Hey everyone!
Finally have a chance to put together a build thread. So a little back end on this, I've been out of the hobby for about 12 years and just got back into it since the Misses and I went snorkeling on our vacation at the beginning of this year in Haiti.
Since I had converted a utility room in my new home into a room dedicated for freshwater breeding projects and aquatic plant propagation, she asked if we could delve into the reef side of things as they are 'prettier', so with a little discussion we ended up setting up a 20L frag and invert QT and a 15 gallon fish QT while we waited on our new Cobalt C-Vue 40 AIO to cycle. Since then we've been collecting frags and going through a 76 day QT for them as well as a 30 day QT with preventative meds for any fish coming in. Least to say, the frag QT has gotten a little overstocked and continues to be added to.
One trip to the LFS set the frag tank over the edge, I went and picked up a birdsnest that had been sitting around for a while and when the LFS employee went to bag it, it slipped from his hand and hit the edge of the tank shattering it into a bunch of pieces. He kept apologizing since it was the only one they had and when I asked what they were going to do with it and he responded "well no one is going to want it, so we are probably just going to get rid of it" I had to stop him and ask him to proceed bagging it up. As you can tell here, this LFS doesn't specialize in coral, they just somehow seem to keep them alive to sell. Once he had it all bagged up he said "since you were after the piece the way it was and it's now all shattered, we won't charge you for it." Needless to say the what was once a baseball sized birdsnest turned into 20 or so frag plugs. At this point I realized that the frag tank needed expanding...
So after about 2 months of trying to scour my home state and then onto bordering states for a Deep Blue 60 gallon, I almost gave up to just go get a 40 breeder and call it a day. Then come to find out, Deep Blue is going through some motions and may not be a company much longer. From there I started to talk shop with the more reputable LFS's about frag tanks and they all referred me to either Deep Blue and waiting for months or going with a ZooMed Low Boy. Needless to say the Low Boy was too low and time wasn't on my side. Hours were spent scouring the web for non custom tanks and then while looking for some lids for my Seapora cubes I stumbled on their stock listing for frag tanks! From there I took the manufacturer UPC to my LFS and they talked to their distributor and what do you know... Now I have one showing up hopefully today or tomorrow to be picked up!
Here is what I'll be working with:
The dimensions are 48x24x12 and it's already drilled and has a corner overflow like the Deep Blue's. From what I've seen in comparison of one of my FW Deep Blue Cubes vs my Seapora cubes are the glass is much clearer and the corners of the tanks are just nicer.
Currently, I'm off on the hunt to figure out what to do for a stand. First thought was to source a metal stand and build a shelf on the bottom for a sump and then create a veneer set of doors and siding to make it presentable as this will be setup next to our office. The second idea was to go get a simple stand for a 120 and just use that and deal with the sump being stuck in the stand... For the price of the stand I didn't see this headache as worth it. The final idea was just to go DIY. Sadly I'm not setup with tools for wood working, I have everything in my shop for metal work, just not for wood. I considered getting some square tube stock and making my own metal frame, but by the time that's done and sent to a powder coater it's going to be just as much as an off the shelf wood stand. I'm thinking it might be time to invest into a table saw and a powered miter saw.
Now here's the fun part, the hardware for the build. I'm currently thinking of running a Trigger Systems Emerald 39 so I can increase the water volume of the overall system. Plus I have room for hardware as I'm looking to possibly run a refugium as well as my own homebrew DIY automation. One question comes up with a refugium though. With a system that is expected to be around 80 gallons with tank and sump (since sump is not 100% full), would a refugium be worth it? Right now I'm running a cheato reactor and it's doing wonders, I was trying to figure out if it would be more worth while to upgrade that and run LR in the refugium area instead as the tank will be bare bottom? Thoughts? As for lighting, I plan to move over my Kessil 160WE from the 20L and setup the spare I have so that the tank has 100% coverage.
Finally have a chance to put together a build thread. So a little back end on this, I've been out of the hobby for about 12 years and just got back into it since the Misses and I went snorkeling on our vacation at the beginning of this year in Haiti.
Since I had converted a utility room in my new home into a room dedicated for freshwater breeding projects and aquatic plant propagation, she asked if we could delve into the reef side of things as they are 'prettier', so with a little discussion we ended up setting up a 20L frag and invert QT and a 15 gallon fish QT while we waited on our new Cobalt C-Vue 40 AIO to cycle. Since then we've been collecting frags and going through a 76 day QT for them as well as a 30 day QT with preventative meds for any fish coming in. Least to say, the frag QT has gotten a little overstocked and continues to be added to.
One trip to the LFS set the frag tank over the edge, I went and picked up a birdsnest that had been sitting around for a while and when the LFS employee went to bag it, it slipped from his hand and hit the edge of the tank shattering it into a bunch of pieces. He kept apologizing since it was the only one they had and when I asked what they were going to do with it and he responded "well no one is going to want it, so we are probably just going to get rid of it" I had to stop him and ask him to proceed bagging it up. As you can tell here, this LFS doesn't specialize in coral, they just somehow seem to keep them alive to sell. Once he had it all bagged up he said "since you were after the piece the way it was and it's now all shattered, we won't charge you for it." Needless to say the what was once a baseball sized birdsnest turned into 20 or so frag plugs. At this point I realized that the frag tank needed expanding...
So after about 2 months of trying to scour my home state and then onto bordering states for a Deep Blue 60 gallon, I almost gave up to just go get a 40 breeder and call it a day. Then come to find out, Deep Blue is going through some motions and may not be a company much longer. From there I started to talk shop with the more reputable LFS's about frag tanks and they all referred me to either Deep Blue and waiting for months or going with a ZooMed Low Boy. Needless to say the Low Boy was too low and time wasn't on my side. Hours were spent scouring the web for non custom tanks and then while looking for some lids for my Seapora cubes I stumbled on their stock listing for frag tanks! From there I took the manufacturer UPC to my LFS and they talked to their distributor and what do you know... Now I have one showing up hopefully today or tomorrow to be picked up!
Here is what I'll be working with:
The dimensions are 48x24x12 and it's already drilled and has a corner overflow like the Deep Blue's. From what I've seen in comparison of one of my FW Deep Blue Cubes vs my Seapora cubes are the glass is much clearer and the corners of the tanks are just nicer.
Currently, I'm off on the hunt to figure out what to do for a stand. First thought was to source a metal stand and build a shelf on the bottom for a sump and then create a veneer set of doors and siding to make it presentable as this will be setup next to our office. The second idea was to go get a simple stand for a 120 and just use that and deal with the sump being stuck in the stand... For the price of the stand I didn't see this headache as worth it. The final idea was just to go DIY. Sadly I'm not setup with tools for wood working, I have everything in my shop for metal work, just not for wood. I considered getting some square tube stock and making my own metal frame, but by the time that's done and sent to a powder coater it's going to be just as much as an off the shelf wood stand. I'm thinking it might be time to invest into a table saw and a powered miter saw.
Now here's the fun part, the hardware for the build. I'm currently thinking of running a Trigger Systems Emerald 39 so I can increase the water volume of the overall system. Plus I have room for hardware as I'm looking to possibly run a refugium as well as my own homebrew DIY automation. One question comes up with a refugium though. With a system that is expected to be around 80 gallons with tank and sump (since sump is not 100% full), would a refugium be worth it? Right now I'm running a cheato reactor and it's doing wonders, I was trying to figure out if it would be more worth while to upgrade that and run LR in the refugium area instead as the tank will be bare bottom? Thoughts? As for lighting, I plan to move over my Kessil 160WE from the 20L and setup the spare I have so that the tank has 100% coverage.
