New 60g Cube

JimCali75 · Sep 4, 2013

Hi all,

Thought I'd start a thread on my new 60 gallon Marineland rimless cube. Pretty much a newbie. Had a 30 gallon about 10 years ago. Just a hang on the back skimmer and lots of water changes. This will be my first tank with an overflow and such. I'd like to keep softies, LPS, a couple SPS along with a few fish. So far all I have is the tank and stand. So... begins the research on lighting, skimmer, sump, and rtn pump. Any ideas, comments, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. :help:
So far these are some of the ideas I have bouncing around in the space where my brain should be..

Lighting.. Maxspect Razor 60w Nano 10.5"x8.6" with 20"x20" effective coverage (not enough?) or the Maxspect 120w 16,000k 20.5"x10" with 30"x20" coverage (overkill?) Trying to keep the lighting under $400.. Kessil 150 20,000k Deep Ocean Blue perhaps? I know this one isn't adjustable but I would save almost what I would need for the skimmer compared to the larger MaxR.

Skimmer.. Bubble Magus 3.5 or a CAD Lights Pipeless Protein Skimmer ? Both have a pretty small footprint in case I can fit a small refugium in the sump. Reef Octo 4 might be a little more efficient but a larger footprint?

Sump.. Any ideas are welcome.. I'm not a big diy person. Just don't have the time and tools. Do they make a sump with refugium small enough to fit under my stand? Or should I just go basic sump?

Rtn pump.. any recommendations would be great!

Thanks again.. looking forward to getting to know you all. :yo:

James

looking foward to getting to know you alllook sdsd

keysfishfinder · Sep 12, 2013

Slow and steady wins the race in the aquarium world. Nice tank I will be following along as we just got a 60 rimless from MACNA that I will be setting up starting in October.

revhtree · Sep 12, 2013

Nice tank!

Hnguyen · Sep 20, 2013

I would try and get the biggest skimmer you can fit in your sump, it will allow you to have a bigger bio load. As for lights, I've had great success with the AI lights and I'm running a Vega now. Get yourself a controller and ato to help make life easier and keep things more stable like salinity and temp.

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jservedio · Sep 20, 2013

The Bubble Magus 3.5+ NAC Skimmer is a great skimmer and a great place to save some money (The NAC 5 is awesome too - if you get a big sump, consider that!) I run it on my 20g with a 10g sump and even with that little volume on an SPS sytem with no nitrates or phosphates, it is able to keep a stable foam head. It is a great little skimmer. Make sure you move it a little higher up than it suggests (mine sits on some eggcrate to raise it about 2" higher than their suggestion) so it doesn't have to be turned down to the "0" or "1" setting. Works great around 3 or 4.

It really can't be beat for that price point and will be more than enough for your tank. I run the Radion Pros on my 20g, so don't worry about Overkill for lighting. Even on my 20g, the Radion Pro isn't that crazy.

+1 for the ATO. You can save some money here too by getting an Avast Marine ATO ($89 with a nice magnetic mounting). They don't use float switches (a pressure tube) so they aren't prone to sticking or failing. Any system that uses conductivity switches or a pressure switch will be much more reliable than one that uses float switches.

The one place I cheaped out on my tank was my return pump. I am using a $30 Taam Rio and it has been running steady for over a year without a single failure. It isn't dead silent, but it works. There are places you can reliably save money, and some places you shouldn't. Do NOT try and save money on a heater - it will come back to bite you. Unless you have some kind of controller on your heater (Like a Ranco), buy the best heater you can afford.

As for a sump - it is incredibly easy to DIY. All you need are a few sheets of glass to act as baffles, a glass etching rolling (looks like a pencil with a wheel on the end), a caulk gun with Silicone I (NOT Silicone II), and some wood blocks to hold the baffles in place as they dry. For a simple sump, you only need 2 baffles (one under, one over) between your main section and your return section. You can further use eggcrate and zip ties to separate a refugium in your main chamber from the skimmer. Just go to petco and buy a 20g tank to act as your sump (If it fits under your stand) for $20. Your sump can be made for less than $50. Of course you cna buy a custom one or a purpose built sump, but that will run you $200+. I used a 10g on mine and it fits everything just fine. I have the Skimmer, return pump, 2 reactors (1 GFO and 1 GAC), an MJ1200 to feed the reactors, my ATO, dosing lines, and a pH and Salinity probe all in there.