60 Gallon Anemone Cube Build

ArmyReefer

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So I went to trade in some coral at one of my LFS and got a decent amount of credit. While there I noticed a Marineland 60 Gallon tank sitting there. I inquired and one of the employees told me that I was for a show a couple years back and has been sitting in a warehouse since then. Only wet for three days. I have always wanted to try and do an anemone cube so I started looking at it. It came with an ice cap sump, and with the credit I just got it was almost free. I went home and thought about it as I already have three other saltwater tanks and 2 freshwater tanks, and was not really planning on spending money on a new build...……. but decided what the heck, lets do it.

I went back the next day and got the tank!

My plan was to spend as little money as possible on this build. I had all the plumbing parts already from a past build, I had my spare protein skimmer an Eshopps S200, so all I needed was a return pump and a powerhead.

I decided to buy a varios 4 and got a great deal on a used (6 month old) MP 10

I pulled out all of my old rock, got a brute and bleached at a 1 to 10 ratio for 5 days, let the rocks sit in the sun for 3 days, then soaked the rock in RODI with PRIME for another 72 hours. Passed the smell test and now ready to be cycled.

I played with the rock scape a bunch of different ways and could not really find anything I am completely happy about. I don't think I will be happy with it though while its bare though because I am trying to envision Anemone's being covered on the rock. The two main considerations I am trying to do, is make as much room as possible for the Anemones to place there foot and feel secure, and be able to get good flow around the entire tank.

Here is the 1st Idea I came up with after playing with a bunch of different ways.
Rock 1.jpg
Rock 2.jpg
Rock 1.jpg
Rock 2.jpg
Rock 3.jpg


I then moved on to plumbing the tank. Wanted to keep it simple, and straight forward. I hard plumbed the overflow down to the sump using 2 unions. I then took out the return pipe out of the top and installed a check valve up top. I decided to do a combination for hard and soft for the return line. My thought process was being in such a tight space it would be easier for me to disconnect for maintenance using a combo for plumbing.

Plumbing.jpg


Finally moved on to the water test. It passed, which im not going to lie, was very nervous about my plumbing job (lol) only had one issue that I need to fix. The return pipe had a hole drilling in as a syphon break, but water shoots out of it and it is LOUD! so I need to replace that piece, I am assuming I should be fine with the check valve in place. If it fails the test, I will figure out how much water goes into the sump, and lower the syphon break to be below the operating water line.

So although I said I was trying not to spend money on this build, the 4th of July sales got me! I have a Tunze nano ATO that I was planning on using for now, but the full size one was on sale so I got that, along with a new ATO container, and a KLIR filter mat that was 40% off. Everything should be here by the end of this week.
 

Mr_Knightley

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I'm following this, this will be great! If you decide to have a sand bed, then I would highly recommend trying a long tentacle nem, they're a lot hardier in my experience (not that that should be an issue at all) and have a lot of personality.
Good luck and God bless!
 
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ArmyReefer

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I'm following this, this will be great! If you decide to have a sand bed, then I would highly recommend trying a long tentacle nem, they're a lot hardier in my experience (not that that should be an issue at all) and have a lot of personality.
Good luck and God bless!
I am going to do a sand bed, I don't think I could have a tank without one honestly.... My plan is to go with BTA's. I have a very unique one In my big reef now that is taking up a lot of real estate that I will move over eventually.
 
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ArmyReefer

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As for my stocking list, I am going to start off with two utilitarian fish. A 1 inch fox face, and a 1.5 inch mimic tang. Then once the tank is more established and I fell like the tank can support a healthy environment for anemones I will add in a group of Skunk clowns. Going to go somewhere between 7-11 of them.

Here are the 1st ones that I already have in QT.
fish.jpg
 

Mr_Knightley

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I am going to do a sand bed, I don't think I could have a tank without one honestly.... My plan is to go with BTA's. I have a very unique one In my big reef now that is taking up a lot of real estate that I will move over eventually.
I see. In my experience, LTAs and BTAs stay out of each other's reach, with BTA's staying more to the rocks and LTA's staying near the base of the rocks. If I were you, I would try several different nems in the tank, RFAs LTAs BTAs etcetera. It is you're choice though, and I'm interested to see what you come up with either way!
 
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ArmyReefer

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oh.... I have to look into that. I will keep everyone updated. I am actually really excited about this build. I have rushed every other tank and want to take my time and do this one right.
 
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ArmyReefer

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So the dr Tim’s fishless cycle went great and everything is on schedule. A couple things to note, I used double the amount of bacteria needed, I put in a marine pure block that I have been seeding, raised the temperature to 84 degrees, and kept the salinity at 1.020 during the cycle. On add fish day, I decided to bump up the ammonia to 2.0 and checked the next day and it was zero. So pulled my 1st two fish out of QT and added them. Going to wait another two weeks before I turn the lights on to give the tank a little longer to get settled in.
5D6E4356-C361-4D70-BACA-B18636CCBD7D.jpeg
 
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ArmyReefer

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So I decided to ignore all the "old" bad reviews and I ordered a KLIR 4 for this tank. With the reviews looking like they fixed all of there major issues. I have not seen it advance forward yet, but in all fairness not much dirty in the tank yet. This morning I woke up and there was a beeping sound on it. I have to investigate what that means or why it was happening. Hope I did not make a mistake buying this.
 

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You had me an anemone! Congrats and following!
 
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Okay so update on the KLIR first, its actually working (for the most part) and have not had any issues since installing. Its been advancing on its own, and the fleece looks pretty nasty so no complaints there. Only issue is that it is sitting in an Icecap 15 Sump. (made by same company) (also used as a demonstration sump with the klir at macna when they rolled it out) and when the water touches the sensor is also the same time that the water starts to go through the emergency overflow into the skimmer chamber which causes a lot of noise. It appears that the water has to be on the sensor for a good while before it will advance, or the water needs to be higher on the sensor before it advances. Either way its working as intended, and appears to have only used about a 1/10th of the roll so far so thats nice.
 

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Tip: You might want to move the rock more to the middle of the tank. You want to keep it away from the walls and the overflow...if the anemone's foot can reach over to it, they'll climb up the overflow and can get sucked in. Having the sand bed surrounding the rocks is a good deterrent to keep them from getting to the walls/overflow.
 
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ArmyReefer

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Tip: You might want to move the rock more to the middle of the tank. You want to keep it away from the walls and the overflow...if the anemone's foot can reach over to it, they'll climb up the overflow and can get sucked in. Having the sand bed surrounding the rocks is a good deterrent to keep them from getting to the walls/overflow.
Thanks, ya I think its deceptive. if you look at the third picture I posted you can see a gap, its close to 4 inches between the rock and the overflow. Should be enough right? I actually never thought about that, I did it because I wanted to make sure I was able to get good flow around the rock structure. Only going with one MP10 I am a little worried about flow.
 

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4" will be good when the anemones are small. BTAs can grow to be up to 12" in diameter and can stretch their foot quite far in order to find a way to try and get closer to the light source. The rule of thumb with BTAs is to keep them away from overflows and power heads as they seem to move around a lot (especially when first introduced and more so in the middle of the night when the lights are off) and always seem to end up in those two spots. As long as you can contain them on the rock and surrounded by sand you should be off to a good start.
 

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