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60 gallon cube tank

19K views 292 replies 18 participants last post by  apartmenttank 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought a 60 gallon cube tank last Thursday, it has 4 fish a few corals and a small cuc. The tank has been running for over a year. I had to drive 2 hours with it and with it being my first reef tank i didn't want to feel pressured to speed through the set up process so i got a LFS to hold the fish for me.

I got the tank set up and running for 2 days. Then I went back to the LFS, they kept my fish for free,maybe because i bought a radian XR15. I have the light mounted to the side because it will not fit on the back due to the overflow.

Here is the tank all set up!


Here is the sump, it is a little small for my system. Currently the filter system goes through a filter sock, to a section with Reef Octopus 110 SSS and a group of Micro algae. I plan on upgrading this as my next large project.



I removed 2 large rocks from the tank for 2 reasons, one they had a large amount of a coral i did not want in the tank, old owner referred to it as a weed. Yes i know xenia is a weed to but it looks nice and i have it isolated. Also when I pulled them out they smelled horrible so i figured they would be causing alot of ammonia and die off in the tank. they are in a bucket of salt water currently i was told i should put in tap water and bleach, kill everything off then add it back to my tank?

Here is my tank chemistry for the last 3 days
pH 7.6/7.8/7.8
Ammonia .15/.15/.1
Phosphate .05/.05/.05
Nitrate 5.0/5.0/8.0
Nitrite 0/0/0
KH -/11/11
Calcium 360/320/360

For this i am adding PRIME daily to ensure the fishes help, as well as i was doing 5 gal daily water changes, yesterday i moved up to 10 gal. The zero on nitrite worries me. i understand it will have a short recycle, but i figured it wouldn't be a completely new cycle? Also thinking about picking up a calcium supplement as my calcium has been up and down. Maybe this is due to the salt i am using Instant Ocean Sea salt. is there a better brand i should buy?

Here are my fish.

Mated pair of Snowflake clowns, and the firefish. They all wanted to pose for a photo together, or i was about to feed them.



And here is the Diamond Back Goby.



And time for some corals.

Large Xenia, These have been doing good sense day one.


Group of Palythoas, These didn't open up till yesterday.


Group of Zoanthids, I believe they are starting to split off and grow a few new heads.


another group of zoanthids (i think they are from the same cluster but my girlfriend sees a difference)


Here is the frogspawn frag(my favorite coral so far)


Clean up crew i have 3 blue legged hermit crabs and 2 smaller hermit crabs. and 4 snails. i also found what was identified as a micro brittle starfish

i just ordered these from Reefcleaners.org
25 Dwarf Cerith
7 Assorted Hermits*
9 Nassarius Vibex
9 Florida Cerith
6 Nerite Snail
15 Medium/Larger Empty Hermit Shells
1 Emerald/Ruby Mithrax Crab*
1 Limpets*
1 Fuzzy Chiton*
1 Reef Pods

As for other equipment not mention or showed i have a Refractivity, an RODI unit(with a 40 gallon trashcan, 5 gal bucket flooded and i had to upgrade) Tank controller lite, which is only programed to control the temperature of the water, shutting off heaters and turning on a fan if it gets to hot. An ATO that I don't have running yet because i do not want to overcomplicate the system till i understand everything going on and get it running well.

Things i would like to add or change.
The ATO added in Possibly with Kalkwash.
Upgrade the sump to as large as will fit into my stand. Hopefully upgrading the refugium section.
Adding Ball valves to my Return pump and overflow(to make the sump easier to remove and work on)

Any input or advice moving forward things i am doing right? things you would do differently.(besides nothing good happens fast in this hobby i have heard that a few times ;) )
 
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#3 ·
You should have zero nitrites as well before adding livestock to the tank.

While not as dangerous as ammonia it is still bad for them but more then that it is a sign your tank is not fully cycled or to much ammonia is being created and your nitrites cannot be processed fast enough yet.

Obviously anything could have happened during the move to your bacteria. Did you use the old sand, new sand? Did you transport the rock in water.
 
#5 ·
I added the clean up crew, everything seemed to be doing good except for the chiton and limpets. One of which is just sitting on the clamshell he came in on, the other was and then i looked away to add the hermits and he was gone, a little worried he got eaten by my goby.
 
#8 ·
I am heading to town where my LFS is tomorrow morning. Im gonna pick up a magnesium test, a magnet cleaner, and some sort of long tweezers to work in the tank if they have them. Anything else that i might need? just some need to have stuff around for the tank?

Also would picking up 2 corals be a bad idea? thinking of getting a 2nd zoa for my rock, as well as another soft coral or LPS havent decided which yet have been looking like crazy(probably just eyeball it at the store)
 
#9 ·
I ended up with a rather large(11 head) acan coral. And a 5 polyp zoa I liked. Really nervous about acclimating and dipping them. Got reef dip for the dipping.

Is an acan ok to put onto the sand-bed? I have heard yes and no. The store kept it on the sand-bed.

Also will the zoa be ok going straight onto the rock with the other zoa? It will be only 2 inches above the sand-bed.

I also need to place my frogspawn and my palythoas.

As always thanks for advice.
 
#10 ·
Moved my Frogspawn up here.



Plan on removing that Xenia when i get a good set of tools, that rock use to sit next to the xenia rock.

Here is the Acan i just got.



It is all closed up now but it was amazing looking in the shop. How long till it should open up? i am hoping it will open tomorrow when the "sun" rises. but that might be a lot to expect.



Here is the zoa frag i got, in hind site i should have scratched off the algea on it but my emerald crab is already eating away.

Any advice on placement or dealing with a new coral? also will that frogspawn do ok at that slight angle? also do i need to glue the frag plugs on? if i don't will they grow onto the rock? i think the zoa will but i think the frogspawn will need to be placed somehow
 
#13 ·
Transfer time and a month or 2 thereafter is a fantastic time to
supplement the vulnerable weak N cycle with a high quality
live bacterial supplement to prevent this. It's just a bumpy road
to settling in. Like some meds for bacterial infections weaken the N cycle
transferring also disrupts it.

No UV or skimming during a transfer or supplementing. 72 hrs is a good
time frame for the bacteria to multiply safely and not be subject to skimming or UV.
 
#76 ·
Spot on. Do some research on Prime I highly suggest it especially in your current situation. That with some water changes and you should balance your system in a few weeks. Just takes time. I wouldn't add anything else to your system. Your just adding to the bio load and ultimately putting your livestock at risk.
 
#16 ·
I need to turn off my skimmer?
Transfer time
No UV or skimming during a transfer or supplementing. 72 hrs is a good
time frame for the bacteria to multiply safely and not be subject to skimming or UV.
also do i need to continue dosing prime and doing large water changes or should i lay off?
Dose Prime if you are not dosing bacterial supplement , and do WCs to
lower the ammonia if you have any livestock in the tank like
pictured in the 60g tank in your link.
 
#18 ·
You're absolutely correct, and my reply was based on accuracy
but does not refute that during a transfer situation is a fantastic
time to bolster your bacteria by supplementing it.
Small spikes like you just experienced is not uncommon after a transfer.
Supplementing bacteria cannot hurt anything besides your wallet if you
skimmed it out when you add it.

Since ammonia is not an ongoing problem to test for, and bacteria help
to clean the tank, money would be better spent on bacteria and use it
before the expiration date, than to buy a more accurate NH3,4 test kit.
Now and earlier is the time to have either on hand. Once settled in
neither are needed, but the bacteria could be added after large WCs
without consequences, a new test kit will just expire on the shelf.
 
#20 ·
After 2 days of not dosing prime as suggested by LFS i got a zero reading on ammonia. It seems like the prime was giving a false reading. The fish and coral seem healthy and happy so i will stop dosing prime as of now.

My 2 new corals have already opened up.





The acan is strongly opened it is crazy how much it expanded. i might need to move the palythoas next to it. Do you think it will be ready to Feed yet? i bought some food because i want it to grow. GROW BABY GROW!!!!
 
#26 ·
After 2 days of not dosing prime as suggested by LFS i got a zero reading on ammonia. It seems like the prime was giving a false reading. The fish and coral seem healthy and happy so i will stop dosing prime as of now.
Prime won't give a false positive reading of ammonia. It will still show ammonia though it's bound in a nontoxic form, but it will not cause a system with no ammonia to register as having ammonia. After two days it's likely your bacteria just finally processed the ammonia that was present.
 
#21 ·
I updated my light profile to give off a blue spectrum. Both the new zoa and acan are doing awesome, i even noticed the acan was closed off with its tentacles or whatever you call them extended so i fed it lightly, all of the hermits swarmed it i used the feeding stick to keep them back then gave them a bit of food on a thing of sand to keep them from the coral.

Also noticed something weird behind my zoas.



someone said it was a filter feeder and nothing to worry about and the zoas will grow over it. do you think this is accurate or do i need to do something about it?
 
#22 ·
Also one morning i was woke up but a pump running dry. I checked everywhere for leaks and there were none. I didnt realize there was so much evaporation in a reef tank. i had to add a gallon of water to top it off. So i hooked up my ATO system and got it running. Planning on adding kalkwash in 2-4 weeks.
 
#23 ·
Yes, only dose Prime when you have an issue that it's designed for.

Your Acan is gorgeous :drool:

I see nothing in that pic (so called filtre feeders) to be concerned with
but have no clue where to look, but nothing stands out.
You can try taking a high resolution picture, then cropping the area to zoom in.

Yes evaporation is a fact of reef :) What was your SG prior to topping off?
If you're manually topping off it's best to do so multiple times/day in small
amounts to stay even, and checking SG at least once, daily.

With the ATO you shouldn't have to check other than visually, (the water level)
at a glance daily, and testing it at least weekly.
 
#24 ·
My Salinity was at a 1.026 2 hours after the added gallon. Do you check salinity daily? What do you do if it is low? add salt to sump or do a water changes with higher percent water? Also the ATO is running now so i shouldn't have to worry should i?

Here is my Weekly picture of my corals. It is cool how you can already see growth ill start with the annoying blue picture no one likes but me, the show normal lighting ones

Froggy


Palythoa, a little worried some of the heads seem to be fadding.


Acan


i dont know if this video will work but it is the way the acan moves i think its prettty cool


Large Zoa rock, and yes my Goby is a deva and has to be in as many pictures as he can be.


Small zoa rock.


xenia(looks horrible in blue)


Now with out blue

Froggy


palythoas


acan


Large zoa rock, And Japonicus how can you not see the stuff all around it looks like green fuzz.


Small zoa rock


xenia(and goby)


Unidintified thing growing in tank

If you know what it is please let me know! facebook group was unhelpful, starting to regret getting a used tank because im dealing with a lot of someone else's mistakes.
 
#25 ·
Do you check salinity daily? What do you do if it is low? add salt to sump or do a water changes with higher percent water? Also the ATO is running now so i shouldn't have to worry should i?
I check SG as per my post in post #23 and would suggest that as a standard awareness.

No do not add salt to sump unless the system is void of animals.
Yes you can do it with WCs, but too high a mix of ASW can precipitate Ca.
Best to not top off, and start mixing a batch at the target SG desired.
When the tanks evaporation equals the target, then top off with the ASW.

Pics look great:thumbup:
 
#28 ·
It was actually not the prime, it was my Salt had around a .25 ammonia reading(i checked before adding it in) the constant water changes were keeping ammonia in the system, i waited 2 days and the system took care of itself, then water changes then 3 days, still clear now it has been 6 with no ammonia.
 
#33 ·
#35 ·
Would that be added to my RODI unit?

and so you think i need a more accurate TDS meter?
If you have chloramines, yes, you replace your carbon block with this one.

You should start a thread about this and get AZDRs input as to using the inline
vs using handheld. I'm just pretty much repeating the fact he's put forth.
He can be more thorough with you on that. Also ask your water plant
if they use chloramines and get a test kit for it if you suspect you have them.
I have no idea if I have them or not. I use IO salt, never saw ammonia.
Chloramines will probably eat your membrane up if they're getting past the carbon.
The 2nd video here is worth the short time compared to posting new threads and reading
all the replies, to understand it and how it affects water changes and your reef.
The 1st video I had to speed my ears up a bit, but a total and free test kit
is what they recommend…do some research and see what you get.



 
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