Mako's 50 gallon cube(ish)

[Salty.Reefer]

Hey everyone! Just picked up a new (to me) 50 gallon three sided starphire tank made by Leemar. The dimensions are 24x24x20. I am super excited to get back into the hobby after 4 years. Right now I'm trying to get together all the pieces and figure out the plumbing. Last tank I had was almost a shot in the dark with a a book or two and they guy at the LFS. This time around I look forward to documenting my reef here.
Anyway here is the tank and the planned equipment.

Tank: 50 gallon 3 sided starphire Leemar
Sump: Trigger System 18 crystal cube
Return: Sicce Syncra 1.5
Skimmer: Skimz Monster Mini SN123
Light: Hopefully Kessil A360W Tuna Blue
Flow: Vortech mp40QD

Picking up at the old owners house.

Back home with my helper.

All cleaned up after a good vinegar bath.

Looking fresh.

Also picked up this ATO container. Possibly Advanced Acrylics?

 

[steelheader.262]

Nice, good luck with it!!!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

So possible minor speed bump. The drain seems to be all glued together and glued inside the bulkhead but the drain's bulkhead is not sealed. What should I do?

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Update! Got a lot of equipment in from @Bulk Reef Supply
Th trigger systems sump was packed really well.

Checking for damage lol.

Skims Mini Monster 123 all assembled. looks good to me.

Some of the other equipment and spare plumbing.

Tight squeeze!!

Also got the stand painted to match the cabinets in the kitchen. Swiss Coffee.

But everything can never go perfectly. I grossly underestimated the amount of flow reduction due to the over head so the 1.5 is heading back to BRS and a Sicce 3.0 is in the mail headed my way.
Also VERY IMPORTANT. If you haven't become a preferred reefer on BRS do so. I wrongly assumed a standard account would earn rewards points and didn't receive any for my large order. You live and you learn, I just hate burning money due to negligence.
The guys at BRS are great and super helpful.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Also where is the best place to buy live rock from. Anyone have any local Southern California dealers with high quality live rock?

 

[Ljaus]

Looking forward to watching this build. Love the the new stand colour.

 

[Tahoe61]

Fantastic job on the stand.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Looking forward to watching this build. Love the the new stand colour.

Thanks I am really excited to get it set up. Making progress day by day.

Fantastic job on the stand.

Thank you!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

And we are wet! I am super stoked to get the tank wet today and plumb the tank yesterday.
Plumbing dry fitted. I ended up removing all of the writing on the pvc with acetone and mild sand paper. Worked like a charm.

Well deserved adult beverage.

Beer for scale.

Shipwreck cove is for sure one of the cooler and bigger stores in the area. Thanks ScCorals.

They have a very fat and large gem tang in the main display.

Picking out the rock.

All loaded up.

Back in the tank. Just pilled in there.

Had to take a break to enjoy the sun.

Then dumped in the sand and put on the Kessil. Thanks @slayerhellfire for the hook up!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Coming together more and more everyday.
I picked up one of these American DJ power strips from guitar center. This thing is extremely well made and GC offers a 4 year warranty that covers water damage for only $5. Excuse the toe haha.

first attempt at the rock scape.

Messy

All cleaned up and organized thanks to a pretty cheap cord organizer from Lowes.

Not the best but I am still happy with this.

Tell me what you think about the aquascape! I cloud use some help with this. I feel like it could be better.

All three sides are viewable.

Last night I added 4 cubes of frozen with the hope that of creating a little ammonia to kick off the cycle. Is this not enough? How long should it be until I see ammonia?

 

[Salty.Reefer]

I have been testing the water every other day and it seems like things are not adding up. I have been feeding the tank for the last 9 days with frozen food. 13 cubes in total. 5 days ago I tested (using red sea) for ammonia which seemed to be .3. I tested again yesterday expecting the ammonia level to be higher but the test read 0. This morning I test results were ammonia:0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate: 15. Did my tank cycle quickly with out even a diatom bloom?

Because I used live sand and live rock that was tired into a large system is it possible that I had enough bacteria? What should I do now?

 

[Fishninja]

I have been testing the water every other day and it seems like things are not adding up. I have been feeding the tank for the last 9 days with frozen food. 13 cubes in total. 5 days ago I tested (using red sea) for ammonia which seemed to be .3. I tested again yesterday expecting the ammonia level to be higher but the test read 0. This morning I test results were ammonia:0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate: 15. Did my tank cycle quickly with out even a diatom bloom?

Because I used live sand and live rock that was tired into a large system is it possible that I had enough bacteria? What should I do now?

Not an expert but either your tank is cycled or it has just begun… you might want to wait a week and keep testing to be sure.

 

[oodan]

Sounds funny but I used windex to help boost my cycle just had a prob getting a reading so I tryed it and it worked for me

 

[Salty.Reefer]

thanks guys. considering getting some ammonia drops from petsmart to see what happens.

 

[dakoop]

Looks good. I really like the scape.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

So I was going to wait until I had more good news to not make this post so sad but here we go anyways haha. I picked up my first two fish. Not the best pictures but it is from right when I first put them in the tank.

Exploring the tank.

A nice zoa colony I picked up for a good price. Much more have opened up since but not close to all. Ive had it for 3 days. There are some other cool creators on it too. What looks like a razor clam and some tiny feather dusters.

Super man mushroom.

2 heads of green torch.

And then this happened.

Brooklynella hit on of the fist hard over night. He was almost fully covered and refused to eat. The other ate breakfast. Later in the afternoon I gave the affected fish a FW dip and it mildly helped but his swimming got worse. I drove 1 hour to a different fish store than I got the fish from to get medicine. I bought Rid Ich Plus and treated both of the fish because by this time the healthy one would not eat lunch and seemed to have a little mucus on him but no where near as bad as the other. The one who was better off is doing fine and the other is not doing so hot. Such a bummer. I have never had this happen to any of my fish in the past. I guess it was just dumb luck.
Here is the worse one after the dip. looks better but swimming worse. I am posting more about the dips and clowns on this thread ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/please-take-a-look-at-my-clown.256288/#post-3027752 )

The sunlight is currently creating a glare on the glass but after it goes down I am trying to take some more pictures.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

So this was a little bit ago but one of the clowns passed and the other pulled through and I believe is still alive at @Shipwreck Cove Corals. Dan at shipwreck is a great dude! He took back the alive clown and put it in a separate system in an attempt to cure it. He absolutely stood behind his product and was very willing to make this right. While I was there I picked up some nice corals.
Crappy iPhone pic of some Acan

I also got some lens extenders from amazon for my canon. Still trying to figure out how to get these images sharp. I will get the hang out it, this is one of the first shots I got with it.

Super man mushroom opening up more.

And my new favorite. The RR Bowser Yuma. This thing pops! I can't wait for it to get large and begin to produce babies. Any suggestions on lighting and flow?

I also picked up this pretty massive cleaner shrimp. The first few days he was timid, now I can barely put my hand in the tank with out him jumping on it. haha he is true entertainment.

Large zoa rock to fill space until things start to take off.

This was all over a week ago. Then the other day I drove my girlfriend's brother to the LAX and had to stop by LAX Aquariums. There shop is pretty insane. It is huge and has a 6,000 gallon shark tank and many large coral displays. I got this brain coral from them because they were having a sale and the price was too good to pass up. It is about 5 inches across when fully opened.

I received some red monti frags from a friend but haven't gotten a picture yet because the lights haven't come on yet. Is there a way to tell which way they are growing? Does it even matter?
Also any tips for using lens extenders with telephoto lenses? I really want to improve my skills with shooting macro. Some of the users on here produce mind blowing images. While it may take some time to get there, it is a goal of mine to be in the running to win one of the photo contests on here but we will see

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Coming along nicely with your coral selection. Sorry to hear about the clowns. Aquascape looks great.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Coming along nicely with your coral selection. Sorry to hear about the clowns. Aquascape looks great.

Thank you. I plan on having a lot of lps. I see in your avatar that you are a fan of brains also!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

I got to see the cash money clown yesterday amazing aquariums and reefs. He really is a stunner.

They also have this massive colorado sunburst anemone that just split. between the two that are right next to each other it was about the size of a soccer ball. The photo doesn't do the color justice. They truly glow bright orange and have a multitude of color on the interior.

I also saw this blue hippo tang with what seems to be an odd birth defect. It is swimming straight in the photo. The tail fin is over vert behind the fish's dorsal. As one woman in the store put it "Man that dory is messed up!"