Fiji cube 48 reef tank (First salt tank!)

nomsmon

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My s/o and I have decided to take the plunge into reef keeping. We've both kept freshwater tanks of varying complexity over the years, but neither of us have done a salt water tank.

We aren't entirely sure what we want in this tank, but hope to end up with lots of coral (ideally some sps) and a few fish that will be a good fit for the tank.

We settled on a 50gal lagoon from Innovative Marine and a 20gal sump.

Current gear list:
Innovative Marine Nuvo EXT 50 w/ APS cabinet
Trigger Systems Sapphire 26 Sump
Tunze 6055 Powerhead x1 (maybe a second later on?)
Tunze osmolator 3155 ATO
Trigger systems 5gal sapphire ATO reservoir
Sicce 1.5 pump for return
BRS brand 200w heater
BRS 6 stage 100gpd RODI

Bought a variety of the MarcoRocks from BRS; planning on a sort of "island" approach with 3 or so separate rock formations. Sand is Fiji Pink from CaribSea.

Planning for a long ramp up starting with a fishless cycle using Dr. Tim's

Once the cycle is done and nitrates are high we are thinking of adding some chaeto to our sump refugium and starting with lights there. After chaeto is well established, add lights to the DT and see what kind of CUC we need.

Planning on inoculating with some coraline algae around month 2 per BRS/WWC 4 month recommendation.

Still researching fish choices, but generally looking at gobies, blennies, and a small group of schooling fish (maybe cardinals?).

Pics once the tank arrives and we get the cabinet setup.

Cheers
 
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nomsmon

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Welp IM was out of stock on the 50 until end of October. BRS let me know and canceled my order for the tank after I told them know I didn't want to wait.

The Fiji Cube 48 had been my other choice and since the IM is unavailable we decided to go with the Fiji Cube.

Unfortunately BRS doesn't carry the Fiji Cube tank stands so we had to order directly from the manufacturer.

Took about 10 days for them to ship the tank out, but it's on its way.
 
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nomsmon

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Everything except for the tank has arrived and looks great.

Very happy with the Marco Rocks; did have some rubble and dust, but not too bad. Some of the rocks are just ridiculously big though. For a larger tank maybe it would be fine, but we definitely bought a masonry chisel to break them up.

Really happy with the build quality on the Trigger Systems sump and ato container; seems top notch.

Been looking into controllers, lights, and some other stuff.

Planning on setting up a reef-pi based controller which will be primarily used for monitoring. May add some automated dosing and such later if I feel confident with the system. Gonna snag a pre-assembled box from Robo-Tank; I'd rather spend my time on software or diy-ing additional sensors.

For lighting I'll be going LED and I think I'll try my hand at diy with some of BlueAcro's boards. Lots and lots of waiting ahead of us so not too worried about DT lights, but may start working on some fuge lights.
 

Cell

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Any updates? Picking one of these up tomorrow and trying to figure out what I want to do for the return pump, did you stick with all the same equipment listed? Are you happy with the Sicce 1.5 for this tank?
 
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nomsmon

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Any updates? Picking one of these up tomorrow and trying to figure out what I want to do for the return pump, did you stick with all the same equipment listed? Are you happy with the Sicce 1.5 for this tank?
Between moving and setting up the cabinet I am way behind.

I finally got the cabinet finished tonight (missing parts, really bad instructions, tight spaces) only to discover it is too small for the tank!!!

Fiji Cube's customer service has been awesome and my tank is beautiful, but I cannot recommend the cabinets; way too many issues.

I'll report back what they say about my cabinet being too small.
 

Cell

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I'm plumbing right now. My cabinet was missing one little plastic nut insert but I received a replacement the next day in the mail, which was a Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to receive it so quickly, but I'm local so I'm not sure if that helped or not.
 
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nomsmon

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I'm plumbing right now. My cabinet was missing one little plastic nut insert but I received a replacement the next day in the mail, which was a Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to receive it so quickly, but I'm local so I'm not sure if that helped or not.
My cabinet was also missing a couple of those plastic inserts. I did receive replacements very quickly as well.

How does your tank size up on your cabinet? Does it overhang the cutout on the top panel (which I'm assuming is for plumping)?
 

Cell

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Yeah, the stand looks like it's designed for an internal or external overflow model, so it's got a space cut out for plumbing pipes out the bottom, but it's flush along the back and on the sides. It hangs over about an inch in front, but I don't have the doors installed so I assume it will be flush with them when I put them on. Interestingly, Fiji Cube doesn't list a tank this size with an internal overflow so maybe the stand is a holdover from a discontinued model or something.
 
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nomsmon

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Yeah, the stand looks like it's designed for an internal or external overflow model, so it's got a space cut out for plumbing pipes out the bottom, but it's flush along the back and on the sides. It hangs over about an inch in front, but I don't have the doors installed so I assume it will be flush with them when I put them on. Interestingly, Fiji Cube doesn't list a tank this size with an internal overflow so maybe the stand is a holdover from a discontinued model or something.
That's how mine fits as well, but I assumed that couldn't be correct as that overhang will cause stress on the tank bottom. My door sits just below the tank so there is no support from them; if there was the doors would be very difficult to open.
 

Cell

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Yeah, I wasn't really concerned about that. I'm pretty sure all the modern stands in this design have a little hangover in front. Waterbox and RS both have it.

 
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nomsmon

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Yeah, I wasn't really concerned about that. I'm pretty sure all the modern stands in this design have a little hangover in front. Waterbox and RS both have it.

Interesting, I didn't realize that was a common design for cabinets without recessed doors.

The cut out on the top panel is also concerning to me as that middle portion is now unsupported.

I could probably live with the overhang, but the cut out is beyond what I feel comfortable with.

I'll probably order an Innovative Marine cabinet as those look to have the right footprint.

Maybe I'll save the Fiji Cube cabinet for a tank that will actually fit the dimensions.
 

Cell

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I don't believe the cut out is a concern at all. If the tank had an internal overflow the bulkheads would be in that spot.
 
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nomsmon

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I don't believe the cut out is a concern at all. If the tank had an internal overflow the bulkheads would be in that spot.
An interesting note; a 3/8" thick piece of tempered glass can support something like 3000lbs with supports placed 1ft apart.

So ya...from an engineering standpoint I think you are probably right.

As a customer, it definitely bothers me!

I'm reconsidering using the Fiji Cube cabinet.
 
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