xxoczukxx's first serious tank build thread- 35g cube

[xxoczukxx]

This tank has been up and running for quite a while but I thought I'd throw up a build thread at someone's suggestion anyway so I can get the badge and show it off.

To start it off, tank is a 20x20 Deep blue reef ready 35g tank.

Sump is a triton34 v2 from trigger
Return pump is an ecotech vetra m2
Tunze 3155 with 5g reservoir for ATO
For flow I have two mp10's and one of the VCA random flow nozzles on my return.


coralbox wifi dosing pump to dose alk and calc daily and mag when needed.
Coralbox d300+ skimmer in the sump


Fuge with about 15lb of live rock with chaeto running an ai prime 16 fuge for lighting on an opposite schedule as my tank

tank lighting is a radion xr15 g5 pro

There is about 20lb of live sand and 25lb of rock in the display.


I made the stand myself, it was my first woodworking project so it didnt come out perfect but its nothing a couple shims couldnt fix!


Without further ado, here are some pictures!

in the background you can see my original, neglected reef housing my clown which soon after moved into this tank.

Here you can see my bad paintjob on the middle panel!

paint job made worse by dripping more paint on it! but tank is finally on atleast

sump arrived

plumbing ugly, but done!

sump plumbing

filled up with freshwater for a leak test for a few days! luckily no leaks anywhere

 

[xxoczukxx]

Rocks and sand in, filled with water waiting for it to clear and cycle !

Fuge got its rocks in, and skimmer up and running!

 

[xxoczukxx]

this was a couple months later, but first added, and the first coral added in to test as well. that GSP is still there but now completely covers that rock. Im letting it grow over some frag plugs to break off and trade at the lfs

 

[xxoczukxx]

a few more months after that, got a bunch of corals in, sps. Testing my par with a borrowed meter.



we have hit a very ugly stage and its going to get worse.

dinos have been running rampant for a bit now, mostly on the glass.

 

[xxoczukxx]

I had spent a few months manually cleaning, trying different things. upping water changes, running no skimmer. I finally started overfeeding and feeding reef roids and after a week of it, my tank looked like this. Dinos were dying back, and after a manual clean they were gone!

Here is how the tank looked a few days ago, film algae on glass but a scrape now and then deals with it quickly.

Here is what I am most proud of, the growth of my pc rainbow. it sites in the front right of the rock, you can see it in other images since I added it. The growth has been great since i added it.