My 50 gallon build thread

[mochaclownlover]

I've waited almost a year to start this tank, as it took me awhile to get some of the supplies since I'm just a teen and don't have a steady source of income. The tank is a 40 gallon nuvo black with a ten gallon sump. This is the scape I'm going with. Not sure yet what I'm going to go with for stocking.

Still have not decided on what skimmer I'm going to go with. I will be ordering two kessil 160s once the cycling is done. Hoping to add water this Tuesday. Figured I would throw this in too, my current tank..

 

[tdileo]

I'm in love with your scape! Seriously may have to be one of my all time favorites. I am counting on you to put out an incredible mixed reef for us (and especially me [emoji38]) to enjoy!

 

[UCedumacasion]

Great Aquascape. It's going to be a great looking tank as soon as it's up and running!

 

[chefjpaul]

Great job!

 

[mochaclownlover]

Got my last bag of sand in the mail last night and decided to set it up a day early. Added the sand around 8:30 and was up till 1:30 making water. Still have some work to do on the stand, thinking about trying to build the sides so they all can just be pulled off when I need to get in the sump. I'm so excited!!!! Can't wait till the cycling is over so I can get some life in here!

 

[Reefraft]

Nice work so far.

 

[cgdcinc]

Looking good! [emoji106]

 

[mochaclownlover]

Figured it's about time for an update. The tank is in the middle of its diatom bloom stage, but everything else seemed OK, so I added a frag of hammer coral which is doing very well. Planning on ordering one kessil this coming week.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Just got my first piece of expensive equipment.... a Kessil A160 !! Love the shimmer this thing makes, wish the price tag was a bit smaller though.......

Also did a water test today and all levels were perfect(for the cycle)
Ammonia-0.2 ppm
Nitrite-0 ppm
Nitrate-5 ppm
pH-8.2 ppm

 

[thaitopher]

Why did you add a hammer before it finished cycling?

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Awesome scape!

 

[mochaclownlover]

Why did you add a hammer before it finished cycling?

I had an extra frag and stuck it in. I had tested the water a few days earlier and it seemed OK for a hardy test coral.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Happy 2018 everyone, hope you had a great year. It has been WAY too long since I updated this thread and a lot of things have changed since. For starters, I have moved all my corals from my biocube14 to the 40 gal. and all have been thriving ever since I also received two GBTAs and a neon dotty back from a friend who was tearing down his tank. I'm happy to say that both BTAs are happy, but the dottyback was a real bully, he chased the only inhabitant(a molly miller blenny) out of the tank. Thankfully I found him, put him in the sump, caught the dottyback, and had them switch places. I also just received my 2nd kessil today The heater is only in the display temporarily, it was a Christmas present and I'm currently calibrating it(I've had a reef tank for 5 years and never used a heater.....)

My fish jail.....

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice aquascape! Gives it great depth.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Well, once again I've gotten caught up in life and haven't updated this thread in about 3 months, so it's time for an update. I found out that I had Chrysophtes and finally after two 4 day black outs, I think I finally got ride of it. I also recently took a trip to Living Reef Orlando and picked up some random SPS frags along with a small yellow watchman's goby and a purple firefish which are still in QT. I've also managed to move three of my eight RBTAs over as well, going to try to move the rest this weekend. As far as stocking goes, I'm planning on getting a helfrichi firefish, a orange firefish, a leopard wrass, and either a flame angle fish or a small yellow tang. For corals, I'm planning to do a mixed reef, but it will be mostly BTA and SPS dominated. I also got my Tunze ATO running no more buckets of water for me My little helper....

 

[mochaclownlover]

Decided it was finally time to move my RBTAs and clownfish to their new home. I had to leave them on the same rock they were on in the other tank till they move off. It took about 3 hrs to transfer everything over, but every one is great thus far, the only thing was I stressed one of the nems out too much and he split.

Tank before....

Tank After. Fire clown likes this more than the egg crate jail I had him in before. It isn't shown in this pic, but this nem is currently splitting as I am typing this.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Anemones and clowns are very happy in their new tank.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Time for an update. Last week I received my first two Ecotech products, a mp10 and the ecotech battery backup unit! It's been awhile since I moved everyone over from the 14 gallon and I can see a lot of spots where I could add some coral on my next round at the fish store..... #reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

 

[NY_Caveman]

Time for an update. Last week I received my first two Ecotech products, a mp10 and the ecotech battery backup unit! It's been awhile since I moved everyone over from the 14 gallon and I can see a lot of spots where I could add some coral on my next round at the fish store..... #reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

Looking really good! Clowns and BTAs look quite happy.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Thanks!