Another 30 cube in the works

[db366]

So after being out of the hobby for around 5 years I have decided to start up again. I have been lurking the forums as well as craigslist looking for a good deal for exactly what I am looking for, finally I was just browsing CL and happened to click on the last page and saw that someone had posted up a 30 cube for $200 everything included but it had been posted sometime in the end of Jan. Well lucky for me he had not sold it yet so I snatched it up.

I wish that I had taken pictures of the actual move, it was very exciting to say the least. I have had the tank for going on three days now, it's no where near set up. It had been neglected to say the least but its starting to all come together. When I set it back up at home I checked the salinity and it was sitting around 1.038 and the rock was COVERED in bubble algae as well as hair algae. I tried to pick as much of the bubble off before putting the live rock back in the tank but I am sure I missed some as it was already 10 pm or so when I started breaking down the tank so I was falling asleep.



So today being day I did my water test, changed another gallon of water out and went to Atlanta Aquarium to "look around", I ended up buying a clean up crew. Picked up 4 Emerald Crabs, 5 Mexican Turbos, 10 Scarlet crabs. The tank already had a small clean up crew so this was just added to help combat the insane algae problem I am dealing with. As of now that is going to be it for livestock. I still need to get a real skimmer and build a sump for the tank. It came with one of those Oceanic bio-cube skimmer and a Magnum 350 for mechanical filtration.

So here it is..


ps. Could anyone name that algae that is in the third picture next to the mushrooms?
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[insane_reef_keeper]

That's messed up. I emailed that guy 10 times trying to get that tank!

Edit: I can't remember what that red algae is but it's not harmful infact it's a great thing to have in a refugium.

 

[db366]

insane_reef_keeper;622354 wrote: That's messed up. I emailed that guy 10 times trying to get that tank!

Edit: I can't remember what that red algae is but it's not harmful infact it's a great thing to have in a refugium.

heh, yea I sent around 15 messages just asking general questions about what it came with, asking for his number, and address total I got 3 responses. I am just glad I was able to finally get over there.

 

[sonofdagon]

Someone had a Deltec MCE300 skimmer for sale. Great skimmer for a tank that size.

 

[shrimpy brains]

Nice tank.

The 3rd pic. Looks like red bubble algae to me.
It will grow elongated when it has to grow around something to exist.

 

[db366]

So I am officially frustrated beyond belief. I went to go change the media and such in my filter, big mistake. The out hose had a little split so as soon as I turned it on about 2 gallons of water went everywhere. I spent 30 or so minutes fixing that then now there seems to be a leak from the quick shut off valve. I am done until tomorrow afternoon, so I hope it will last with just a powerhead in the tank. I am gonna try to just sleep it off but I am contemplating just saving about 5 lbs of sand selling what corals are in there and bleaching the rock to get rid of all that stupid algae. It wasn't this difficult the first time around..

 

[db366]

So after 3-4 days of pure frustration I have slowly gotten a hold on the situation. The Magnum 350 has so many O-rings it's crazy, I vasalined everyone of them and bam it works. I got my ebay bulb in the mail the other day as well, 20k is really really blue, I'd rather have a 10k and some LED or T5 supplements, those will probably come with a new stand when it's built.

Also what sand can you use in your tank? Anything HD or Lowers carries? Back in the day is was Southdown but even back then it was hard to come by. I want to ad another half inch just to cover whats already in the tank.

Here is the redid aquascape, the pictures are lousy with this new 20k any hints on taking good shots under the blue?

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[insane_reef_keeper]

Lol I knew you would get a grasp on it! i hope you feel more relaxed about it, and the aquascape looks great!

 

[mustangcaleb]

hahaha, i emailed him too, never got a response. but it looks great, glad it went to a member!

 

[db366]

Well I think tomorrow is the day, I spent today buying plumbing, cleaning sand as well as the tank, and figuring out my aquascape. It took about 2 hours and 5 cheapo drill bits to zip-tie my rock. I think I am pretty happy with how it turned out though. My halide pendant is outside drying from a nice new coat of high heat paint as well as the plumping that will be seen from inside the tank.

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[db366]

So yesterday I had the honor of hanging out with Chris from Fish Scales for a couple hours while he drilled my tank. I can't thank him enough for helping me out with this build so far. Today I am planning on cleaning the tank and plumbing it as well as getting it wet.

Sorry I had no time to clean it before I snapped the pics..

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[chemically_balanced]

I see you bought someone elses mess... Glad to see someone giving it the time it needs to get back to a good looking tank. I like what you've done so far. I would make sure you take those bulkheads off and clean the glass real good before installing them. You don't want anything to mess up the seal of your bulkhead.

 

[db366]

Chemically_Balanced;640212 wrote: I see you bought someone elses mess... Glad to see someone giving it the time it needs to get back to a good looking tank. I like what you've done so far. I would make sure you take those bulkheads off and clean the glass real good before installing them. You don't want anything to mess up the seal of your bulkhead.

Thank you and yes it was really a mess. I have gotten frusterated to the point of selling it 3-4 times since I have gotten this system. I am happy to say that everything is just about set up. I finished the plumbing about an hour ago. I ended up going with a Mag 7 for a return, I would have rather went with a mag 3/5 but after getting the 7 I am glad I ended up with 3 90's along with 2 45's on the plumbing so even full blast is will only be doing 350 gph.

Right now I have filled it up with saltwater and am letting the temp settle so I can aquascape and get the show on the road with this set-up!

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[db366]

So it's set up and running. I have to say WOW Beananimal overflows are so silent. It was by far making the back of my tank look like Swiss cheese. Plan on letting it sit for the next day or so then running a full battery of tests and doing a water change.

I plan on setting up a skimmer at some point I am honestly not in too much of a hurry, a 20% water change once a week should more than take care of it.

 

[db366]

Well I got my first permanent resident today. Thanks to Buddyro for the beautiful fish! He dripped for about 30 mins and then took a dive. He went straight to cleaning my overflow box. Love em although my wife is convinced it's a female and is currently thinking of a name.. Oh and it's a Tribal Blenny.

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My purple death frag just grew a baby!

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[sakrei]

Looking good.

 

[sakrei]

db366;624213 wrote: So after 3-4 days of pure frustration I have slowly gotten a hold on the situation. The Magnum 350 has so many O-rings it's crazy, I vasalined everyone of them and bam it works. I got my ebay bulb in the mail the other day as well, 20k is really really blue, I'd rather have a 10k and some LED or T5 supplements, those will probably come with a new stand when it's built.

Also what sand can you use in your tank? Anything HD or Lowers carries? Back in the day is was Southdown but even back then it was hard to come by. I want to ad another half inch just to cover whats already in the tank.

Here is the redid aquascape, the pictures are lousy with this new 20k any hints on taking good shots under the blue?

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Soooo BLUE lol

 

[gradybaby16]

nice setup

 

[hiimsean]

i love the blenny, have any more pics of him

 

[screamingibis]

cool setup