Djturna4thakidz
New member
Hello All,
My name is Ryan and this is my first major aquarium system build. I have been into reefing since I was a kid and had numerous tanks over the years but never built one myself. So this is a big milestone. I bought the tank in October 2014 and planned to have it done by my birthday, which was June 2014. As with most things in life, my plan has been delayed. Everything you can think of has happened since then, planning a wedding, vet bills, car maintenance, everything, but in the last several weeks I have really buckled down and started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
A little background... A couple years ago, I was into breeding chameleons and really liked them and their husbandry, but something was missing. At some point I just wondered into a local fish store and boom it hit me, I had to get back into reefing. All the new products were amazing, LEDs and Vortechs, where had I been. I got a little IM Nuvo 8 to feed the addiction, it only worked for a little while and then I was planning this tank.
I wanted to go with something small and manageable, which may be a mistake since I have plans of something north of 150 gallons, but that is far in the future. I really like SPS coral and I have been researching it for about a year. I have never cultivated SPS, but I would like to use this tank to get into it. The tank is a SC Aquariums 50 gallon cube. It is the one they sell as a package deal, I just bought the tank by itself. The build quality is really good.
The only thing I did not find ideal was the return plumbing. I removed the stock plumbing and I am going to drill out the smaller hole and go with a herbie full siphon setup. Here is a picture of the stock formation.
I have not drilled the tank yet because of fear but it will be taken care of this week.
I have also been constructing my own custom wooden stand. This was probably the biggest challenge for me during the build. I see so many build threads that have beautiful stands. The OP says something like, "just whipped out this stand in a couple hours", and it is a really nice furniture grade piece. For me, it did not go as planned. Since I had limited carpentry skills and tools it made it very tough. Only by being patient and taking my time was I able to complete a stand. At some points I was very impressed with my stand, other times I was mad, but all in all I think it looks ok and will hold the tank which is the most important thing.
Here is what it will look like with the tank. I wanted to build a stand that was larger than the tank to hold all the components without having things outside the stand.
I tried several minwax stains on the wood but did not like the final look of any. I did really like the look of the natural pine though, so I decided to just finish it with water-based Minwax Helmsmann polyurethane. I applied 3 coats to the whole stand and 6 coats to the top and bottom, areas that would come into contact with water.
My name is Ryan and this is my first major aquarium system build. I have been into reefing since I was a kid and had numerous tanks over the years but never built one myself. So this is a big milestone. I bought the tank in October 2014 and planned to have it done by my birthday, which was June 2014. As with most things in life, my plan has been delayed. Everything you can think of has happened since then, planning a wedding, vet bills, car maintenance, everything, but in the last several weeks I have really buckled down and started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
A little background... A couple years ago, I was into breeding chameleons and really liked them and their husbandry, but something was missing. At some point I just wondered into a local fish store and boom it hit me, I had to get back into reefing. All the new products were amazing, LEDs and Vortechs, where had I been. I got a little IM Nuvo 8 to feed the addiction, it only worked for a little while and then I was planning this tank.
I wanted to go with something small and manageable, which may be a mistake since I have plans of something north of 150 gallons, but that is far in the future. I really like SPS coral and I have been researching it for about a year. I have never cultivated SPS, but I would like to use this tank to get into it. The tank is a SC Aquariums 50 gallon cube. It is the one they sell as a package deal, I just bought the tank by itself. The build quality is really good.
The only thing I did not find ideal was the return plumbing. I removed the stock plumbing and I am going to drill out the smaller hole and go with a herbie full siphon setup. Here is a picture of the stock formation.
I have not drilled the tank yet because of fear but it will be taken care of this week.
I have also been constructing my own custom wooden stand. This was probably the biggest challenge for me during the build. I see so many build threads that have beautiful stands. The OP says something like, "just whipped out this stand in a couple hours", and it is a really nice furniture grade piece. For me, it did not go as planned. Since I had limited carpentry skills and tools it made it very tough. Only by being patient and taking my time was I able to complete a stand. At some points I was very impressed with my stand, other times I was mad, but all in all I think it looks ok and will hold the tank which is the most important thing.
Here is what it will look like with the tank. I wanted to build a stand that was larger than the tank to hold all the components without having things outside the stand.
I tried several minwax stains on the wood but did not like the final look of any. I did really like the look of the natural pine though, so I decided to just finish it with water-based Minwax Helmsmann polyurethane. I applied 3 coats to the whole stand and 6 coats to the top and bottom, areas that would come into contact with water.
