Shmoos Cube

[xshmoox]

After Going from cichlids to saltwater in a acrylic 300 gallon tank and breaking that down for a 125 then moving and setting up a completely different 125 system and not having time for maintenance on that I’ve settled on a used but in great shape SCA 50 gallon cube setup that I snagged for $200 for tank, stand, sump, pump, plumbing, sock setup and miscellaneous stuff. This tank is going to be an all acro tank. I had enough rock leftover from my 125 so I did a vinegar soak as well as a rodi soak before scaping them. Sand is caribsea special grade. Pump is a jebao 4000

 

[xshmoox]

started system with Red Sea blue bucket not sure if I’ll stay that route but we will see. Used Fritz turbo start 900 and some flake food on Friday and we already are showing about 3-4ppm nitrates!

Also picked up a used icecap K2 120 skimmer from a member on here. Should be more than adequate is also the easiest skimmer I’ve ever had to tune!

 

[xshmoox]

Light/mount/dongle came today. Time to melt some faces!!!!

 

[xshmoox]

We have LIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTT!!!!!!!!
Have it scaled down like 50% from recommended brs settings at the moment. And here’s the sump have my float setup for ato being fed feom 6.5 gallon bucket. Just have to finish cleaning wires up and put molding covers back on

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking good!

 

[youcallmenny1]

Nice start! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

[xshmoox]

Thank you! Now what fish should I stock it with? Was thinking 1-2 smaller wrasse then idk what else any suggestions?!

 

[xshmoox]

Powerheads have arrived. Only probably going to run 1 for a while

 

[xshmoox]

Not much has changed. Tank is cruising. Added some fish so far we have
2-Picasso clowns
1-tailspot blenny
1-lawnmower blenny
1-royal gramma
1-flame angel
1-pintail wrasse
And a few turbo snails and red leg hermits

Also determined the k2 skimmer I got really isn’t that great thought it was easy to dial in but not at all. Picked up a skimz sm121 pump is a little noisy but it works may have to snag a replacement pump. Or go to a different one all together my lfs has a still new in the box tunze 9410 non dc was eyeing it up. Finally did my first water change changed out 10%.
Hoping to add a couple more fish was looking for any suggestions as it’s a smaller tank.

 

[xshmoox]

tank is cruising along nicely. Just added a few pounds of live rock and sand from Tampa bay saltwater to add more biodiversity, which is what I think I lacked in my other tanks which is why I battled with hair algae so much. Haven’t seen my wrasse in a few weeks didn’t find him on the floor or overflow or anything. Maybe he just only comes out at night. I’m hoping this algae on the rock starts turn to coralline soon as I just passed the 6 month mark the other week.

 

[xshmoox]

Lost one of the clowns that jumped out and just found my tailspot dead not sure what took him out. Haven’t seen the pintail wrasse or lawnmower in a bit. Added a radiant wrasse which is one of my favorite personally they are very active and beautiful. But also added a Red Sea diy Net lid to the tank since it’s cleaner than a diy. Also cleaned up the plumbing and changed out my filter sock holder to one of these nice eshopps ones
Also still rocking the skimz. The pump is the original es2000 that’s known to fail. It’s loud but still humming along and skimming like a beast actually trying to figure out a replacement pump for it. Was going to use the atman 2500 but can’t get that anymore and not sure if the 2000 will be enough. One of the shark 2.0 pumps from an aqua max skimmer would work but for the price I’ll just source a different skimmer probably. Also just about done the ugly phase. I think the addition of the live sand and rock from tbs really helped in that aspect. Probably going to try and add a sps frag soon to see what happens. I’m doing small water changes just about daily manually since it’s only a 50 gallon tank just using a solo cup changing about 32 ounces daily. Only takes about a minute and also helps stir up and clean up any crap laying in the sump

 

[xshmoox]

Decided to make a change in lights as I could see in the future having shading issues with the kessil. Went with the Reefi uno 2.0

 

[xshmoox]

Lost my royal gramma last night at some point don’t know what happened I’m suspecting he maybe got caught in the Nero but not sure definitely gonna put the guards on now. Also going to make a switch on the skimmer. I think with the original pump this skimz is too inconsistent I find myself having to adjust it fairly often. Any recommendations? Was thinking the ultra reef 120.

 

[xshmoox]

Got an upgrade thanks to the kids and wife for Christmas! The ultra reef 120 this thing is built like a tank probably weighs twice as much as the skimz sm121! Also ordered an icp test from reef moonshiners to get a baseline of where I’m at and what I may need. Test frags didn’t do the greatest

 

[Maximitsurugi]

Bump

 

[dstockwell]

Lookin good.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is coming along nicely

 

[xshmoox]

Thank you
Still not getting a lot of coralline growth which is odd we are just about at the 9 month mark here. I would always get a bunch with the regular IO salt maybe it’s just the Red Sea blue bucket idk cause I have sources in the tank like snails with it

 

[xshmoox]

Also sent out my first reef moonshiners icp test the newer versions. So see what my values are when I get that back. I’m expecting my salinity to be a tad low as I believe my calibration on the refractometer was off a hair

 

[afrokobe]

Got an upgrade thanks to the kids and wife for Christmas! The ultra reef 120 this thing is built like a tank probably weighs twice as much as the skimz sm121! Also ordered an icp test from reef moonshiners to get a baseline of where I’m at and what I may need. Test frags didn’t do the greatest

How do you like the skimmer? I am currently running the same model on a 25g cube with a sump. I am thinking of upgrading to a 60g cube in the future and will probably continue to use the same skimmer. Was just curious on how often you were cleaning it on your bioload to see if there was any reason to upgrade. I absolutely love it, its built like a tank.