My 60 Gallon Cube

ShawnS1974 · Feb 5, 2011

A Marineland 60 gallon 24x24x24
Lighting: Marineland Pro Lighting 24" (150w HQI 14K, 4x 24w T5 and 2 Lunar Moonlights)
Sump: DIY 40g Acrylic tank 20x20x20 with a small slot for a refugium.
Skimmer:Reef Octopus XP
ATO: 20g powered by JBJ system
Return Pump: Danner Mag 9.5
Flow: Vortech MP10 w/Battery backup and looking to add a second one.
Dosing with Britewell A,B

I travel most of the year and have been keeping tanks for the last 8 years. Last summer while on vacation I decided I had wanted to build a new tank. I had found this cube w/stand for $450 and really liked the dimensions. The sump I had found through a friend, a local salon had wanted to provide the "fish powered "exfoliation treatment but were not able to get the proper permits. Well they had these cubes built so I bought one for $35 and added all of the baffles and walls. I'm guessing I have about 25g in there with a depth of 14 inches.
Water, sand and 70 lbs of rocks were added in July and left to run for two months with a mogul style 250w pendant (20K) on an 8hr day cycle. Then in Oct. I added my first corals mainly chalice frags and zoas. Having only 24hrs to enjoy before I had to leave for a month, some of the corals suffered from to much light. This has been an on going problem. In Dec. I bought the Marineland Pro system, which is the same amount of watts as the pendant, but obviously more control. I have the T5's on an 8hr cycle and the HQI on a 6 hr cycle (16 hrs of moonlight). Over the last three weeks , the corals are really rebounding. I'm hoping this will help with growth.
Due to my hectic schedule, I travel 6/8 months a year, it does make it a bit tough to monitor the tank. I have a friend with a tank cleaning service that stops by every other week to do a 10g water change and my family stops by twice a week to top off the ATO and feed the two fish. Nitrates are at zero, calcium at 520, but my PH has been low. I was dosing cal with Turbo Calcium but have switched to the Britewell A/B in the last week hoping to even out the PH.
I'm hoping to add a computer system with Net capability in the next few weeks, so I can monitor while I'm on the road. Any suggestions?? And not just on a computer system... I will try to add more pics of the whole system soon.

MoneyPit · Feb 5, 2011

I travel too, but only 2-4 days a week. It's tough to keep a tank that needs so much attention, yet not be there enough to do it. I don't like to rely on others to do it for me but that's the boat we're in, or tank that is. lol I have read that in order to keep PH stable and at the proper levels you need to have some movement at the surface of your tank. Apparently that allows the gases/oxygen in the air to exchange with the tank water. During the winter months our houses are all closed up and we are not letting enough fresh air in. That causes excess build up of CO2 and a lower PH. In my case I drilled a hole through my wall and connected a hose from my skimmer to the outside air. My PH is very stable now, day or night. Good luck.

ShawnS1974 · Feb 5, 2011

a few more pics from this morning

here are a few more pics. I've had culurpa (spelling?) pop up, but I don't know where from. It's turning into a bit of a problem.. And the Koralia pump is in active, just have to take it out. Thank you for the response MoneyPit, I seem to have plenty of surface movement, I think the Turbo Calcium was just to much even with a buffer thats why I switched to Britewell. We will see after this week of dosing how everything turns out.

m and m · Feb 5, 2011

Yea it's tough when you travel when you do have time with the tank you need to work on it but it looks good so far keep up the good work!

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

a few more pics

playing with the camera

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

And a few more

dougers31 · Feb 16, 2011

Beautiful tank! $35 is nuts... I wonder what that would have gone for at retail? Absolutley love the tube anemone!

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

Thank you for your replies. The tank still needs a lot of work. I've switched to a Kalk system with my ATO, hoping to get away from A/B. Also doing a magnesium drip for the chalices. Everything LPS took a beating from my last trip. I'm hoping to restore a few frags that haven't died. The mag. seems to help, with a little feeding of oyster eggs. Fingers are crossed. But with the new aquascape and the addition of the MP10's I'm hoping for some changes in the next few months.

gar732 · Feb 16, 2011

Cubes are great! I like the scape too. Do you think an MP40 would have too much flow or did you just want it coming from different directions?

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

Also, anyone with DA or Neptune systems on their tanks, what would you recommend? I'm looking to add in the near future..

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

gar732 said:
Cubes are great! I like the scape too. Do you think an MP40 would have too much flow or did you just want it coming from different directions?

I just changed the aqua-scape, I'll add a new pic. I went with the MP10's for their size, the tank is only 24"x24"x24". They are small enough to fit on either side of the overflow and pac a huge punch for that size tank. Also I enjoy the echosmart settings. Currently have it set to nutrient transport, a combo cycle of waves and swells. I think the MP40 would have been overkill, IMOA...

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

dougers31 said:
Beautiful tank! $35 is nuts... I wonder what that would have gone for at retail? Absolutley love the tube anemone!

The $35 tank was for the acrylic cube I use as a sump, $450 for the display. Thanks on the anemone

ShawnS1974 · Feb 16, 2011

new scape

I liked how the tank was set before, but it fell like there wasn't enough open surfaces for frags, And it wasn't that stable. The plan for this tank is a mixed with SPS. I have not had much luck with SPS corals in the past. Though this tank will probably be more LPS dominate.So now I have this "shelf" at the top for acros and milli's. It's about 10 inches from the MH. Hoping this won't be bad, I have some new frags coming tomorrow. I'll keep you updated..