Travis' 30 gallon cube build

twall73

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This thread is to document the build of my 30 gallon cube tank. I bought the tank used, along with some equipment, from my LFS. Unfortunately, my work schedule has really slowed down the build but I have been slowly gathering some supplies that I need, or want, to use in the tank. Here is what I have so far:

  • Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer
  • Some sort of Tunze in-tank box filter. I think it is an older 3162.
  • Older Kessel A150W

The first step is resealing the tank. I did a leak test when I got the tank home and discovered a few small leaks (nothing major). Given that hte tank is about 12 years old that is to be expected. I have the aquarium sealant purchased...now I just need to actually get the old epoxy out and the new sealant in.
 

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twall73

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Quick update...resealed the tank this past weekend. I think I used too small of a bead in the vertical corners. It feels solid but the bead doesn’t feather onto each side of the glass. I was trying to not have a huge bead of silicone in the corners but may have shot myself in the foot. But I am going to leak test it this coming weekend. Going to keep water in it for a week. If it leaks I will go back to step one.

Any experienced reefers have any advice, I would love to hear it!
 

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twall73

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Finally! After several delays and a crazy month at work...the 30 gallon is started! It sort of had a soft launch over the week. I discovered I had torn the bags of live sand on the way back from the LFS last weekend and I was concerned that I was going to lose the bacteria. So I dumped the sand in, put my old heater in (while I was waiting for my new heater) and put about 7 or 8 gallons of water in.

The aquascape is okay. That part is really hard for me. I don’t hate it and there are plenty of places for critters to hide, swim through, etc. Plus there are some great places for future corals!

I am trying a fishless cycle with MicroBacter7 and Bioreef Fuel as an organic carbon source. I threw a quarter of a cube of shrimp in to give the tank a source of ammonia. We’ll see if that works. If not....
 

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twall73

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Tonight, ammonia finally hit zero in the new tank! It had been hovering at .25ppm for the past few days and I was getting a little worried that I had stalled the cycle somehow. Nitrites were also down to 1 (they had been sitting at 2ppm).

I was impressed that I got Nitrates fairly early in the cycle. About 4 days into it, I tested for nitrates and had a significant amount. The spiked at 65ppm and tonight were down to 5ppm! I have done no water changes as of yet, so I am wondering if that means I have some bacteria converting Nitrates to Nitrogen gas?

So assuming these numbers hold through the weekend it looks like the Clownfish may be moving into their new digs this weekend!

In the meantime I have gotten my light and power head installed. I went with the new Current USA marine LED and the eFlux power head. I liked the really low profile of the light...and the different weather patterns were cool. I am not planning on keeping SPS in this tank so I am hopeful that it will be enough for softs and LPS.

Once the clowns are in I will post a few pics!
 
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