RadiKal's 100g cube build

This was my solution, painters plastic stapled inside the interior of all the cabinets.  It does a good job of preventing water/splashing from getting on the walls behind the tank, but I worry that it traps too much moisture and humidity in the sump area.  Here is a picture with the plastic interior and the sump getting put into place:

I drilled a piece of acrylic at the back of the sump to plump the returns from the mixing tank and refugium.  Next was plumbing everything in.  I drilled holes through the sides of the stand and also a hole through the wall into the utility room next door, where the RO/DI unit is located.  I got a marine depot 100gpd 4 stage unit during black friday deals.

I cut some acrylic dividers for the refugium since I want to grow several types of macroalgae and put them in place with some reef safe silicone:

I plubed everything in and got the skimmer hooked up:

You can see that the skimmer has a biomedia reactor plumbed in before the skimmer.  I installed a auto top off down in the final chamber of the sump and created a custom acrylic bracket so that I can adjust the height of the auto top off.  The top off is hooked up to the RODI unit in the utility room.

After the sand cleared, it was time for some live rock! I ordered 60 lbs of real reef live rock from bulk reef supply, bought 35 lbs of leftover rock from another reefer, and bought about 25 lbs of marco dry rock which is bleach white and located at the back underneath the rest of the rock.  I think it looks excellent with the pink and purple color, but the selection of pieces I got didn't allow me for a great aquascape:

I would have preferred more branching and arches.  But you gotta work with what you've got.

Now comes the long process of tank cycling.  On one hand this is exciting, but on the other hand it is a painstakingly long wait!

I got a bioplate during black friday sales and it came with a bottle of brightwell aquatics nitrifying bacteria:

I used Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride to start the cycling process.  I thought about putting a shrimp in there and letting it decay, but didn't want the smell.  I also thought about a sacrificial fish, but my wife basically said no creatures should be harmed in the cycling of the tank, so that was also a no-go.  Plus, I listened to a convincing podcast that said that by adding pure ammonia as a source and using a bottle of denitrifying bacteria, you avoid buildup of opportunistic contaminant bacteria.

I have a small pump (with no filter guard) that pumps aquarium water from the sump into the unit, which sits on top of the sump.  The water flows in the middle input bulkhead just above the filter roll.  The water flows through the filter cloth and exits through a bulkhead in the lower right corner, which drains back into the sump.  You can see that the pressure differential through the filter cloth causes a difference in water level on the two sides of the cloth.  As debris clogs the filter roll, the water level rises in the middle.  Eventually, it reaches the optical sensor, which tells the unit to turn on power to the motor that winds the filter roll paper.  This pulls the dirty cloth out and winds it up, and also bring new fresh cloth into the water, which is more permeable to water due to no debris build up.  The water level will then quickly decrease with the new clean filter paper.  If the sensor ever fails or the unit runs out of cloth, or can't roll in new fleece for some reason, there is a backup overflow just above the level that activates the motor.

So far it is working great!  I didn't have any mechanical filtration before this, and I feel like my tank is already clearer....

The second video shows the dirty floss leading to water level rising, triggering the sensor, which then rolls the paper and the water level goes down.  Pretty dirty on the 'used' side of the roll!