Wife's 60G Cube Tank Build

dank reefer · Jul 2, 2020

Trouble comes in many forms, but especially when the wife want's a Reef tank.

We will be upgrading/ tearing down the 36g tank, and moving the equipment over to a 60G cube tank we picked up a week ago from a fellow reefer. Equipment that will be used on the tank are the following

Vectra s1
Reef Octopus Skimmer - don't know model
~~Couple of CoralBox wave pumps~~ Ended up with 2 MP10s
~~Couple of Koralia pumps~~
XR30 Gen 3
Apex Classic
Sump is still yet to be determined as I need to see if the existing sump that is being used on the 36g will fit in the cube stand.

Will be using black substrate, and Red Sea blue bucket. We have plenty of rock to use, and some of the rock has been cooking in a vat (2 years in August).

She is very excited to start her own journey, as she has seen my successes and failures in the hobby.

We won't be working on the tank this weekend, but will try and post pictures and updates as we start getting things ready.

Ron Reefman · Jul 2, 2020

Good luck and have fun!

Be careful of the black substrate you buy. Some of them have metal particulate in the sand. If you use a magnet for glass cleaning it will pick them up and you risk scratching the glass.

I just did a black sand tank to breed RFAs. I got artificial black sand. I even took a strong magnet to the store to test it on the sand inside the bag. It was so clean, that when I washed it before I put it in the tank, there was absolutely no dust! And crystal clear water right from the start.

dank reefer · Jul 2, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
Good luck and have fun!

Be careful of the black substrate you buy. Some of them have metal particulate in the sand. If you use a magnet for glass cleaning it will pick them up and you risk scratching the glass.

I just did a black sand tank to breed RFAs. I got artificial black sand. I even took a strong magnet to the store to test it on the sand inside the bag. It was so clean, that when I washed it before I put it in the tank, there was absolutely no dust! And crystal clear water right from the start.

I mentioned to her about particles in black substrate, but she gave me the face!

So blank sand it was. Ill get a hard drive magnet and run it over the sand when we start to work on the tank and see what it picks up. Its CaribSea sand if that makes any difference.

dank reefer · Jul 29, 2020

After a couple of weeks we were able to clean out the tank, refinish the stand and try and get all the equipment ready for the setup. This tank will be replacing a 36g tank and we want to use as much of the current hardware as possible and the main item was the sump the 36 is using. Its an old eShopps r-100 sump that would allow for more water volume on the cube tank, as the cube cam with a eshopps mini cube sump, which is small and won't allow e to use a Vectra S1, nor a Diablo Skimmer as the chambers are way too small.

Over the weekend I tore down the sump in the 36g and cleaned it up. But the dang sump is about half inch bigger than what the cube stand could take. I contemplated building a new stand just to hold the sump and after much coffee I decided to use the mini sump, return pump, and skimmer it came with. And will be on the lookup for a Trigger, Fiji, or Bashsea Cube sump if I find them on sale or a local reefer is unloading one. I reinforced the bottom of the stand because she wanted to add caster wheels for easy moving.

My Honey is serious on rock scaping and she does a great job at doing it I think. We have had rock cooking in a brute can for almost 2 years. Initial rock that we didn't use in 90g, and rock that we didn't use in the 36g. The cube also came with its own rock, so we have plenty to use.

After breaking chucks of rock and getting our AF PolyGlue beads ready (why did AF stop making this

) her sculpture started taking form. We used a piece of egg crate as a tank template to make sure the rock would fit in the tank just right. There is a arch piece that she made as well, and didn't take a pic of it outside the tank.

Once she was happy with the scape we started to work on the pluming. A section of braided tubing was used to damping the AC pump noise up to PVC. Used a valve to control the flow on the return pump in case adjustments need to be made. Tank is using a durso drain so the valve will come in handy if the pipes start making noise. I put some water in the overflow section of the tank to check for leaks around the bulkheads. After tightening the bulks heads as I did have a small leak, we left some paper towels in the tank and left it for 2 days to check and see if we would see any more leaks. After 2 days paper towel was dry, and tank was ready to be moved over to it's staging area.

She laid out some egg crate at the bottom of the tank, and added a bag of sand to start placing the rock in. Rock was added then second bag was added to the tank.

Once she was happy with how it looked we started to fill the tank with RODI water. Put heaters in the tank to start to bring the temp up before we start mixing in the salt. I added 2 powerheads in the tank to circulate the tank, and I might add a IceCap 3k in it as well when i start adding salt to help with the mixing.

Salt will be going in the tank tonight and will allow it to do it thang.

I did get a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only to kick start the cycle just because I want to move the fish over from the 36g into the cube. Corals which are Zoas, Mushrooms, and a RBTA will go into a brute can for a couple of weeks until I feel they are ready for the tank.

dank reefer · Aug 21, 2020

Wanted to show some progress of the tank after a couple of weeks.

Let the tank settle for 2 days after filling and adding salt circulating with some wave pumps and a 3k gyre pump I had hanging around. I brought the temp up to 82-83f. When came time to test salt, I was at 39-40 ppm. Brought salinity down to 34 ppm. Added Dr. Tim's one and only 24hr later then waited 1 week. Ghost fed for 3 days then added 4 clowns in the tank. 2 were being housed in the sump from my other tank, and the other 2 are from the 36g. There was some tussin for the first day, and then the next day they were all hanging around. Couple of days after that and a red flasher wrasse was added to the tank as well.

Lowered the temp down a bit last week and tank is riding at 80f now. I will be bringing the temp down to 79f tomorrow and let it ride till I'm ready to bring the rest of the zoas and some softies over.

I was able to get 2 MP10 for the tank, and testing out the flow with them now. Not sure how I feel about them in the tank honestly. You can see 1 in the back, and the other is on the left side. I'm going to move the one on the left to the back as well and see if I get better movement.

I think the wrasse is a long fin as it has 2 long bottom fins when it extends them out, but I'm not a wrasse expert.

dank reefer · Aug 21, 2020

Forgot to mention tank has been running with no light all this time. Radion is still on the 36g

dank reefer · Sep 3, 2020

New Sump is coming!
As we still wanted to use the rest of the equipment that is currently running on the 36g, we had to get a new sump. Snagged this one up from BRS open box sale yesterday and will be arriving next week. Can't wait for it to get here as I am at my wits end trying to dial in the PSK-75 skimmer that came with the tank.

Tank has been running on autopilot for the last few weeks. Fish are fat and happy, and are all getting along in the tank. Haven't moved the MP10 to the back yet, but I am going to try and get it done this weekend.

Added some hairy mushrooms to the tank and they are doing great. Tank is still running with no light, so haven't gotten the ugly stage yet, but i suspect that will change once the light is installed. Overall the misses is happy with the tank as it currently sits, and she is coming up with what she would like to add to the tank once it's a bit more mature. She wants to add a Maxima clam at some point, this I know.

dank reefer · Sep 13, 2020

Moved the light over with some more zoas, softies, and a BTA today. We selected only a few zoas that were gonna get moved over to the new tank and the rest are going to go to the gloomy abyss.

Temp on tank was dropped to 78 and removed the pumps that weren't being used. Still need to replace the sump and move return pump and skimmer over to this tank.

While I moved the light I took the time to maintenance it and upgrade the chip to new mobius chip. First go around on the firmware update didn't take, but it went through on the second time. Once I move the S1 I'll move it over to the mobius platform as well.

dank reefer · Sep 27, 2020

Tore down the 36g last week and got the new sump installed on the 60 cube. Got the S1 installed today as I needed a 3/4 barbed adapter. Tank was in need of more flow from the return pump, so I am happy its all installed and running great.

dank reefer · Sep 30, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
Good luck and have fun!

Be careful of the black substrate you buy. Some of them have metal particulate in the sand. If you use a magnet for glass cleaning it will pick them up and you risk scratching the glass.

I just did a black sand tank to breed RFAs. I got artificial black sand. I even took a strong magnet to the store to test it on the sand inside the bag. It was so clean, that when I washed it before I put it in the tank, there was absolutely no dust! And crystal clear water right from the start.

Just wanted to let you know that the black sand we used does not seem to have any metal as none of the magnets seem to have picked up any particulates from the gravel.

dank reefer · Sep 30, 2020

The tank has started to get the ugly stage (diatoms) on the rocks and glass so its time to get a cleanup crew for it.
And I don't know if it makes a difference between a cleanup crew for a rimmed or rimless tank, so if anyone wants to give me tips on which type to stay away from would be gladly appreciated. Ill post some pictures of the tank tonight to show progress and updates.

Zoas, mushrooms, and BTA that are in the tank are opened and doing fine. BTA moved out of its Tupperware and climbed onto a rock and seems to be put for the time being. Issue is he's not practicing social distancing with a toadstool leather, so the leather might need to get moved if in the next few days the BTA decides to call it home.

dank reefer · Oct 25, 2020

Tank has been doing great with the exception of having to separate the clowns as the 2 jersey from my 90 started to act like jerks in her tank.

Added CUC from reefcleaners a couple of weeks ago as diatoms started to form on rock work and glass. The CUC has taken a hold of the crud and the tanks looks tip top.

She first said she wanted a softie tank, and look at what she came home with today.

Anemone is a BTA but its temperamental as some days it will be full of bubbles, and most other days it looks like this.