40 gallon Cube Build

[marfsreef]

After a 3 year hiatus, I’m excited to get back into the hobby! I’m documenting the progress of my 40 gallon cube below. Gonna cycle it soon, just got it filled and running a leak test. The goal is eventually to have a mixed reef with lots of movement and some beginner SPS. I’m planning to update the thread as the build continues, let me know what you think!

Equipment:
Jebao DC return pump
Hygger 2600 wavemaker
AI Hydra Prime
Skimmer not up and running yet

 

[marfsreef]

My lovely wife helped paint the stand. The tank, stand, and plumbing were bought used.

 

[marfsreef]

Here’s a look under the hood. The stand has access from the side which was a nice addition by the previous owner.

 

[marfsreef]

This is my first attempt at aquascaping. When I started my first reef tank in 2017, I had a 55 gallon and I had the typical rock wall. It gave me so many troubles during the tanks life, with flow and maintenance issues and limited coral placement. My goal was to allow for a lot of flow this time around, and prevent detritus build up. I also wanted a few solo rocks to put zoanthids and other coral that I prefer to keep off the main scape. Most of the scape is super glued together along with coral putty.

 

[marfsreef]

After filling the tank with RODI water and running leak tests, I found that the bulkhead was leaking. I had to drain the tank and take apart and reassemble the overflow. After putting everything back together, there was still a slow drip. I took my channel locks and tightened it, then waited and watched. It took several attempts of tightening and seeing a leak, then repeating. Pretty stressful way to spend an afternoon after work, but everything’s in order. Soon I’ll be adding salt and starting the cycle! I’ll try and update the thread as I can. Let me know what you think, and leave me suggestions!

 

[AScientificReefer]

Now thats a scape! great scape and love what you did with the stand, mine could use a fresh coat of paint too haha but I already put stickers all over... I cant wait to see more from you! looks like this ones gonna be one to watch!

 

[1112-425XL]

Great setup!

 

[marfsreef]

Update: as I’ve been cycling the tank slowly for a week with aquavitro seed, I was struggling to silence the gurgle from my overflow. After some recommendations from R2R, I ended up reducing the power of my return pump and putting some tape over all but one of the holes on the PVC cap. That made the gurgle noise almost vanish completely.

 

[marfsreef]

Finally got the light on her! I went with the AI prime16hd. This is the best light ever had and I’m pretty excited about the corals I’ll be able to grow in the future. The shimmer is awesome, so far so good. I’m still learning the programming and schedule that I want. Please leave any recommendations about using this light, how high to mount it, scheduling, etc. I also got impatient about how slow the cycle was taking with aquavitro seed, so I picked up a 4oz bottle of Fritz Turbo Start 9000 and used the whole bottle. I’ll be testing and monitoring for the cycle to complete.

 

[eislekel]

Finally got the light on her! I went with the AI prime16hd. This is the best light ever had and I’m pretty excited about the corals I’ll be able to grow in the future. The shimmer is awesome, so far so good. I’m still learning the programming and schedule that I want. Please leave any recommendations about using this light, how high to mount it, scheduling, etc. I also got impatient about how slow the cycle was taking with aquavitro seed, so I picked up a 4oz bottle of Fritz Turbo Start 9000 and used the whole bottle. I’ll be testing and monitoring for the cycle to complete.

It looks great. Good luck with cycling.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I like the stand build! I might copy some of the design for the stand I need to build for my 60 cube build I'm getting ready to start!

 

[marfsreef]

Update: got 2 clowns and a damsel, some mushroom frags, candy cane, Xenia, and alveopora. Slow but steady wins the race!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Update: got 2 clowns and a damsel, some mushroom frags, candy cane, Xenia, and alveopora. Slow but steady wins the race!

What color candy cane? Kryptonites have always been my favorite!

 

[Lando91]

After a 3 year hiatus, I’m excited to get back into the hobby! I’m documenting the progress of my 40 gallon cube below. Gonna cycle it soon, just got it filled and running a leak test. The goal is eventually to have a mixed reef with lots of movement and some beginner SPS. I’m planning to update the thread as the build continues, let me know what you think!

Equipment:
Jebao DC return pump
Hygger 2600 wavemaker
AI Hydra Prime
Skimmer not up and running yet

Hey buddy! Where did ya find that 40 gallon cube tank without and internal filter ore installed? Just the glass cube! I've been looking for that tank for like 6 months!!! U know what brand that is?

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Finally got the light on her! I went with the AI prime16hd. This is the best light ever had and I’m pretty excited about the corals I’ll be able to grow in the future. The shimmer is awesome, so far so good. I’m still learning the programming and schedule that I want. Please leave any recommendations about using this light, how high to mount it, scheduling, etc. I also got impatient about how slow the cycle was taking with aquavitro seed, so I picked up a 4oz bottle of Fritz Turbo Start 9000 and used the whole bottle. I’ll be testing and monitoring for the cycle to complete.

Here is a great video from BRS discussing light settings for the Prime


I run mine about 8 inches off the water and am using the saxby x BRS AB+ schedule you can download right here on R2R.

Custom AI Prime 16HD Settings (Saxby x BRS AB+) Downloadable Schedule

After doing a few searches on r2r I was having trouble finding a good preset for my AI Prime 16HD. The consensus seemed to be that people liked the Saxby preset provided by AI (https://www.aquaillumination.com/signature_series/david-saxby). The other popular option was the BRS AB+ setting ()...

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