60g Cube Anemone Tank Build

[Justinlee120]

Hey everybody, this is my first reef tank build. I've done planted freshwater tanks for a few years and have mulled jumping into saltier water for quite a while. I'm an electrical engineer and typically tend toward DIY solutions.

I started setting up the 60g cube a little over a month ago. I had a CUC doing well in there and a pair of clowns in QT when the bottom glass panel cracked and started leaking water. Luckily it was draining into the sump and it kept getting pumped back up into the tank so there was no property damage and hardly any mess at all. So those clowns are still in QT and I've got a large bin of rock in heated, circulated water that I've been ghost feeding to keep the bacteria alive for a few weeks.

So, this is round two. I picked up another tank yesterday and should start making progress on it again this weekend. The plan is to get it set up, ensure it's cycled, throw some leathers and gsp in there (gsp on an island of course), and monitor for stability. I'm planning on dosing Kalkwasser in the ATO. Eventually, I want to add a few RBTAs, maybe some rock flowers. I'm still not sure on fish stocking other than the clowns. I plan on keeping this a softies/anemone tank. I've read quite a bit that BTAs tend to wander, killing corals in the process. I don't plan on putting any corals in here that I wouldn't mind losing, the nems are my priority.

Equipment List so Far
Deep Blue 60g Cube
20x20 cube sump
Skimz sk181 Skimmer
Black box programmable 165w LED (Modified, replaced most of the blue LEDs with RB, added two uv (395nm) diodes, etc.)
DIY ATO using relays and float switches with multiple fail-safes.
Jebao RW-8 Wavemaker
Heaters, etc.

I'll get some pics of progress up soon, but in the meantime here's a pic of my juvenile clowns.

 

[Spare time]

Don't bother with kalkwasser if you aren't doing stony corals.

I imagine it would be fun to feed a tank packed with anemones haha

 

[Justinlee120]

Don't bother with kalkwasser if you aren't doing stony corals.

I imagine it would be fun to feed a tank packed with anemones haha

I'm glad you said this actually as I'd been debating it. I've read it can help initially with coralline algae growth, obviously, it would be a very small dose because consumption would be pretty low.

I just really love nems haha

 

[SPR1968]

The clowns look happy and keep the pictures coming as well

Just try and maintain stable water parameters in particular alkalinity, but also calcium, and magnesium interacts with the other two so is also vitality important when keeping corals. But only add what’s needed following tests. Also of course salinity.

Anemones need stable parameters and it’s better to wait until the tanks established before considering these.

And Welcome to R2R by the way!

 

[Spare time]

I'm glad you said this actually as I'd been debating it. I've read it can help initially with coralline algae growth, obviously, it would be a very small dose because consumption would be pretty low.

I just really love nems haha

I think if you just keep up with water changes then you should be good with the necessary coralline alage elements. You could always get one of those bottles that has coralline in it.

 

[Justinlee120]

Just try and maintain stable water parameters in particular alkalinity, but also calcium, and magnesium interacts with the other two so is also vitality important when keeping corals. But only add what’s needed following tests. Also of course salinity.

Anemones need stable parameters and it’s better to wait until the tanks established before considering these.

And Welcome to R2R by the way!

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I'm not in a hurry to add the nems, and I definitely understand that they need stability. Being a new reefer, I definitely don't want to rush too quickly into that.

I think if you just keep up with water changes then you should be good with the necessary coralline alage elements. You could always get one of those bottles that has coralline in it.

You're probably right there. Maybe I'll forgo Kalkwasser for now.

 

[Justinlee120]

Quick update with a dirty tank picture. I had to get really creative to get that filter sock holder and the skimmer to fit in the same section. I had an acrylics holder that I cut and bent (using heat) to get it to work. Yes, those srews attaching it to the sump are stainless. The skimmer doesn't fit in the front section that will be the refugium and I didn't want it in the same chamber with the return pump because I don't want fluctuating water levels when I shut the pump off. I think this will work great now though.

The next step is to do a test fill to check for level and do a little more cleaning. Then for plumbing, I'm using flex tubing to isolate the pump from the tank and stand for noise. The drain will flow straight down into the filter sock that's directly below.

 

[Justinlee120]

I finished up the light mount and arm. I took a 48" long 2" wide steel bar, used a propane torch to heat it and then bent it 90 degrees. I used 1" aluminum bar to make the brackets and epoxied/bolted them to the steel arm. I then painted using Rustoleum "hammered" spray paint for a uniform look. I attached small eye screws to hang the chain that held the light. Now it's getting slowly filled with rodi water. I'll mix the salt and then add rock (which is still sitting in a trash bin of heated saltwater currently).

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Looking good, great diy


Hard tell from the pics but did you leave yourself enough access to get the sock in and out easy for cleaning? Cool mod on the light bar and using chain to make it adjustable for the height off the water.

I would suggest swapping the screws for some nylon. Even stainless, the salt will corrode them. HD or Lowe’s have nylon screw that will work fine for this application.

keep them pics coming

 

[Justinlee120]

Looking good, great diy


Hard tell from the pics but did you leave yourself enough access to get the sock in and out easy for cleaning? Cool mod on the light bar and using chain to make it adjustable for the height off the water.

I would suggest swapping the screws for some nylon. Even stainless, the salt will corrode them. HD or Lowe’s have nylon screw that will work fine for this application.

keep them pics coming

It's not as easy as I'd like to access the filter sock, but it works OK. I didn't really have a lot of other options to make it work haha.

Thanks for the heads up on the screws!

 

[Justinlee120]

I was able to get rock and sand in the other day. I went for a cove-type look and I think it turned out pretty good.

There's also a gsp frag and a small Kenya tree that had also been sitting in the bin from the original setup. They seem pretty happy so far. I'm going to isolate that gsp on an island in the front because I don't want it to take over the whole tank.

 

[Justinlee120]

Oh, another thing that I don't think I've mentioned yet. I had a piece of 1/4" glass cut for a lid to minimize evaporation and keep any jumpers in the tank. I think it looks very nice and doesn't take away from the simple rimless look at all.

 

[Spare time]

Oh, another thing that I don't think I've mentioned yet. I had a piece of 1/4" glass cut for a lid to minimize evaporation and keep any jumpers in the tank. I think it looks very nice and doesn't take away from the simple rimless look at all.

Do you get any ph problems?

 

[Justinlee120]

Do you get any ph problems?

No, haven't had any issues so far. However there's no fish in there yet so not really any CO2 source.

When I first saw your comment I had to do some quick research to find out why a glass top could cause ph issues, as it was something I hadn't come across. That's one of the reasons these build threads are great because I never would have thought to research that on my own.

From what I've read, glad tops on a reef tank are said to cause problems due to;


Insuffient gas exchange (low oxygen, high CO2) like Spare Time mentioned.

Light transmission (salt creep, algae, etc.)

Heat retention

I think that between the drain, open sump, and skimmer, I've got plenty of gas exchange. I'll keep an eye out for any ph drops though, I definitely could be wrong there. I also plan to understock, so that should help.

As for light, I'll try to keep it clean. We'll just have to see how much of an issue that ends up being for me.

As far as heat, I've never had issues with a tank being too hot in an air conditioned home and this led light doesn't put out much heat. I think that's much more of an issue for mh or t5s like inches away from the glass.

I'll just have to see if I run into any issues. I love the glass lid, but could definitely remove it if needed in the future. I'd love to hear anybody else's experiences though. I'm open to learning here.

 

[Justinlee120]

I got the ato set up and working tonight. Please excuse the huge mess of cables, I'll be cleaning it up soon. Everything seems to be working well, haven't had any issues so far, parameters seem fairly stable. I'm going to add something to block the light from hitting the skimmer to avoid algae growth on that. At this point it just turns into a waiting game before I add anything else.

I had ich pop up immediately after adding the clownfish in my first time around so I'm leaving the tank/rocks/sand fallow for a few months. I treated the clowns with copper and they'll go back in there in about a month or so. I'll just keep ghost feeding in the meantime and hopefully watch my chaeto and coraline grow haha.