Naturehold's 60 Gallon Cube (First reef tank build)

NatureHold · Sep 3, 2020

Using this to track progress of my first reef build, and to look back and laugh at my noob self years from now lol!

Starting with a second hand 60 Gallon cube, and 20-ish gallon sump. Before/After pics of initial tank cleaning and stand repaint.
Before:

After:

Picked up the bulk of my supplies to get started designing layout and overall functionality. I chose to go with the APEX system for a few different reasons:

1. Being able to see the parameters of my tank from my phone/computer is absolutely awesome.
2. I wanted to have the ability to know exactly what my parameters are at any given moment of the day.
3. In the day and age of smartphones, apps, and technology, having one app to control them all seemed more appealing. (Until I found out that I really needed to get a Radeon. *Screams in Mobius*)

Here is a pic of what I have so far:

Rock curing setup:

I plan to upgrade the sump after considering the filtration regiment that I want to run. The current one that came with the tank is only a dual chamber and is fairly small. Not enough room to fit in a refugium, filter sock, or media bags.

Does anyone have specific experience with the UV sterilizer that I purchased? I have a seasoned reefer telling me that the coralife stuff is semi-junky compared to say an emperor sterilizer.

BackToTheReef · Sep 3, 2020

Nice, can't wait to see it come together! (No help with the UV though)

NatureHold · Sep 7, 2020

Update: picked up my ecotech mp10s and a second media reactor. Rough fitting plumbing. Will post pics of under tank.

NatureHold · Sep 8, 2020

Well, set up everything for a trial run before taking pics of assembly and the MP10s are acting up. The dry sides on both are excessively noisy. One is tolerable while the other sounds like it has sand in the bearing. Will contact Dallas north Aquarium in the morning to see what they can do. Worst case, looks like ill have to send them back to Ecotech. Such a disappointment though. At 300 bucks a piece you'd think that Eco could spend a little time on QA/QC, these things were loud straight out of a sealed box. I can hear them humming away at 50% power from my computer room over 30 feet away from the tank. I've rotated and adjusted them multiple times, cycled through all settings. No vibration, just loud whining coming from the dry side.

NatureHold · Sep 16, 2020

Update.

RMA'd the noisy dry side of the mp10 back to Ecotech. They did a great job with walking me through the process and had a new dry side to me in 3 days total. Big time Kudos to Eco.

Anyways. I ended up getting an 18x18x16 3-chamber trigger systems sump as the dual baffle sump that came with the tank was very subpar. Re-plumbed everything to accommodate the new sump and i'm very happy with it so far. I dumped a nitrite brick into the fuge and am waiting for the tank to cycle to add chaeto and pods.

The wiring for the full neptune setup was an absolute nightmare and I still have to setup my trident and DOS pumps. There is probably about 150+ feet worth of cable that I am managing right now. But I am happy with the clean "wireless" look so far after adding in some cable management conduit. My top off is run from a 5-gal bucket from the adjacent stand, as well as a waste bucket for the trident.

I started the nitrogen cycle last week with turbo start and Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride. Had 0 ppm ammonia on Tuesday of this week but still high in nitrites and no nitrates yet. Dosed a second round of ammonia up to 1.5 ppm to force feed the bacteria again. Hopefully will be close to cycled by next week or so. Really excited to get fish and clean-up crew.

Pics attached... tank is dirty, but you get the point

RaymondsWorlddd · Sep 16, 2020

Following along! I love cube tanks

NatureHold · Sep 26, 2020

Finally cycled. The pros weren't kidding when they said that waiting for the cycle to finish would be hard lol. The tank is shredding through 2ppm ammonia and the resulting nitrites in less than 24 hours. I am picking up a proven pair of phantom clownfish to add to the tank on monday.

Question for the forum: with the bio load added from the 2 clowns, will adding additional clean up crew such as a shrimp and 1 to 2 hermits create too much additional bio load too fast?

Chrisfish · Sep 26, 2020

Welcome to R2R, congratulations!!

NatureHold · Oct 1, 2020

Small update. I did a 30% water change after the cycle and added in 2 Phantom Clownfish, 1 green torch, and a small frag plug of Zoas. So far so good. Tank parameters are remaining stable. No algae bloom whatsoever. Clowns are happy active, and feeding well. The torch and Zoas stayed fairly closed up the first day after a iodine dip, but opened up beautifully the next morning.

Chrisfish · Oct 1, 2020

Looking good!!

Roytrolls247 · Oct 21, 2020

NatureHold said:
Update.

RMA'd the noisy dry side of the mp10 back to Ecotech. They did a great job with walking me through the process and had a new dry side to me in 3 days total. Big time Kudos to Eco.

Anyways. I ended up getting an 18x18x16 3-chamber trigger systems sump as the dual baffle sump that came with the tank was very subpar. Re-plumbed everything to accommodate the new sump and i'm very happy with it so far. I dumped a nitrite brick into the fuge and am waiting for the tank to cycle to add chaeto and pods.

The wiring for the full neptune setup was an absolute nightmare and I still have to setup my trident and DOS pumps. There is probably about 150+ feet worth of cable that I am managing right now. But I am happy with the clean "wireless" look so far after adding in some cable management conduit. My top off is run from a 5-gal bucket from the adjacent stand, as well as a waste bucket for the trident.

I started the nitrogen cycle last week with turbo start and Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride. Had 0 ppm ammonia on Tuesday of this week but still high in nitrites and no nitrates yet. Dosed a second round of ammonia up to 1.5 ppm to force feed the bacteria again. Hopefully will be close to cycled by next week or so. Really excited to get fish and clean-up crew.

Pics attached... tank is dirty, but you get the point

When you say Noisy what kind of noise was it making? Mine does like a lite whining noise when in reef crest mode and in high RPM

southerntnreefer · Oct 21, 2020

Looks great! These cubes are really growing on me!

NatureHold · Oct 21, 2020

Roytrolls247 said:
When you say Noisy what kind of noise was it making? Mine does like a lite whining noise when in reef crest mode and in high RPM

It was a horrible whining/grinding noise. You should be able to hear anything other than a small humming sound with your ear a few feet away from the motor.

NatureHold · Oct 28, 2020

Quick update. Cell phone picture heavy.

Getting the tank stocked with various frags. I have had 3 the 3 SPS drags up top for about 2.5 weeks. The pink milli is showing growth with new tips and encrusting on the plug. Stylophora is growing with new tips as well.

Overall, the tank is running well. Ended up landing on 8.5 for my dkh with my lower nutrient count. Time to let this thing grow in.

Socal-Reefer-60 · Nov 25, 2020

How's it coming? Looks like you're off to a good start!

NatureHold · Nov 26, 2020

Socal-Reefer-60 said:
How's it coming? Looks like you're off to a good start!

The tank is doing well. It is going through some ugly stages right now. Battling diatoms and dinos that I picked up from somewhere.

I think I've about lost the montipora frag. Not 100% sure why. It slowly just started bleaching out. The acro frags on the rack next to it are doing fine with good PE. Everything else seems to be doing good as well. I would post a FTS shot, but it's rather ugly and brown at the moment lol.

Socal-Reefer-60 · Nov 26, 2020

NatureHold said:
The tank is doing well. It is going through some ugly stages right now. Battling diatoms and dinos that I picked up from somewhere.

I think I've about lost the montipora frag. Not 100% sure why. It slowly just started bleaching out. The acro frags on the rack next to it are doing fine with good PE. Everything else seems to be doing good as well. I would post a FTS shot, but it's rather ugly and brown at the moment lol.

So diatoms and dinos are just part of the ugly phase and will occur during the first 3 months. Really nothing you can do to prevent that. Part of it is the silicates from sand. So don’t be too hard in the process

montis don’t need a crazy amount of light and everything does best w balanced alkalinity. Have you been able to test alk?

NatureHold · Nov 26, 2020

Alk is tested 4 times a day with apex and verified for accuracy twice a week with a hanna checker. Alk has be steady between 8.1-8.5 since all of the SPS frags have been introduced. Running low nutrients, so keeping alk somewhat low.

I think it might have gotten too much light. I have them on a rack and slowly moved the rack up once a week or so. The acropora frags did better higher up, but the monti did worse.

Socal-Reefer-60 · Nov 26, 2020

NatureHold said:
Alk is tested 4 times a day with apex and verified for accuracy twice a week with a hanna checker. Alk has be steady between 8.1-8.5 since all of the SPS frags have been introduced. Running low nutrients, so keeping alk somewhat low.

I think it might have gotten too much light. I have them on a rack and slowly moved the rack up once a week or so. The acropora frags did better higher up, but the monti did worse.

Nice, that’s great to be able to monitor.
Yah my sps likes being about 6” higher in my tank than my Montis.