50g Cube Build

TheEngineer · Aug 14, 2015

This is my re-entry into a real tank since moving in August, 2014. I still have a 10g with my clownfish and a few corals in it, but that doesn't count. I went with a 50g SCA cube. It's starfire glass on three sides, center overflow and came with a glass sump, skimmer and return pump. Several others on here have the same tank. I really like the look of it.

This tank is going to be in my office, so it has to look clean and be as silent as possible. The tank and stand are already great looking (IMO), so it is a good base to build off of. I need to take some more pictures, but I have a picture of the lighting so I'll start there.

Lighting
I built the LED fixture for my last tank (back in 2007) and really liked it. You can see more about that here. Now that there are so many great commercial options, I decided to buy something rather than build this time around. I went with a Kessil A360W. I like how sleek it is and that is takes up such a small volume. It can also be controlled by my Reef Angel, which is a must.

I did not like any of the mounting options offered by Kessil though. I think the gooseneck is distracting and I don't like seeing wires, so the hanging method was out too. After some searching, I came across a great mount from ReefLightMounts.com. It's a bit on the pricey side at $95+shipping, but decided I would bite the bullet anyway. I have to say, I'm really impressed by it. Solid construction and smooth powder coating. I also very much like the integrated cable channels to route the wires up and away cleanly and down to the sump. The other nice part is the swivel mount that the light hangs from. You can easily fine tune the positioning of the light with the twist of a knob.

iReef86 · Aug 15, 2015

Welcome back to the "real tank" scene! Give us a tour and keep us updated! We LOVE pictures around here!

TheEngineer · Aug 23, 2015

Today was the big day! My wife and daughter went for a visit at a friend's and I had the whole day to get the tank up and running. The water is still a little cloudy, but you can see what's going on.

I'm pretty happy with the way the scape turned out. There are two arches in the front and a hidden one of the left. Should hopefully make the fish happy and give them plenty of places to run to. Since I'm pretty constrained on space in this tank, I went with an angled wall approach. You can see in the left and top images that the top is the furthest to the back and the bottom the closest to the front. I get great light coverage the whole way down. I built in some overhangs too so some shade loving corals can still be higher up. The sump is mostly set up, but I need to do some wire cleanup before I show any pictures.

I'm officially back!

FTS:

Left:

Top:

TheEngineer · Aug 26, 2015

First water test results since the tank was setup are in:

pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2
dKH: 12

Looks like cooking the rock for months on end helped and I might be getting a quick cycle out of it. I'll come back and test it again in a few days and see where things are.

mochaclownlover · Aug 26, 2015

Awesome tank!

Joshua Cline · Aug 27, 2015

This is the exact aquarium I plan on buying! I look forward to the progress.

TheEngineer · Aug 27, 2015

Thanks. With the exception of the metric fittings and provided plumbing I have nothing but positive things to say about the system.

Downbeach · Aug 27, 2015

Looks great, Adam.

TheEngineer · Sep 1, 2015

Almost there!

pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
dKH: 12

I added a pair of Jebao RW-4's on Sunday and they stirred up a whole bunch of stuff. I'll give it a few more days and see if I can zero out. So close!

TheEngineer · Sep 8, 2015

I started to clean out my holding tank over the weekend to prepare moving my clown over and I stirred up a whole lot of muck. I was concerned about leaving her in there so I transferred her over on Saturday along with the CUC I had just bought. I tested the water last night and everything is still solid. I'm going to call this cycle over.

I have a few ricordias and one acan frag that apparently survived being completed engulfed in algae for months. I'm going to dip them in hydrogen peroxide today and transfer them over to the new tank. Although I'm pretty paranoid about any of the GHA or bubble algae from that tank getting in here....

TheEngineer · Oct 19, 2015

Long overdue (but short) update...

The tank has been running great. My clown is fat and happy and I moved the few survivor frags over from my holding tank. They got fat and happy so I decided to pick up a few zoa frags from the LFS. From top to bottom they are: WWC Sunny D's, blue eye girls (I think) and something that looks similar to utter chaos. I'm going to post in the ID forum to see what others think.

pelphrey · Oct 19, 2015

I really like that light mount! It's a shame my plumbing is in the middle back of my tank. I'll have to keep these in mind!

TheEngineer · Oct 19, 2015

Mine is too actually. The mount is actually off center by 2".

TheEngineer · Nov 12, 2015

Just got some new frags from Facebook auctions. I'll post pics when they open...

TheEngineer · Nov 15, 2015

Here is a quick cell phone shot of the new frags. The one on the left are Gatorades and unknown. The one on the right are Jokers.

TheEngineer · Dec 9, 2015

Well the tank seems to be going smoothly, but my zoas are little ticked off. I did a dip and discovered my light wasn't as intense as it should have been. We will see if it gets better....

TheEngineer · Dec 10, 2015

Decided I'm going to start pushing forward with adding fish to the tank now. I'm going to hold off on any new corals for a bit.

My plan is:
1. 3x Green chromis (I like the group size and that they are more active swimmers)
2. 2x Banghai cardinals (Not really active swimmers, but I like the way they shoal and that they stay in the middle column)
3. TBD Sandsifting fish (although I don't want a top, so maybe I will skip blennies)
4. Kole tang

I think this order makes sense too, although the banghai could maybe switch with the chromis. I plan on adding each type one at a time and doing a full QT.

TheEngineer · Dec 23, 2015

I'm off today and it's raining, so that means.... new tank pics! I need to get a white balance card to use, but these didn't come out too bad. Tank is 4 months old now.

Alien acne (left), green implosion (center), ring of fire (right)

Sunny D's (left and finally starting to grow), devil's armor (center), to-be-ID'd freebie (right)

Wider shot of the above and my ticked off gatorades that were just walked across

Pandoras (kinda plain, but under the right light they are may favorites right now)

Purple hornets (left), Joker (center, the colony is higher up), Rastas (right)

Gatorades (really like the stripes starting to come in on the right polyp) Starting to reopen after a hermit walked over them

FTS from above. There are two other frags I didn't include. One is candy apple pink, but it isn't opening fully right now. The other I haven't been able to ID yet.

TheEngineer · Dec 23, 2015

Is a Full Room Shot a thing? My tank is in my office. I work from home 4 days a week as long as I'm not traveling.

Bensadork · Dec 23, 2015

The tank looks like it is coming together quite nicely. Have you gotten that list of fish yet? The only reason I am asking is because you may want to reconsider buying a pair of bengaii cardinalfish. They are beautiful fish and I bought 2 of them a couple of months ago and they got along ok for the first couple of weeks. After that, one of the bangaiis started bullying the other one. Shortly after, my bigger clown started to bully the same fish. Next thing you know, I only have one bangaii cardinalfish. I would suggest buying 1 or 3. I could be mistaken and it all may work out for your tank though, just throwing in my experience.