Dorado's 3'x3' Cube

[Dorado]

Greetings SoCaliReefs, my name is Brian. I've been here for several months but have decided to come out of the shadows and become a more active member of the community. I thought I'd first introduce myself by sharing some information and pictures of my tank that I started back in March of this year.

Tank: Crystal Dynamics 36"x36"x26"
Sump: Trigger Systems Sapphire 34"
Lighting: 24" ATI 8x24w sunpower dimmable T5 fixture
4x24w dimmable retrofit T5's
3x24w Blue plus Orphek OR3-60 LEDs
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 200SSS INT
Controller: Neptune APEX, 2xEB832 Energy Bars
Return Pump: Neptune Cor20
Flow: 1xTunze Turbelle Nanostream 6055
1x Ecotech MP40
1x Icecap 4k gyre with battery backup
Dosing: Neptune DOS
Refugium Light: Neptune GRO

 

[Dorado]

Fish:
Powder Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Royal Gramma
6x Lyretail Anthias(2 male, 4 female)
Mocha Clownfish
Mocha Storm Clownfish

Inverts:
2x Cleaner Shrimp
Blood Red Shrimp
Blue Leg hermits
Zebra hermits
Astrea Snails
Nassarius Snails
Tiger Conch
Margarita Snails

 

[Dorado]

 

[joseserrano]

thanks for sharing. More pics would be great to get a better idea of everything.

 

[BST310]

Looks like an awesome tank. I’d also love to see more pics

 

[Smite]

Niiice! Colors are looking great man. What bulb combo are you running again? Do you actually dim the overall output on your ati and how do your Orpheks work into the mix of your light schedule?

 

[Dorado]

Looks like an awesome tank. I’d also love to see more pics

Thanks, I'll get some more pictures up soon

 

[Dorado]

Niiice! Colors are looking great man. What bulb combo are you running again? Do you actually dim the overall output on your ati and how do your Orpheks work into the mix of your light schedule?

Thank you, the T5's are always at 100% except when they're ramping up and down. I like having them dim instead of the the hard on/off. I only have the orpheks running for four hours during the middle of the photoperiod. The orpheks are pretty powerful, I only have the cheaper USB apogee par meter, but the LEDS increase the PAR quite a bit. Here's a picture under the hood showing my lighting situation.

The photoperiod/bulb configuration from front to back is as follows:
Actinic 11AM-9PM
Blue plus 12PM-8PM
Purple plus 12PM-8PM
Coral plus 10AM-10PM
Blue plus 12PM-8PM
Blue plus 12PM-8PM
Coral plus 10AM-10PM
Purple plus 12PM-8PM
Blue plus 12PM-8PM
Actinic 11AM-9PM
And the two on the side are Aquablue specials 11:30AM-8:30PM
Orpheks- 12:30PM-4:30PM

 

[Dorado]

I'll post some pictures from my build a little later

 

[Smite]

Great to hear. I recently took PAR values on my setup and was blown away with the numbers I got. Whats your average reading in the sps range if you don't mind me asking? I run a 10 lamp as well, so I'm curious how close in numbers we are.

 

[Dorado]

Great to hear. I recently took PAR values on my setup and was blown away with the numbers I got. Whats your average reading in the sps range if you don't mind me asking? I run a 10 lamp as well, so I'm curious how close in numbers we are.

Most of my SPS are at least 12" below the water with the PAR being between 350-450 at that level. I wan to get my hands on a MQ-510 to see how accurate they are.

 

[Dorado]

March 2021

 

[joseserrano]

Surprisingly lots of room under

 

[Dorado]

One thing that I really wanted to do with this tank was make water changes really easy. With the flip of a switch on my control board, a dedicated pump in my sump which is directly piped to a drain in the garage behind the tank, the sump is drained in a matter of minutes. With the flip of another switch, a pump in the mixing station fills the sump back up, making a complete water change take only 10 minutes. I also added a hose attachment for when I want to siphon the display tank.

Mixing station and ATO container in the garage on the other side of the tank.

Quarantine tanks on top of mixing station. Both quarantine tanks are also tied into the mixing station making water changes easy as well.

 

[Ohiostreetz]

Wow this is clean

 

[Dorado]

April 2021
Canopy Lighting
I attached the ATI fixture onto drawer sliders to make it easier to access the bulbs. I also drilled 4 holes into the top of the canopy to provide air exchange via computer fans. 2 fans blow into the ATI fixture providing cool air and the other 2 are for exhaust.

The cords from the light fixtures in the canopy all go through a 2" sleeve into the garage where they all terminate into an EB832 dedicated to lighting

The first fish are added to the display tank from quarantine.

 

[Smite]

Amazing work inside that canopy, love the drawer slider on the ATI.

 

[sorinwilcox]

Wow this is amazing!! Great planning

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Emac909]

This is one bad a setup. Nice work

 

[BST310]

Epic system! Thanks for sharing more pics.