# JamesHurst's 30G Cube of Wonder



## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

*JamesHurst's 30G Cube of Wonder*

I promised many of you that I would post this build. After months of procrastination, here it is.

I call this my 'Cube of Wonder', but I have another name for it -- 'The Money Pit'. Like many of us, I started into this hobby with a budget and high hopes. However as many of us realize, a budget requires another important factor - patience. This is something I have none of. I will preach patience to others, just us many of us do, however following my own advise has never been my forte.










I began this project in late 2012 after a year of running a budget tank, a 10G Tetra kit that I had been using for freshwater for half a year until it was ravaged by Ich. Though I had already planned an upgrade before converting to salt, I had worries about a larger body of water. I had purchased a 50G long tank, used, and watched the tempered glass bow over an inch after the center brace failed. Though I replaced the entire top frame weeks later, I was terrified to fill it again and gave it away. I put aside my dream of a large tank for the time being.









The 10 Gallon in its early stages of life.









The broken tank that ruined large tanks for me.

With the 10 gallon filled with the water from NAFB's frag tank, I had purchased corals and fish....yes, the DAY I set up the tank. Everything was great and somehow went well. I was lucky, but had no idea. Half a year later, with poor lighting and a diy overflow to a 2.5 gallon sump, stuff was crowded and dying. I had built a denitrator to reduce the high nitrates in the system as well, which got clogged and began spewing hydrogen sulphide into the system resulting in a multiple crashes. Enough wasn't enough. It was time to go bigger and there was no choice in the matter.









The DIY waterproof 50/50 RGB LED panel.









The denitrator.









The 2.5 Gallon DIY sump.

Christmas was coming and my girlfriend Didi and I had no idea what to get eachother. We came to the agreement that we would pool our Christmas "Winnings" (money from family, etc.) with our own money that we would otherwise spent on presents for eachother, and setup a new tank. However with severe anxiety hovering over me, planning needed to be done. We had a budget - $200 for the tank and stand. We would have the tank done custom and I would build the stand around it. Great plan right? No. But let's move on.

It was quickly agreed after looking online at magazine-cover quality reefs that we would do a cube. Shortly after, CADD mockups were done, along with a materials sheet - again, planning carefully was my goal, I was doing this ONCE and once only. The tank was ordered. We went 20" x 20" but only 18" high for stability reasons....carpeted floor. Though we initially were planning on 24X24x20 high, we quickly discovered this would mean 3/8" glass and thus more money. We compromised for the budget and went with a smaller volume and 1/4" beveled/polished glass and a 3/8" bottom. I wish I went thicker, I'm terrified to this day that it will break though those worries are in no way warranted...oh anxiety, how you rule my life. The tank would have corner overflow in black, drilled. Everything was going swell. The pricetag however was larger, but somewhat expected. We had already broken the budget. The tank came to just over $200. We would adjust and resume quickly - Christmas was coming!

It's about this time that things began to die in the 10G. A mystery black hard algae had consumed "Zoa mountain", a 7" square pile of collector zoas and the pride of my tank. A large 4 headed torch had bitten the dust, head after head. My Domino Damsel and Maroon Clownfish were battling for turf. We needed to move quick. Patience anyone? No, it's cool bro.









The 10 Gallon in its later stages of life.

The stand was designed in CADD, like everything else. I would be building the stand from 3/4" furniture grade ply and I would need almost exactly one 4x8' sheet. After sourcing materials in my area, something was blatantly apparent - the cash register was ringing louder and louder. The stand's budget on it's own was $100. As the build went on and the register kept ringing, my determination to finish the project was only getting stronger, regardless the consequences. The wood was cut in one day with no wounds but many close calls. The parts were sanded, glued and screwed in my living room. The stand and light canopy were then stained and poly'd in my front lobby, a 4 foot cube with no ventilation. With the front door open so I could breathe, it would prove to be a cold and tiring ordeal of stained hands and slow drying times. Oh yeah and it stank. The stand ended up costing around $300 with the rental of a table saw, 3/4" birch 14-ply, cab rides to pickup and dropoff the wood and table-saw, all the hardware and all the finishing materials (2 kinds of stain, poly finish, veneer, sandpaper, brackets, screws, hole saw bits, etc etc etc...the list went on and on).









CADD mockups of stand w/ tank.









The 4/8 sheet of birch ply after a day of cutting it into all the pieces i needed.









Screwing and gluing the front and back of the stand.









Assembling the sides and floor of the stand.









Canopy assembled.









The finished result after ages of staining and poly.
2 coats of 'Ebony', 1 coat of 'Red Mahogany', 2 coats of Polyeurethane









Another view. The top surface is padded with a thin rubber matting used for cupboards.









Yet another view. Visible is the rear canopy access panel for the return plumbing and all wiring.

By now, the budget was out the window. It was apparent that we had gotten in over our heads. Building is not always cheaper than Buying.

Still trying to save as much money as possible with the belief that we were so close to done, I built a sump that was fitted to the stand, from 1/8" window glass cut at the harware store. Yup, terrified about that breaking too, though it's double braced. I used acrylic to split half the sump into a regugium that would be fed water from the overflow. The overflow would be split with the other side going to the filtration area. The refugium would overflow into the return area at the end of the filtration side.









CADD mockups for sump.









The sump tank after drying and wet testing.









Baffle installation.









Baffle wet testing.









Top view.

It was then that we realized we still had a long way to go, spending wise. We still needed a return pump, plumbing, lights, and a skimmer, not to mention live-rock and substrate. When would it end? The answer, as we now know, is 'Never'.

CONTINUED BELOW


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## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

The tank was done and on the stand. Time to plumb. Here's a tip to anyone plumbing an aquarium. Forget Rona, Home Depot, Home Hardware, Canadian Tire....just go to Lowes. It took me a week to figure out that the only place I would find large PVC fittings was Lowes or a plumbing house. It didn't take me long however to figure out that the parts alone would cost me upwards of $100 due to the control I needed with valves, etc. Many mistakes and corrections later, all due to the fact that I gave myself no play room or bracket of error, it was finally done and it was done well. Flow was perfect, no leaks, looked nice... I was happy.









Tank on the stand before plumbing.









Tank on the stand before plumbing. Sump installed.









Tank and top stand surface removed.
Scrap wood was used to create a bracket to support plumbing and wiring.









Return plumbing completed.









Return plumbing completed, rear view.









Overflow plumbing, glued.









Overflow installed.









Wet testing - tank.









Wet testing.

On boxing day I grabbed an Aquatic Life nano-skimmer from Amazon. The price was under $100 and I was sure it would fit in the sump. The substrate was purchased online from Dr's Foster and Smith - 2 bags of live sand for reef tanks - Tahitian Black Moon sand specifically. Then began the lighting ordeal. At this point,I had figured out that my current light was insufficient - 2 T8's, one actinic, one white, with a 17" submegible LED strip and a DIY panel of waterproof RGB 50/50 LEDs I wanted to go with LEDs but it was obvious I couldn't afford the $400 LED systems that were available so it was DIY time again. I spent about a week making decisions and researching what my requirements would be, finally selecting the 24" Solderless LED kit from RapidLED. The price seemed too perfect. That's because I hadn't chosen a method of controlling the LED dimmers yet. Soooo I got a Neptune APEX Jr with the VDM module. Goodbye budget, hello packed lunch. Lighting was quickly assembled and the controller installed without a hitch.









Sump w/ skimmer installed.









Apex and LEDs arrived!









Assembling the LED panel.









Assembling the LED panel.
All lenses are 80 degree, however about a third of the lenses have been removed to reduce 'hot spots'.









Assembling the LED panel.
Blues and Whites were alternated for the most even coverage.









Gotta keep it cool! Fan and wire hangers installed.









It lives! Lights, Dimmers, Controller, plumbing, skimmer, all installed.









Lights installed, system running.









Another view. Lights installed, system running.

We were excited. Tank was running, live sand live rock was in the tank with a damsel assisting the acclimation process. It was around this time that I got evicted. My landlord wanted the area back to renovate and rejoin with his home - one of the only way to evict us legally without cause. We were devastated. We were both going through medical issues and had finally finished unpacking after just under one year of living there. The bulkhead was tied in, through the top of the stand, only 1 week prior - there was no way of disconnecting the overflow plumbing. But as many of us have learned, we need to adapt and move foward. Within a week we had secured a new home only 1.1km from our current place and $200 a month cheaper. The move sucked but the tank was moved - on it's side, with the stand seperate. The move took the largest toll on the already running 10gallon reef - I will never forget the smell of the mostly empty tank filled only with the substrate and "bottom-water" - it was the smell of death. The tank took over 10hours to get set up again from the time of tear-down....everything survived, somehow.









Draining the tank after being "evicted".

CONTINUED BELOW


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## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

After a week of trying to level the stand and tank (these new floors are wonky) the tank was running and starting the cycle again. A couple weeks later, the impatience bug hit me again. With my use of live sand and rock, I thought what the hell. Slowly I began moving everything over. Then 'slowly' became 'quickly'. I had lucked out again. The move went great, coral health was improving. Cyano and algae then hit me hard, thus beginning a new chapter of spending ... filtration and flow upgrades. I'll touch on that later.









The tank, setup at our new home.









Sump lighting installed.









Livestock moved to new system.

I always say to myself, and my girlfriend, "We're done, we have everything setup the way it needs to be". Although I may believe it at the time, it's a lie. Maybe it's my lack of patience or maybe it's my drive to finish what I start. All I know is that this has been the craziest ride of my life and something I will remember and learn from for the rest of my life. I've created something - an ecosystem - that's a part of me and a part of my life ... to lose it would be devastating. The joy and excitement it brings me every single day is priceless, which happens brings me to the end of this chapter - the price. In the end, we estimated that we spent approximately $1300, including materials, hardware, finishing supplies, the tank itself, plumbing, lighting and control, sump, return pump, live sand, rock, tool rentals, etc. The livestock, lighting and filtration upgrades that have taken place since are another story. The livestock alone is a stupid ridiculous number, I'm sure.

*I will find some time to continue my story and will continue to post pics and updates here as well. Thanks for reading!!*

Cameron James Billinghurst


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Amazing Cameron! i love how detailed you are with your build thread. We gotta chill sometime and talk reefin.


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## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

Thanks!  And absolutely! We will grab some cold ones and chill sometime soon for sure. Thanks for checking out my thread man


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Great build story, thanks for sharing. 

"Building is not always cheaper than Buying."

Indeed, but the satisfaction and learning involved are priceless. 

Good work!


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## destructo (Aug 12, 2009)

Great tank man  Would love to come over with Darby to see it


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Thanks for sharing everything is looking great and the feeling of having a reef in your house is priceless but for everything else there is Master Card or cash


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## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

nice documentation of the build. looking forward to seeing how the tank comes together as a reef.


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## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

Ahhh Brian, I had no idea you were on GTAA!!!  and YES! You guys are welcome over anytime, I miss you guys! I'm in the beaches now.

fesso, absolutely. Knowing I did it myself brings me a lot of pride, but when something goes wrong, I tend to take it very personally for that same reason. Still, I don't know if I'd ever buy a reef-ready setup from a manufacturer. The learning process went hand in hand with doing it right the first time - when you build your setup, you know where the flaws are rather than finding out about them way down the line. If I were to do this again, I would know now where some of the costs could be cut, not to say that I'd cut them though haha. Thanks for the kind words fesso 

explor3r, LOL, I'm glad some of us understand the point I was trying to make hahaha. My g/f and I chose fish over diapers har har har 

Bayinaung, I will totally find the time tonight to get some more of the story and pic up as well as some current pics, and thank you! 

Thanks so much to everyone for their comments!

**Feelin the Love**

Anyways, I'm off to buy some mangroves for the overflow. Thanks all!


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Daaaaaaa-yummmmm Cameron,
You got mad DIY reefing skills, enough to pay da bills! lol
I always love reading super detailed build threads awesome!


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## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

James,

time to update the thread! This dude's got a nice fully stocked tank now. He hasn't updated the pics! I just saw it today when I went to pick up the mangroves. thanks for organizing that by the way. 

Dude, I know some of your corals have receded and stuff coz of the problems you had with the tank or coz you were away, it's still nice looking. just post the pics. when they come back then give us another update.


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