Bye Bye College BC29 Build

[imolaragazzo]

Well for my 100th post I thought it'd be good to start my first build thread. I guess a little background first: I started off with a 3g pico as first my saltwater tank so I could have a clownfish and small corals. Well naturally, I upgraded to a 55g and then added a couple 40b and such to the whole system. Well now I'm almost finished studying to be a rocket scientist wohoo and as my plans for moving out are uncertain I figured I would begin to downsize into a single tank to place in the living room that would be set up easy enough for the rest of my family to take care of and enjoy.

Tank of choice is a 29g Biocube. This tank was formerly owned by someone I knew who got bit by the saltwater bug from me, but he didn't listen to my advice and rushed things way too fast. Well of course he got too frustrated to deal with all the problems so he asked me to take it off of his hands. I wish I had taken a picture when I picked it up, you could not even see inside the tank because the glass was caked with some sort of hard green algae. It took a lot of cleaning and I think I have got it to a good point so far. His livestock was moved into my 55g, none of his corals that he had bought were alive anymore, just bare rock/skeletons left and just some fish.

My plans:
-Rock wall, and dry rock aquascape

Equpment:
-Upgrade to Rio 6HF return pump
-Begin the tank by using my Maxspect G2-110w led lights - eventually will upgrade to an AI Sol
-Vortech MP10 is on its way
-Reefkeeper lite will be bought soon
-Eventually down the road I will add a skimmer and media basket from intank.
-Still need to purchase a heater

Livestock: (could use some suggestions here)
-Cleaner shrimp (already have)
-Mandarin Dragonet (already have)
-Single Chromis (already have)
would like to have:
-a pair of clowns - want to get a nice snowflake pair
-yasha white ray shrimp goby with a pistol shrimp pair

Corals:
This will be a mainly lps tank with a ric garden/rock and also a zoa rock

It is going to be a bit of a slow build, I'm really excited about it, though and if I'm lucky I'll have time to finish it soon. Of course with my 21st birthday coming up who knows. Pictures to come very soon.

 

[imolaragazzo]

These beginning photos won't be so great, I'm taking them with my phone, I will get out my dslr later.

I began with 10 pounds of marco's prime cut rock for the rock wall.

Marco Rocks is amazing, the packaging is great and they always ship fast and have great rock. I also ordered some mortar to do my wall and aquascape.

Just to be sure I went ahead and cleaned the rock with some lanthanum chloride and RO/DI in case of any phosphates and then with vinegar and RO/DI but good to know there was almost nothing to be worried about after I had taken them out.

 

[imolaragazzo]

Rock Wall Build

Rock Wall Build

This morning I have started building my rock wall. Using the prime cuts I'm directly mortaring it to the back wall. In the gaps I'm most likely going to fill it up with some extra mortar and cover in sand. I've tested it out in a little place already and it looks great. Hopefully my ideas for the rest of the aquascape will work well. I want this to be an amazing looking tank for the living room.

Here's just mocking up the wall:

Right now I've got some of the rock already mortared and it's drying right now. There's a 24 hour period until it's fully cured. At that point I will probably place it on its stand and began the process of the rest of the aquascape directly there. From there it's sand and water.

 

[buddythelion]

Interesting... will be tagging along!

 

[ange062]

Solid sounding equipment and stocking list so far! But, you consider the AI SOL and upgrade to the Maxspect? I think it's the other way around

 

[mpongrac]

Love the rock, gonna have to check them out. Also, for your livestock maybe add a couple more chromis and hope that they all get along? If you put them in the new tank at the same time I would think you'd be alright

 

[imolaragazzo]

Solid sounding equipment and stocking list so far! But, you consider the AI SOL and upgrade to the Maxspect? I think it's the other way around

Thanks. I've actually decided to go with the Apex now instead of the RK, seems like a better choice.

Ah I was afraid of that! I've been trying to figure out how I want to go with my lighting. The thing about the AI Sol was the ramp up and ramp down I wanted along with the thunderstorm effects. I know these aren't necessary, but this is going to be a main display in the living room so I wanted a nice looking fixture that could do these things. Also the maxspect might just be too powerful? I was planning on using the maxspect over a frag tank while I move around however. We'll see how things go, if I'm happy with moving my maxspect to the BC I'll keep it.

 

[imolaragazzo]

Love the rock, gonna have to check them out. Also, for your livestock maybe add a couple more chromis and hope that they all get along? If you put them in the new tank at the same time I would think you'd be alright

Definitely great rock, the rest of the rock will be normal dry rock from Marco which also excellent. I don't know if I want to put more chromis in. They're neat and all but I kind of want some more colour, purple and such you know. Adding too many chromis will just eat into my bioload capacity I feel.

 

[avelino78]

I would love to see more pics on how your build is going!!!!!!!!!

 

[imolaragazzo]

I would love to see more pics on how your build is going!!!!!!!!!

Ah sorry I haven't posted any updates lately. When I get home from my exam this evening I will get some pictures up. I think I have finished the aquascape, and I've got about half the tank filled with water right now. I'll have to see how I like it with all the water in. Look for some pictures this evening though.

 

[reefbooger]

What happened? You've got us all holding our breath!

 

[avelino78]

Yea man what's the deal.

 

[imolaragazzo]

Sorry everyone!

Good news is I did well on my exam and I'm turning 21 this week.

The bad news is this build is turning to be much slower than I hoped.
I filled up the tank that day and went to go take pictures a little while later and to my disappointment the rock had come unattached from the back wall. So what I have concluded is I should have used silicone to attach the rock to the wall, the mortar willnot hold on its own. It was great for holding rock to rock but not to the plastic back wall.

I'm sad cause I had a wicked nice aquascape I thought. Once the sandstorm settle from my rescape I will snap some pictures.

 

[imolaragazzo]

What I have done so far, though, is install my Vortech MP10 and my Aquaticlife 115 Skimmer. I got the power bar in for the Apex, still have to get the base unit.

I've also gutted the hood of my biocube in preparation for new lights. Pictures will be forthcoming.

 

[imolaragazzo]

Well, definitely time to start updating this build. Finally have things running. Here are some pictures of what has happened so far.

This is how I ended up mounting my lights. Used a dremel to cut a rectangle in the hood and have the maxspect on top. Temporary fan, that's why it looks a bit messy.

Got my apex base unit in. Now controlling things with my phone.

This is what I'm using to connect the apex to my network.