Spfahnestock's 60 Gallon Build Thread

[spfahnestock]

I have not had a tank in 7 years and decided it was time again. The last tank I had was a 150 gallon tank.

I am in the process of setting up a 60 gallon cube.

Equipment:

EcoTech - Vortech MP 10 X 1
Radion XR15 Gen 4
Curve 5 Elite Protein Skimmer
Vectra S2 Return Pump
Ruby Cube Sump 20
Reeflink

Picking up rock and sand tomorrow.

I have been making RO/DI water all day.

Plan is to add water and start the cycle tomorrow.

 

[zapbap99]

goodluck and welcome to r2r

 

[Euphyllia97]

Great to hear the microbe takes over after 7 years keep us updated!

 

[spfahnestock]

Tank was set up late Friday night. Now it is time to wait out the cycle. Updated picture of the tank as it sits. I have decided that I need to add an additional MP 10 so i will be ordering it this week.

 

[spfahnestock]

Well the tank has been up and running for about a month. Tank cycle and livestock has been added a little at a time. Figured I would add an updated picture to track its progress.

The only issue I have encountered was getting the skimmer to operate correctly but i believe I have solved that problem.

My camera skills aren't great but here is the updated pictures:

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef going to love it here
open 24-7 fun/help/fun/info/fun
nice pics..we all love pics ,enjoy

 

[spfahnestock]

These are some updated shots from today. The tank is just over a month old.

 

[spfahnestock]

So I pulled the trigger this morning and purchased the Innovative Marine Hydrofill Ti ATo. Does anyone have feedback on these? What is the good and the bad?

Also a new addition to the tank the other day was this Trigger. He is amazingly active in the tank and always up to something.

 

[spfahnestock]

Snapped this picture today. In the tanks I have owned in the past this has never happened for me. I finally have a clown interacting with an anemone.

I guess it is the little things.

He will swim down and rub against it, but the minute i try to see it or get a picture up close he darts away. got lucky to get his one.

 

[spfahnestock]

Cleaned the tank up this morning and decided to add some updated pictures.

Since installing the tank I have added a custom mesh top, a battery back up for the MP 10s, am ATO unit, and a carbon reactor.

Still needing to add a second battery back up for my main pump and I would like to add an algae scrubber.

Once COVID is done i will be out looking for some corals. I have a hard time buying online as I cant see the exact size of the piece i am purchasing.

Now for some pictures.

 

[spfahnestock]

Time for my monthly update. I am at this point not sure if I am keeping this up for myself or others, but i like being able to go back and look at progress and issues.

I had the normal brown hair algae outbreak that would be expected at this stage. Stated running phosban and conducted manual removal (siphon and a tooth brush). We will see how this fairs. I am getting my parameters back in range.

In investigating when i saw this outbreak I noticed that i still had my MP10's set at 30% which wasn't providing a lot of flow and caused "dead areas". I have since corrected this and bumped them slowly up to 90%.

I also adjusted my light setting and removed half of the white spectrum and two thirds of the red and green.

All live stock is doing well (no losses). I will add an updated picture when the lights turn on later today.

 

[spfahnestock]

Here is the latest updates on my personal tank journey.

LFS had a great sale on coral so....

 

[spfahnestock]

Not much to report on the tank. I am letting it do its thing while I put together the plan for the next tank. I will be acquiring a 144 gallon half circle in the next few months with a timeline to have it up and running spring of 2021.

Front:

Left Side:

Right Side:

 

[spfahnestock]

I haven't posted to this in a little over two months because well I am a little embarrassed of the tank. I am fighting the normal "newish" tank hair algea fight. Once I think I am winning it turns out I am not.

Picked up a sea hair from my local store to help eliminate the current hair algea and I have increased my bi weekly 15 gallon water changes to weekly 20 gallon water changes.

On a plus side my corals are gowning rather nicely. The torch was added a few hours ago.

Here are the current pictures of the tank.

Left Side:

Front:

Right Side:

 

[fishguy242]

hi looks great,we don't judge here,always here for help,happy reefing

 

[spfahnestock]

I have been fighting a bad case of hair algae, at least I believe it to be bad, for the last few months.

I have determined one of the causes to be from using 100% dry rock when I started the tank and treating it like I did when I started my last tank with live rock.

I have finally started to reduce the detectable amounts of PO4 and know there is more contained within the rock itself I am working through.

Today I took a drastic step and scrubbed 90% of the rocks clean.

The unfortunate side effect was it ruined the aquascape I started with, but I will attempt to fix this when have the 144 up and running and transfer some of the livestock over. I think I stressed them enough today dismantling everything in the tank.

I am hoping scrubbing 99% of the hair algae out of the tank will help me keep it at bay and scrubbing smaller sections clean until it doesn't return.

Side note I haven't added pictures because it looked so bad. When things settle tomorrow I will add a new pictures of the tank.

 

[spfahnestock]

Well here are pictures of the after effect of the cleaning. Some of the corals still arent happy. I will see how they look tomorrow.

Left Side:

Front View:

Right Side:

*** Yes I know the tangs need a bigger home soon. The 144 will be running in a few months. ***

 

[Quastermayne]

Tank is looking awesome!!

 

[spfahnestock]

Tank is looking awesome!!

Thanks... I should have done before pictures of all the hair algae I had to scrub out. It would have made a good before and after.

 

[spfahnestock]

Received camera filters from my SS so I figured it was a good time to update photos and info on the tank.

I am finally keeping PO4 at a normal(ish) rate between .03 and .12 PPM this is a lot better than where it has been. I have been keeping a steady dose of phosban in the reactor. While some spots of the GHA are slowly returning it isn't as bad as it was and I will work to remove them this weekend.

Now for the updated Pictures:

Left:

Center:

Right: