What am I missing? 48G Cube Build.

MSOEME2009 · Feb 5, 2018

I decided to try my hand in reefing after being a freshwater/reptile guy for a while.

I stumbled upon a guy on Craigslist who was getting out of the hobby. I purchased his setup for pennies on the dollar because he wanted it out of the garage (happy wife, happy life). His setup was only about two years old and many of the parts and pieces were much newer. Since he was a tinkerer, he took good care of his items.

So far I've completely disassembled all the items down to their individual parts, vinegar washed and cleaned, and placed back into their original boxes. Before use I will do a bleach sterilization bath and soak. Some of the items I don't plan to use since they're redundant, such as the Sicce Nanos vs. Echotech MP10WQDs.

I will say thank you @randyBRS & BRS on their excellent web video series, you've got my future orders. Education is priceless. I've watched all the BRS160, FAQ, and many more. I also enjoy watching @coralfish12g being from Wisconsin and my sister is in Veterinary school at UW. Being an engineer, it's not hard for me to grasp these concepts and excites me to dive back into chemistry. I maintain a nice garden for our family, and I can't wait to start an underwater garden for my son to enjoy.

However I lack the experiences that many of you have here and wanted to post my inventory list of what I have and what I should get next. Right now, I'm re-finishing the stand and adding some accent molding/ect. to make it fit my office decor. I am also re-piping the tank from a single overflow to a dual Herbie overflow since it had three pipes (used to use 1 for return 2 for supply) in the center rear overflow. I will hard pipe it after the stand is done. I also need to re-work the sump. I'm not sure if I should go filter socks or just go with chaeto. I'll have to check skimmer size too.

I think the next piece of equipment is the skimmer. I will also probably get a controller of some type since at minimum I need a power supply bar. Once the pipe is complete, I'll calculate the head loss and look at the pump I currently have. From what I see, 5x is a good goal to shoot for through the sump. Still need sand too.

I also have concern about moving the tank in a few years. We plan on moving in about three years (locally), when the time comes I don't know if I'll have time to setup a new tank in the new house right away. However, I could put a second tank at her parents house (or move this one) 30 minutes down the road.

Here is the monster list. FYI, the rock is new; I didn't want any hitchhikers.

200W Heater Cobalt Neo-Therm
Media Reactor Two Little Fishies PhosBan Reactor 150
LED Kessil A160WE
LED Mount Kessil A-Series Mount
LED Controller Kessil A-Series Controller
Stream Pump Sicce Voyager Nano 530
Stream Pump Sicce Voyager Nano 250
Wave Pump Echotech MP10WQD
Wave Pump Echotech MP10WQD
Auto Top Off Tunze Osmolator 3155
Pump Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0
Pump Marineland Maxijet 1200
Pump Marineland Maxijet 400
Rock 50 LBS Reef Saver
Tank Custom 48 Gallon Cube
Stand Maple Stand 24x22x32
Sump Acrylic 16 x 20 x 11
RODI Unit 4 Stage 75 GPD Plus
Heater Aqueon 50W
Test Kit Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro Kit
Test Kit API Saltwater Kit
pH Meter Milwaukee pH600
Refractometer BRS
Heater Eheim Jager 100W
Pump Marineland Maxijet 1200
Water Change System Python No Spill
Alk Meter Hanna Checker
Food New Life Spectrum 0.5mm
Food New Life Spectrum 1.0mm
Chemical MA9007 pH Buffer Solution
Chemical Activate
Chemical Refractomter Calibration
Chemical Seachem Reef buffer
Chemical MA9015 Storage Soltion
Chemical Seachem Kalkwasser
Chemical Seachem Reef Builder
Chemical Water Conditioner
Chemical Two Little Fishies ReVive Coral Cleaner
Media Red Sea Reef-SPEC Carbon
Filter Filter Floss
2 Level Water Mixing Station Custom 2 Brute Station w/Stand, Pipe, Pumps, ect.

Brew12 · Feb 5, 2018

Looks like you are off to a good start!

And welcome to Reef2Reef!

Kremis · Feb 5, 2018

Looks good. I personally have both socks and chaeto. and welcome to r2r!
one thing though, if your going with a reef tank you will want to get better test kits than API.

MSOEME2009 · Feb 5, 2018

What do you recommend? I just finished watching the pest/algae episodes again on BRStv and now feel doomed lol.

Is bare bottom that much safer than sand in regards to pests?

Kremis · Feb 5, 2018

MSOEME2009 said:
What do you recommend? I just finished watching the pest/algae episodes again on BRStv and now feel doomed lol.

Is bare bottom that much safer than sand in regards to pests?

depends how much space you have, but id recommend chaeto over filter socks generally. with filter socks if you dont change them out often nitrates just build up in them, and the nutrients arent truley removed until they are clean, at least IME. my montis will start to look bad if i dont change them every few weeks. as for the sand thing, go with whatever you think looks better. I personally dont like the look of bare bottom. Most people go with bare bottom when they have high flow sps tanks and cant have the sand blowing around everywhere. i dont really think it has anything to do with pests.

Tuffyyyyy · Feb 5, 2018

Having read through this, I think you’re more concerned about hitchhikers than you need to be. Yes, you should be aware of them and take steps to avoid getting them but they’re not always the worst thing in the world.

I think the one thing I haven’t seen you answer is what you’re intending on keeping in your tank. It seems like you’re jumping in with both feet but perhaps maybe you should take a step back and make sure you’re getting the things that it’ll take to keep the things you want. I.e do you want some nice acropora or an anemone hosting a clownfish? Then you may want to look at “upgrading” your light, or intending to purchase another a160 later down the road.

Ryane7 · Feb 5, 2018

Your going to need di resin and water storage containers.
Fittings/valves definitely unions if you know your going to be moving.
What type of livestock do you plan on keeping?
What type of filtration sytem?
Are you going to be dosing supplements?
If you go with a fuge get a powerful light. I can completely control algae in my display by adjusting my fuge light. It's awesome.
Good luck!

MSOEME2009 · Feb 6, 2018

@Tuffyyyyy I'll forgive your Bruce Pearl avatar =P. Go Vols ;Smuggrin

Tuffyyyyy said:
Having read through this, I think you’re more concerned about hitchhikers than you need to be. Yes, you should be aware of them and take steps to avoid getting them but they’re not always the worst thing in the world.

I think the one thing I haven’t seen you answer is what you’re intending on keeping in your tank. It seems like you’re jumping in with both feet but perhaps maybe you should take a step back and make sure you’re getting the things that it’ll take to keep the things you want. I.e do you want some nice acropora or an anemone hosting a clownfish? Then you may want to look at “upgrading” your light, or intending to purchase another a160 later down the road.

You read my mind. All these corals were blowing my mind and I think all these grand visions were over exciting me. I should start small and go from there. Being my first salty tank, my original intention was clowns and BTA.

When we move, my wife would like a display tank in our living room and then we can move to corals, which gives me a few years to learn. I don't want a tank where guests come over to see it covered in slime/algae/diatoms/ect. I need to learn and experiment.

This tank will stay with me in my office and love the fluid nature of the nems, just something nice and natural to look at next to my wall of screens. Doing some further research, it seems the A160WE is a little low powered for a 48 Cube. Since I already have the Kessil controller, I was thinking of getting a second A160WE to both increase intensity and reduce shadowing. Otherwise I could sell the single A160WE and go for a single XR15. However, I like the Kessil KISS approach on spectrum. It would be nice to have the echotech family compatibility however with reeflink since I plan on getting one of their DC pumps (have to have VFD, I literally do fluid mechanics & thermo with this technology for my career but x1000s in size).

I also will let the tank mature for a some time (months) so the water stabilizes and goes through its growing pains. In regards to clowns/nems; I assume having a pair of clowns in the tank first and then at a later date the nem can come for them to host.

In this size tank, with a nem, is it too dangerous to consider other fish or inverts such as gobys, emerald crab, snails. I don't want a hermits, seems like they like to murder snails (unless I stock empty shells I suppose). A black urchin would be interesting but I don't see spines mixing with tentacles.

Real issue is keeping all the hungry mouths fed. I plan on feeding mysis shrimp, not pellets to the fish.

In regards to filtration it sounds like I will try to straight dump into sump with first chamber for Skim, Fuge, Return. I will side port a reactor with ROX carbon. Not sure if I will do 24/7 or a PRN method when discoloration/smell is a factor.

Thanks for all the input. It is much appreciated.

don_chuwish · Feb 6, 2018

Yes, clowns without a nem are fine. Let things settle and get stable, then consider what anemone you want.
Don't worry about the nems and other tank critters - nobody gets eaten.
The right hermit crabs are fine too. I find blue leg hermits quite docile.
Don't get an urchin unless you have a lot of algae for it to eat.
Definitely have the carbon ready to go, but only use it when needed. Changing carbon all the time is a maintenance task on top of all the other things you'll be stressing.

MSOEME2009 · Feb 7, 2018

Thanks for all the input. I think after reading hours of threads I'm going to try to get an XR15 light for this w/diffuser. Doesn't seem that the 160WE will penetrate deep enough. I also would like to use the reeflink.

I don't want anything to be stressed out or roam too much.

MSOEME2009 · Feb 8, 2018

So I was toying with what I will do to alter the acrylic sump I have. I'm going to remove some of the existing baffles and altering it to fit a new setup. Let me know your opinions.

Right now it had a trickle filter setup with removable perforated baffle which I will alter and cut a spot for a filter sock. I will have the full siphon drain go into this. I intended to keep the perforated top with the sock so that it provides emergency overflow if the sock gets clogged, and for ease of plumbing the emergency overflow pipe to anywhere in the general area. Should I keep the "trap" setup where it enters the skimmer area or should it simply spill over? This would increase my skimmer area instead of having a 1" channel. Next it will enter the skimmer area (right now I have preliminary selected Skimz SN127 or Eshopps X-120; if I remove the first trap, I could also fit a RO 110SSS). Then comes the bubble trap and finally the sump return.

I intend to make all of these baffles actually slots and slide in the baffles for adjust-ability regarding height. I took a swag approach to these heights at the moment.

One question is where to put the Tunze Osmolator ATO?