coral Life heavy duty pump

You must see it in person as have added more rock on the sides and some XL leathers with 04 RBTA

Thanks.


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## [KRAFTIG] (Apr 19, 2017)

This build, thanks for sharing.

Anil, that is impressive!


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## samiam (Jan 27, 2009)

Very nice setup Uma! nice choice in equipment! 

plumbing looks very clean and well though out! 

for a return pump, i'd recommend the Jebao DCP..i have the 8000 and its dead silent, minimal wattage (i run mine at 27w). I cant speak too much about reliability yet as i've only been running it for 3 months..


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Hi Anil; I am a big fan of CL's too, but i am so scared of mishaps, i hate to take chances with high pressure flow with CL's, even with SCH 80 plumbing. Also i had bad experiences with high pressure rated pumps and broken seals/ leaking bulkheads etc. I used to have the hammerhead and barracuda and also used to run a closed loop with OM 4-way, i gave up due to too much maintenance overhead, energy consumption, high risk.

But love the fact that it gives a super clean look to the tank, no wires from PH's or noise from PH's

Thanks
Uma



aks72ca said:


> Good Evening Uma,
> 
> Closed Loop (CL) plumbing is the best (in my opinion).
> Tremendous flow through out the Tank.
> ...


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Thanks Sam, Actually i was thinking of Jebao but i didnt have a good feel for it, i ordered the Ecotech one already. As i am running an externally plumbed return i dont want to take too many risk.



samiam said:


> Very nice setup Uma! nice choice in equipment!
> 
> plumbing looks very clean and well though out!
> 
> for a return pump, i'd recommend the Jebao DCP..i have the 8000 and its dead silent, minimal wattage (i run mine at 27w). I cant speak too much about reliability yet as i've only been running it for 3 months..


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

So i have some pictures when i started to add the salt water and my rocks are just placed, i will rearrange them later when the tank settles down with the big cycle. I added the saltwater while i was doing my sump/plumbing work. I am using two MP40's for flow right now, I will upgrade my return pump (Ehiem 1262) to a Ecotech Vectra later this week.


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

I took these picture last week, i already cleaned up the skimmer once but still pulling a lot of crap, its a great skimmer. Its the Alpha Kone 170, but most likely i will upgrade to a SuperMarin in 6 months, I intend to have a full capacity SPS dominated tank.

Here is the detailed plumb work, also tried to hide all the electrical cables as much as i can.


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

For the overflow and drain i am using the BeanAnimal system, Its based on the design and principles from this web link (I hope its ok to share other websites), This is a very informative thread by BeanAnimal.

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

Here is a picture of the overflow area, i have redundant emergency drains. Because my main drain is a syphon, so if it fails then the second drain will start to syphon and then there is a third and fourth drains to act as durso's


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Tank pics taken a few days ago, much of the hair algae and brown algae are getting off now.


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## samiam (Jan 27, 2009)

beautiful Uma! tank looks great... now it's the waiting game, the hardest part! lol

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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Just remembered my old tank, when i freshly set it up it up:



Still can't forget this tank! its a good one


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## Rookie2013 (Jan 17, 2013)

Wow awesome clean setup Umaji...love the cube..cant wait to see its progress...


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## nfa1987 (Jul 5, 2016)

Uma , Any update on tank ..?


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

nfa1987 said:


> Uma , Any update on tank ..?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Slowly progressing i have a few upgrades to do. I replaced the Ehiem 1262 with the Ecotec Vectra pump, because i wanted more flow, the ehiem was only able to do 900 gph, but with head-loss i was probably getting only between 500-600 gph turnover.

Funny the pump is very small almost the size of the 1" union ball valve 
but to my amazement its near dead silent with very low heat. I am running close to 70% right now, plenty of flow.


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

i am planning on running a remote sump behind where the aquarium sits now, the reason is i want to have a frag tank, and also be able to run my skimmer there also, i would still continue to use the sump under the stand as the primary, but will use a separate return pump on for the remote sump.

Here is a couple of pictures of the sump its just sitting beside my tank now, while i am testing it for leaks. I built this sump my self, i got the acrylic from Kyle he's is member on this forum, he made precision cuts practically i just glued it with no hassle.

Sump is 3/8" thick CELL CAST, dimensions are 48" long x 20" wide x 16.5" high.

I also want to increase the total volume of the system aswell 


BTW I am also testing out this skimmer i bought online from China, just to compare results to couple of other skimmers. Especially i want to see the comparison to my vertex alpha cone 170.


Regards
Uma


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

some more pictures of the sump, i built this sump in 2015 summer, it was sitting in my basement waiting for the day.

There is more to come i will keep posting my progression. Also i will give details of the new skimmer specs and testing.

Good night.


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## nfa1987 (Jul 5, 2016)

Great job Uma.. 


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## vvatermelons (Mar 24, 2017)

Wow very nice! Everything set up very clean, any pictures on the display tank? What did you add so far?


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Thanks!

I have added three fishes last week, I will be adding sps corals later next week, I thought I will share this video with everyone.

I will take some picture using my dslr camera when I add sps.






Regards
Uma



vvatermelons said:


> Wow very nice! Everything set up very clean, any pictures on the display tank? What did you add so far?


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

Here is three pics I took now with the lights almost going out for the evening.


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

*Some Updates after 4 months*

Its been a while, i took a few pictures through the phone. I still haven't got my DSLR out.

Enjoy...

Regards,
Uma


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Nice setup, very well thought out and executed


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## Rookie2013 (Jan 17, 2013)

Beautiful


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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

*recent video*

Thanks guys..

Here is a recent video of the tank.


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## paulsz (Sep 17, 2017)

That is beautiful! Thanks for sharing


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## nfa1987 (Jul 5, 2016)

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## Reef (Jul 24, 2011)

*October 2017*

Now the fall is here, things are picking up well in the hobby  and frags are colouring up nicely.


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