Finally. It's happening. Fiji Cube 81 EXT.

[RichReef]

Back story...

Four years ago my AGA 90 Gallon 36x24 tank crashed. Spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars trying to track the problem. Some things were living fine others just died off. All inverts died except for pulsing Xenia and a few Acans.

Started a renovation on our TV room where the tank was. I took down the 90 and set up a temporary 55 Gallon in my basement and moved all the live stock that was left. The problem followed.

While visiting Petco I saw a refractometer for sale. It was 30 bucks so I bought it. Tested my water. 1.035!! I tested it again, and again. Same results. Started removing water and letting the ATO top off. With in a few days the change was dramatic. I finally found the problem. My TM Hydrometer. I felt so terrible that I could be so irresponsible by not double checking my salinity. The losses were huge. Live stock and money wasted on chasing an invisible problem.

For reference the livestock that can handle high salinity were Acans, Xenia, Yellow tangs, Starry Blenny, Green Chormis, Pistol Shrimp, Yellow Watchman, and pods.

So now that renovation is finished it's time to get back on track.


This is my new Fiji Cube 81 EXT unpacking.

Transporting it home.

I have decided to use my AGA stand. It's very sturdy but needs modified for a rimless and some cosmetic work.

More to come.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Back story...

Four years ago my AGA 90 Gallon 36x24 tank crashed. Spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars trying to track the problem. Some things were living fine others just died off. All inverts died except for pulsing Xenia and a few Acans.

Started a renovation on our TV room where the tank was. I took down the 90 and set up a temporary 55 Gallon in my basement and moved all the live stock that was left. The problem followed.

While visiting Petco I saw a refractometer for sale. It was 30 bucks so I bought it. Tested my water. 1.035!! I tested it again, and again. Same results. Started removing water and letting the ATO top off. With in a few days the change was dramatic. I finally found the problem. My TM Hydrometer. I felt so terrible that I could be so irresponsible by not double checking my salinity. The losses were huge. Live stock and money wasted on chasing an invisible problem.

For reference the livestock that can handle high salinity were Acans, Xenia, Yellow tangs, Starry Blenny, Green Chormis, Pistol Shrimp, Yellow Watchman, and pods.

So now that renovation is finished it's time to get back on track.


This is my new Fiji Cube 81 EXT unpacking.

Transporting it home.

I have decided to use my AGA stand. It's very sturdy but needs modified for a rimless and some cosmetic work.

More to come.

Should be exciting

 

[RichReef]

This is the stand from my old AGA.

I need the new rimless tank to sit flat. The old AGA tank only required the corners to be supported. As you can see the the area the tank sits on is not flat and most likely will not fully support a rimless tank. There are a few ways to approach this.

I decided to build a center beam out of angle iron and oak bolted together with galvenized bolts. The bolts had to be forced in so they are very tight.

This is the beam installed. Now the center area where the tank will sit is supported very well. The beam is anchored from the top with glue and new galvanized screws. There is zero flex. We even stood on it. I will add side supports to the beam but I believe this is overkill which I have no problem with.

The screws that held the stand together weren't that bad but I replaced them anyway with anodized screws.

More to come .....

 

[RichReef]

Since our tile in the TV room is new and my wife demanded that my stand MUST have legs. Most of the time I'm the one with the final decision but man did she stand her ground on this one. Considering she was involved just as much as me in doing the tile work I am also not fond of having water seeping under the stand and just laying there so I added legs. They are made of oak and after long thoughts I am confident on this solution. ALL corners and edges of the plywood are supported. Spills are a guarantee.

This is the back of the stand where the plywood ends. The rest of the back is open. I really didn't want to add these but my gut said do it.

 

[RichReef]

Painted the stand with a semi gloss black and the inside with Killz oil based primer.

Added an LED light bar.

Mounted 2 of these switched surge protectors. Yes they are UL.

Some new slow closing hinges.

The finished product. Needs very little touch up but it's ready to sit the tank on it.

Now on to some plumbing. Up next a video lesson on preventing bulkhead leaks.

 

[RichReef]

Short video on preventing bulkhead leaks on the more common ones used for aquariums.

Bear with me. Not very good at this video stuff.

It's easier to see the details in full screen mode.

 

[RichReef]

Finally have the tank on the stand. The surface of the stand turned out very flat and stable.

Got the plumbing on the rear of the tank finished. I am setting it up for a basement sump so the drilling of the baseboard is next.

This is the actual spot it will be sitting. There is plenty of space around the walls to reach everything by hand. I know it looks tight but it's good. We went around and around on whether to place it in the corner or center it on the wall. The corner won out.

On to cable management.

 

[RichReef]

Bought a cheap medicine cabinet to put my controls in. I am not sure how this will work out in the long run. It makes replacing equipment more of a challenge but I thought I would give it shot. Tank has a dedicated tablet for logging info and programming Radions.

I am tired of having suction cups come off. In the year 2022 you think there would be something different by now. So I used sealant on them. I have never seen this done before and I didn't do a lot of research but lets hope this is a solution.

Since I am using a basement sump I figured I would need a heater in both places. You can see the thermostat for my heater controller was placed under the overflow box to keep algae from growing on it. I may even attack a small piece of black acrylic to the overflow box to shade it more.

Just another pic.

Tank is all clean and covered. Both MP40s, heater, and thermostat are all in place.

Next I will be on to cleaning up that nasty cluster of wires and lighting.

 

[RichReef]

You can see in the back round of the photos how I cleaned up the wires from the cabinet. I purchased a casing on Amazon and just stuck it to the wall.

I will be using the Aquatic Life Hybrid T5 fixture. I have owned enough tanks over the years to have learned that lights can be a problem when doing maintenance. I have dropped lights, had to hold them back while scraping glass. Had one fall in the water once. Nothing bad happened but it was scary to say the least. So I wanted to tackle this problem and decided to use hinges to be able to lift the light.

After searching for a solution that didn't cost a fortune I used gate hinges I found at Lowes. Other hinges online that were more fancy were hundreds of dollars. I wasn't ready to spend that. I mounted them on a block of wood then anchored the wood to the wall.

I then mounted the suspension cables to the ceiling with using the method I used for the hinges. I put them at this angle because that is where the light will touch the ceiling.

I then mounted a hook up there and used to links of black chain I had in the garage.

I did have to drill a hole to put the links on the fixture.

I dug out my old Radion G2 Pros and made sure they still worked. I figured with the T5s they should get me by for a while until I can get something more current.

I am very happy with the way it turned out. My wife thinks it's way over the top but when I need to get in that tank it will be a lot easier. I figured the easier it is the less likely I will procrastinate on keeping up with things.

Now I have to manage all those wires. 4 cables coming down for that light set up. I also need to figure out how to manage the power supplies in the cabinet. I am trying to locate timers for the T5s that save the time memory in case of power outages.

Then there is some touch up painting and the lights are ready to go.

 

[afrokobe]

I love this light hanging solution! might have to steal that in the future...

 

[RichReef]

Now that the lighting, leveling, and upstairs plumbing is finished time to move on the aqua scape. I want everything upstairs finished before moving to the basement. My TV room has clutter everywhere and I'm just tired of it so I am jumping a few steps.


This is my Fiji Rock that I've had since 2013. It has been soaking in RO for over 3 years. I changed the water once a month and few weeks ago I took it out to dry. I am very fortunate to have such a diverse amount of sizes and types.

I am using the Glue Masters thin and Special Grade Carib Sea sand. The strength in amazing. I was skeptical at first but when I started using it I could see what was going on and why it worked so well. The glue actually wicks through the sand and rock creating a pretty solid bond. I can pick up any of these structures by the smallest of pieces. I can even pick the rock on the left up by the plate and shake it. That base rock is heavy.

The rock on the left is for my LTA. The plate is to keep it's tentacles honest and the rock structure surrounding it will keep it in place. I have kept LTAs for a very long time and I know the only time they let go is if there are water quality problems. I have also never seen them crawl over a rock. So this structure was made specifically for it. That is the actual rock the LTA I have now stationed itself before I moved him to the temporary 55 in the basement.

Just a few other pics of how it is going.

I will probably be finished the scape tonight so I'll post some more pics soon.

 

[fishface NJ]

Looking great! Have you water tested for leaks?

 

[RichReef]

Looking great! Have you water tested for leaks?

Not yet but I'm pretty confident.

The basement plumbing is no where close to being finished. I just want to finish the upstairs portion to get my TV room back to normal.

 

[RichReef]

Some shots of the scape inside the tank. I put the scape in then covered the tank with saran wrap to keep things clean and dust free while I move onto the basement to start the sump set up. I am not completely happy with it. I will probably add a few more ledges for coral placement before I fill the tank. I am going to wait to add the sand so I can rinse it. I don't want to add wet sand until it is ready for filling.

It is actually 3 rock formations. The pics make it look like 2.

 

[kuchiii]

Now that the lighting, leveling, and upstairs plumbing is finished time to move on the aqua scape. I want everything upstairs finished before moving to the basement. My TV room has clutter everywhere and I'm just tired of it so I am jumping a few steps.


This is my Fiji Rock that I've had since 2013. It has been soaking in RO for over 3 years. I changed the water once a month and few weeks ago I took it out to dry. I am very fortunate to have such a diverse amount of sizes and types.

I am using the Glue Masters thin and Special Grade Carib Sea sand. The strength in amazing. I was skeptical at first but when I started using it I could see what was going on and why it worked so well. The glue actually wicks through the sand and rock creating a pretty solid bond. I can pick up any of these structures by the smallest of pieces. I can even pick the rock on the left up by the plate and shake it. That base rock is heavy.

The rock on the left is for my LTA. The plate is to keep it's tentacles honest and the rock structure surrounding it will keep it in place. I have kept LTAs for a very long time and I know the only time they let go is if there are water quality problems. I have also never seen them crawl over a rock. So this structure was made specifically for it. That is the actual rock the LTA I have now stationed itself before I moved him to the temporary 55 in the basement.

Just a few other pics of how it is going.

I will probably be finished the scape tonight so I'll post some more pics soon.

Great build . The cat looks quite surprised and curious from the first photo

 

[fishface NJ]

Really loving your tank!

 

[RichReef]

Really loving your tank!

Thanks. It's been a long time coming and I've had plenty of time to think about it. Not wanting to rush it is a big plus. I've always been in a hurry to get it done on other builds.

 

[fishface NJ]

Just noticed your from DE. I just got back from Newark DE. Two of my boys attend U Del

 

[RichReef]

Just noticed your from DE. I just got back from Newark DE. Two of my boys attend U Del

I work in Newark. About 5 minutes from the university.

 

[RichReef]

Now the pretty stuff is done on to the basement set up. Don't make too much fun of me but this set up is going to be made with a lot of DIY out of extra things and tanks I have just laying around.



This is my old Eshopps sump and my trusty old Precision Marine skimmer. It's all cleaned up and I added a Bubble Magus roller mat. I cut out the top where the 7 inch socks used to go to make room for the skimmer. I left some acrylic in there so I didn't mess up the integrity of the sump. Right now I am trying to get the placement of everything worked out. I had to use the the very top of the adjustment holes for the hanger on the roller mat to get the water level right so only 1 screw is holding it. My solution is to build a small stand for the mat to sit on so the hangers aren't holding the weight. They will now just keep it in place.

This is my old DIY turf scrubber. It's a 15 gallon high tank. I'll post later on about the lighting set up. The scrubber works very well. I only had to run it for 12 hours a day to keep nutrients in line. If I ran it more it would strip them. The only drawback I had using this scrubber is having to dose iodine. The corals would grow and look good but they weren't as colorful. An ICP test had my iodine super low and they attributed that to my scrubber. Started dosing it and boom. Colors were back.

This is my established 40 breeder. It will be plumbed into the system later on after everything is up and flowing for a few weeks. I have been adding small pieces of LR to the sump over the last few months. This will probably be used as a frag grow out tank. So hopefully this will help prevent any dino outbreaks.

Right now I am working on the 75 gallon tank I will use as a fuge and a 29 gallon tank I am using for a sump for water overflow collection and return pumps.