50 gallon cube Build

jmaxwel8 · Mar 7, 2013

I have been working on a new setup since December and I figured I would share what I have so far. As ALWAYS I appreciate any suggestions that you might have for improvement. This is the first tank that I have setup myself so I could use all the help I can get. With that being said this is what I have so far.

A generic 50ish gallon cube

Lights
2 ATI vegas
ATI wireless controller- "I personally can't decide if this is really cool or one of the worst designed things I have ever bought. I think I am leaning towards the second of the 2"

Filtration:
reef octopus XP-1000sss
custom made sump by "Rick in M'boro
Atomic Reef reactor

Controller:
Neptune Apex: with 2 power bars

2 Koralia pumps for water flow

Return Pump
Mag Drive 7

I kinda went overboard on the equipment so that in the next year if I am fortunate enough to buy a house I can upgrade to a larger tank.

This is the purposed fish list:
2 Chromis
2 snowflake clowns
Gold headed sleeper goby
royal gramma

Invert List
2 fire shrimp
and assorted clean up crew.

jmaxwel8 · Mar 7, 2013

Oh 1 more thing... I appreciate the help that I have received from everyone so far

revhtree · Mar 7, 2013

Looks good buddy!

bknapp · Mar 7, 2013

Great looking start, like the scaping JMax.

gmoney243 · Mar 7, 2013

Looks good congratz

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solar · Mar 8, 2013

Looks great!

How do you like the apex?

jmaxwel8 · Mar 10, 2013

The apex is really cool. Besides the initial programming it is easy to use and will help you controll every aspect of your tank. I have an Iphone so it is nice to know I can see what is going on anywhere.

dwilliams87 · Mar 10, 2013

Looks great.

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Dowtish · Mar 11, 2013

Looks like you got all your bases covered and off to a great start. Where you said ATI, did you mean AI, as aqua illumination Vega? I think you did, and from what I understand they are working on a better controller than what they initially released. You might want to look into that.

schooleyosis · Mar 11, 2013

Great looking build. You will NOT regret spending the money up front on great equipment. I just ordered myself an Apex Lite this weekend and have been reading the manual to try and familiarize myself with all of it's operations. Looks a bit intimidating at first, but after reading what you posted I think I can tackle it! Keep us posted on your progress.

revsgirl · Mar 11, 2013

Looks great! Love the setup!

Chasing the Dream Giver, not the dream! Tonya

jmaxwel8 · Mar 24, 2013

A quick update....

I have the tank up and running now. I added water about 2 weeks ago and I expect the cycle to take a couple more weeks. I plan on starting to test parameters this week (although I am in no hurry to rush the cycle). I went to the critter Friday and purchased a pair of snowflakes that will be ready to test the new tank out once everything gets ready.

JasonM38401 · Mar 24, 2013

Looks good!

Jason Martin

shellynjason · Mar 25, 2013

Your tank and setup look even better in person. Love that sump too!

jmaxwel8 · Mar 27, 2013

Just finished hooking up the ATO so everything is relatively complete. This is just some pics of the ATO container and the sump. Dont worry the wireless extender has already been moved away from the ATO container.

schooleyosis · Mar 28, 2013

Lookin' good. I like the idea of your top off container being easily accessed for fill ups!

jmaxwel8 · Mar 28, 2013

Yep it isn't the most attractive arrangement but it sure is nice to be able to get to it easily. Also it is easier to see when it is getting low.

On a side not I had the first mini problem with the tank. I was using some black foam (not sure of the real name) in the baffles to catch mini-bubbles. Somehow it completely blocker water from going into the return compartment. So the sump pump ran dry for about 30 minutes. Since I use an apex does anyone know of a way to tell the sump to turn off. Since my conductivity probe is in the return chamber I thought about programming the sump to stop if the conductivity probe measured below a certain level. That way if the water fell below the probe it would read almost zero and that would stop the pump. Any other ideas?

schooleyosis · Mar 28, 2013

You can add a float switch and if the switch goes low you can program it to turn the return pump off. Just make sure you set a hysterisis so the pump can't keep toggling on/off rapidly.