Vaj's 40AIO upgrade

[AquaVaj]

FTS 6/23/20

 

 

I currently have an Evo 13.5g that's been setup for about 3 months now. At around the 1.5 month mark I was already tossing around the idea of upgrading to the IM 20 peninsula but decided not to. Well my 120g that I broke down earlier this year finally sold so I pulled the trigger. I skipped the 20, thought about the 30L and was considering the Fiji Cube 38g peninsula but finally settled on the Cobalt Aquatics C-Vue 40g. I did think about a sump set up and FC had a great 38 rimless tank for that but after sourcing everything needed to sump it, it was more than I wanted to spend on a tank that size.

I placed the order with LA and a little over a week later I got the stand and a few days later the tank. Props to CA for shipping it freight on a pallet.

 

 

 

The stand on the other hand. Luckily it was double box with Styrofoam between them so there were no damage.

 

 

While there was no shipping damage the stand came with missing pieces. There were 2 bottom pieces and 2 right doors. Now I gotta work with CA on getting the missing pieces. Never in my life have I encountered this many issues on these put-together furniture on just one piece and I have put together many.

 

 

 

[AquaVaj]

I didn't have a skimmer for the Evo but wanted one for this tank due to the large water volume and bigger sump area for a skimmer that actually works. I went with the Cadlights PLS-50 Elite II after hearing good things about it.

[AquaVaj]

I wanted to go all new rocks and sand and something a little different. Instead of dry rocks I went with 20 lbs of aquacultured live rock from KP Aquatics. I also have another 15lbs of Real Reef rock coming in tomorrow. After 7 days in shipping though I think everything on them are dead. Should have ordered from another place that ships from California even though it was more expensive.

 

Even shipped overnight there were quite a bit of die off.

 

I have them curing in a bin for 6 days now and did water changes every other day.

[DNR88]

Looks like great rocks, can't wait to see it in the tank! 😊

[5*Chris]

Nice! I recently went through the same journey, different bumps in the road tho. I ended up sumping a 40b and you are absolutely right, I spent a lot more doing so than I planned or really wanted to. The build was fun, but until it was actually up and running I felt like I had screwed myself. 

 

Didn't come across this tank while searching for a new tank, but looks very nice. Look forward to watching the progress. 

[mitten_reef]

this is an interesting looking tank, not many on here.  following along to see how things come together.

[AquaVaj]

10 hours ago, DNR88 said:

Looks like great rocks, can't wait to see it in the tank! 😊

Yep, the colors on them were beautiful. Unfortunately the colors and coraline have been fading where large patches of the rock have turned almost white like dry rock. I think its because I had them covered and no light. I have put on a freshwater light to help slow this at the risk of getting algae.

8 hours ago, 5*Chris said:

Nice! I recently went through the same journey, different bumps in the road tho. I ended up sumping a 40b and you are absolutely right, I spent a lot more doing so than I planned or really wanted to. The build was fun, but until it was actually up and running I felt like I had screwed myself. 

 

Didn't come across this tank while searching for a new tank, but looks very nice. Look forward to watching the progress. 

Yep, after overflow box, sump, return pump, and plumbing it was just too much. I can't even remember how I stumbled across this tank on LA. Found out it's been out for 4 years already so not many retailers carry it. CA's website says they're OOS so I had to take a chance with LA. Not sure how they were shipping them back when they were still Fosters and Smith but many reported damaged tanks due to poor shipping packaging. 

 

8 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

this is an interesting looking tank, not many on here.  following along to see how things come together.

They do seem kind of rare. Thought they'll be more popular cause it has the same dims as a 40b but just shallower at 14". The back and bottom panes are non tempered so if I ever want to sump it in the future that's possible. I was thinking of doing that from the start but this isn't a $50 tank where if it cracked I could just pick up another at Petco. 

[AquaVaj]

Here's how the rocks look like today. As you can see there's quite a bit of coraline and color loss. Kinda bummed out I couldn't get them into the tank sooner.

 

[AquaVaj]

First off, an update on my stand. CA has been responsive and has agreed to send a new door and a top piece. Unfortunately they won't ship them out til early next week and it's going to take atleast a week to get to me too. Ugh!

 

So FedEx decided to finally show up with my Real Reef rocks today. I thought they'll be shipped wrapped in wet newspaper but apparently they're shipped completely dry. A bit disappointed since that kind of defeats their whole process of curing for 12-16 weeks in saltwater. Oh well my fault for not paying closer attention to the product descriptions. 

 

3 of the smaller pieces did have sponges on them but they're completely dried out and dead. Not a fan of the bigger pieces cause they're caked in that purple "paint" and look totally fake. Probably won't use those. They were packed extremely well though I'll give them that. Little to no breakage at all. I have them curing in a separate bucket from my live rocks cause I didn't want the die off to cause an ammonia spike and kill everything.

 

Also got my IM Pro DIY Mesh kit. I went with this for my Evo and liked it so gonna use it again. I would prefer to go topless but my Orange Storm clowns are too expensive to risk it.

[AquaVaj]

It's been a while so I thought I'd give a few updates. Currently the tank is up and running perfectly. Once I got the missing pieces for the stand it was smooth sailing from there. I was initially going to go with the 2 Kessil a360we I had on the Evo but decided to go a different route with a pair of new to me AI Hydra 26HD and matching HMS mounts. The live rocks were cured beforehand so it was just a matter of dropping them in and aquascaping. I added live Fiji Pink sand and let it clear up for 2 days before transferring my 2 clowns. With 3ft of swimming room they seem so small in the tank. I slowly added my corals over the span of 3 days. Between the new lights, live rock and increased water volume all of my corals have never been happier. While they were opening before they never opened up as much or as big.

 

 

 

She's wet with sand and rocks. I added 1 1/2 bags of sand but ended up removing quite a bit.

 

 

FTS

 

Left side

 

Right side

 

Center

 

 

[DNR88]

I like the lay-out you've created. Not too spectacular, but looks really natural! 🙂

[AquaVaj]

7 hours ago, DNR88 said:

I like the lay-out you've created. Not too spectacular, but looks really natural! 🙂

Thanks. I initially did 2 islands but ran out of room for corals so I added a few more rocks. The pictures make it look like it's one long chain of rocks but there's much more depth when viewed in person.