36x36x24 CUBE | Pink Spider

[pink spider]

Hi all, I'm new in here ! :biggrin:

I'd like to present you my current set-up ; it's a 135 gallons with a 50 gallons sump in the basement.

To make it short, it's been around ten years now that my boyfriend and I are blowing money on that awesome hobby. We started it up with a small 25g reef tank to quickly turn it over to a 77g one. A year passed and once again we started to think this was too small and we wanted a bigger set-up. We transfered everything in a 90g. Thereafter we still weren't happy yet. We needed something new... we always had a crush on butterfly fishes and angel fishes, since most of them aren't reef safe we changed our reef tank into a fish only one. So we bought a small 60g for our corals and things and we transformed our 90g into a FO.

Months later we found out this was lots of work taking care of two salt water aquariums considering we weren't at home during the week and we had to take care of our two dogs while at home. So, we bought ourselves a house last year and started to build up our dream tank : a 180g reef tank in the dining room with a 90g sump in the basement. Now we were happy.... throughout a year at least. The house experienced some humidy problems with that much water and the electricity bill was a bit expensive for us considering we had three 175watt MH, a large water pump in the basement that's riding up water 13' high and a deshumidifier running 24/24 7/7. So we had to think this over........ again.

I then suggest my boyfriend to sell everything out... but of course he disagreed on this. So we reached a compromise on decreasing in size everything. That's where we currently are in the story, since 3 years now we own a 135g cube tank of 36x36x24� with a 50g sump. Since we wanted it to be our LAST reef tank, we equiped it with the best hardware.

Here are some pics of our evolution during those past years, enjoy !

Our first reef aquarium 10 years ago (25g)
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/54182-2/001_25g.jpg


Our second reef aquarium (77g).... observe the fixtures ! A Giesemann MH at the left and a PC Coralife one at the right... lol
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/54185-2/002_77g.jpg


90g reef tank (and FO time later)
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/6157-2/Reef_90g.jpg


60g reef tank
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/54188-2/004_60g.jpg


180g reef tank
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/7232-2/180g_008.jpg


and then, our current 135g cube.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5090258867_dde857477f_b.jpg

[pink spider]

Here are some pics of the project build up 3 years ago.

My boyfriend and I made the stand ourselves
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/56260-1/004.jpg

Tank was ordered from Aquarium Obsessed (AO), I think they closed last year. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/jacknificient/face2.jpg

That picture gives an idea of its size. ^_^
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/jacknificient/face3.jpg

The stand is still not finished, but the switch has been done
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/64406-1/CUBE135gal02.jpg

Stand is done now
http://oneilcastro.com/gallery/d/90420-1/aqua03.jpg

What it looks the first year :
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5090258867_dde857477f_b.jpg

The second year :
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_89NJvOuLbg/Thd0rG9Ww5I/AAAAAAAAAj0/-7BAni_yH1I/s576/CUBE135_%2525C3%2525A9t%2525C3%2525A92011-2.jpg

What it looks today :
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6500897695_e510c2c727_b.jpg

[pink spider]

Now let's talk about more serious matter. :lol:

EQUIPMENT
Lighting : Giesemann Spectra 24'' 250w MH + 4x T5-HO 24w
Skimmer : Deltec TC1655
Controller : Profilux plus II
Powerheads : 2x Tunze 6055 + 1x Tunze 6045
Others : Media reactor Phosban150 | Avast Kalwaser Stirrer | Emperor Aquatic 40w UV filter


LIVE STOCK | Fishes
1x Achilles Tang
1x Pyramid Butterflyfish
1x Declivis Butterflyfish
2x Oscellaris Clownfish
2x Scissortail Gogies
1x Hellfrichi firefish
1x Red Head Goby
1x Engineer Goby
2x Yellow Clown Gobies
1x Swissguard Basslet
1x Lubbocki Fairy Wrasse
1x Adornatus Fairy Wrasse
1x Flame Fairy Wrasse

LIVE STOCK | Inverts
1x Serpent Starfish
2x Sandsifting Starfishes
2x Cleaner Shrimp
1x Bullseye Pistol Shrimp
1x Emerald Crab
3x Mini Carpet Anemones
1x Purple Long Tentacles Anemone

LIVE STOCK | Corals
Purple Monticap
Green Monticap
Pink Bird's Nest
Puple Millepora
Pavona
Frogspawn
Hammer
Green & Purple Blastomusa
Favia
Candycanes
Trumpet
Green Duncan
Rhodactis
Discosoma

[pink spider]

Finally, here are some pics.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6623305919_1c0b0e376b_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6623304849_4cd65496d5_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6623301979_8d2c89a60d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6623295059_f7957582eb_b.jpg

[Nano]

Wow that's a nice tank :) I too hope to upgrade my little cube to a larger one one day :D

[mr_alberta]

That looks fantastic! Great choice of fish too! Is that Declivis well behaved? Any nipping?

[pink spider]

That looks fantastic! Great choice of fish too! Is that Declivis well behaved? Any nipping?
Actually he really is not reef safe at all. lol

He ate all my zoas, killed 2 mini carpet anemones out of 5 and likes to nip at SPS like pocilopora and acropora.

But besides those things, he really is a nice and very interesting fish to observe. He's very lucky to be my favorite fish in the tank.... ;)

[Cal_stir]

Very nice, but now the very serious question.
Who's the dead guy in the 77 gal, a former boyfriend maybe?:lol:

[pink spider]

Very nice, but now the very serious question.
Who's the dead guy in the 77 gal, a former boyfriend maybe?:lol:
lol !!! That skull makes people talk a lot. I know a lot of you doesn't approve those kinda thing in a reef aquarium, but I just happen to LOVE that skull head. :mrgreen:

I bought it 10 years ago and it's in my reef tanks ever since. ;)

[Cal_stir]

I meant to ask, what kind of camera did you use for the pics?

[pink spider]

I meant to ask, what kind of camera did you use for the pics?
Nikon D7000, that was my Xmas gift from me to myself. ;)

[Cal_stir]

SWEET!

[albert_dao]

This is a great tank!

[Casey8]

This is the cube tank size that I have been always wanting for a long time. Love the way you set it up between the sofas ... a very good location.

[Chaloupa]

Beautiful tank and LOVE the livestock choices!!! Very well done

[fishoholic]

Gorgeous tank and beautiful fish :thumb:

[lastlight]

Stylish room all around and a very nice tank. I'm surprised they built a tank that small on site lucky you! They've been closed for a couple years now I think.

[muck]

Hi Pink... welcome to Canreef.

You got a great tank going there. Hope to see more of it as it progresses. :biggrin:

[pink spider]

Thanks a lot everyone !

[Arok3000]

That is very awesome, thanks for sharing with us!

[Delphinus]

Love the declivis! Great tank and everything else too. :)

[pink spider]

Awww, my Declivis wanted to eat my new pincushion urchin. :( I had to move it to the sump unfortunately.... well actually there's a lot of algae out there so he's gonna be happy, but I wanted a urchin in my cube. :cry:

Damn you Declivis. :lol:

[pink spider]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8389/8536863218_6258b95703_z.jpg

And with my new lighting kit (three Radion was just overkill so I decided to sell one) :

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8072/8433160315_9bbb330c34_b.jpg

[Whiston]

That is a great looking tank. Quite inspirational.

Amazing pictures too, I love how you took a few shots of your fish and showcased one with a pair of others on the side. Keep up the good work!

[pink spider]

That is a great looking tank. Quite inspirational.

Amazing pictures too, I love how you took a few shots of your fish and showcased one with a pair of others on the side. Keep up the good work!
Thank you ! I've got more of these pictures. ;)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8203378931_dff93f5d2b_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8202046104_0d9c762951_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8200721497_0cd154a12d_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8201688232_09ac5c9f7d_b.jpg

[Delphinus]

Great pictures!!

How is the declivis butterfly doing?

[wmcinnes]

I want a declevis so bad!

[Tn23]

Awesome build and very nice tank!
How do you like the switch over to LEDS? notice any difference in coral growth?

[pink spider]

Great pictures!!

How is the declivis butterfly doing?
Well actually he jumped out the tank months ago. But I'm currently ordering a new one at my LFS. This butterflyfish has an awesome personality.


Awesome build and very nice tank!
How do you like the switch over to LEDS? notice any difference in coral growth?
Suprisingly yes ! I wasn't sure if it was a good move first, but 2 weeks after the switch my corals were growing like crazy !! Of course I had 21k MH before that, I guess that's the reason why I'm noticing a big change in my corals growth.

[Delphinus]

Ouch, that would be a tough one to lose to jumping! :( Sorry to hear.

How was he behaved in a reef, did he pick at any of the corals?

[pink spider]

Ouch, that would be a tough one to lose to jumping! :( Sorry to hear.

How was he behaved in a reef, did he pick at any of the corals?

Yeah... I mourned over it. :cry:

He ates evering single zoanthides I had and was nipping at some acropora corals (but wasn't killing them).

[subman]

Great looking setup! For what it's worth I love the skull, gives a little pirate theme to the reef.

[pink spider]

Okay, so I sold my 135g. cube recently and my boyfriend and I are currently working on a brand new set up !

It's a 88g shallow reef (40x30x17) and it should look like this when it's done :

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8382/8611510950_fd6b57965b_b.jpg

[pink spider]

Last week-end we finished working on the wall, here's a quick look of it :

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7352/8757456877_fb3c8d24b3_z.jpg

And yesterday we received the new tank :mrgreen:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/8797078671_83d23c705b_o.jpg

[JN Turcotte]

nice it will be interesting to see it build.

new house ?

[pink spider]

nice it will be interesting to see it build.

new house ?
Same house, but lot's of renovations as been made. :wink:

[JN Turcotte]

Same house, but lot's of renovations as been made. :wink:

Great, I can see that. I am loving the new design