My first saltwater tank 60 gallon RR cube

Nano345 · Apr 7, 2017

So I decided after many years of desiring to have a reef tank to finally dive in and get my feet wet.

4 grand later and I officially in.. lol

Decided to go with 60 gallon cube since it was going in the bedroom and it wouldnt take up much space.

I did upgrade light from metal halide to Hydra 26

Sump was also upgraded to a Trigger system Emerald cube with refugium.

I purchased an Reef Octopus Protein skimmer as well.

here some pics of the setup

Paullawr · Apr 7, 2017

Sweet looks stunning.

The new fish on the block · Apr 7, 2017

Nice Tank and Welcome to R2R

stevo01 · Apr 7, 2017

Nice system! How long has it been setup?

Nano345 · Apr 7, 2017

I have had it for two weeks and the tank itself has been established for at least 6 months. I got a great deal on it and felt it was better to buy a setup used since I would of end up paying even more money and play the waiting game

It has been running for 6 months without a protein skimmer and the tank has been doing great. I decided to add one since I stocked up the tank with coral. I just rather be safe.

stevo01 · Apr 7, 2017

Nano345 said:
I have had it for two weeks and the tank itself has been established for at least 6 months. I got a great deal on it and felt it was better to buy a setup used since I would of end up paying even more money and play the waiting game

It has been running for 6 months without a protein skimmer and the tank has been doing great. I decided to add one since I stocked up the tank with coral. I just rather be safe.

Great thinking!

Nano345 · Apr 13, 2017

So I decided to buy a Reef Octopus Protein skimmer and a trigger system sump with ref. As I posted earlier.

Also purchase a few more frags.. I have to really control myself and very selective on what I buy as to not cause a problem with existing coral down the road.

I am going to look for another frog spawn with different color variation to place next to the other one, since they both have sweeper tentacles.

I have done water testing and everything seems to be going just fine.

My hydor powerhead crapped out and so I ended up buying a Jebao powerhead, I need to take back the control, it came broken off even though it was new. Not very well made imo, but it seems to get the job done compared to paying 380.00

Now my next buy I need to get is an auto top off so that I do not have to worry about water levels getting low, I noticed with new sump I am getting more water evaporation. I assume because it actually flows better then last sump.

stevo01 · Apr 14, 2017

More surface movement the more evaporation. Yeah the ato will certainly help that.

Nano345 · Jul 28, 2017

Well so far everything is doing great, lost few corals due to Urchin knocking them down, despite my effforts to glue it in place.

Also upgrade my powerhead to 2 Jebao powerheads, one aim at surface and one aimed at my top rock with my SPS coral.

Had lost a long plate coral, gonipora, 2 zoa frags, and one sps. Not sure why long plate tentacle died, only thing I can think of is perhaps a frag dropped on it causing it die. Zoas, I need to check my light and possibly readjust.

I have a hydra 26 with light set at 14k light setting ramping w apx 8 hours of light.

All in all I am very satisfied with the outcome of the tank and will update with pictures. Happy that I went w 60 g cube and not smaller like i originally wanted.