Cobalt Aquatics C-Vue 45Gallon build

[BigT]

Hello!
I'm new to the forum and to the hobby as well. I've decided to start this thread to document my journey building my first reef and overall aquarium. Yes, it's my first tank! But I love to read and research and I don't take criticism to heart and would appreciate any and all input! I went ahead and ordered a C-Vue 45 Gallon AIO by Cobalt Aquatics (TWICE! The first one was broken and returned and might I add, Drs. Foster & Smith's customer service is OUTSTANDING)
I did order the tank, stand and Lid from Drs. Foster & Smith because it wasn't available on the cobalt aquatics website. The second shipment is set to arrive Tuesday In addition I also ordered:

40 lbs of Nature's Ocean live aragonite sand;
20 lbs of Carib Sea Liferock (shapes) - also getting 25ish lbs of liverock once the tank arrives;
A Liquagen 5 stage RO/DI system;
Media basket which I plan on utilizing in one of the return chambers
Aquaillumination Hydra 26 HD Reef LED + single arm mount
Misc: Instant Ocean reef crystals, red sea test kit, refractometer, net, cobalt aquatics Heater, Sicce 1500 Nano pump (prob getting one more)

I plan on getting adding a protein skimmer to one of the return chambers as well.

My plan/desire is to have a tank with a lot of coral as well as anemones; 2 black clowns (or a black and an orange?), a couple of shrimp, a goby and maybe a star or two?

Any advice on what other essentials I should be looking to incorporate into the build? And lastly, any advice on cycling this thing?

Pictures to come as soon as the tank arrives and I bring myself to assemble to cabinet stand

Thank you!

 

[savetheocean]

Welcome to R2R! Good plan, keep us updated!

Do you know what kind of fish you would want in the tank? You can have more than three.

 

[Daedalus8311]

Any input on what your adding to the back? Not much info

 

[BigT]

@savetheocean Thanks, will do! I've suffered yet another set back, the second tank was delivered completely shattered. I have a 3rd tank on the way as I type this. I'm set on a pair of clowns, a goby/shrimp pair and potentially a tomini tang (will be moved to a larger tank eventually) @Daedalus8311 I plan on fitting a media basket, a skimmer and a carbon reactor back there however i haven't purchased any of those as of yet because the tank has yet to arrive.

 

[Daedalus8311]

@savetheocean Thanks, will do! I've suffered yet another set back, the second tank was delivered completely shattered. I have a 3rd tank on the way as I type this. I'm set on a pair of clowns, a goby/shrimp pair and potentially a tomini tang (will be moved to a larger tank eventually) @Daedalus8311 I plan on fitting a media basket, a skimmer and a carbon reactor back there however i haven't purchased any of those as of yet because the tank has yet to arrive.

Bummer, I ordered from drs foster Smith as well tonight, seems like new territory as I couldn't fit much up apart from a show video.
I went with a Hydra 26 hd and mp10wqd, I have not decided on a return pump or skimmer yet

 

[BigT]

Bummer, I ordered from drs foster Smith as well tonight, seems like new territory as I couldn't fit much up apart from a show video.
I went with a Hydra 26 hd and mp10wqd, I have not decided on a return pump or skimmer yet

Drs Foster Smith have been phenomenal, it's UPS that's been a nightmare. Thats a crazy good powerhead. Which size tank did you order? I'm curious because The c-vues all come equipped with decent return pumps, the 40 and the 45 gallon models are equipped with 2 MJ pumps each but you mentioned you have yet to decide on one

 

[Daedalus8311]

Drs Foster Smith have been phenomenal, it's UPS that's been a nightmare. Thats a crazy good powerhead. Which size tank did you order? I'm curious because The c-vues all come equipped with decent return pumps, the 40 and the 45 gallon models are equipped with 2 MJ pumps each but you mentioned you have yet to decide on one

I went with the 45 as well. Jbj 45 has backorder issues constantly.
Removing a dual pump to a single pump is pretty common, removes unnecessary equipment that way and space for more useful stuff. I have a algae reactor I planned to hook up to return pump as well and then feedback that to the tank from there..

 

[Daedalus8311]

Drs Foster Smith have been phenomenal, it's UPS that's been a nightmare. Thats a crazy good powerhead. Which size tank did you order? I'm curious because The c-vues all come equipped with decent return pumps, the 40 and the 45 gallon models are equipped with 2 MJ pumps each but you mentioned you have yet to decide on one

Got lucky mine came in one piece!

 

[BigT]

@Daedalus8311 Well crap! Received my 3rd shipment and YET AGAIN the C-VUE was broken! Drs. Foster Smith nformed me that they would not be able to send me a 4th aquarium according to company policy an item can only be re-shipped 3 times to the same customer if it's damaged on the way to the customer. I was ticked but it's been such a long wait that I was somewhat relieved; The fact that they told me to keep the stand and lid free of charge also helped (otherwise i'd have to break the stand down, box it up and send it back across the country) even though i have no immediate use for the stand. I'm actually contemplating visiting a nearby LFS that carries Red Sea, and i'm thinking about picking up a red sea reefer 250 (66Gal) instead. A little pricier but beautiful and more complete in terms of AIO and it looks better IMO.

 

[Daedalus8311]

That's bummer, you could get a tank only like jbj I think fits in the stand as well for a QT for the new reefer series which are really nice indeed

 

[FITZ7]

I've heard plenty of horror stories about UPS and fragile items... Hope it all works out for the best and you end up with something you like even more! Good luck.

 

[BigT]

Looking awesome! Wow. Can’t believe My luck, although after some online research in various forums and review pages I found that a lot of people have had the same problem. Thanks for the qt idea, I may do that but for now I have a 20 gallon that’s going to be sitting on the stand. Funny enough I almost bought a JBJ 45 to put on the stand as my main display tank but there’s just something about Red Sea’s tanks that just