iannarelli
Active Member
Hi everyone,
Been lurking here for quite some time since my last post. I had originally wanted to set up a 120g peninsula tank in my co-op apartment, but unfortunately, the orientation of the tank for where I wanted to put it was parallel with the floor joists, and all the weight would have been on one, or maybe two joists—not something I wanted to try on 90+ year old joists.
Anyway, after giving up on the idea for a while, I've decided I want to move forward with a smaller project (I understand this will limit some of my livestock choices). I settled on a 60 gallon cube mixed reef for the time being. It's going to serve as a mini room divider between my living room and dining room, and will also be the first thing you see (side view) after entering my apartment. Here's my plan for the equipment (bold items I really need some advice on):
Stand: Custom build, 36 inch high
Tanks: Aqueon 60g Cube (will drill it myself)
Overflow: Modular Marine 800 or 1200GPH
Rock: Habitat-based scape using Marco Rock or CaribSea LifeRock
Sand: CaribSea OceanDirect Special Grade Sand (2-3" for a wrasse)
Sump: Trigger Sapphire Cube 20
Skimmer: Adaptive Reef A6 DC 200 (probably overkill)
Return Pump: Sicce Syncra 6
Wavemakers: TBD
Light: Kessil A360x or A500x (help!)
So now for my questions.
Definitely want to have:
Been lurking here for quite some time since my last post. I had originally wanted to set up a 120g peninsula tank in my co-op apartment, but unfortunately, the orientation of the tank for where I wanted to put it was parallel with the floor joists, and all the weight would have been on one, or maybe two joists—not something I wanted to try on 90+ year old joists.
Anyway, after giving up on the idea for a while, I've decided I want to move forward with a smaller project (I understand this will limit some of my livestock choices). I settled on a 60 gallon cube mixed reef for the time being. It's going to serve as a mini room divider between my living room and dining room, and will also be the first thing you see (side view) after entering my apartment. Here's my plan for the equipment (bold items I really need some advice on):
Stand: Custom build, 36 inch high
Tanks: Aqueon 60g Cube (will drill it myself)
Overflow: Modular Marine 800 or 1200GPH
Rock: Habitat-based scape using Marco Rock or CaribSea LifeRock
Sand: CaribSea OceanDirect Special Grade Sand (2-3" for a wrasse)
Sump: Trigger Sapphire Cube 20
Skimmer: Adaptive Reef A6 DC 200 (probably overkill)
Return Pump: Sicce Syncra 6
Wavemakers: TBD
Light: Kessil A360x or A500x (help!)
So now for my questions.
- For the overflow, I'm trying to decide between a Herbie or Bean Animal setup. Is the bean much better or quieter? Or is it really just providing an additional means of redundancy? I am thinking 1" dia. drain pipes, and I am waiting to hear back from MM if one overflow would be better re: space constraints for the Bean Animal. Other than the plumbing considerations, are there any drawbacks to one or the other? They're both oversized for the proposed return pump.
- Is one type of rock significantly better than the other? I'm also tempted to get a small amount of live rock from TBS, but really don't want to deal with any undesirable hitchhikers.
- The skimmer is a bit ridiculous. There aren't a lot of reviews on this unit, but BRS had good things to say. I know I want a DC pump, and I know there are less expensive options. I also considered the MaxSpect Aeraqua Duo AD60, as whatever I get I want something that I will be able to use on a larger tank in the future, and the 5 yr warranty on the Adaptive Reef seems to be unmatched. As a side note, I also really want to avoid red equipment, a very silly and superficial reason, but here we are.
- I'm fairly sure the Syncra 6 will be enough to move water the approx. 5 feet between my sump and tank. Planning on having two 3/4" returns, one on each side of the overflow, likely equipped with RFG's. Any flaws here?
- I will happily take suggestions for wavemakers! I own a Nero 3, so I will likely start with that but understand this will be an iterative process impacted by lots of variables.
- For lighting, I 100% want that sweet, sweet Kessil shimmer, and that's not negotiable. I haven't been able to find another light that gets close to the Kessil's shimmer. I'm not looking to have SPS coral everywhere, which seem to be the biggest weakness of the Kessil's, but would eventually like to have some. In reading a bunch of posts here, it seems an A360x won't cut it on its own, and I'd need to install some LED bars like Reef Brites, Quanta Pros, or perhaps AI Blades (I run AI Primes on my 75g planted tank) to supplement it. If I went with the A500X, could I avoid adding additional lights? Aesthetically, a single light looks much cleaner, but obviously, the health of the animals comes before my design sensibility.
- Finally, are there any glaringly obvious things I'm missing or fatal flaws in the above?
Definitely want to have:
- Pair of Ocellaris Clownfish
- Dwarf Angel (leaning toward Coral Beauty, Elibi was my first choice, but I think a 60g cube might be too small)
- Royal Gramma
- Goby + Pistol Shrimp Pair (open to suggestions here, would prefer something with lots of personality)
- Melanurus Wrasse
- Blenny of some sort (Starry or Lawnmower, any advice here?)
- Flame Hawkfish
- Chromis (Black & White or Black-axil)
- Firefish Goby
- Blenny (Midas is my first choice but I hear they're bullies)
- Zebra Barred Dartfish
- Bangaii Cardinalfish
- Chalk Bass
- Tomani Tang (would love one, but I think the tank is too small)
- Earmuff Wrasse (same as above)
- Are there any problems within the "definitely want" list?
- Of the fish in the "nice to have" group, what could I realistically add? I run my 75g planted tank heavily overstocked (and over filtered), so I'm not opposed to having a responsible heavily stocked tank, but not right off the bat and this will be my first reef.
- Are there any first I may not have considered that maybe I should?
- Emerald Crab
- Electric blue hermit crab
- Pom pom crab
- 2x Blue leg hermit crab
- 2x Red leg hermit crab
- Marble (red tile)/black tip star (really want some type of star fish)
- 4 Trochus Snails
- Tuxedo urchin
- 2x cleaner shrimp
- 2x fire
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