C-Dub’s 40 gallon cube

C-Dub · Sep 6, 2019

Ladies and Gentlemen, after dragging my feet and settling into my new home I can start an official thread on my tank. 6 months ago i purchased a 40 gallon AIO cube. I set it up complete as the tank came. I put 20lbs of live Fiji Pink sand and 44lbs of live rock from a LFS. I let the tank sit for about a month and then added a pair of black occelaris clowns and picked up a few cheap zoa frags and two heads of a hammer coral. The tank ran for 4 months and things were great until work became crazy and i ended up moving. Hair algae and aptasia took over during this time. I broke down the tank and moved into my new home and set it back up. I manually removed the hair algae and started using Aptasia X a couple of times per week. An order was placed to BRS for some carbon, GFO and a Skimz programmable wave pump. Things have been on the mend ever since. I have my RO/DI unit set up and do 10-15% weekly water changes with Drs Foster and Smith brand reef salt. I will probably change once the box is gone. I purchased this on sale nearly a year ago in planning for a tank. Two weeks ago i made an order from AquaSD and picked up a Teal Polyp toadstool leather, a Pink Storm Platy, purple and green micro, and a Space Duncan. Over Labor Day i took advantage of sales from AquaSD and Pieces of the Ocean. From AquaSD i got Roses Cheeks Lord, Aussie Green Crown Leather and Nuclear Sinularia. From Pieces of the Ocean I got Pink and Teal Lobo, Dragons Soul Favia and a Teal Hammer. I think both places off great value in the size of the frags and the sale made them even better. As for the near future, I do not plan on adding anymore corals for a few months. In two weeks I’m going to add another Skimz pump and replace my stock lighting. The current light is a 30watt LED and i think it is sufficient for what I’m planning but i don’t quite like the color of the daylight as i would prefer closer to 15-20k and also want a bit of programmability mainly in wanting the light to ramp up and down. And not for some eye candy...or at least as close as i can get with my cell phone. I will post more when my other corals arrive this weekend.

Peach02 · Sep 6, 2019

Looks great so far

juanrmattos · Sep 6, 2019

There you go... Keep at it and it'll come back to you.

Best of luck!!!!

C-Dub · Sep 16, 2019

Small update today. I’ve been away for a week while my girlfriend took care of the tank while i was away. The corals are doing great! Everything is full and open. Aptaisias are coming back with vengeance. I’m debating getting some nudibranchs but not sure about them yet. Still fighting them with aptaisia X. I placed an order today with BRS and and going to try some Salifert test kits as well as some All for Reef. Until my calcium and alk demands increase. I also got another Skimz dc pump so i can get some waving action going and decrease speed on the other. Final and most exciting addition will be an AI Prime. I visited a LFS in Tulsa this weekend and got to see them in person and think it will be a great fit for the tank. Pics to come later this week! Have a great day R2R!!

C-Dub · Sep 24, 2019

So here is my update. I received my order however the flex arm had fallen out of the package for my mount. BRS sent another one out right away and it should arrive any time today.

Corals have all been placed in their permanent places after week one under the lights. I’m running the A/B+ spectrum from 11a-11p. Schedule as follows
11a- Blues on, ramping up over an hour
2p- whites on ramping up over an hour
7p- whites ramp down for an hour, off at 8
10p- blues ramp down an hour, off at 11.

Parameters are still in check and have not dosed anything yet other than running carbon and GFO.