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d2mini · 12/14/2009, 08:59 AM

After months of planning and waiting and spending lots of money, I figured it's time to start a build thread.

I am running out of space in my 46g bowfront so I decided I needed to upgrade to a larger tank. After tossing around a few ideas I decided to do a full walk-around cube. The spot i found in my house will let you see the tank from the living room, dining, and kitchen.
Was originally going to do a center column overflow, but then realized how
much aquascaping real estate that was going to eat up. So instead I'm doing
a corner overflow that will house a the plumbing and a dry pipe to hide
wiring and a dry-dock that will house two Vortech MP40w's.
I started this little adventure back in August with planning and purchasing items here and there. My tank was delayed for a bit too, especially after getting blown off by Oceans Motions and Miracles, wasting several weeks.
In the end I ended up getting the tank locally from Sapphire Aquatics who did a great job.

Here's my original design for the tank and stand.

I designed the stand to match our kitchen cabinets/backsplash.

The backsplash is back-painted glass.
So I had an inset section built around the top of the stand that will allow me to apply some acrylic treated in the same fashion to give me a similar look.
It'll just add a little touch of extra sumfin-sumfin to the stand.

And here is where the stand is going... right where my wife had some useless chairs/tables/area rug. HA!

So I had the stand built by a local Houston reefer. He did a fantastic job. It was his idea to do single large panel doors with no hardware instead of the split doors on my design.
We did doors on 3 sides and I left one side solid because I knew I'd want one wall to hang stuff on the inside. The acrylic strips will be one of the last things i do.
The tea bottle is for scale.

I decided to go with one of the new i-Tech skimmers from the owner of FISH and other ICHTHY stuff in Florida. Check out their forums for more info.
i-Tech Forums - Powered by vBulletin
I went with the i-Tech 200.

Other equipment has been trickeling in. One thing I'm excited about is the two Vortech MP40w powerheads and backup battery.

12/14/2009, 08:59 AM	#1
d2mini Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 10,344	d2mini's 130g Rimless Cube After months of planning and waiting and spending lots of money, I figured it's time to start a build thread. I am running out of space in my 46g bowfront so I decided I needed to upgrade to a larger tank. After tossing around a few ideas I decided to do a full walk-around cube. The spot i found in my house will let you see the tank from the living room, dining, and kitchen. Was originally going to do a center column overflow, but then realized how much aquascaping real estate that was going to eat up. So instead I'm doing a corner overflow that will house a the plumbing and a dry pipe to hide wiring and a dry-dock that will house two Vortech MP40w's. I started this little adventure back in August with planning and purchasing items here and there. My tank was delayed for a bit too, especially after getting blown off by Oceans Motions and Miracles, wasting several weeks. In the end I ended up getting the tank locally from Sapphire Aquatics who did a great job. Here's my original design for the tank and stand. I designed the stand to match our kitchen cabinets/backsplash. The backsplash is back-painted glass. So I had an inset section built around the top of the stand that will allow me to apply some acrylic treated in the same fashion to give me a similar look. It'll just add a little touch of extra sumfin-sumfin to the stand. And here is where the stand is going... right where my wife had some useless chairs/tables/area rug. HA! So I had the stand built by a local Houston reefer. He did a fantastic job. It was his idea to do single large panel doors with no hardware instead of the split doors on my design. We did doors on 3 sides and I left one side solid because I knew I'd want one wall to hang stuff on the inside. The acrylic strips will be one of the last things i do. The tea bottle is for scale. I decided to go with one of the new i-Tech skimmers from the owner of FISH and other ICHTHY stuff in Florida. Check out their forums for more info. i-Tech Forums - Powered by vBulletin I went with the i-Tech 200. Other equipment has been trickeling in. One thing I'm excited about is the two Vortech MP40w powerheads and backup battery.