28 gal nanocube tank build cost thread

[James]

No offense taken, sorry if my post sounded defensive, I am here to learn even though this will be my 3rd saltwater and I have almost 6 years in the hobby I feel like with reeftanks you should never stop learning. Yeah, $3 a pound before shipping. After all the charges, btw the sand and LR,m 64 pounds of stuff shipped at a cost of $4 a pound overnight. Not great but not the worst. Waking up to the smell of curing live rock is not something I will to repeat. :irked: Take care and thanks for the advice, I will be hitting up the marketplace for a small skimmer and for my CUC eventually and my next tank I will be buying a full system from here (it will certainly be cheaper). Time to get out of this smelly APT.

 

[Awibrandy]

I love this thread James! Thanks!!! Just be patient.lol Stated from a extremely inpatient person.LMFAO

 

[James]

Sorry for no posts, smelly LR is not very exciting to talk about. I did take some pictures though after I cleared up my water. Here is a thread about my issues with the "stank of the tank"

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...put-saran-wrap-curing-lr.html#post678418:tub: I will update this once I have something to update. Havn't bought anything tank related in awhile. Been looking at the Reefkeeper Lite though

 

[James]

The cycle is coming along nicely and I am starting to detect nitrites and the ammonia is finally on the way down. The smell is gone, the water is clear and the rock and even the coral seems well. Problem is the frag swap is in 8 days and the tank will not be ready for coral. Well, thankfully I have been searching the MR forums for used deals. Wasn't expecting the see a full 29 gallon setup with LR, coral and everything else I would need for $200. I jumped on it. Turns out brooklynblenny lives abour 5 blocks from me and the entire tank move took less than 2 hours to break down, move and set back up with all new water. It looks great and want to thank Pete for the great deal. I will pay it forward. I have about 6 frags of xenia that I will be giving away sometime in the future.

So now I have 2 tanks, one still cycling and one already well established and ready for my frags on Dec. 6th. I will get some tank shots up in a bit. Shouldn't be updating this again until after the swap because I have killed my wallet.

 

[James]

A picture of the new tank. The xenia are all very happy and I am going to have to trim them back. I most likely will be giving a couple frags away at the swap. The original tank replacement should be coming tuesday. We will see and I will surely have a story and some pics up once I set that up. I;ll let you know.

 

[James]

Ok, after frag swap pics. I am going to redo the aquascaping... As of right now this is temporary but here is a picture of the 2nd tank now, 1st tank is still cycling.

 

[James]

This pic is of the tank is just waking up, I was getting some algae because I was overfeeding the tank and leaving the lights on WAY too long so I could sit and stare. I have it under control now and my controller is coming tomorrow so I will not just turn the lights on in the am.

 

[James]

Well it is not letting me edit my original post anymore which is what I have been doing so I guess I will just start posting the new $$$ I throw at the tank in different posts.

$40 in frags on 12/12

$65 for a used Sapphire Skimmer for my Biocube 29 from a fellow MR'er.

Total for 2 tanks

$1602 :irked:

This should start slowing down soon. I dont want to add too much more. Perhaps a couple more fish and a few more corals but I will be happy once I get there. We shall see.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Tank is coming along nicely James! See some nice frags in there

 

[REEF ADDICT]

Nice tank James i see somethings we swaping when its time...

 

[James]

I will be a swappin' fool once I start getting some good growth. I already have noticed some new zoa and paly heads popping up, the xenia needs fraggin again and I think I see a new acan head coming so things are looking good so far. I am going to resume normal daily feeding of my corals now that I have the protein skimmer up and running.

I am getting the controller today so that should help with keeping my temps stable and then I will start looking into setting up a gravity ATO for my evaporation. I just need a IV drip controller thingy.

 

[Quang]

Total Cost so far:
$1497 and climbing for 2 tanks.

James

:splitspin

 

[CancerverO]

Total for 2 tanks

$1602 :irked:

This should start slowing down soon. I dont want to add too much more. Perhaps a couple more fish and a few more corals but I will be happy once I get there. We shall see.

We all say that! but there is always a free spot for one more coral...lol

great tank man.. awesome thread.. I dont want to think how much I have spent.. :splitspin

 

[beerfish]

I dont want to think how much I have spent.. :splitspin

It's better that way.....

 

[masterswimmer]

I am getting the controller today so that should help with keeping my temps stable

BROOKLYN, NY, US 12/14/2009 3:30 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

and then I will start looking into setting up a gravity ATO for my evaporation. I just need a IV drip controller thingy.

James, you really should consider an ATO controller as opposed to an IV drip. The stability of a controller is unsurpassed (compared to an IV drip).

Russ

 

[James]

I got the RKL!! Thanks. I am going to set it up soon.

I have the IV and the 2 gallon container already. I am not sure about how I will procede. I need to figure out the evaporation rate and then figure out the proper drip rate before I decide on anything. I am not really fond of having yet another pump running although I am not ruling anything out as of yet. I am about to go hook this RKL up to my lights, heater and powerheads! YAY.

I am putting EVERYTHING that I spend on this tank besides gas and toll money down. That includes all the little things as well, it adds up way faster than one would think and it is a bit depressing but I think it is a good idea for people to see.

 

[James]

I took some better pics to show off my reef keeper lite and to show my tank after the lights have been on and things are happy. As for the RKL, it is great, for the security it gives me with the heater, it is worth more than $100. Add to that the wavemaker function, timers, automatic turn off of the powerheads when I want to feed and all the other cool stuff it does, I am so happy with this and recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a controller because they think it is not necessary. It is not a necessity, but watching tanks boil and kill all the coral, fish and inverts due to heater malfunction is not worth saving this $100.

Full Tank Shot with the RKL on the wall behind.

Zoa and LPS side of the tank

Softie side of the tank (lots of xenia , a capnella and a leather)

 

[Chraddam]

Dood, you sooooooooooooo need a brain in that tank...

 

[masterswimmer]

Looks awesome James. Congrats on the progress.

Russ

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Gorgeous nano bro! Good job