Custom 50 gallon cube build thread! (Pics)

[taketz]

Not much else to note as of right now, but just thought I'd add that the tank is supposed to be in this week and Sea in the City, the store I'm purchasing through, worked out a deal for a free sump for me due to the long time I've had to wait for this tank even though its no real fault of theirs.

Gotta love good Customer Service

Though to be fair, they know all of that and more will easily be spent there filling the sucker up :lol:

 

[AngeloM3]

Oh nice... anything free is a good thing! Any idea what size?

I cant decide on either a 30g or 38g for my 90g display.

 

[taketz]

Woot! Got off the phone with the store and the tank came in late tonight. They called me ten minutes after they closed and offered to stay open for me if I wanted to pick it up tonight (gotta love the Customer Service), but its not as if I could to anything worthwhile tonight so I decided to wait until tomorrow morning. Though, I'd be lieing if I said I didn't think about picking it up tonight, just to look at it.:lol:

As for the sump, its a custom size at 22x10x16 so almost 20 gallons, which is fine for me. Plus, its hard to get a decent sized sump underneath a small cube like mine.

 

[costa13]

Nice, I will be looking for pics of it tomorrow.

 

[taketz]

Well, I know its been a few days since the last update, but I've been working on getting this thing all set-up and done so forgive me.

Here are some pics, keep in mind its not fully against the wall yet but is close to its final position.

From the Front.

From the Side.

The Inside of the sump.

Inside the Hood.

Now, this is nowhere near being completely set up, the wiring isn't yet done being cleaned up, and theres no water running through it till saturday, but I thought I'd make the post anyways to show I'm actually doing something :rollface:

 

[platax88]

awesome work so far taketz!

On the "From the Front" pic i see that you have a fragrance sprayer mounted over the tank... do you think this might be dangerous? ... probably not, but i am paranoid.

By the way, good of ya getting a controller ... i just an AC JR. and love it!

 

[taketz]

Hrmm, you know, I never even thought of that. Though when the tank is finally in place it won't be directly above the tank, I might just move it a few more feet anyways.

Thanks for the heads up on that!

 

[mille239]

Niiiice!!!! The christmas lights up in May are a nice touch

 

[taketz]

Yeah, I know its been a long time since my last update but I thought I'd go ahead and show you all what the aquascaping looks like as of right now.

I'm fairly happy with it, not thrilled, but I think it will grow on me as I do like the tanks which have the 'less is more' approach that I tried to emulate. Oh, and before anything else, I apologize for the bad picture quality, I'm far from a professional

From the front...

Right side...

Left side...

Shot showing the multiple arches and depth I think this Aquascaping adds...

A bad shot of my newest fish addition, thanks Sea in the City!...

He's eating pretty well, but still pretty scared. Though, from what I understand thats very normal for Fairy Wrasses.

 

[frederickk]

Looking good!

 

[Me No Nemo]

Great work on the aquascaping!!!!

 

[ludnix]

So you're cycling the tank with a clean-up crew and fish already in it?

 

[Swirlygig]

I did that... Worked great! Just risky to the fish...

 

[taketz]

Ludnix, this rock has been curing in a rubbermaid tub for the better part of 2 months before actually being put into this tank so in theory it should already be fully cycled, but I'm still keeping an eye on the water parameters.

And Maryce, yeah I think the scaping is growing on me. Its pretty bare right now but it'll be nice down the road because all the corals will have plenty of room to grow out.

 

[taketz]

Just a pic of a new Addition I just got, its an ORA Acro, don't know the name of it but its green with purple polyps, almost the same coloring as the Joker Monti I've seen before. Really looking forward to seeing this guy grow out...

The guy in the background is a yellow acro I got from a fellow reefer. Its kind of washed out right now but I think it has some potential since it was under a 150MH and still kept a pretty nice yellow color to it. I'm thinking my 250 14K will help it color up even more, heres to hoping

Can't wait till the tank starts filling up!

 

[Milleme]

Awseome tank man, I like the rock work. It will look really good once everything grows in for sure. Im just about to build a cube out of acrylic the exact dimensions. So ill be following.

Did you ever mod the skimmer to be fed by the overflow? Im wanting to do that also with my RS5-3. Also what return pump are you using sorry if i missed it....?

keep up the good work!

 

[taketz]

I never did end up modding the skimmer to be recirculating, instead I just ordered one of the new BM-160's since I figured it would do the job for sure

As for my return, I'm using an Eheim1260 and its working out great so far.

Good to hear about the cube your building. This size is nice and I really can't wait until the corals fill in. What type of tank are you hoping it to be? SPS, Mixed, softy?

 

[Absolute Reef]

Cool setup.

 

[Milleme]

Im goin with sps and a select few lps/softies. You got any pics of the skimmer or a link to some info on it? Thanx.

 

[taketz]

Absolute Reef: Thanks

Milleme: Heres the link to the thread info at Reefgeek BM-160

Theres not too much info on them right now as they are a new model of an older, slightly smaller model. However, one thing you'll realize soon is that under a cube this size, space is at a premium and this thing should skim like nothing else anywhere near its size.