My 60gal Reef

[scott11]

Hey everyone- rebuilding my 60 gallon tank after a few years out of the hobby. Started reefing in 2003 and I’ve had tanks from 10 gallons to 180 gallons until taking a break in 2019.

Looking forward to picking the hobby back up and will use this thread to track my tank development.

Pictures to follow soon.

 

[scott11]

Here’s where I am today.

Tank is 60 gallon cube 24 inches per side. Glass is Starfire with an external overflow. 2x 1.5” drains and 2 x 1 inch returns drilled into the back glass.

Plumbing is currently dry fit as I tweak the layout a little bit. I’ll do Herbie style overflow with one primary at full siphon and a back up.

Sump is an Eshopps RS 100. This is an upgrade from the custom sump I ran previously on this tank. The old sump took up the entire stand and had a layout that did not allow for a large skimmer and caused a lot of micro bubbles. Looking forward to using this sump with the filter sock and have been seeing the 3-D printed canisters which I may use in place of the filter sock for ease of maintenance.

I’ve got an old octopus skimmer in there now for sizing, but will probably upgrade to a DC skimmer very soon.

Return pump will be a reef octopus varios 6 which is currently on order. I think this may be oversized for the tank, but will give me some extra power if I want to run a manifold in the future.

I also have an ink bird temperature controller. Historically I’ve always run Neptune controllers, but given that everything is now independently controlled or has its own Wi-Fi I’m questioning the need. I’m gonna start this without an Apex but may upgrade later on.

I also have an AI Hydro 44 HD on order.

Still contemplating flow, but leaning towards Nero’s for some ecosystem consistency. Would likely use two 3s or two 5s- more research is needed.

I also have new filters and membranes for my RODI system coming, so hopefully we’ll be able to complete the plumbing and get it wet for a leak test within a week or two.

Plan is for reef crystal salt. Undecided about sandbed yet. I normally go fairly deep because I enjoy burrowing animals, but may go more shallow this time for ease of maintenance and sandbed management.

I’ll pick up some use live rock around town, but have a plan for a multitiered shelves along the back and left side. The tank will sit in the corner of a room and the left side will not be very visible so I may keep the rock fairly close on that side of the tank just allowing room for glass cleaning. Will aim to have more open space on the front right corner.

Not too sure on livestock and coral choices yet. Partially getting back into the hobby because my kids have taken interest so I will let them have some say in what we decide to keep. I’m thinking a mixed reef with easy to medium difficulty quarrels, and a little heavy on the fish load.

I’m sure there’s lots more I could say but that’s a pretty good overview of my plans at the moment. Ill look to update this thread once the tank gets wet.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Looking forward to the first set of 'wet' photos. Congrats.

 

[Mebbid]

Exciting! Looking forward to seeing it come along.

I have a 60 cube running a varios 6 for the return and a single nero 5 running at 20% - 30% in the tank, imho the flow is just a touch strong with that return pump. I am dealing with some tissue recession on a hammer right now because of it. Id suggest getting the manifold set up so you can fine tune the flow a touch from the return. If I was doing just sps it'd be fine but I like my lps and softies too.

Im in the process of switching to Octopulse wavemakers instead of the nero because they can be aimed.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Awesome start! Following along!

 

[Lumous]

Here’s where I am today.

Tank is 60 gallon cube 24 inches per side. Glass is Starfire with an external overflow. 2x 1.5” drains and 2 x 1 inch returns drilled into the back glass.

Plumbing is currently dry fit as I tweak the layout a little bit. I’ll do Herbie style overflow with one primary at full siphon and a back up.

Sump is an Eshopps RS 100. This is an upgrade from the custom sump I ran previously on this tank. The old sump took up the entire stand and had a layout that did not allow for a large skimmer and caused a lot of micro bubbles. Looking forward to using this sump with the filter sock and have been seeing the 3-D printed canisters which I may use in place of the filter sock for ease of maintenance.

I’ve got an old octopus skimmer in there now for sizing, but will probably upgrade to a DC skimmer very soon.

Return pump will be a reef octopus varios 6 which is currently on order. I think this may be oversized for the tank, but will give me some extra power if I want to run a manifold in the future.

I also have an ink bird temperature controller. Historically I’ve always run Neptune controllers, but given that everything is now independently controlled or has its own Wi-Fi I’m questioning the need. I’m gonna start this without an Apex but may upgrade later on.

I also have an AI Hydro 44 HD on order.

Still contemplating flow, but leaning towards Nero’s for some ecosystem consistency. Would likely use two 3s or two 5s- more research is needed.

I also have new filters and membranes for my RODI system coming, so hopefully we’ll be able to complete the plumbing and get it wet for a leak test within a week or two.

Plan is for reef crystal salt. Undecided about sandbed yet. I normally go fairly deep because I enjoy burrowing animals, but may go more shallow this time for ease of maintenance and sandbed management.

I’ll pick up some use live rock around town, but have a plan for a multitiered shelves along the back and left side. The tank will sit in the corner of a room and the left side will not be very visible so I may keep the rock fairly close on that side of the tank just allowing room for glass cleaning. Will aim to have more open space on the front right corner.

Not too sure on livestock and coral choices yet. Partially getting back into the hobby because my kids have taken interest so I will let them have some say in what we decide to keep. I’m thinking a mixed reef with easy to medium difficulty quarrels, and a little heavy on the fish load.

I’m sure there’s lots more I could say but that’s a pretty good overview of my plans at the moment. Ill look to update this thread once the tank gets wet.

Good work, following along

 

[scott11]

And we’re up and running.

Hopefully, I’m not repeating anything from my prior post.

Picked up 60 pounds of rock locally about 20 live thrust dry off from two different LFS. 60 pounds of packaged life sand with 40 pounds Fiji pink and 20 pounds special grade. It’s still a little shallow for my preference so I’ll probably add another 20 pounds but unsure at the moment.

After I got running for a few days I noticed I had a very slow leak through the bulkhead on my external overflow. Luckily, I was able to drain the overflow and tighten up the bulkhead and the trip seems to have resolved. Dug out an old skimmer out of the garage reef octopus NW 110. It’s a little too loud for me but will work for now. Keeping my eyes on the forum for an upgrade.

I’ll need to supplement my flow a little bit, but I think I’m at a point where it can sit for a while for a cycle.

Very open to input on the aquascape. I did this one fairly quick and I like it because it seems to provide a lot of caves, tunnels and coral mounting, but visually I don’t think it’s all that interesting. I tried to stay away from a giant pile of rock in the middle of the tank, but open to suggestions.

 

[scott11]

Can’t get the photos to post. Will update later with pictures.

 

[scott11]

 

[scott11]

 

[scott11]

 

[scott11]

 

[scott11]

Moved the Aquascape around a little bit. I like this more. I pulled it off the back wall for some better circulation and changed the back of my horseshoe shape. I think this gives a lot more mounting room for corals and some cool overhangs for shaded areas.