Ethan's 60 gallon reef

bassrock234 · Dec 7, 2016

Just bought this tank from a buddy of mine and built the stand for it.
Upgrading from my 30 gallon. Here is what I have so far with the help of @cameronh.

Diesel · Dec 7, 2016

Following

cameronh · Dec 7, 2016

Scribed

bassrock234 · Dec 24, 2016

It's running! The sand arrived Wednesday, 60lbs live Fiji pink. I picked up 60lbs of dry rock Thursday morning and the water was delivered Thursday night.

cameronh · Jan 9, 2017

@bassrock234, updates.

bassrock234 · Jan 9, 2017

I'll write up a better update tomorrow but for now here's a full sump shot

And a full tank shot, top and bottom pictures are 7 days apart. Diatoms faded pretty fast

cameronh · Jan 9, 2017

Be sure to put up equipment you got as well.

Leaellynasaura · Jan 10, 2017

Can we get a close up on that refugium?

bassrock234 · Jan 13, 2017

Leaellynasaura said:
Can we get a close up on that refugium?

Sure thing. Current macros are chaeto, red grape caulerpa, and dragons breath. All of them seem to be growing well, I think the caulerpa is growing the fastest.

Sorry the update is taking so long guys. I'm working on it.

bassrock234 · Jan 14, 2017

Alright so, some new stuff since the last update.

I bought an Aqua medic controllable power head. When I took it out of the box it seemed to be really small, I was worried it wouldn't be strong enough but after running it for a few days I think it's about perfect. I may add another to the other side of the tank in the future.

I also bought a finnex titanium heater and digital heater controller

And last but not least the new refugium light seen in the sump picture above

I spent the past couple days getting everything mounted and hiding the wires as best I could. Here is a before and after. I used zip ties and double stick zip tie bases to tie the wires up to the stand.

I also built a small cabinet off to the side of the stand to hold food and supplies. The bottom will hold a 5 gallon bucket for an ato which I ordered yesterday.

Everything has been moved over from my 34 and is now in the 60. All fish seem happy and healthy. Most corals are opening up with the exception of a few Zoas, and my hammers. I expected the hammers to take a little longer because I had to freshwater dip them first to get rid of a bad flatworm infestation.

Bonus pic. My awesome clown goby hanging out on a red mushroom.

Leaellynasaura · Jan 14, 2017

I am really digging this whole set up. I like that light you picked out for the refugium.

bassrock234 · Jan 14, 2017

Thanks! I paid about $50 for the light on eBay. I had to do some minor modification in order to get it to sit straight on the edge of the tank due to the plastic rim around the top but it worked out well.

I forgot to add a list of the current tank inhabitants, with some pictures of the ones I could get.

1 clownfish (planning on a second soon)

1 yellow tail damsel

1 six line wrasse

1 clown goby

1 stippled cling fish

1 arrow crab

1 cleaner shrimp

There's also an emerald crab, a few blue legged hermits, some astrea snails, and a Royal gramma I haven't seen in a few days. It was the first fish in the tank and once the rest of the fish were transferred over, there was a bit of fighting between the gramma, 6 line, and yellow tail damsel. Hopefully it is just hiding but I'm starting to suspect it may have passed due to stress.

cameronh · Jan 14, 2017

Nice man

bassrock234 · Jan 22, 2017

Picked up an extreme misbar clown to go with my orange one. They paired up almost immediately.

Also got my Aqua medic ato setup. Works great. I went with this one because it uses 3 float sensors, the main optical sensor in the sump, with a back up sensor to prevent an over flow. Also has a float sensor in the ato container to let you know when your container gets low and prevents the pump from running dry.

I don't see a lot of people using Aqua medic stuff but I'm pretty happy with it. Their products are priced well and seem well made. The only complaint I have so far is their power plugs are huge because they're universal as far as country goes.