Mad Reefers' Ultra Quiet 60 gal rimless cube

[Mad Reefer]

Hello all,

This will be my second reef tank. The first one i bought came with most of the equipment already so i never really had many choices. I've learned alot from all of you over the last four years with my first tank. This time around, I'm starting from scratch. I started putting this together last week and have already run into issues I need advice on. I'm hoping by posting my tank build here, I can get your valuable input once again. So here we go.

Tank goals

1) Quiet

2) Durable

3) Keep expenses down

4) Keep cost of running down including power consumption

5) Aesthetics

So, I've already made decisions without you on the tank,stand, light and paint. I can still change these, however, if you think I've made a really bad call, just let me know.

Equipment

$410.64 Marineland Ventura Stand and Marineland 60 Gal glass only frameless and rimless cube with overflow and 2 1 inch bulkheads.

$395.98 1x Kessil A360WE (NEW MODEL) Tuna Blue Controllable LED Aquarium Fixture w/Gooseneck Mount and 90 degree adapter.

$ 22.65 Rustoleum Topside Marine grade black paint for inside of stand and maybe outside too if it looks good. 2 quarts

[Mad Reefer]

Decisions.

The Stand:

So, The first think I want to do is beef up the stand.

1) I wanted a durable and easily cleanable surface. Seems like alot of people use killz but I wanted something a little beefier. I came across this product for boats that seems to get good reviews. I havent heard of anyone using it for a tank stand so I'll let you know how it turns out.

2) I know my tank and stand were a good deal but the stand has no top! Thats right NO TOP! That leaves a 2ftx2ft piece of tempered glass to hold 60 gal of water and the huge pile of live rock i plan on adding in a lage mound in the center. I'm thinking about getting a nice piece of 5/8 plywood to cover the top which will look great if the paint works out. I'm interested in your thoughts.

The sump:

there's not much room in this stand for a sump 22" deep x 23" wide X 29" High.

My original thought was to link two 10 gal tanks with bulkheads and pvc at one end. this takes up the entire bottom of the stand but effectively gives me a 40" L X 10"W X12" H sump. The other option i picked up this weekend was a 20g tall. Its 24"L X 12.5"W X 17" H and sticks 1.8" out the back of the sump. I'm leaning toward the 20G tall even though it sticks out of the back of the stand and is a little tall to work in because it will be a simpler setup and reduce points of failure but I can be swayed by a good argument either way.

This is what the two 10 gallons looked like in the sump

The Overflow:

So in keeping with goal of having an ultra quiet tank, I've pretty much decided to go with a herbie. this tank has two 1" bulkheads which lends itself nicely to a herbie. Ideally, i would like to drill a third hole in the bottom of the tank. there is plenty of room in the overflow area for a third hole but it is tempered glass and i'm afraid to do it. Does anyone know of someone who can drill tempered glass? Otherwise, mu plan is to plumb an external return in all black pvc.

The return pump:

Right now I'm thinking my best choice is to go with a Jebao DC-6000 or 9000 run externally. Low power consumption, low noise, low cost and wont add heat to the tank.

PVC:

Does anyone have a link to a good tutorial on PVC plumbing strategies. I'm reading about unions, gate valves, 90's and 45's bushings and weld-on. I'd like to avoid reinventing the wheel here.

Thanks

-Madness

[Mad Reefer]

Reserved

[Mad Reefer]

Tank Pic

[CaptainK]

Love those tanks.

[Mad Reefer]

Thanks CaptainK, its a really clean looking design. I'll try to get a nicer picture to post.

[Long]

Nice tank. My 93 gal cube stand was same way. I put wider real wood trim on top of

existing trim and paint it same color as stand. I also added a 2x4 center brace to help

distribute the 30" x 30" bottom surface load. My tank is loaded with rocks and 2" sand bed.