Nate's SCA 50g Cube (1 Viewer)

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

Last year on October 20th, I bought a used 50g and sump. I had no clue about plumbing, sumps and stuff (oh my!), as my previous tanks were smaller AIOs. I knew I was in for a learning experience and a lot of work, but I wasn't in a rush.

I decided to have someone build me a custom stand and 1 month later I barely squeezed it into my wife's crossover suv and headed home. There is a local guy in Spring who does great work. Andrew's Workshop, check him out on Facebook. Got the tank on the stand and in it's spot. Now the research comes.... What do I do next???

Next I painted the inside of the stand, I used Redgard Waterproofing on the bottom and 2" up the sides, then I applied some white Rustoleum Marine Topside paint on the insides. Probably overkill, but I already had the stuff so why not. Now to work on the plumbing. My SCA tank came with a 1/2" hole and a 1" hole. I wanted a herbie style drain, so I drilled out the 1/2" hole to a 1". Now I have a 1" drain and a 1" emergency drain. I also ran a 1" exterior return line over the top. Almost 7 months later from bringing the tank home, I finally added some water. I used a combination of CaribSea Life Rock and Real Reef Rock that I got from Galactic Coral. It was used rock and outside, so I cleaned it, bleached it and then seeded it for a couple of months in a tub.

Equipment list -
SCA 50g Cube
Precision Marine R24 Refugium Sump
SCA 301 Skimmer
Tunze Ato & 5g Reservoir
Current USA eFlux DC Return Pump (1900 gph)
Jebao CP-25 crossflow & Jebao SW-4 wavemaker
Cobalt Neo-Therm 200w Heater w/ Inkbird Controller

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

Cycling done (I used Dr Tim's One & Only), so I wanted to add my first fish. I chose a six line wrasse from Fishland... Well, it died in 2 days. (which I don't mind now, as I've read they can become aggressive and shouldn't be the first fish) On June 6th, I got another fish from FJW, a flame hawk. It has been doing great in my tank.

I found out that PorpoiseHork has the same sump, so I PM'd him with some questions and he was really helpful He showed me a tip to get the filter socks out without having to take the plumbing pipe out. Cut the tabs to make the opening bigger, then I can just tilt the sock, then slide it down the pipe and out! Simple! It's great being part of a group who is helpful!

Sometimes I get this white stringy slimy stuff that grows on the rocks. I've had it multiple times. I think it's some kind of bacterial bloom. At first I thought it was related to some air fresherner spray, but I'm not so sure now. The first time, the water got cloudy, when it became clear, these started appearing. Now when it happens, the water does not get cloudy, but the stingy stuff appears and then disappears in a few days. I've contemplated using some kind of sludge remover, but since it goes away in a few days, I havent.

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

In the six months of the tank up and running, I've lost some fish and had some issues. I've lost 2 midas blennies (1st jumped and I think the 2nd got a pellet stuck in his throat but I'm not sure). I had a pygmy angelfish die after going on a few days vacation and coming home to the tank with the power off for a day. I've had 3 blue reef chromis die one after the other. Here are some pics in their memory.
The current stock list for the tank is 1 snowflake clown, 1 flame hawk, and 1 african flameback angel.

ITreefer · Oct 28, 2020

Looks beautiful, he did a great job on that stand for sure.
Sorry about the losses you've incurred, that is always tough.

Why not go with a pair of clowns vs a single one?

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

ITreefer said:
Looks beautiful, he did a great job on that stand for sure.
Sorry about the losses you've incurred, that is always tough.

Why not go with a pair of clowns vs a single one?

About the clowns... I have a 20g tank with 2 anemones. This clown was in there with another clown, the other clown just cares about her nem, so they never paired. So when I had the lone flame hawk in the 50g, I figured I'd move 1 clown over for company. I don't want a nem in this tank, so the other one stayed in the 20g. Then when I got a midas blenny, the clownfish became buddies with it. About a month ago, when I got the angel, I bought a smaller clown as a friend for him. But he wasn't having it, picked on him, so I moved him back to the 20g, leaving the new clown in the 50g. Then the midas blenny started picking on the little guy. So I flip-flopped the clowns again and the little guy is in the 20g with the larger clownfish, but she doesn't mind at all.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

nightster · Oct 28, 2020

Looking good!

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

August 15th - Made a lid with a clear screen from Amazon and a window screen from kit from Home Depot. I also had some black interlocking egg crate that I used to cover the overflow and to notch out my return pipe. I think it turned out great! No more jumpers!

October 16th - New light... Maxspect Jump LED MJ-L165 ($230). I've been waiting over a month for this thing to hit the US. I had some delays, with it being a new light and distribution, but finally got it and installed it.
"So far I'm impressed. It is smaller that I originally imagined, but that's a good thing. The mounting arm, which is included, was easy to assemble and adjust. The wifi app is easy to use, watching some short videos on YouTube from Maxspect helped. Adjusting color spectrum and schedule is easy, similar to the Prime lights. You can create your own, or there are some presettings available, or you can import an QR Code that has someone else's settings. The coverage seems to fill up my 24"x24" 50g nicely. I can't wait to see how this light performs and fill up my tank!"
That was my initial review. Since playing around with it, I've noticed that the light doesn't keep a schedule like it's suppossed to. I couldn't return an opened item, so I had to file a warranty claim. As of now the light is being shipped back to CoralVue for repairs and the Kessil 160we is back on the tank. I can't wait to have the Jump light back and working correctly. I think it has a lot of potential for an inexpensive light.

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

This week, I'm trying to figure out how to start dosing. I'm going to use Reef Pro Complete and I have a Jabeo DP-2 dosing pump. Yet another thing to learn about!

And now for some coral pics....

RFAs

JF Freak Hair

Alveopora

Gold Hammer (anyone need a frag?)

Uranium Bounce

frankc · Oct 28, 2020

NatesReef said:
Cycling done (I used Dr Tim's One & Only), so I wanted to add my first fish. I chose a six line wrasse from Fishland... Well, it died in 2 days. (which I don't mind now, as I've read they can become aggressive and shouldn't be the first fish) On June 6th, I got another fish from FJW, a flame hawk. It has been doing great in my tank.

I found out that PorpoiseHork has the same sump, so I PM'd him with some questions and he was really helpful He showed me a tip to get the filter socks out without having to take the plumbing pipe out. Cut the tabs to make the opening bigger, then I can just tilt the sock, then slide it down the pipe and out! Simple! It's great being part of a group who is helpful!

Sometimes I get this white stringy slimy stuff that grows on the rocks. I've had it multiple times. I think it's some kind of bacterial bloom. At first I thought it was related to some air fresherner spray, but I'm not so sure now. The first time, the water got cloudy, when it became clear, these started appearing. Now when it happens, the water does not get cloudy, but the stingy stuff appears and then disappears in a few days. I've contemplated using some kind of sludge remover, but since it goes away in a few days, I havent.

The white stuff coming out from the rock looks a bit like a vermetid snail web. Check to see if it appears to be coming from a hard tube on the rock, which I think I can see on the rock. If that's what it is, they can multiply like crazy and be very annoying. Sometimes you can physically remove them, some people have used super glue over the opening, I have found F-Aiptasia to work as well.

NatesReef · Oct 28, 2020

frankc said:
The white stuff coming out from the rock looks a bit like a vermetid snail web. Check to see if it appears to be coming from a hard tube on the rock, which I think I can see on the rock. If that's what it is, they can multiply like crazy and be very annoying. Sometimes you can physically remove them, some people have used super glue over the opening, I have found F-Aiptasia to work as well.

Yeah, I'm getting an outbreak of vermetid snails in my 20g, so I know what they are and how to combat them. And you are right, it does look very similar. But there are no vermatid snails (yet) in this tank, at least that I see. Maybe not in that pic, but I can literally see where the stringy stuff comes off the rock and nothing is there. This stuff clogs my filter socks in a day.

steveb · Oct 28, 2020

Nice setup!

NatesReef · Nov 4, 2020

Finally got a pic of my flameback angel. Smh.

Picked up a nice torch the other week.

FTS

steveb · Nov 4, 2020

NatesReef said:
Finally got a pic of my flameback angel. Smh.

I'es camera shy

NatesReef · Nov 4, 2020

Surprised to find my Maxspect Jump LED light back today. They went ahead and replaced the light. Now to get my dosing setup.

NatesReef · Jan 11, 2021

Just a couple of pics. The tank is looking nice these days, the water is really clear. No bloom of whatever it is, right now.

reefnewb · Jan 11, 2021

Big fan of your scape! And that peachy/gold hammer looks amazing!

NatesReef · Jan 11, 2021

reefnewb said:
Big fan of your scape! And that peachy/gold hammer looks amazing!

Thanks! The scape is a bit challenging trying to layout the correct corals for the correct lighting and flow.
Yeah, that's one of my newest additions. It's a frogspawn or octospawn, IDK. But it turned out to be a huge piece from a local guy.
If still looking for a euphyllia, I have some gold hammer frags. PM me if interested.

NatesReef · Feb 24, 2021

Snagged some corals during the Unlimited Color Corals valentines day live sale on Feb 13th. Picked them up Sunday before the storm. IDK what I was thinking, but they all survived (so far).
CC Cloudberries Chalice
UCC Tiger Eye Lithophyllon
UCC Starburst Micro Goni
UCC Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Moved my Sonic The Hedgehog Galaxea to my 20g to make room.

Also added a sand sifting starfish recently.

About a week before, I moved my barnacle blenny from my 20g to this tank. I'd like to find 1 or 2 more.

Been adding zoas to the zoa rock.

NatesReef · Feb 24, 2021

Survived the winter storm last week... Sunday the house heater quit working... Monday morning we had snow, the power went out and water pressure was minimal. Tuesday turned off the main water to the house and went to stay at elsewhere. Power came back on 56 hours later and got the heater working again on Saturday. What an adventure.

Monday morning cranked up the generator (Rainier R2200i - 1800w running) on my two tanks (2-3 heaters and a wavemaker). Gas in the tank lasted about 10-11hrs with that load, just enough to fill it up at 10pm and refill it at 8am. Felt silly telling people that I have a generator for my fish tanks, but we gotta do what we do to survive.

Mostly everything survived. My fish are still swimming and corals look good. I may have lost an acan and my tubbs stellata, but not sure yet.

tjohnson3 · Feb 26, 2021

I like that aquascape

Nate's SCA 50g Cube (1 Viewer)

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