Ludnix's 50g Cube

ludnix · Jan 5, 2018

A local reefer is getting out of the hobby so I picked up some new and used goods on the cheap! I am excited to give the used stuff a vinegar bath and get it in the tank! The haul:

2x Inland Wet Bandsaws for fragging
Ecotech Mp10w
BRS media reactor
ROX 0.8 carbon
GFO

Even skeletor seemed impressed with my haul!

ludnix · Jan 12, 2018

New photos from today:

Some copepods on the glass while the water was still. The tank is covered in them since I lost the mandarin a few months ago.

Barrett · Jan 13, 2018

Everything is looking great, how is the six line wrasse in your tank.

ludnix · Jan 13, 2018

The sixline is pretty great, it's somewhat aggressive to new additions and didn't like the engineers at first. They open mouthed back at the sixline and have gotten along since. The sixline did a great job of eating flatworms when they were in the biocube and I haven't seen any at all in the 50g.

Barrett · Jan 13, 2018

I really like the looks of those little guys but have heard they can be real terrors, then I hear stories of them getting along with everyone. Just go’s to show fish have there own personalities just like people.

ludnix · Jan 18, 2018

Does anyone have any pump recommendations for the BRS GFO and carbon Deluxe reactor? They had advertised using a MJ1200 for the pump, but my new MJ1200 rattles like crazy when attached to the reactor. It's fairly silent on it's own but when the flow is restricted by the reactor (or my finger) it makes a pretty bad rattling sound. Can the MJ be modded for this purpose or is mine faulty? Is there a pump that can handle the restriction better?

Barrett · Jan 18, 2018

Maybe a Sicce Syncra Silent 0.5 or 1.0. The 1.0 would be closest to the flow rate of the MJ1200.

ludnix · Jan 18, 2018

Thanks Barrett I will check them out, I haven't tried Sicce before but I have heard of their good quality.

ludnix · Jan 18, 2018

I ended up finding a fix for the Maxi-Jet! I found a thread online where someone suggested gluing the magnet and impeller together. They normally can rotate about 3/4 the way around before locking. I'm pretty sure this is to make sure it starts correctly since it's an AC pump. Gluing it completely fixed the noise issue and now it's still pumping great. I also discovered my issue might be that I am using a Marine land brand MJ1200. BRS is selling the Cobalt branded version which is the original manufacturer so it might have a fixed impeller or just doesn't have this issue. We'll see how long the impeller lasts, I just used super glue but it's under a constant rotational pressure so I wouldn't be surprised if it needs to be reglued in the future. I am still going to replace with a Sicce, but now I can do so at my leisure.

ludnix · Jan 20, 2018

An updated photo of the sump. I have the BRS deluxe reactor filled with a 50/50 mix of 0.8 ROX and GFO. The maxi-jet is running quietly and is suspended in the middle of the water. I have the suction cup feet on but this seems to be the most quiet position. I had to move the skimmer to the back and the ceramic media in the return chamber with the pump. It's crowed but functional.

The chaeto is doing okay, I removed a softball sized amount and there is a pretty dense mat in there. I have grown it much faster in past tanks with a low Kelvin CFL bulb so I think my LED light is not a great performer. I think it would benefit from more red diodes. For now I lowered it to narrow the coverage and increase intensity. I need to rewatch the BRS lighting experiment video and see what their results were.

ludnix · Jan 23, 2018

My girlfriend found this picture of me in children's book at Target:

ludnix · Jan 30, 2018

I needed to do a little fragging to free up some room for some of the smaller corals. This Millepora has not done much vertical growth yet so I'm clearing some of the Ponape birdnest away the Bird of Paradise.

I also cleared away some of pocillapora in the back to make more room green slimer to do it's thing. Here's them all fragged up to be given away in the reef club.

I later cleared some purple rim green monti cap in the back but I don't have photos of that yet. I'm really itching to redo the back rockwork soon, but I need to get a shipment of epoxy putty before I start on that. I'm planning on using the bandsaw to make flat edges on base rocks for extra stability and then putting them together out of tank. The two rocks in the back with all the acros on them can stay in the tank while I build the base and then attach them at the end to reduce air exposure time.

ludnix · Jan 31, 2018

I have been in need of a vortech controller mount since adding the MP10 to the tank. I found this file on thingiverse by user Crispy001 which looks fantastic.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1817257

I printed a copy in black PLA and I'm very happy with it. I'm sure I'll need another when I eventually replace the Jebao with a second MP10.

I need to mount it but I tested it on the controller and it fit perfectly.

ludnix · Feb 12, 2018

Got my shipment of aquarium putty to do some rescaping.

ludnix · Mar 3, 2018

I found some time to work on the rockscape. I got the bandsaw spinning and cut two of my rocks in half to give myself some flat bottoms to build a rock structure from.

Interestingly I found one of my rocks must have been a man-made cement rock. It's much heavier than other rocks and when I cut it open I got this:

Versus a normal reef rock which is all white inside:

I'm hoping the peice I cut didn't expose any signficant metals by cutting it open. There was a very interesting mixture of rocks in the man-made rock.

I didn't get as exciting a rockstructure as I was hoping for but I did make a lot of new caves and areas for the fish to hide and it's much more stable now.

I also picked up this millipora frag from the fish shop. It looks like a maricultured colony to me, I am excited to see what colors I can get from it with time.

ludnix · Mar 11, 2018

I found my lower float switch for my auto top off had failed resulting in a high level in the sump and minor salinity decrease. I replaced the float switch and am considering a new mount for it so the two switches are closer in height in case of future failures. They are just magnet Reed switches so failures are going to happen eventually as the Reed becomes brittle from flexing back and forth. Maybe I should consider an optical sensor as well?

I took some pictures of the tank:

This tricolor is looking a little stretched out in it's current location. The rock it's attached to used to move easily so it's no longer in it's original position. I think I will let it grow to where it needs to be.

Peeking at the red planet and new millipora.

A hitch hiker, perhaps a type of favid? I might break it off to put it somewhere with a little more light. It might have done okay there in a mariculture facility or under t5 lighting but LEDs are so direct it might not be in a good location in my tank.

Barrett · May 21, 2018

Any updates?

Daniel@R2R · Jul 6, 2018

@ludnix, beautiful reef!! Any updates? I'd love to see a new FTS!

ludnix · Jul 8, 2018

Here's a new video for everyone. I think this is the tanks peak right here. I'm very proud of where it is at and feel like it really accomplished what I wanted in a reef tank.

My girlfriend and I are closing escrow on a house within the next two weeks so the tank is going for a short move about 20 minutes away. Our new home is much smaller than our current and I'm not sure if there will be room for the tank or not. I'm planning to reset the tank up in my office at work behind my desk. A little bit of relaxation is needed there and I think it will fit in nicely.

A local club member also is suddenly moving and asked me to buy his 120 gallon. I have already moved his tank to our lobby at work and plan to move all the sps into it and convert the 50g into a euphylia/anemone tank for my clownfish pair. The 120 already has a pair of clowns so they can't go there.

I've moved the large purple pocillapora into the 120g since the video and plan to move another rock of sps from the 50g on Monday and then the last rock on Tuesday.

Things have been really hectic the past few months and I extremely happy with my tanks automation being able to keep up with my neglect. I have only been replacing the top off water weekly and cleaning the skimmer and glass about half as often. The corals have continued to thrive with just kalkwasser in the top off.

At work I will eventually have a small room to setup as a fish room and coral grow out. I'm hoping to start selling frags in early 2019 and will keep you guys more frequently updated during and after the tank move and transfer!

NY_Caveman · Jul 8, 2018

ludnix said:
Here's a new video for everyone. I think this is the tanks peak right here. I'm very proud of where it is at and feel like it really accomplished what I wanted in a reef tank.

My girlfriend and I are closing escrow on a house within the next two weeks so the tank is going for a short move about 20 minutes away. Our new home is much smaller than our current and I'm not sure if there will be room for the tank or not. I'm planning to reset the tank up in my office at work behind my desk. A little bit of relaxation is needed there and I think it will fit in nicely.

A local club member also is suddenly moving and asked me to buy his 120 gallon. I have already moved his tank to our lobby at work and plan to move all the sps into it and convert the 50g into a euphylia/anemone tank for my clownfish pair. The 120 already has a pair of clowns so they can't go there.

I've moved the large purple pocillapora into the 120g since the video and plan to move another rock of sps from the 50g on Monday and then the last rock on Tuesday.

Things have been really hectic the past few months and I extremely happy with my tanks automation being able to keep up with my neglect. I have only been replacing the top off water weekly and cleaning the skimmer and glass about half as often. The corals have continued to thrive with just kalkwasser in the top off.

At work I will eventually have a small room to setup as a fish room and coral grow out. I'm hoping to start selling frags in early 2019 and will keep you guys more frequently updated during and after the tank move and transfer!