151-720 liter 190L Cube - Newbie aiming towards SPS (advice welcome)

[AI_Reefer]

Hi all, I'm an Aussi from Cairns living in Sweden. I had a reef tank when I was a kid, but that was 20 years ago. I figure its time to dive back into the hobby.

 

I'm keen to get into it, but I have very little knowledge on the topic, so I'm likely about to make many noob mistakes along the way. I thought the best way to learn from others would be to keep in touch with my local forum. I'm hoping that this reef keeping community may save me from walking into obvious mistakes, and give me suggestions as I blindly stumble through the early stages of learning this complex and exciting hobby. Attached below are my aspirations and some of my initial plans, all be it just ideas for now. Please push me in any direction that may save me and my tank from errors or potential catastrophe along the way.

 

Overall goal: To eventually arrive at a happy and healthy SPS dominant tank. I enjoy high-tech gear and automation, part of the fun will hopefully be the systems and equipment.
Stretch goals: I think "floating reefs" look absolutely awesome. I'd also love to be able to keep a sand-dwelling anemone and clowns if possible, although I guess these can harm the SPS?
Long term goals: To be able to use some of the nice gear and lessons from this tank to start a new, larger tank in the future.

 

Set-up: Note that the red text is an item that is just a guess for now. I have not yet purchased these items so they can be changed if need be.

• Tank: Nuvo INT 50 (fifty gallon Cube)
• DIMS: 60 x 60 x 50(h) cm (23.6” x 23.6” x 19.7(h)”)
• Stand: Nuvo INT 50 with a custom made door and (if possible) a sliding floor for easy access to clean the sump.
• Lighting (Display): Two 2x24W T5 (4 total T5 bulbs) plus a Kessil A360X
• Lighting (Sump): 2x Tunze EcoChic 8831
• Return Pump: Sicce Syncra 3.0 (maybe this is overpowered, I'm not sure if I should get the 2.5 or the 3.0)
• Sump: 44cm x 52cm custom made plexiglass with light-sealed refugium (see draft blueprints below)
• Sump Reactor: Space for a Nyos TORQ Dock + Body (I wanted to save the space to add this latter - only if necessary)
• Skimmer: Nyos Quantum 120
• Electrical automation: Unknown
• Water chemistry testing method/system: Unknown
• Calcium/alkalinity/magnesium dosing equipment: Unknown
• Auto top-off: Unknown
• Heating/cooling: Unknown

Drilled Overflows:
3x - 1” Pre-drilled “BeanAnimal” Internal Overflow [Primary Drain, Emergency Drain and Secondary E-Drain]
1x – ¾” Pre-drilled Return Hole
Laser Cut Black Acrylic Weir w/ Slot Cut Rear Glass Panel

 

Attached below is the tank (in warehouse storage before I move it into my office) and a blueprint of the sump (its just a guess, let me know if you see any issues). Looking forward to hopefully soon start aqua scaping and eventually get the cycle going! 

 

 

[Michael Hansson]

Hello and Welcome

 

You seem to get the "technical" aspect of the hobby. 

What are your plans for starting up?...Live rock?...Marcorocks and bakteria ?...Whats the plan

 

/michael

[AI_Reefer]

I had planned on using dry rock and maybe something like a RedSea starter kit. The price of live rock is not a problem, and the slow speed of dry rock is also not an issue. I only chose dry rock over live rock because I thought live rock could maybe introduce unwanted pests. I'm still open to adding some live rock if recommended since I hear it has many advantages. I've already bought some dry-rock below, although I haven't started with aqua scaping or anything of that sort yet. 

• https://www.drakfisken.se/korallsand/fiji-white.html
• https://www.drakfisken.se/konstgjord-levande-sten/natures-ocean-coral-base-rock.html
• https://www.drakfisken.se/lim/seachem-reef-glue.html

My next step is to confirm that the sump looks correct and normal, then I will try get it custom made. After I have the sump in, then I will have to do the plumbing, Then I can get started on bringing the rock to life and adding an ATO set/up. 

 

Would you recommend live rock? I don't really know the risk/reward in this regard. I figure since I am not in any rush, dry rock should be sufficient?

[PerS]

1 hour ago, AI_Reefer said:

Would you recommend live rock? I don't really know the risk/reward in this regard. I figure since I am not in any rush, dry rock should be sufficient?

There's a lot of different opinions on this, but I think you should have at least some live rock. With dry rock and bacteria in a bottle you get a couple of strands of bacteria, nothing else. With live rock you get bacteria but also a lot of different animals that will help you keep the aquarium clean and stable.

 

If you have the time you can just introduce a few pieces of live rock and let the animals spread to the dry rock over time.

[AI_Reefer]

That sounds like good advice. Is there a "best practice" to avoid introducing pests like aiptasia? I guess you don't really quarantine/inspect your first bit of live rock?

 

Also is there any online retailer that has particularly safe/well-quarantined live rock in Sweden/EU. Or should I just head down to my LFS and pick up whatever they have on offer? 

[Guest]

That sounds like good advice. Is there a "best practice" to avoid introducing pests like aiptasia? I guess you don't really quarantine/inspect your first bit of live rock?
 
Also is there any online retailer that has particularly safe/well-quarantined live rock in Sweden/EU. Or should I just head down to my LFS and pick up whatever they have on offer? 

Hi
I ordered few kg from Whitecorals, they are in my coral QT tank now and sofar I saw no pests.
I can recommend them for pretty much everything. Very responsive.
Br
Farham.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[AI_Reefer]

Wow...  Whitecorals is a nice store. I have not seen them before either. Thanks for the link. I saw that they even have some real Australian live rock, that is perfect, I can actually have a little piece of home living in my tank.      

[Guest]

Wow...  Whitecorals is a nice store. I have not seen them before either. Thanks for the link. I saw that they even have some real Australian live rock, that is perfect, I can actually have a little piece of home living in my tank.      

I don't think they have it right now but you can setup a notification for when it comes back.
I am going to order that fresh when it comes. Maybe we can share the shipment if you are in Stockholm.
I also going to Germany in 2 weeks and would love to see their store in person.

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[AI_Reefer]

 

Oh cool. I live in Uppsala, the tank is at my work in Boländerna, so sharing shipping could work although it'd probably save as much as the drive to Stockholm would cost to pick it up  

 

Nice that you're going to Germany, cool to see that awesome store. I'll have to make sure my tank is ready for the Aussi live rock when it arrives. Today I bought the new front door and tomorrow I will order the custom made sump. I guess my blueprint is good, since no-one has told me that it has any obvious errors yet?

[kaptenen]

Welcome to Saltvattensguiden and back to the hobby!

 

I'm not at pro on sumps, but it looks good to me. One thing I would do different tho is to have the "coam"? the whole way through the end of the refugium chamber and down to the next chamber. That way I think you'll prevent unnecessary build up of detritus in the refugium.

 

I agree with all the above regarding the rocks. Start with some live rock. You'll only need 1-2 kg of it to get it all started and it should speed up the cycle. 

[AI_Reefer]

Perfect, thanks for the sump advice. Just what I needed.

[AI_Reefer]

 

 

Attached below is the final draft. Provided that nothing more need to be changed, I guess I will get it custom made sometime in the next few days. 

 

 

[Guest]

Looks good but if it was me, I would skip the fuge section and have it all for filter roller and skimmer.

such a small fuge will not do any impact in my opinion but that's just me

[AI_Reefer]

 

You're probably correct about that. I think part of the refugium is for the fun of having the little critters in there, and to be able to check if it increases stability by lighting it overnight. 

 

You gave me a good idea though, I can instead have the refugium as an insert box. Then if I get sick of changing filter socks, or if the refugium is too small to be any good, then I can later just remove the fuge and swap over to a roller instead.

 

 

 

[MichaelE]

Hi there and welcome back to the hobby!

 

Looks like you’ve in the right path for success:)

However, I would strongly advice against using dry rock. 
You can seed dry rock with bacteria to “cycle” the tank but it’s still going to be a barren wasteland when it come to micro fauna and flora resulting in a unstable tank where one organism easily runs rampant due to the lack of competition.

Don't worry about aptasia etc, it’s basically impossible to completely avoid introducing pests in the long run. 

[Kim Rosenqvist]

Hello and welcome (back) to the saltwater hobby! 

I'm a gear junkie myself and I think backstage is half the fun with keeping a reef tank

 

Maybe my suggestions on sump is too little too late, but here it comes anyway. 

 

Your filter sock holder seems to be the lid of your refugium. A filter sock, depending on micron, flow and bioload in the system would probably need to be changed/cleaned every 3-5 days. After that it's to thick on debris that water can't go through. This will lead the sock to "overflow", and if I have understood your setup correctly this will means thst water will flow over the lid and pass by your refugium chamber? If so, that would probably render your biological filter useless - until you clean your filter sock. Until then two of your" export" filters might be reduced or have no effect. 

 

I would say that mechanical filter (sock) is good, but it's not essential. I've seen many use the macro algea as both biological and mechanical filter. You will get some debris stuck in the green hairball that otherwise would have stayed put in the filter sock, but you also do harvest (throw) macro algea from time to time anyway, which also removes any debris stuck in that harvested algea.

I myself have removed my roller filter and see no change in nutrients (bare in mind my system has been running for a while). 

 

To get a few extra square cm of refugium I would probably skip the small water passageway after the refugium. See my Picasso art in the attached picture. 

agree with kaptenen, that a comb all the way is good, but I see no use in forcing the water to go through at the bottom. But I might of course have missed a function with that? 

EDIT: I see that this section is not in your last sketch, so maybe nevermind this part in my input

 

I agree with many others that live rock is the way to go. If the reason to get dry rock is to avoid any pests or hitchhikers, that means that you would need to have some pretty serious quarantine process for every little piece of frag or fish that you introduce onwards. Otherwise dry rock, for that purpose, would be like cleaning your car on a muddy day in February not quite worth the while. 

 

[AI_Reefer]

Thanks for the advice Kim! Its great to hear that it may be possible to take the filter sock out of the equation. I thought maybe if the refugium was doing well I could use a very coarse filter sock, just for the big stuff, but removing it altogether would be great in the long run! This is definitely a worthy goal if possible.

 

The reasoning for the extra water passageway was to add some coarse filter foam in there. I didn't really know if it was necessary but had seen it on some other sumps so I just copied them. I figured this would catch any overflowing cheato and be easy to remove and clean from time to time. What are your thoughts in this regard? Better to have more room for cheato, or some filter foam here. 

 

The filter foam: https://www.seaflowerstore.com/zwart-filterschuim-grof-50x50x3cm/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYoI8f169oGli7YT9a4etH_C1tlxdKLkJAvSyBPpsWEGMFmwy0yObOgaAj_zEALw_wcB 

 

Note that there is a three stage bubble trap that I can add more filter media in if necessary just before the pump.

 

Also, the tank I have has a large rear overflow section that can fit a lot of extra media if necessary. Essentially I have many options, but still not sure precisely what the full set-up will be. I haven't bought the sump yet but am in discussions with the manufacturer.  

 

 

[AI_Reefer]

I agree with you Kim that the backstage is half the fun for a gear junkie. I had this crazy idea to maximize the use of the space and available flow by spinning the fuge 180 degrees and adding  a marine pure block underneath of it. So the flow passes by either side of the block before entering the skimmer section. 

 

I am hoping to have a floating reef, which may sligthly reduce the amount of live rock in my main display. So a marine pure block could be useful to combat this. The good thing is that the sump does not need any modifications for this crazy idea. And if it doesn't work I can just revert to the previus design by removeing the marine pure block and swapping the fuge back 180 degress to its normal state. It's just a fun idea for now. Not sure if I'll ever do it. 

 

 

 

[kaptenen]

Looks like cool ideas. However I always think that all my components in the tank and sump needs to be fairly easy to take out for maintenance. If you get this "box in box" you'll prob have to empty the sump if the need arises to pick it out. And that will the be hard with all the tech that more than often get in the way of such an operation. Marine blocks needs to be rinsed or replaced from time to time too. I agree with Kim that filter socks are not always necessary. 

 

Just words from a realist

 

 

[AI_Reefer]

 

 

 

The 2x2 dimmable T5's arrived today. My plan was to build a wooden lighting enclosure similar to the one shown below. I really like the clean finish, and I'd design it so that I can either open the sides, or lift it off entirely for maintenance. 

• https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-of-the-month-march-2021-florida_reef_keeper-brandon-mchenrys-amazing-aio-sps-reef.799/ 

[AI_Reefer]

 

 

Maybe I'll start with a simple flat board with the lights mounted onto the board, then the board hanging from a wire. If I do this then I can adjust the light height etc. for a few months, and get the PAR right before building the full enclosure. 

[AI_Reefer]

 

This is my initial ideas for the floating reef. Pretty simple, just stick the perspex onto the angled rear panels. Then lay rock over the top by slotting the perspex into/under a few larger pieces of dry rock. Then add/glue more dry/live rock onto the larger dry-rock base frame.  

 

The idea is that this will give me a fully floating reef look. Not sure if it will really work, but I've seen other tanks that have managed similar styles with incredible results. I'm guessing that this is pretty high risk high reward strategy and may likely fail. But I'm in this for the fun of it, so may as well have some fun with it.   

 

 

 

Ändrat 23 juni 2021 av AI_Reefer

[ormet]

Wow, this will be exiting to follow. I have no idea how the pespex will hold the weight. Also don't you think the perspex should be lower? I feel you will hit the surface pretty fast otherwise. But you might have another image in your head on how to attach rock then i have

[AI_Reefer]

 

I agree with you on both counts. I think if it is 1cm perspex it can hold heaps of weight. The strength will depend on the bond to the rear panel. I think bonding with silicone will not work. Instead I'm thinking of taking the full risk and using a full molecular bond with Acrifix.  https://interglas.se/shop/lim-till-plexiglas-679p.html ... Worst case scenario if it fails would be a couple of ugly edges on the rear panel. 

 

I'll likely drop the height too, just as you said, but that is an easy thing to do by eye when the time comes to glue. 

[PerS]

I think your problem will be bonding the rear panel to the glass. Perspex won't bond to silicone, so applying a rotation force to it might make it come loose over time unless its edges are "sandwiched" between silicone both in front of and behind the panel.