Companion Cube 60g mixed reef

[Mebbid]

Its been a long long time since ive been able to have a tank. Travel nursing before and throughout covid, just now settled down to a stable job near home.

Came extremely close to selling all my equipment, now im glad I didnt.

Have a 60g cube I just finished plumbing and leak tested. Underneath I have a trigger system sapphire 20 sump. Fixed a cracked bulkhead and now its time to work on the hardscape!

Currently have an old gen 1 Xr30, going to replace it eventually, but it has really low hours of run time and still works well so itll do for now. Reef Octopus varios 6 return pump and 2 hydor koralia powerheads that im going to replace with nero 5s.

I will say, its fascinating seeing the changes that have happened since i last kept a reef tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What do you plan on doing with that tank?

 

[Mebbid]

What do you plan on doing with that tank?

Long term goal is mainly SPS with a handfull of LPS. Short term I am gonna start it out with some easy softies, probably a toadstool and a few zoas. Its been, 8? years since ive had an aquarium with anything but a betta, im not rushing to stack it with corals just yet.


For fish, I am gonna play it by ear. What I want and what the wife wants might not always intersect :D
My must haves are a pair of clowns and a starry blenny.
My wants are a royal gramma, coral beauty, and purple firefish
My maybes are a Bristletooth Tang, McCosker Flasher Wrasse, and a Mandarin

 

[Mebbid]

I think i got the rocks where im happy with them finally. Trying to scape for viewing from 2 sides is way more complicated than just one.

The diagonal view will be our view from the couch.

 

[Mebbid]

Oof, now THATS cloudy. 40lbs of ocean direct live sand and water in the tank. Might add a few lbs more of dry sand, we will see when it clears up.

Got the mixing station plumbed up, just realized i missed adding a valve, but thats gonna be tomorrow me's problem to fix.

 

[Mebbid]

I am rapidly beginning to dislike the ocean direct original grade live sand.

Theres soo much fine grained sand in it I had to pull the bag out of the trash to double check that it wasnt oolite. Then every time I touch even a little bit of it theres a sandstorm and the tank looks like its full of milk.

Since the filter sock doesnt even touch the cloudiness I pulled out my carbon / gfo reactor i used to run and added a 20 and a 5 micron sediment filter to it. That works amazing for it, milk going in and clear water coming out.

I added some carib sea original grade dry sand to deepen the sand bed, 40lbs wasnt quite enough for my preference. Pictured is the grain size difference between the two sands.

I'll reserve final judgement on the ocean direct sand in a few months after the tank establishes.

 

[PacoPetty]

I think i got the rocks where im happy with them finally. Trying to scape for viewing from 2 sides is way more complicated than just one.

The diagonal view will be our view from the couch.

I really like that!

 

[Mebbid]

I really like that!

Thanks! After having it for a few days and mulling it over I'm super happy with how it turned out.

 

[mlburchjr]

Looking good.

 

[Mebbid]

Looking good.

Thanks! Its really coming along.

 

[Mebbid]

The sediment filters ive been running really polish up the water nicely. I think i might just keep them in the tank and run them on a timer because the fish are gonna cause problems eventually.

Going tomorrow to pick up a pair of clowns to go in quarantine. By the time thats done the tank should be safe for them.

The disco effect from the old radions is really pronounced, might get a diffuser or might just put away for new lights. Havent decided yet.

 

[Mebbid]

Lol, that didnt take long at all. First flood of the tank.

Set up the ato reservoir that I got with my tank, about 10 minutes later after routing a water line and power cable through this hole I forgot it existed as I was filling it all the way up.

Oops, about a quart of water on the floor as i was standing next to it. Grabbed a gallon pitcher, scooped water out, turned off my pump, and threw my tank towels over it. Not as bad a catastrophe as it could have been.

 

[Mebbid]

Went to the lfs to pick up a pair of ocellaris clowns. Wifey came with and just so happened to see a pair of lightning maroon clowns in the tank next to the ocellaris and decided she REALLY liked them. Against my better judgement i acquiesced and got them. I know for a certainty I am going to pay the price for that later, but imho its a small price to pay to get your partner excited for the tank.

They do look awesome, and are without a doubt a male female pairing. Im certainly glad the price on them has come down substantially from the $900 each they were when i last looked at them.

 

[PacoPetty]

Went to the lfs to pick up a pair of ocellaris clowns. Wifey came with and just so happened to see a pair of lightning maroon clowns in the tank next to the ocellaris and decided she REALLY liked them. Against my better judgement i acquiesced and got them. I know for a certainty I am going to pay the price for that later, but imho its a small price to pay to get your partner excited for the tank.

They do look awesome, and are without a doubt a male female pairing. Im certainly glad the price on them has come down substantially from the $900 each they were when i last looked at them.

I just bought a mated pair at my LFS for the exact same reason. As soon as she saw them, she was in love plus the fact that they had them for $100 was a no-brainer for me. I was fully expecting them to tell me that was a mistake when I went up to the register to pay for them, but it wasn’t so they are currently in my quarantine tank and have been for two weeks. They immediately started eating well and are doing well.

 

[Mebbid]

Went to the lfs to pick up a pair of ocellaris clowns. Wifey came with and just so happened to see a pair of lightning maroon clowns in the tank next to the ocellaris and decided she REALLY liked them. Against my better judgement i acquiesced and got them. I know for a certainty I am going to pay the price for that later, but imho its a small price to pay to get your partner excited for the tank.

They do look awesome, and are without a doubt a male female pairing. Im certainly glad the price on them has come down substantially from the $900 each they were when i last looked at them.

I just bought a mated pair at my LFS for the exact same reason. As soon as she saw them, she was in love plus the fact that they had them for $100 was a no-brainer for me. I was fully expecting them to tell me that was a mistake when I went up to the register to pay for them, but it wasn’t so they are currently in my quarantine tank and have been for two weeks. They immediately started eating well and are doing well.

Oo nice, only $100 for the pair? Mine was $200.

 

[Mebbid]

Quarantined maroon clowns

 

[PacoPetty]

Oo nice, only $100 for the pair? Mine was $200.

I could not buy them fast enough!

 

[Mebbid]

Clowns are done with quarantine. Yep, shes a monster. Can already tell shes gonna be a biter :D

I think to manage new addition aggression since adding them first isnt a great plan, im going to remove them from the tank for a few days to let things settle down before I add new fish. Itll be a PITA but oh well, wifey is more invested now.

I also added a few more rocks and did some adjustments to make some more hiding spots. Its really hard to capture the depth of the tank on camera, but I am super happy with how the scape turned out. Tampa bay live sand is in and everything seems to be going well so far.

 

[Winters]

Clowns are done with quarantine. Yep, shes a monster. Can already tell shes gonna be a biter :D

I think to manage new addition aggression since adding them first isnt a great plan, im going to remove them from the tank for a few days to let things settle down before I add new fish. Itll be a PITA but oh well, wifey is more invested now.

I also added a few more rocks and did some adjustments to make some more hiding spots. Its really hard to capture the depth of the tank on camera, but I am super happy with how the scape turned out. Tampa bay live sand is in and everything seems to be going well so far.

Looking good and that is a beautiful pair of clowns. Never had maroons always heard they are jerks

 

[Mebbid]

Looking good and that is a beautiful pair of clowns. Never had maroons always heard they are jerks

Thanks! She's a monster. I stuck a ph tester pen in the tank yesterday and she kept attacking it.