devaji108 Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 long story short last BF I treated myself to a nice new RS750XXL...so what the heck I am doing in the nano forum? that build stalled out as shortly after gettiing in tank in, my GF bought a fixer upper house 30 min. from us and not knowing what is gonna happen in my future we decided not to set up the 750...months went by reno tanking alot longer than it was supposed to. you all know the story so. so that brings me here and now I have always loved RFA and dreamed of a build to focus on them. after a week or more of thinking about a small couch side nano I just placed my order for a Fijicube 18.5 gal AIO I was between the Fluval evo 13.5 IM 14/20 and the little ATO that came with the Rs750 all had there advantages and disadvantages but in the end I went with the Fiji cube peninsula love the foot print @ 24x14x13 it was the most appealing.https://www.fijicube.com/collections/glass-all-in-one-aquarium/products/18-5-gallon-rimless-aio-glass-nano-tank-fiji-cube This build is gonna rock......with rock flowers nems that is! I should have the tank in 4-7 days. as of now here is the plan...tank: fijicube 18.5 AIOlighting: AI prime HD with 3D diffuserheater: 100W finexx ( already have )controller: keeping it simple just use a inkbird temp controller. but could use my Apex if it ends up being some what close to the bigger tank.flow: I am between upgrading the stock pump to a DC one with more flow and a RFG OR go with a reefbreders reef power 260 GPH wave maker.rock: i will use real reef rock I have a 40br wet and live that I can use. prob. use 10#stocking: lots of inverts I hope to have 30+ RFA as the main focus, a few mini max nems as well. ~2x pom pom crab ~fire shrimp ~2X hermit crab ~porcelain crab ~4-6 sexy shrimp ( or more if I can find a good deal) a few feather dusters maybe a staghorn crab? nem. clown shrimp? these guys look cool too fish: yellow clown Goby purple fire fish maybe a green mandarin will train to frozen but will sub. with hatch BBS with a modded Paul B feeder. Let me know what you guys think so far. not sure 3 fish is a good idea or not but I see more in ppl evo 13.5. pics of the tank to come when I get it in. 4 Quote Link to comment
zoafan627 Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 Subbing to this. 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 43 minutes ago, zoafan627 said: Subbing to this. hopefully i will not disappoint! Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 just got confirmation from fiji cube the tank shipped today! they even FB messaged we to confirm the address. so far there CS has been top notch! also order 20# of real reef rock from premium aquatics. I have 40+ # live and happy in a holding tank (40br) for the 750 so I will have 60# to choose from. if I cant get a scape i like I am firing myself...lol prob. only use 12-16# but hey it's all about the scape and not the # of LR anyway. updates coming soon! Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 not much to update. tank is on its way! It's was in Omaha NB this AM. UPS said it was only gonna take 2 days. I was a bit doubtful about that tracked it again today now it says end of day Friday. that still pretty fast tho. the real reef rock got shipped out yesterday. ordered form premium aquatics thought it would ship from CA but its coming from IL. so that's not scheduled till mon. guess I should have ordered it a few days before. oh well no rush. in the mean time I can figure out my final fish and CUC list. all tho I think I am pretty much got that down. 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 Well look what arrived today! Kitty making sure it's safe. No unboxing video but here is a photo series. Not much info out there on these tanks so I thought I should document this build so others looking at the Fiji cubes Aio tanks have more to to go on. Let the photo dump began... not what you want to see...a nice gash in the box right though the fragile sticker 😮 but the tank was OK! here is the mat. was hoping it was already attached like the red sea tanks. oh well another project. the goodies it comes with. 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 Here is a few more pics: Media basket. I think this will work great for filter floss. we shall see. 15W -800LPH pump. I wonder how it will do?? quite small @ 4" filter sock. don't think I will use this. plumbing... 1ST FTS with all the goodies that comes with the tank. 5 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 update time! I ordered the AI prime with 12" flex arm and the 3D diffuser. the other day should be here in a few days. I felt the diffuser was a must to keep light spill in the room down. also ordered 20# of real reef rock nanao size it should be here today sometime. excited to start the scape. i'll post pics of the rock when it comes in! things are moving forward. Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Looking good! Following along. Love me some RFAs! Have a bunch and need more! 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 13 hours ago, SeaFurn said: Looking good! Following along. Love me some RFAs! Have a bunch and need more! yeah I really love some RFA I hope to have 20+ any good deals on bulk RFA out there? I found saltcritters and soflow any other vendor I should know about? I'll have to check out your 45 shallow soon! got the 20# of real reef rock in today here is some quick shoots: even got a few small shelf pieces and some branch! 3 Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Getting rock already purple will make the RFAs really pop. I’ve been super happy with my order from Saltcritters. I would advise you purchase WYSIWG vs random purchases. I’ve done both and the latter was quite disappointing. However, it was only $8 so....you get what you pay for. I bought a pack pack of them once and received nearly identical flowers, so that was another lesson learned. No worries, as I just separated them between 2 tanks. 1 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 6 hours ago, devaji108 said: yeah I really love some RFA I hope to have 20+ any good deals on bulk RFA out there? I found saltcritters and soflow any other vendor I should know about? I'll have to check out your 45 shallow soon! got the 20# of real reef rock in today here is some quick shoots: even got a few small shelf pieces and some branch! Nice looking rock! They are a great size for the nems to wedge themselves next to. That's what most of mine seem to do. I got most of mine from VIP reef at first. They stopped selling them and I now get mine from @Got Corals They always have bunches of them and offer deals at times. Sandy always gets me a good variety if I buy a pack of them. You'll have to sneak over to instagram to see the 45. Same username as here. I had intended to start a tank thread here when I was transitioning out of my IM14 but never did. I've got the tank set-up for breeding them. I've lost count how many I have. Probably 80-100 adults and juveniles. I have tons of babies right now - probably close to a 100 of those too. It's definitely an addiction. 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 2 hours ago, SeaFurn said: Nice looking rock! They are a great size for the nems to wedge themselves next to. That's what most of mine seem to do. I got most of mine from VIP reef at first. They stopped selling them and I now get mine from @Got Corals They always have bunches of them and offer deals at times. Sandy always gets me a good variety if I buy a pack of them. You'll have to sneak over to instagram to see the 45. Same username as here. I had intended to start a tank thread here when I was transitioning out of my IM14 but never did. I've got the tank set-up for breeding them. I've lost count how many I have. Probably 80-100 adults and juveniles. I have tons of babies right now - probably close to a 100 of those too. It's definitely an addiction. oh my that sounds like an amazing tank I for sure have to check that out over on IG! oh and if some of those baby nems need a home PM maybe we can work something out haha. i'll also check out got corals. this build is going to be so much fun! Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 3 hours ago, TatorTaco said: Getting rock already purple will make the RFAs really pop. I’ve been super happy with my order from Saltcritters. I would advise you purchase WYSIWG vs random purchases. I’ve done both and the latter was quite disappointing. However, it was only $8 so....you get what you pay for. I bought a pack pack of them once and received nearly identical flowers, so that was another lesson learned. No worries, as I just separated them between 2 tanks. yeah I have been really happy with real reef rocks this is my 2nd or 3rd order of the stuff. a bit pricey but IMHO worth it especially for a nano tank I prob. could have gotten away with 10-15# but it's always nice to have more when scaping. well there 'we' pick are $20 per nem where if I pick its $25 per...hmmm would be so nice to find a nice big pack at once. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 so the stand I had will not work as the "BOSS" said no ATO res. out side stand. so I spend more time than I care to admit on searching for stand ideas. searched high and low. inside the box and out... In the end I am gonna do a nice DIY build. the mood is modern and the goal is to match with the RS 750. more to come in the next few days. I might hold off on getting it wet until the stand is build. we shell see... in other tank news. my 3D reefing diffuser got sent back as he did not add the box # to the pkg. 😞 so another one is getting shipped out on Friday. as this boys and girls is why we order stuff before we need it. HA 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 Well after a lot if thought on a stand for this bad boy. I decided to go with a DIY stand I got a idea and hope it Turns out as good as it looks in my head...haha The start is 2-10' 2x4s might be a tad over built? but it getting there off to the hardware store for some kreg jig screws for the legs. 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 unfortunately the stand did not come out that good. not sure where I went wrong I have build a stand for a 75 and 40br that came out great but this one did not. so back to the drawing board. boo 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 I believe the problem is I used pocket screws for the legs as well as tight bond 3 wood glue. pre drilled the pocket holes added the screws the back em out then added the glue to the legs and re screwed. in the end it twisted the uprights and brought them in to the middle so the top "box" will not sit on straight or level. out $30 on the stand build not the end of the world. so now I am once again looking at options. the top of my list is EZ tube quick connectors or a end table from amazon. i'll let you know what I end up with. you would think..well I would think it would be easy to find a stand for a sub 20 gal system.. 😕 but sadly that not the case. 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 after some thought on the stand I wanted to go with a T slot stand but after pricing it all together I decided to wait until we move ( if we do) in 2-4 months so in the mean time I found a way to use what I have. a pretty heavy duty TV stand painted some 2x4 black to match the stand and give it a few more inches and added a 1/2" plywood top to it the aquarium mat and we are good to go! 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 here is a quick video I took: 1 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Great spot - plenty room to work and plenty room to sit right next to it (more importantly) lol - I really appreciated the video, much better than pictures - hope to see more :] 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 18 hours ago, Wonderboy said: Great spot - plenty room to work and plenty room to sit right next to it (more importantly) lol - I really appreciated the video, much better than pictures - hope to see more :] yup lots more coming down the pipe line. just need to figure what I want to record with go pro, phone or DLSR they upload it. my internet speed is only 5mb d/l and mu u/l must be like 1mb max 🐌 i think that 60 sec video took 30 min to upload. 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 here are some pic of the aquascape: left side view from the couch top down: front: right side: 1 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Looking good! 1 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 here is a video of the scape forgot to go into landscape mode again...boo next time i'll remember or re shoot i! 2 Quote Link to comment
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