60 Cube build

[Gpettit721]

Hello all,

Currently in the process of building a new 60 cube Sps tank.

Equipment
Marine land 60 rimless
Custom sump built by reef creations
Custom stand built
Skimz SM201
2 MP 10s
Giesseman Spectra 400w metal halide with luxcore ballast and radium bulb
Biopellet reactor built by reef creations

 

[Gpettit721]

Dumb question. I've decide to QT and have it ready to go. Can I QT while the tank is cycling that way when it's done I can keep the bacteria fed? Or just wait

 

[Gpettit721]

Well the ammonia spike occurred pretty fast .... Now the waiting game for the cycle to complete. Debating on which calcium reactor to go with.... Kinda torn between a deltec and the vertex... Good news is I have some time but any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Salty1962]

Nice startup! Many people QT their livestock while cycling their DT. As long as the livestock is healthy and your DT has fully cycled, you'll be ahead of the game. Good luck!

 

[Gpettit721]

First clowns in QT

 

[Qh2214]

Nice looks great! I just started a 60 cube as well!

 

[dodgerblew]

Beautiful stand and start. That's a lot of light!

 

[Gpettit721]

It's def overkill. I'm hoping it's not gonna be too much but I did a full test run today and the chiller is able to keep up with the lights on and just to make sure I turned the heater up to for a few hours and it was still cooling. The only concern I have right now is that I have three different thermometers and getting three different readings ..... Heater says 78... Chiller says 75 and the cheapo oceanic says 74.8... I'm leaning towards 75ish range

 

[Gpettit721]

I'm also debating on using a Kalk stirrer at first to supplement alk and cal then adding the calcium reactor after so that way I could have a Kalk regimine down then add the calcium reactor for the additional needs and hopefully help with the ph

 

[Gpettit721]

Week 1 update

I checked the perimeters today and overall I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.

Ph is low at 7.83 (will come up when I run my lights and get the five going)

Nitrates are at 2.5
Nitrites didn't measure cause it's gonna be a while before fish are added to the DT
Phosphates are down to 0.33 from 0.58 a few days ago (I'll keep a close eye on it and add GFO if need be)
Salinity set at 1.024 will rise to 1.025

No diatom bloom or algae bloom probably cause I don't keep my lets on a schedule yet. I've been using this first little while to put the equipment through their paces to make sure it's all working together and not working against each other or any major malfunctions.

The water is more cloudy than I would think it should be but I'm fairly sure it's a small bacteria bloom.

 

[Gpettit721]

Week 2 update....

Tank is moving along so far. Ammonia has dropped to almost 0. Nitrates are sky high but I'm not concerned yet as I'm sure the denitrifying bacteria hasn't taken hold yet. My biopellet reactor has been running for about 2 weeks now so I'll pay attention to the nitrates here in the next couple of weeks and watch for a decline and if not start looking at other ways to bring it down. I do have a refugium I could start up if I really wanted to but for now i'm going to leave it alone cause i'm not entirely sure if i'm going to run a fuge or not. May just keep some rubble rock in there dark to have a breed ground for pods and what not.... or a time out area for bad tankmates. Finally got the plumbing squared away and ran a return line from the mixing tanks to the sump and one from the tank outside for easy water changes. Also plumbed it so I could clean the sand and everything and just hook it up to the outside line so there should be minimal need for buckets inside the house ( my wife hates them inside). The one question I have is should i start running a small light cycle? I know if i do this algae will explode so I'm trying to avoid it/ putting it off for as long as possible. Or should I wait for the biopellets to get established before running a light cycle?