Chartwell's 50 gallon CAD cube
- Thread starter chartwell
- Start date
chartwell
New member
Been a while since I updated this thread. Tank is doing well, I've slowly added a few things and have just been doing routine maintenance. Took some pictures today:
FTS
Some sort of light green and tangerine colored zoas
My first acans - multiplying like crazy
Frogspawn
Tube worm
Blenny says "Hi"
Tiny baby clown
Royal Gramma
FTS
Some sort of light green and tangerine colored zoas
My first acans - multiplying like crazy
Frogspawn
Tube worm
Blenny says "Hi"
Tiny baby clown
Royal Gramma
pico-reefer
New member
great looking tank!
Things are going pretty well with the tank, although I had a sad day last Friday. I came home after a truly crazy day at work to find my black clownfish dried up on the floor :sad2: I got her as a tiny baby when I first set up my 30 gallon cube about 18 months ago and she was so pretty. I feel like a bad fish keeper for putting her in an open top tank that allowed her to jump to her death. We bought some stuff to build a screen lid for the tank, but I just feel like that will kind of defeat the clean, rimless look. Not an easy decision. We are going to hang the lights and make the lid fit just down in the tank and see how it looks.
In happier news I have two little Banggai Cardinals in quarantine right now, just got them yesterday. Needed something to cheer me up and I've been planning on the Cardinals. These two were hanging out together and appear to be a male and a female. One has a much longer second fin than the other. Hopefully one won't decide to kill the other as they grow up.
I got some cool frags last month while I was in Kansas City. I found them at Midwest Reefs. I got my first Acan Lord- a little green and purple/grey one. Love feeding it! I also got some blue Zoas that I love and anothe Zoa frag that is kind of a dark orange.
Everything seems happy with the second MP10 added. On the advice of Ecotech Marine I'm running one on Lagoon mode and one just full on all the time. Both go into night mode around 10 pm.
Here is the Acan:
And here is a shot of how much my green Zoas have grown in this tank - this frag started with 11 polyps!
And here is a shot of some other Zoas and Candy Canes that have grown like crazy, plus you can kind of see the new blue Zoas off to the left:
Your tank is really sweet. The wife and I are planning on one in the future. Steve at Midwest Reefs is a top notch guy with a top notch store.
If I missed it, what type of lighting system are you using?
chartwell
New member
mr9iron - thank you! The lighting is the stock lighting that comes from Cadlights with the tank set up. There is no brand on it, guess it is their secret house brand. As far as what it is comprised of, it is one 150W HQI metal halide bulb and two 24W T5HO Actinics and LED HO moonlights. We have it suspended from the ceiling.
I made one change on the tank recently that has turned out really well. The stock return pump died (after 7 months) and I replaced it with a Tunze Silence 1073.02 pump. With the stock pump I had to run a fan over the sump 24/7 and the tank stayed around 79-80.5 degrees. After I switched the pump out I noticed the tank was cooling down. I turned off the fan and the temp stabilized around 78 -79 degrees, which is fine with me. So I no longer need to run the fan and have gone from losing over a gallon a day to evaporation to losing a gallon every 3 days or so. Makes the ATO resevoir last longer, which makes me happy!
I made one change on the tank recently that has turned out really well. The stock return pump died (after 7 months) and I replaced it with a Tunze Silence 1073.02 pump. With the stock pump I had to run a fan over the sump 24/7 and the tank stayed around 79-80.5 degrees. After I switched the pump out I noticed the tank was cooling down. I turned off the fan and the temp stabilized around 78 -79 degrees, which is fine with me. So I no longer need to run the fan and have gone from losing over a gallon a day to evaporation to losing a gallon every 3 days or so. Makes the ATO resevoir last longer, which makes me happy!
Do you like the lighting so far? What type of bulbs are you using. Do you like the Tunze pump? I've heard they are so of the best pumps out there as well. I'm glad to hear your temp has come down, I imagine when we get ours we will slap the chiller we have on the 28 on it. Is there anything else you would have done different? Oh, would you mind some updated shots and I would like to see the skimmer as well. Your tank is really cool to say the least. Thanks for sharing it. :thumbsup:
chartwell
New member
Yes, the lighting has been great. My only complaint would be the fan for the MH is loud. We will probably swap it out for a computer fan someday, just haven't gotten around to it. I am running the stock 13K metal halide bulb that came with it. I switched the actinics to ATI Blue Plus bulbs, but the stock ones were fine too.
I guess I wouldn't do anything different - I've replaced quite a few things, but the tank, light fixture, sump and skimmer are working well, so those things alone are worth the price I think. The skimmer actually works very well. I just cleaned the cup, I'll get a picture of it when it is nice and nasty again!
Yes, I like the Tunze pump - it is so quiet I can't hear it over some of the other stuff. The air intake for the skimmer makes some noise, if it really bothered me I'd wrap a little cotton around it.
One problem I have is that I have to keep the return pump dialed back with a ball valve or it overwhelms the drain and the water level gets scarily high in the tank and I think it would overflow if I let it. This didn't used to be a problem, so I'm guessing the overflow and durso have slimed over and maybe are a bit restricted, slowing the drain. It kind of sucks because I now have a very slow turn over which I know is not ideal. I'm not really brave enough to tackle cutting out some of the overflow teeth or tearing out and redoing the drain, but I am afraid that might be what is needed...
I guess I wouldn't do anything different - I've replaced quite a few things, but the tank, light fixture, sump and skimmer are working well, so those things alone are worth the price I think. The skimmer actually works very well. I just cleaned the cup, I'll get a picture of it when it is nice and nasty again!
Yes, I like the Tunze pump - it is so quiet I can't hear it over some of the other stuff. The air intake for the skimmer makes some noise, if it really bothered me I'd wrap a little cotton around it.
One problem I have is that I have to keep the return pump dialed back with a ball valve or it overwhelms the drain and the water level gets scarily high in the tank and I think it would overflow if I let it. This didn't used to be a problem, so I'm guessing the overflow and durso have slimed over and maybe are a bit restricted, slowing the drain. It kind of sucks because I now have a very slow turn over which I know is not ideal. I'm not really brave enough to tackle cutting out some of the overflow teeth or tearing out and redoing the drain, but I am afraid that might be what is needed...
Thanks for the info. That sucks about the drain, I would think there may be an easier fix some how. I really like this tank and am looking forward to some more pictures of it.
ChrisBuono
New member
Has anyone made the slots in their Artisan 50's overflow wider? Looking at them, I'm inclined to Dremmel them open a bit more, but was hoping to get feedback from current Artisan 50 owners. TIA!
ChrisBuono
New member
Thanks Chartwell! Would you do anything else differently?
I'm nearly done with the stand (minus the doors). I'll be putting it all together shortly.
Here's my new build thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1903377
I'm nearly done with the stand (minus the doors). I'll be putting it all together shortly.
Here's my new build thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1903377
ChrisBuono
New member
I'm torn between the Tunze Silence 1073.040 (792 gph) and the Tunze Silence 1073.020 (634 gph) for a replacement/upgrade return pump on my Artisan 50. Any thoughts?
chartwell
New member
Well, I went a little crazy at the Black Friday sale at my LFS. I bought two fish - a Coral Beauty and a Flame Hawkfish. They are in my quarantine tank at the moment. They will be my final fish additions, but I'm worrying they will be a bit much for my tank. They would make my complete stock of fish be:
1 Midas Blenny
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Royal Gramma
1 Coral Beauty
1 Flame Hawkfish
Does that seem reasonable for this size tank? And I know I'm taking a chance with the Coral Beauty. Honestly it is so beautiful I would rather have it than my open brain or acans, so if it starts nipping I will remove the corals.
I think it is funny that the fish store was the ONLY black friday sale I went to- I guess I'm not very good at being a girly-girl
Susan
1 Midas Blenny
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Royal Gramma
1 Coral Beauty
1 Flame Hawkfish
Does that seem reasonable for this size tank? And I know I'm taking a chance with the Coral Beauty. Honestly it is so beautiful I would rather have it than my open brain or acans, so if it starts nipping I will remove the corals.
I think it is funny that the fish store was the ONLY black friday sale I went to- I guess I'm not very good at being a girly-girl
Susan
I have the same tank with the following:
Midas Blenny
Pair of True Percs
Starkii Damsel
Six line
Ora Purple Dottyback
I've considering making a change with the Six line and Damsel but in terms of too many fish I think you should be okay if you keep up with the maintenance of your tank. Coral Beauty and Flames Hawkfish do get a little larger than any of the fish I have though.
Midas Blenny
Pair of True Percs
Starkii Damsel
Six line
Ora Purple Dottyback
I've considering making a change with the Six line and Damsel but in terms of too many fish I think you should be okay if you keep up with the maintenance of your tank. Coral Beauty and Flames Hawkfish do get a little larger than any of the fish I have though.
chartwell
New member
Thanks for the input seayu. I am religious about my water changes so hopefully I'll be okay. I only meant to get the Hawkfish but the Coral Beauty was sooooo pretty. I have a friend with a very lightly stocked 90 gallon, so if things don't work out she can get an angelfish for Christmas ;-)
