My 45gal cubish (re)build

[cjtabares]

Curious where you found your rock? Is it old? I'm also using that in our new build, but would like more.

Yeah, this was from my tank from 10ish years ago. I bought it from a lfs.

 

[cjtabares]

I another little update. Added some plywood attached with magnets to the stand. Easy to take off, and lets me have full access to the sumps.

Primed and painted. Plan to do a polyurethane coat when it is a little warmer out.

The paint has dried for about 2 hours outside. Should I be worried about any fumes, or can I leave them in place?

 

[twentyleagues]

I another little update. Added some plywood attached with magnets to the stand. Easy to take off, and lets me have full access to the sumps.

Primed and painted. Plan to do a polyurethane coat when it is a little warmer out.

The paint has dried for about 2 hours outside. Should I be worried about any fumes, or can I leave them in place?

Depends on the paint. Probably fine though.

 

[cjtabares]

Depends on the paint. Probably fine though.

Primed with Sherwin Williams All-purpose Primer
Painted with Valspar Signature, I think this is 0 VOC.

 

[twentyleagues]

Primed with Sherwin Williams All-purpose Primer
Painted with Valspar Signature, I think this is 0 VOC.

A lot of paints are now. Youll be fine.

 

[cjtabares]

A lot of paints are now. Youll be fine.

Ok, thanks.

 

[cjtabares]

Finally got some lights. Someone local had a used AI Prime for a good price so I think I am going to eventually get another and run 2 of the Prime 16s and 4 blue+ t5s. Like the color I have, I am running BRS’s AB+ setting with a little red and green added to my liking. Added a stylophora and a birds nest as well, it has only been 2 days but they seem to be acclimating nicely, polyps extending, and colors look good. Now I just need to figure out how to take some better pics with my phone under the blue lights, might have to pull out my DSLR.

 

[cjtabares]

Small update, corals looking pretty good, and added a clean up crew. An urchin, a tiger conch, and 5 Nassarius snails. As of tonight the urchin has decided to wear the monti cap as a hat, thought I had glued it down.

 

[cjtabares]

Made a small change to the stand today. Tank is coming along ok. Diatoms seem to be less than they were yesterday, so hopefully that’s a sign they are going away. Water has been cloudy yesterday and today, thinking it might be a bacteria bloom.

Added a trim because the edges were already chipping. I was planning on painting the trim the same color, but kind of like this look, so might go with a different color.

 

[twentyleagues]

I kind of like how it looks raw like that. Maybe just seal the trim with something not super shinny.

 

[cjtabares]

I kind of like how it looks raw like that. Maybe just seal the trim with something not super shinny.

Yeah, this is an option. I have a matte polyurethane, might test that on a scrap piece.

 

[cjtabares]

I have decided to try and post updates every week. I am going to try and take some pictures every Monday to have a better look at the progress. Hoping for a minimum of a full tank shoot weekly, but hoping to take one of each coral, and update on any changes to the system.

Last week:

 

[cjtabares]

This week:

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This week:

Nice looking frags!

 

[cjtabares]

Nice looking frags!

Thanks, definitely need to find some more. Since it is a pretty small tank, I think I am going to be a little more selective on the coral.

 

[cjtabares]

Weekly update, 3 yo was sick so a little late.

 

[cjtabares]

almost forgot the goby, could not get a great shot of it last week. it was added March, 31st.

 

[cjtabares]

It has been longer then I hoped, but I would like to get back to weekly pictures. I have been busy, but have been able to take care of the tank. I went through some hair algae, but was able to rid the tank of it, except on a few snails. Lost the birds nest, added a few hammers, and an anemone. Tank seems to be doing well. Am going to also try and post the parameters so I can have a record of parameters with how the tank looks.

 

[cjtabares]

 

[cjtabares]

Guess I am awful at keeping up with this, but working on fixing a few issues manly aiptasia and 0 nitrates. I am currently dosing 7ml per day in ammonia to try to solve the nitrates, after this weeks nitrate test, if they are still at zero will use one of my DOS heads to dose more spread out over the day. For the aiptasia I had added some nudibranchs 2x, but had not seen any a little I’ve a month after adding the 2nd batch of 5, so I picked up an aiptasia eating filefish. So naturally 2 days after adding the filefish fish I see the nudibranchs out.

Here are some current pictures.