MagicPenny's Pro Clear Rimless 60 (32 gallon)

[MagicPenny]

Since this is the first time I've had the opportunity to really start from scratch, and the self-control to not just do "whatever" to get it done, I guess it's time for a build thread. new to R2R but not new to reefing. This is my late Christmas, early Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and 50th Birthday gift from my husband.
* ProClear 60 Rimless - low iron glass 32-gallon tank with stand and 26 gallon glass sump included. it comes with filter socks, a gravity-fed ATO reservoir that sits atop the sump, and a float switch installed.
* Sicce 800 return pump
* Red Sea ReefLED 50 light
* 300W heater
* 30lb. dry base rock from BRS, which is arriving today, and 1KG Maxspect Nano-tech Biospheres (for sump).
* Planning to run a fuge in the sump and skip the skimmer, for now at least. Air-driven skimmers give me nightmares and the AquaC Remora Pro S I used to have is long gone and no longer available (that thing was beast IDK why they are gone). I have the light for the sump already - a good old Amazon gooseneck LED that ran a pretty successful no-tech cherry shrimp tank for me for three years before my brother decided to help me by feeding the shrimp every day while I was on vacation lol. No more shrimp. But at least I have a good plant light.
Trying to decide whether to drop the $ on an RO/DI. Also the stuff of nightmares since I flooded my last house by leaving it running and going to work one day. 13 gallons is not enough to hold 4 hours of water production, just FYI. We are on a well, and while the water is very high in Ca, has a naturally high pH and probably stable that way, it's def not clean enough to just RO and use.
Still a lot of head scratching and what-if-ing going on, obviously.
After much ado and rambling, here it is:

 

[Tahoe61]

Check out Aquatic RO Buddi. You can order them from Walmart or Amazon. For $61.00 it's a good deal.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[MagicPenny]

Check out Aquatic RO Buddi. You can order them from Walmart or Amazon. For $61.00 it's a good deal.

It's on the short list since i have had one of them before. Hubs has also suggested getting a higher GPD model and setting it up in the garage where we can hook it directly to our well and avoid dealing with post-water-softener water at all. I think our well tests around 250-270 TDS so it needs some HELP haha.

 

[Tahoe61]

What fish are you going to have? Did the last tank house corals?

 

[MagicPenny]

What fish are you going to have? Did the last tank house corals?

I am planning on a pair of clowns, a firefish, and one or two other small fish, but not 100% sure yet. I'm thinking about a pair of Clarkii clowns this time. I like their color and the way they swim. I've also developed a love for my sister's long-nosed hawkfish.
I had LOTS of coral in my last reef tank. My clowns (Nemo - orange, and Omen - black) lived in some pulsating xenia and laid eggs in it all the time.

This was about 4 months before I took it down and switched to fresh. I kick myself every time I look at this pic. It was totally HOB - Remora Pro skimmer and a CPR HOB Fuge.

 

[Tahoe61]

I really like the Hawk fish as well, tons of personality.
Well now you have a new exciting adventure.
I just cycled a tank. I strongly suggest the bacteria in a bottle and ammonium chloride cycling method. I used Microbactor7 and Fluval Cycle. The tank cycled in 9 days.

 

[MagicPenny]

Updated FTS with the rock I received yesterday. I asked for larger pieces, and although I could do a more sculpturally artistic job of stacking it, this setup gives me lots of lateral space for coral A few of the pieces have lovely little natural caves, too, and I stacked it so there is a big cave in the middle. I think it will work well!
I ordered an Aquatic Life 4 Stage 100 GPD RO/DI, a 60lb. bucket of salt, and my heater yesterday. All of that should be here this weekend. I need to do something nice for our UPS man lol.
The hubs is going to buy a water tank and build a stand for it so I can just put the jugs under the spout to fill them. He's a useful sonofagun. We are also storing this apparatus in our detached garage so I can't destroy the house this time LOL.
I live near a place called The Reef Farm, and they are having one of 2 "open to the public" days in a couple of weeks. There is a big sale and a hobbyist swap, so I'm hoping I can get my chaeto then for the fuge.

 

[habetm14]

Following! I’m seriously considering picking one of these up, but I haven’t seen much on the 60 spec. Any initial thoughts? The sump looks very tight on the 90 version (and buried in the right corner), not sure if you’ve had the same experience.

 

[MagicPenny]

Following! I’m seriously considering picking one of these up, but I haven’t seen much on the 60 spec. Any initial thoughts? The sump looks very tight on the 90 version (and buried in the right corner), not sure if you’ve had the same experience.

The sump was a PAIN to plumb up. That is my main complaint about the setup. The return compartment is in the back right corner. The ATO came pre-installed on mine, with the float switch installed on the back wall of the sump, so I had this 2-gallon box sort of flopping around while we were trying to get the return pump, the flex hose, and the return pipe stuffed back in that corner without pulling something loose. Like, you have to put the pump in, measure how much flex hose you need to connect it, then pull it back out, pull the plumbing out, put it all together and hope you measured well, and then snake the whole mess back into its spot and connect the return to the bulkhead. The sucker feet on my pump did not aid us in repositioning it. I am glad I have skinny arms and a smart man. The upside is the flex they provide is tight and I am not worried about it leaking, at least.
Now that it's done I am impressed with how much they did fit in that teeny space, but woo - it was a fight.
A GOOD thing you might not know about the tank - the base frame of the tank itself is 2" tall, so the bulkheads don't stick out below the frame. i.e. you can slide it on the stand, or wherever you set it down. Unlike a traditional bulkhead setup. That made it a lot easier to transport home.

 

[MagicPenny]

So my LFS told me that my tank was 32 gallons. Measured at 24x20x20 inches, that's 9600 ci. There are 231 ci. of water in a gallon. 9600/231 = 41.56. I know it's a metric tank but it's just funny to me that the store I bought it from has all of them labeled as 32 gallons. I thought it might be 60 as in liters but that's only about 16 gallons.
Is it just me or have the "instructions" included with every piece of reefing hardware gotten measurably worse over the last ten years? The app to run that RedSea light is ridiculous.
It is Monday and I am grouchy.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So my LFS told me that my tank was 32 gallons. Measured at 24x20x20 inches, that's 9600 ci. There are 231 ci. of water in a gallon. 9600/231 = 41.56. I know it's a metric tank but it's just funny to me that the store I bought it from has all of them labeled as 32 gallons. I thought it might be 60 as in liters but that's only about 16 gallons.
Is it just me or have the "instructions" included with every piece of reefing hardware gotten measurably worse over the last ten years? The app to run that RedSea light is ridiculous.
It is Monday and I am grouchy.

When I first set up the RedSea light for my tank, I was also confused by the app! If you ever need help on the app feel free to ask me questions! I've had to setup my fair share of these tanks while working at some reefing shows! Also, your aquascape looks good; how close is it to the front of your glass?

 

[MagicPenny]

When I first set up the RedSea light for my tank, I was also confused by the app! If you ever need help on the app feel free to ask me questions! I've had to setup my fair share of these tanks while working at some reefing shows! Also, your aquascape looks good; how close is it to the front of your glass?

Thanks for the offer! It took forever to figure out how to just shut it off since the tank is empty for the moment.
There is 3-4" or so from the rock to the glass is the closest. Enough to get my hand in there if I need to.

 

[Reefer2.0]

Nice little tank gonna be fun!

 

[MagicPenny]

Although your question does cause me to look at the sidewall there. Might need to rearrange the rock to give myself more glass-scraping space. Ugh...

 

[habetm14]

The sump was a PAIN to plumb up. That is my main complaint about the setup. The return compartment is in the back right corner. The ATO came pre-installed on mine, with the float switch installed on the back wall of the sump, so I had this 2-gallon box sort of flopping around while we were trying to get the return pump, the flex hose, and the return pipe stuffed back in that corner without pulling something loose. Like, you have to put the pump in, measure how much flex hose you need to connect it, then pull it back out, pull the plumbing out, put it all together and hope you measured well, and then snake the whole mess back into its spot and connect the return to the bulkhead. The sucker feet on my pump did not aid us in repositioning it. I am glad I have skinny arms and a smart man. The upside is the flex they provide is tight and I am not worried about it leaking, at least.
Now that it's done I am impressed with how much they did fit in that teeny space, but woo - it was a fight.
A GOOD thing you might not know about the tank - the base frame of the tank itself is 2" tall, so the bulkheads don't stick out below the frame. i.e. you can slide it on the stand, or wherever you set it down. Unlike a traditional bulkhead setup. That made it a lot easier to transport home.

Thank you! Really appreciate the initial review. The tight quarters do scare me.

 

[MagicPenny]

ooooooof.
We are at a standstill. My husband got the RO/DI mounted in the garage, and we purchased a holding tank from Tractor Supply. I got it home and realized that the bulkhead on the tank was cross-threaded. Of course, rather than load it up and take it back (it was the only one in stock and I'm losing patience) we figure it must be a common size of pipe and cut that sucker right off. Fast forward a week later and we had to drive to the next county last night in search of the bulkhead, which was the wrong size inventoried in the correct bin at that Tractor Supply. We wound up buying a bigger bulkhead and hubs is going to use a hole saw to resize the openings and install it in the tank. And also I haven't bought anything to keep heat on the filter, and it's 28 degrees with snow in the forecast today, so we aren't plumbing it up until Thursday at least. To top things off (pun intended), he's leaving on Sunday for a month for work.
Honestly, I am really not a complainer... I swear... not anymore, anyway. There are lots of stress points in life right now aside from setting up the aquarium. I'm just ready to get started. I'm planning on going to a local hobbyist swap this weekend. My little 5-gallon is about to become a coral holding tank. The deals are going to be too good to pass up!
Updated pics as soon as there is something to update. Might be a pic of the tank with a towel over it to keep the dust out.

 

[MagicPenny]

wOOHOOooOo!
She's runnin'!
Here are some points not everyone may know:
1. RO/DI filters do not produce anywhere near the stated GPD except under ideal conditions.
2. Detached metal buildings in February are not anywhere near ideal conditions.

My poor saint of a husband froze his tail off last week getting the RO/DI plumbed and ready to connect in our freezing garage.
We got it hooked up and flushed Saturday morning, put the DI and RO cartridges in, turned it on, and left for the swap at a local reef farm at 11 AM, expecting to have at least ten or fifteen gallons when we got home. The swap was bumper-to-bumper humans, so we didn't stay long. I came home with a John Deere lepto and some Rasta zoas to camp in my pico tank while the big boy settled in. At 3 PM there were 5 gallons of filtered water in the tank. I did a little search and found that cold water lowers the production significantly. I was so bummed. So my husband went outside and wrapped the filter in a seedling mat and we took the afternoon to rest. At 9 PM there was about eight gallons of water. It took until 7 PM Sunday night to make the 32 gallons of water I needed. We had put the salt in early so thankfully it was at least mixed, and I happened to nail the salinity perfectly at 1.025.
The reef farm opened for a little while again on Sunday so I ran over there and caught up with an old friend and picked up some more frags and some macro for my sump. Brought those home, threw the macro in the sump, and put the heater in. Side note on the tank - the sump is a cube too, and there wasn't really room to lay down the heater. It's sitting corner to corner in the fuge chamber. I may have to move it to the display or get a different heater (boo).
Into the tank went 30+ gallons of 58-degree water, every spare heater I could get my paws on, and a digital thermometer.
FF to this morning...
I was going to wait until lunchtime to start it up but I am not a patient person. I know, it's bad. Just to see what would happen, I gingerly connected the return pump, ready to yank it free when a bulkhead no-doubt exploded, or the tank immediately overflowed, or every other conceivable nightmare scenario we all know and love.
It. Was. Perfection. Not a drip in sight. It just worked. It was in the top ten amazing moments of my life. My previous sump experience was extremely DIY, with cobbled-together plumbing and gifted equipment. This thing is amazing. I took out about a half gallon of water I had overfilled, dialed the drain valve down until it quit bubbling, and the glorious sound of smooth water and the light hum of the pump was all I heard. I am so excited to go home at lunch and stare at it for ten minutes haha.
Sorry for the Extremely Long Narrative. I get wordy when I am excited!
And now for what you really came here to see...
Full tank shot just after I filled it:

The Sump Shot - Any experience with the balance between the Gravity-ATO float and the water level would be appreciated:

And the poor little pico with all the brand new very unhappy corals, mid-ugly-phase, with my dirtbag dottyback who will stay in this tank the rest of his days because he is in jail for the attempted murder of my peppermint shrimp, and yes I know it's my fault for putting him in there and yes I know most people don't put fish in a 5G. He gets a 50% WC every 2 weeks and I use Chemipure Blue. And yes that is a Kenya tree. I like them. I'm a weed coral fan

 

[Reefer2.0]

wOOHOOooOo!
She's runnin'!
Here are some points not everyone may know:
1. RO/DI filters do not produce anywhere near the stated GPD except under ideal conditions.
2. Detached metal buildings in February are not anywhere near ideal conditions.

My poor saint of a husband froze his tail off last week getting the RO/DI plumbed and ready to connect in our freezing garage.
We got it hooked up and flushed Saturday morning, put the DI and RO cartridges in, turned it on, and left for the swap at a local reef farm at 11 AM, expecting to have at least ten or fifteen gallons when we got home. The swap was bumper-to-bumper humans, so we didn't stay long. I came home with a John Deere lepto and some Rasta zoas to camp in my pico tank while the big boy settled in. At 3 PM there were 5 gallons of filtered water in the tank. I did a little search and found that cold water lowers the production significantly. I was so bummed. So my husband went outside and wrapped the filter in a seedling mat and we took the afternoon to rest. At 9 PM there was about eight gallons of water. It took until 7 PM Sunday night to make the 32 gallons of water I needed. We had put the salt in early so thankfully it was at least mixed, and I happened to nail the salinity perfectly at 1.025.
The reef farm opened for a little while again on Sunday so I ran over there and caught up with an old friend and picked up some more frags and some macro for my sump. Brought those home, threw the macro in the sump, and put the heater in. Side note on the tank - the sump is a cube too, and there wasn't really room to lay down the heater. It's sitting corner to corner in the fuge chamber. I may have to move it to the display or get a different heater (boo).
Into the tank went 30+ gallons of 58-degree water, every spare heater I could get my paws on, and a digital thermometer.
FF to this morning...
I was going to wait until lunchtime to start it up but I am not a patient person. I know, it's bad. Just to see what would happen, I gingerly connected the return pump, ready to yank it free when a bulkhead no-doubt exploded, or the tank immediately overflowed, or every other conceivable nightmare scenario we all know and love.
It. Was. Perfection. Not a drip in sight. It just worked. It was in the top ten amazing moments of my life. My previous sump experience was extremely DIY, with cobbled-together plumbing and gifted equipment. This thing is amazing. I took out about a half gallon of water I had overfilled, dialed the drain valve down until it quit bubbling, and the glorious sound of smooth water and the light hum of the pump was all I heard. I am so excited to go home at lunch and stare at it for ten minutes haha.
Sorry for the Extremely Long Narrative. I get wordy when I am excited!
And now for what you really came here to see...
Full tank shot just after I filled it:

The Sump Shot - Any experience with the balance between the Gravity-ATO float and the water level would be appreciated:

And the poor little pico with all the brand new very unhappy corals, mid-ugly-phase, with my dirtbag dottyback who will stay in this tank the rest of his days because he is in jail for the attempted murder of my peppermint shrimp, and yes I know it's my fault for putting him in there and yes I know most people don't put fish in a 5G. He gets a 50% WC every 2 weeks and I use Chemipure Blue. And yes that is a Kenya tree. I like them. I'm a weed coral fan

I hear they can be real jerks!!

 

[MagicPenny]

I hear they can be real jerks!!

Indeed they can. I had to set up a little retreat behind my algae magnet for the shrimp to hide from the fish. As soon as I can get the big tank stabilized mr. shrimp will be in first class all by himself.