SCA 50 Gal Cube - Second Reef Tank

Joshua Morey · Nov 30, 2017

What’s up guys! I finally bit the bullet and got the SCA 50 Gal all in one system. First things first. This thing is SOLID. The stand is great quality and the tank itself is THICK glass. It’s a lot heavier than I thought as well.

Funniest part about the whole delivery process was by far how the tank was delivered. Some context, I live in a townhome on a busy intersection that shares a parking lot with an apartment complex. This 18-wheeler parks in the middle of the road during rush hour and unloads the tank by pallet, pre assembled. So worth it.

Here are some assembly pics from the other day. I’m dry fitting everything and thinking how I want to organize things. To start I installed 16 feet of LEDs connected to a motion detecter by the doors. I went ahead and picked up some Velcro straps and a label maker to make remembering where things are plugged in easy. I also started the instal on my reefkeeper lite.

I will say that the kit comes ready to plug in but I wasn’t a fan of the soft plumbing and Durso overflow. I have an order from brs coming to hardplumb the tank as well as 50lbs dry pukani rock.

Everything semi cleaned up and labeled

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reeferfoxx · Dec 1, 2017

Thats an awesome looking tank! Is that one of the SCA plug and play setups?

Joshua Morey · Dec 2, 2017

reeferfoxx said:
Thats an awesome looking tank! Is that one of the SCA plug and play setups?

Yup! I got it on sale from amazon for $650. Not a bad deal at all considering the quality of all the components.

Barrett · Dec 2, 2017

Looking good I will be following along. I love my SCA 50.

Joshua Morey · Dec 7, 2017

No updates for the tank as of yet. Still waiting on the shipment from BRS. I did set up my water mixing station though! I’ll get some pics up soon of the whole set up.

Joshua Morey · Dec 11, 2017

Alright, finally got further in progress today!

Cut some black egg crate from BRS to put on the bottom of the glass for my rock work.

Ended up ordering 50lbs of dry Pukani from BRS. This is about 30/35. They weren’t kidding when they advertised these rocks as large and porous. Super happy with it over all! I played around with some ideas for an aquascape and I realized I wanted some height and some type of “mountain” structure and a cave or two. It worked out perfect. I have a tunnel/cavern and plenty of height with a good view from all three sides of the tank!

Next up was the plumbing. I plumbed for a Herbie overflow and installed gate valves on both the main siphon and on the return line. I really like the way it came out. I glued mostly everything except a few 45 degree elbows.

Set up my kessil with the gooseneck. Will be adjusting over the next couple weeks.

Get a load of this nonsense! 3 of the power adapters for my electronics have those crazy large stupid plugs and they take up most of the room on my little power strip. I’m gonna have to unravel some wires I twisted together and play with how everything gets plugged in. Not the end of the world but enough to bug me. Haha

Everything as is! Pretty happy at the moment. I got the siphon started and I’m kicking back now monitoring the levels. I plugged in one of the wave makers also so I can get some movement going.

Here’s the plan from here on out.
1.) finish plugging everything in and testing/setting everything up.
2.) water change and prep to cure the dry rock.

Getting excited. Goodnight peeps!

RHII · Dec 29, 2017

Nice setup! Plumbing looks great! I just got my SCA50 this December too. Which powerheads did you decide to go with for you setup? I was trying to decide between Gyre 230 (too much flow?), MP10 or something more affordable like Jaebo PP8s?

I look forward to watching your build

Joshua Morey · Dec 30, 2017

RHII said:
Nice setup! Plumbing looks great! I just got my SCA50 this December too. Which powerheads did you decide to go with for you setup? I was trying to decide between Gyre 230 (too much flow?), MP10 or something more affordable like Jaebo PP8s?

I look forward to watching your build

Thanks! There’s been a ton of planning before hand so I’m pumped to get everything going! I went with 2 Jaebo PP8s I know it might be too much but I’m wanting to mess around with some different flow rates. Over all so far they are pretty nice

RHII · Jan 1, 2018

Joshua Morey said:
Thanks! There’s been a ton of planning before hand so I’m pumped to get everything going! I went with 2 Jaebo PP8s I know it might be too much but I’m wanting to mess around with some different flow rates. Over all so far they are pretty nice

Nice, I've been online every night...youtube and all the forums getting ideas and planning everything out. My wife thinks I'm obsessed, she wasn't around during this first tank so she doesn't even know how bad this is going to get lol

Joshua Morey · Jan 6, 2018

reeferfoxx said:
Thats an awesome looking tank! Is that one of the SCA plug and play setups?

Thanks! Yes it is. if you're considering it, get it!

Joshua Morey · Jan 6, 2018

Heres a pic of the water mixing station I have set up in the laundry room. My friends have dubbed it "the fish lab"

Heres a pic of the RO/DI system I use. The RO buddy. I know i need a new cartridge, this last fill up killed it.

I was messing with my cable organization and I came across a problem. I had no idea the Reefkeeper light only works on PC? What is that? So I cant update the firmware with my Macbook. I do have a bigger issue though. The PB4 bar that came with the Reefkeeper doesn't supply power to anything I plug into it! Is this because it needs to be updated first or is the power strip faulty?

Joshua Morey · Jan 24, 2018

Alright, I managed to finish curing my rock and started the cycle. Everything went well and pretty quick. My numbers are all where they need to be. Ended up impulse buying the firefish and the blenny. But after the last week they show no signs of stress. All is well right now.

Joshua Morey · Mar 1, 2018

Sup guys long time no post. Went thru the diatom bloom and finished up cycling my system. Everything looks great. Added a few fish to the system

1.) Flame angel juvenille, however Im pretty sure the little guy is a goner. Nowhere to be seen in tank or surrounding areas/sump. RIP little buddy

Ive got my eyes open for a fishy skeleton.

2.) 2 Ocellaris Clowns, one however jumped out. Poor little guy.
*never lost a fish or coral before this. What the heck is happening?
3.) about 14 Trochus snails split between the sump and display tank.
4.) Two Tiger sand Conch snails, these guys keep my sandbed tip top and they are hilarious to watch. Really recommend them
5.) Last but not least is Big Bird the yellow tang its a super interesting fish, by far my favorite in the hobby so far.

Here are some pics I got the other night.

Lastly Ive been toying around with the idea of creating a youtube channel dedicated to reefing, let me know what you guys would like to hear.

Denisk · Mar 1, 2018

One of my first rimless Reef tanks I bought. Gifted it to my parents and it’s still running. Just watch out for the hinges as they tend to rust. Otherwise great tank!

Looks great so far! Can’t wait to see more progress down the road.