The Rise of Aquaria (40g cube build)

[BruskiTLR]

Hello there. I am new to posting on R2R so please bear with. I built a reef tank from what felt like scratch in early 2018 and I got an overwhelming amount of useful information from this very site. I am now posting my progress and my build to maybe help new or current members of the hobby. Please enjoy.

Around February of 2018 I began getting the urge to start a new build so after several days of doodling and research this is what I came up with:

 

[SPR1968]

Hi there and welcome to R2R!

Have you got any pictures as we love, sorry need pictures on here!

The plan looks good so far though.

 

[misoldier06]

My suggestion on whatever substrate is going into the refugium, either 1) don't do it or 2)put that stuff in a box that's easily removable. They become detritus traps and can cause issues down the road if you're not vigilant about cleaning them out.

 

[BruskiTLR]

After some research I decided on getting the Innovatine Marine Nuvo 40 Gallon Black Rimless Aquarium and drilling the tank to install the Eshopps Eclipse M Overflow box.

 

[BruskiTLR]

Stepping aside from the aquarium I feel as if what I loved the most out of the entire process was how my DIY tank stand came out. That’s my grandpa there on the first picture helping/teaching me how to weld the table together.

 

[BruskiTLR]

And then I start to have a little bit of fun here and stain then polish the wood that will cover this stand.

 

[BruskiTLR]

And then a little more fun.

 

[BruskiTLR]

So far so good.

 

[BruskiTLR]

And then the plumbing.

 

[BruskiTLR]

 

[BruskiTLR]

And just like that it was time to ROCK and roll. I used the Project Reef Rock 2.1 Dry Rock sold on Bulk Reef Supply. I then used an uncomfortable amount of superglue to create this:

 

[misoldier06]

Beautiful stand and very nice set up. Have you thought about painting your hinges and door knob to match the black frame? I think it would look pretty sick and bring the whole thing together.

 

[BruskiTLR]

Beautiful stand and very nice set up. Have you thought about painting your hinges and door knob to match the black frame? I think it would look pretty sick and bring the whole thing together.

I actually liked how the hinges contrast the black stand so I let them be but the door knob, now in retrospect, would look way better if it were painted black haha.

 

[BruskiTLR]

I spread the labor and cost over 4 months and this is 1 month into having the tank up and running which was in June of 2018 so I decided to introduce my three fish from my previous build. And yes that is a yellow tang in a 40gallon tank. I initially got it as a baby with the intention of housing it in my uncles 100 gallon tank but it’s been a year and he has nuked his tank 3 times from lack of care so for now it stays with me until I can find a better home.

 

[BruskiTLR]

Things were looking good on paper and my skimmer was skimming quite well but my chaetomorpha refused to stay alive. I’m pretty sure this released several nutrients back into the system as well as whatever else the chaeto could have absorbed from my LFS tanks and then my corals lost color and some of them died.

 

[BruskiTLR]

I then added the Bubble Magus aquarium doser and began dosing Aquaforest component 1,2, & 3 to stabilize Ca Alk and Mg and things did great for several months.

 

[BruskiTLR]

Sometime in September a buddy of mine told me that he was going to tear down his reef tank because he didn’t have time to take care of it and his corals were dying because of it so for about $60 he gave me nearly every piece you see below. A few were from my previous build but 80% of the coral are his. I also decided to super glue some Green Star Polyp onto the overflow box to see if it would grow outward and cover the wall.

 

[misoldier06]

What a deal!

 

[virtual reality]

Looks really good. I like your stand you made.

 

[BruskiTLR]

The corals I got from my friend all survived but 1 poor little torch that I accidentally stabbed in the mouth during feeding time. Poor little bugger had no idea what was coming neither did I but I guess that is how accidents work. My chaetomorpha took off which was great and for the first 6 months of the tanks life I did not have to worry about nuisance algae.