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Innovative Marine Aquariums

New 16 Gallon Aquatic Style Opticlear Cube Build


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30th September - First FTS After Transfer from 10G

 

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26th December 2013 - FTS (3 months since transfer)

 

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THE BUILD/UPGRADE:

 

Transfer completed 30th September 2013:

 

Never did I think that I would upgrade from my 10 Gallon to something larger so fast. But I had some issues with failing blue LED's and while I was on the hunt for new lighting options - I fell in love with a tank.

 

40cm x 40cm Aquatic Style Tank and matching gloss black stand. Pairing it with a Maxspect Razor Nano 60w, Octopus N80 Nano Skimmer, Tunze Return Pump and Jager 100w Heater in a simple sump.

 

Getting it home was a slight issue - the tank box was huge and the only place I could put it was the front seat!

 

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Skip past all the boring stuff and straight to finishing off the 20mm bulkheads and test fitting things for the overflow after drilling the bottom. Thanks to my brother for being the arm model and letting me blind him. I decided to opt for an internal overflow, as I want to be able to put it almost flush against a wall if I ever have to.

 

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Back home and the move begins! I haaaaaaaaaaate mess.

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Under the Tank looking quite spiffy. Very simple sump using an old tank. Main chamber holding the Reef Octopus N80, Jager 100w Heater, the sump has 2kgs of live rock in it and the fluctuation chamber has the Tunze return pump (was off to test the drain back for this photo) Everything mounted up on the walls to keep it neat and safe.

 

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Maxspect Razor Nano 60W

 

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Not too keen on the disco ball effect, so made a make-shift diffuser until I figure out something better.

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The custom weir I had made by a local acrylic maker. VERY happy with the result.

 

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And the finished product! The corals aren't in their forever places, but I wanted to let them settle in as soon as possible and will move them later on. The Opticlear glass looks amazing.

 

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Thoughts welcome!

 

Cheers,

Nicole

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Basic List of Fish & Corals:

  • True Percula Clownfish (Shelby, she loves her anemone and HATES me)
  • Orange Lined Cardinal (PJ, I'm quite attached to him)
  • Tiny Brown and Pink Sea Cucumber that hitchhiked in
  • Toxic Green Torch
  • Purple Star Polyps
  • Fluro Orange Short Tentacle Fungia (my new baby)
  • Green Short Tentacle Fungia
  • Small 8 head Acan colony (only very small, red and purple/blue)
  • Green/Pink Open Brain Trachy + another small green/red one
  • 2 x small colonies of Zoas (purple/green x 14 and 4 x blue/red/purple (the 2nd ones came as hitchikers on another piece of coral and I was given them, they should be impressive as they spread)
  • Blue/Purple Squammy Clam (Grumpy Clam as I have nicknamed it - it HATES being fed when it's not hungry and will blow away any food it doesn't want)
  • Couple of little scoly-type buttons (Red/Green and Blue/Green)
  • Green Aussie War Coral
  • Green/Pink and another White/Pink Bubble Tip Anemones (the white is obstructed from this shot)
  • Blasto Heads (4 small heads)
  • Magenta Carnation (newbie mistake - Bought as "Thistle" without realising it was the same thing)
  • Numerous blue/purple/orangey-red Morphs

 

Coming next week? My Peppermint Shrimp :-)

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Haha Fish Brawler, mine is on the RIGHT side :P (literally too!)

 

Thanks everyone for the complements :-) My brother is a big part of this build, I tend to hurt myself with power tools (I nearly cut my finger off using a dremel to trim the light diffuser LOL - typical unco female!)

 

I'm still learning about this DSLR but I will update as I can. I have a few here that I can add from the 10 Gal set up. I am NO GOOD at tank shots and it takes me 20 shots to get a good one.

 

Orange Fungia Plate:

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Deep Green Fungia Plate:

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Pink & Green Open Brain:

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Tridacna Squamosa (Grumpy Clam) + Blue/Purple Morph & Red/Green Button/Donut:

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Open Brain (Background) Green Fungia, Purple Morph & Blue/Green Button/Donut (it was

Damaged when I bought it and it has recovered really well)

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Blasto (1 head got lost in the upgrade) with the Red/Green Donut/button in the background:

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Green with Pink Tips BTA just on Blue's:

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Another shot of the open brain. One of my fave's

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Bit weird with the lighting, this was taken before I put the diffuser onto the Razor, it was colour banding

pretty badly and I didn't get a great shot. These little purple star's are cute.

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I'm pretty fussy with water, so I'm sure it'll do well. I've been surprised with some of the growth I've had already had so hopefully it continues

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Haha - Yes, a girl reefer :D

 

I swore that I wouldn't have another tank when I took down my old 180 Litre (45 Gal) Cichlid set up that I'd had for years (I fell into the "lazy" category for freshwater keepers and didn't do so well) but after being without a tank for a year and my brother starting a home based marine fish, corals and dry goods business, eventually I gave in, joined Nano Reef and started researching (I'm one of those million page readers that end up knowing far more about nothing that a lot about the important stuff - So I am on a steep learning curve!)

 

Without my brothers influence - I'd have more money in my pocket and a $50 lamp in the corner instead of a $1,XXX one! :P

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Great new pictures. Also, good to see another Aussie on the forums :).

 

Thanks - Yes, it's the subtle Aussie invasion ;-) I thought you may like the Orange plate, judging by your Avatar.

 

 

 

didn't know razor had a nano fixture. super sweet set-up.

 

Yeah it's impressive. I don't like the amount of shimmer it created though, as it makes individual corals and smaller objects hard to study closely, but I've reduced it by more than half with the diffuser (simple as unscrewing the slide mounts and popping the pins back in through the plastic/fibreglass)

 

The flexibility of settings and the way it dims between each time frame is wonderful. I looked at the manual and thought "What the Heck am I going to do with THIS?!) but I didn't even need it to program it. It's very simple once you click your way around it and get your bearings.

 

 

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I think the largest difference I've noticed already with the upgrade is the EVAPORATION!! WOWSERS! Will be looking into an auto top off unit in case I ever need to be away for 2-3 days (no great hurry, but it needs to be addressed)

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I agree, not a big fan of the disco-ball affect either. but LED's in the long run, and color customization/dimming kind of cool to mess with.

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Wow, pretty spiffy lil tank with some high end equipment. Whats not to like :) Great coral selection thus far. Really like where this tank is going!

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Thanks :-)

 

I have another wave maker coming next week (will be 32x total turnover in the display) and a peppermint shrimp and then, maybe, after some more dedication to research

 

SPS will be on the cards if I can keep this water quality as good as I've been able to so far (RO water has been great)

 

But I need to learn more first.

 

Baby steps.

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Thanks - Yes, it's the subtle Aussie invasion ;-) I thought you may like the Orange plate, judging by your Avatar.

Yeah your orange plate is pretty awesome, I really like your green one though. Looks much better then my green one :D.

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The Orange one came from Mentone Aquarium in Melbs. I had a friend bring it up for me. The green one was the baby of a hitchhiker that came in on some live rock for my mums tank and she gave me one. It's got another baby now that will end up with one of us. Between our houses we have tanks of all different shapes and sizes (from a 21 litre Mantas Shrimp tank to a 1100 litre tank, our whole family has it covered)

 

Anyhow, although the green one is not super bright in colour, it's so deep and rich and the stripes on it are so nice. Awesome score for a free hitchhiker!

 

Thought I better identify the cords lol.

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  • 2 months later...

Okay! Some updates!

 

I've added some more live rock and re-scaped. I've added a extra wave maker and a few small corals (tiny teal morph, candy cane coral, very small leather mushroom etc) and got rid of the Anemone.

 

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Looking forward to getting some more acan frags to make a little acan garden.


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My Green Torch is doing really well and doesn't mind the attention of the clown.


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The Open Trachy Brain was my first coral and honestly, I'm SO in love with it. It's just stunning. Light, bright and puffy. It has grown FAST!!


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My Blue/Green and this Red/Green button/donut were chomped by a rogue snail that now lives in the sump. I wasn't fast enough to save the Blue/Green one, but I did save this one and the 20% eaten flesh has come back in a matter of 6 weeks.


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This Fungia is growing as fast as a thunderstorm. It's still got it's stalk, so it's perched up here. Eats really well. It's not as green as it was when it was little, but it's super happy and I love the stripes.


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Top Tank Shot. My first top shot. The clam looks magic from up here and you get an idea of the rock work projection.


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Grumpy Clam (well, it's actually quite a happy clam and has grown another flute on it's skeleton/shell. Does NOT like to be fed, but I keep an eye on calcium to make sure it hovers around 480 to keep it happy and healthy. It looks purple from eye level and neon blue from above.


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The new candy cane coral, still settling in but it happily ate (and had seconds) yesterday.


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Hrmm, nice shot of some algae beside the purple star polyps and a little stick has flipped over with a morph on it.


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After being tortured by my hermit crab (now rehomed) and living as a skeleton for a week or 2, the orange plate has bounced back really well.


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I'm still in 2 minds about whether to keep Shelby, my Perc, as she is verrrrrrrrrrrry aggressive, but will see how she goes.


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My little red acan. Growing down (where you can see the feeder tentacles)


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And the new baby! Blue Assessor. I'm in love. What a stunning little fish he is. The clown hasn't bothered him yet (she is more intent on harrassing the tiny 1/2" blue/green chromis) and if she keeps that up she will probably have to find a new home. I want a peaceful tank.


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He has the biggest tail I've ever seen. Still settling in and a little shy. Not interested in pellets, more frozen (which is fine, I feed varied)


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Hi there, I was wondering if you could post a side picture of your whole fts including the tank/light/stand. You see, I'm trying to figure if I should upgrade to a 14" cube or 15" cube, with nano razor on it. Thanks man.

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thanks chick* (I'm a girl ;-) LOL)

 

I'll go take a pic now.

 

Sorry about that....I will keep that in mind.

Thank you again.

 

Edit: Ok I have a good excuse, I see a man's hand reaching into the tank for the 1st post LOL.

 

**UPDATE BELOW - SEE Post towards the bottom of this page**

 

 

 

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HAHA! You're forgiven :-)

 

Yeah that's my brothers hand, he's the reason I'm poor (he has a 310 Gallon reef and my mother has a 100 Gallon set up.)

 

So 3 house holds that can blame him for being poor LOL.

 

 

Here you go :-) It's a 16" Opticlear Glass Cube.

 

 

 

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Front Right Hand View


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Still some extra rock work needed in the back left hand corner to finish off the Assessor's mansion:


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And the whole set up. Have added some red macro algae to the sump and upgraded the lighting (the old LED light failed to keep the algae alive, so I've started again)


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The only other things down here are the glass cleaner (I'm due to do that, usually every 3 days I give it a wipe over - I don't like the magnet types, so the little yellow dish brush soft clean attachment down there got hot water soaked and I use that, as I want to eliminate ANY chances of scratches)

 

The white tray you can see in there is the skimmer catcher. It's a George Forman drip tray that I'd never used and it fits in there perfectly. In the centre section there is a grid with floss and carbon pads and chemi pure elite in the left hand side.

 

I'm going to upgrade the sump to a semi-trickle system on the left when I save a little more, with a similar overall set up.

 

Still need to add more CUC. As it's a simple overflow with a straight run to the sump from the gooseneck in the back chamber, there's no chances of snails getting stuck.

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Wow, very very nice! Ok, I've decided, sticking with the 14" cube choice ahah, thank you again.

 

Wow, your tank looks very beautiful. Mind sharing pictures of your brother and mother's setup?? hehehe, I could only see a good pattern of you three having awesome tanks. :)

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