50g sandbar reef

[kilo]

So guys ive been really busy with school and other stuff, but i figured its time to update you guys on my 50 gallon starphire cube! ive been putting quite a bit of time into it, im waiting for my SOL's to move all the coral from my tank to this one. Its been setup for a lil over a month now so i believe its ready for most of my corals. My house is very quiet almost 24/7, so this tank had to fit in without adding too much noise, but even with the tunze silence pump it wasnt enough so we did something unique with this tanks filtration :mrgreen:

stock list:
yellow tang (dont shoot! ill explain!)
coral beauty

mechanical side:
SC 65 skimmer
x2 hydor karalia 2nd gen 750's
smart wave pump controller
tunze heater
tunze silence controllable return

enough talk now to pics !!! :D

as for our friend the yellow tang, hes only staying for 6-8 months tops! my mom loves yellow tangs, and this will help keep her happy and thats what i need to keep this tank.. Dont worry ive already found a home for him(in a comfortable 7foot long tank) i know its frowned upon but my mom really wanted this.

this is one night of skimming

 

[beeguiles]

Looks great!

 

[Smitty]

Very nice so far.

 

[little_fish]

Very cool, is that your stand plumbed to the outside?

 

[kilo]

Yup!!! Keeps the noise wayy down, and gives us a nice place to store all the other stuff for the tank

 

[kilo]

both fish died :( im not sure why yet, i got my water tested 2 weeks ago, the tank had been running for 3 weeks prior. Guy at my LFS said water was ok for fish. ill get some numbers today. the only thing that changed was that i put the fiji mud from my 20 gals HOB fuge into the 50gals sump and the koralia powerheads. But also in this cold weather weve been having temp. swings from 76-71'F, were gonna buy another heater today this one a 250w so that with both the heaters it should be able to keep it at a constant 78'F.

 

[SarahSmile]

I'm sorry to hear this Jake. You DEF need your own testing kits tho.

 

[little_fish]

Im sorry to hear this also, and I also think that its a really bad I idea to have all that stuff outside. Its going to cause major temperature swings and the risk of contamination is much higher. You really dont even want a tank against an outside wall.

 

[kilo]

The temp swings I think I'll be able to control, what about a UV sterilizer?

 

[fastrd400]

Jake, add another heater. Also, buy your own test kits and learn how to use them. Never take the word of a LFS. As for the Yellow, he'd be fine in there for longer than your time frame. Also, adjust your skimmer, it is skimming a little wet.

 

[kilo]

just bought our own test kit, were testing as we speak. ill go buy a heater in a few, and ill adjust the skimmer, thanks wade.

 

[kilo]

we bought the reef master API test and our levels are as follows
salinity 33
specific gravity 1.0245
phosphate 0.5 ish
KH 214.8
calcium was high at 600
nitrate was the worst at 20
:frustrat::grumble:

 

[SarahSmile]

Does it measure nitrite, PH, ammonia?
When you referred to temperature swings are you saying that the temperature in your tank fluctuated?

 

[kilo]

No for some reason it doesn't, I'll look for separate tests. And yes

 

[beeguiles]

Any updates on your tank?

 

[kilo]

ya ive got a whole bunch, we realized our PH dropped to 7.5 when the fish died, and waited till it rose back to 8.4 and the nitrate went from 10 down to 0 ! then we started stocking... slowly of course, we have 2 clowns and a bicolor dottyback. and a whole bunch of coral.. ill update with pics tommorow, ive just been so busy and lazy recently lol thanks for asking!

 

[stiracerdude]

great Idea with the Sump outside

 

[hachadwick]

I think I agree with little_fish, having the sump outside sounds like a lot of risk. I don't know how it is in California, but here in Arkansas, the temperature swings about 20+ degrees from night and day. Also, that water would be full of bugs and other critters around here:)

 

[kilo]

Ours is constantly sealed off, and the temp doesn't worry me, we have 2 heaters, and we are going to install cooling fans. CA temp doesn't swing a whole lot

 

[chichimom79]

It's a gorgeous tank. Can't wait to see more pics.