RoboRabbit89
Community Member
So about 6 months ago I was having some beers with some friends and in my inebriated state I stumbled across a Nano Cube on Amazon. I thought to myself, man it would be cool to have a little 10 gallon in my living room. So after a 15 year hiatus from Saltwater I decided to start some research. A 10 gallon nano cube quickly became a Red Sea 20 gallon AIO, then I was like meh, might as well go with their 40, meh, why not the 54....oh...they are still out of stock after months and months? Screw it, Waterbox 80 gallon! haha
Back when I was having it in my living room upstairs it had its own little closet for equipment. Which I sadly had to tear down when I decided to go bigger and put the tank downstairs. Oh well.
While I was waiting I built my mixing station, plumbed the RODI to the sink and put in a couple of float valves, then instead of hard pvc plumbing I just decided to drop a pump into the RODI bin and route a hose to the salt bin where I also dropped in a cheap powerhead for mixing and picked up some smart plugs so I could just pull up an app and start it up.
Then the day finally came
Got everything built, set the tank on the stand then started my wiring project over again. No way I was going to spend $150 for a wooden box that was going into a cabinet so I built my own control board out of $30 peg board, bonus, I was able to zip tie all the mounts so I can re-arrange as needed! Clean tight bundles!
Then time to set up the sump. I plan to run a fuge with the apex GRO, filter cups, and a BRS carbon reactor to start. If I need to I will have plenty of space for a skimmer with a DIY aquamesh baffle. Also running an Apex COR 20, their ATO and their leak sensors. Lastly an Apex auto-feeder.
Decided to go with Caribsea rock and set that up today. I want to create a cherry blossom tree since I am from DC and have also always loved Japanese culture. I'm thinking some sort of flowy pink-ish coral, maybe Euphyillia or Goni, then I'll have mushrooms at the base of the tree. The rocks on the right are supposed to look like a hill but I can't get them to cooperate, I may still fiddle or just leave as is if you guys think it looks good. I also figure it will be more of a hill with some SPS growing on top, then I will have LPS and Zoa's towards the bottem. I also picked up a Radion 15 blue today and a rail, then an MP 40. I'll eventually pick up another MP 40 and 1 or 2 more Radions depending how much light I end up needing.
Let me know what you guys think of that scape, it just isn't there for me yet but I don't know, I think the only way to get a steeper "hill" would be for me to start drilling and get some poles. That will also make it more stable which will give me some piece of mind.
Back when I was having it in my living room upstairs it had its own little closet for equipment. Which I sadly had to tear down when I decided to go bigger and put the tank downstairs. Oh well.
While I was waiting I built my mixing station, plumbed the RODI to the sink and put in a couple of float valves, then instead of hard pvc plumbing I just decided to drop a pump into the RODI bin and route a hose to the salt bin where I also dropped in a cheap powerhead for mixing and picked up some smart plugs so I could just pull up an app and start it up.
Then the day finally came
Got everything built, set the tank on the stand then started my wiring project over again. No way I was going to spend $150 for a wooden box that was going into a cabinet so I built my own control board out of $30 peg board, bonus, I was able to zip tie all the mounts so I can re-arrange as needed! Clean tight bundles!
Then time to set up the sump. I plan to run a fuge with the apex GRO, filter cups, and a BRS carbon reactor to start. If I need to I will have plenty of space for a skimmer with a DIY aquamesh baffle. Also running an Apex COR 20, their ATO and their leak sensors. Lastly an Apex auto-feeder.
Decided to go with Caribsea rock and set that up today. I want to create a cherry blossom tree since I am from DC and have also always loved Japanese culture. I'm thinking some sort of flowy pink-ish coral, maybe Euphyillia or Goni, then I'll have mushrooms at the base of the tree. The rocks on the right are supposed to look like a hill but I can't get them to cooperate, I may still fiddle or just leave as is if you guys think it looks good. I also figure it will be more of a hill with some SPS growing on top, then I will have LPS and Zoa's towards the bottem. I also picked up a Radion 15 blue today and a rail, then an MP 40. I'll eventually pick up another MP 40 and 1 or 2 more Radions depending how much light I end up needing.
Let me know what you guys think of that scape, it just isn't there for me yet but I don't know, I think the only way to get a steeper "hill" would be for me to start drilling and get some poles. That will also make it more stable which will give me some piece of mind.
