Jorge Linares
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2017
- Messages
- 196
- Reaction score
- 105
Hi everybody to my first build thread.
I've been off and on in the hobby for around 7 years. My fist tank was a brand new Innovative Marine 10 gal that I keeped for about a year. It looked great but I wasn't prepared for the commitment at the time and sold it. I had a young family that took up most my time and rightly so. Man were the boys sad and I sure did miss it.
Fast forward to two years ago and I picked up a used 29gal biocube complete with used sand and rock. It was filthy but I thought I could clean it up. Rookie mistake. This tank has been an eyesore. Scratches everywhere, hard to clean and all the traps of used sand and rock. Still I was happy to have a small reef back in my life and the anticipation of a new build when I truly was done with this one.
After two years a finally found a good deal on great tank. Here is my new build.
A 60gal custom built cube, stand and sump. I drove three hours over a mountain pass with my 12 and 7 year old boys to pick it up. Family trip!
I decided to modify the sump a bit. First I turned the ato chamber into the return chamber. Made the transition into an adjustable height skimmer chamber. I then cut a new hole from the filter sock chamber into the skimmer chamber and re-plumbed. I also removed the black vinyl from behind the tank(looks more open!).
I also built an algae reactor.
Next I added some decorative trim and repainted.
It's now in the living room with rodi water going in for a leak test and leveling.
For the rock I ordered 30 lbs of pukani rock from BRS. I'm aware of some of the issues people get with this rock, so after some research I came up with a plan. First I soaked it in tap water and bleach for several days. Then I dumped the water and rinsed it with the hose. Then I went through three treatments of lanthanum chloride rinsing between each one. The final treatment never clouded the water. Next I rinsed and soaked the rock in rodi water and added dechlorinator. I did this three times then left it out to dry. I now have it on the dining room table to aquascape. The plan is to have an open scape but strategically created for lots of coral.
Summary:
Tank Specs
Display: 60gal 24" custom cube
Sump: 17.5" x 17.5" x 16" acrylic three chamber
Lighting: 2 AI Hydra 26 HD's
Heater: 300w ViaAqua & Finnex Max-300 digital controller
Circulation: Accel Aquatics Wide Vortex Twist Flow Accelerator, 2 Jebao PP-4's(for now) hooked up to a JBWave Controller.
Skimmer: Bubble Magnus Curve 5
Algae Reactor: Marine Sources Aquarium 4,500ml reactor, Amazon Topled strip led grow lights & pump from biocube
Dosing: Jebao DP-4
Return Pump: Jacod DCT-4000
Rock: Pukani
Sand: CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade
Additives: RedSea Reef Care Program. (already have it but considering Aquaforrest)
Livestock: A pair of clowns, a royal gramma, a six line wrasse, cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs and snails. Various Coral.
The Plan
Once I get the scape and sand in I will seed with Dr Tims one and only. I will also be putting some blocks of MarinePure I have in the biocube into the the sump for further diversity. The aquascape will be open to allow for high flow. I plan on a mostly an SPS tank but will also have some of my favorite LPS and softies in there. I will emplament the Red Sea program as soon as livestock is moved over. A step I am very nervous about. The reactor will run Chaetomorpha and I'm hoping the added water volume will keep it more stable then I could get with the biocube. For livestock I plan on removing the six line wrasse to avoid aggression. I want to then add a Chalk Bass, McCrosker's wrasse, Poters wrasse, a goby of some sort(maybe a Hi Fin) and possibly a Kole yellow eye tang but I'm not sure yet. I'm sure others will follow. I also want more interesting looking hermits and inverts. As the tank matures I will be investing in a good camera and macro lens for better shots.
Thanks for following along and I promise to update regularly.
I've been off and on in the hobby for around 7 years. My fist tank was a brand new Innovative Marine 10 gal that I keeped for about a year. It looked great but I wasn't prepared for the commitment at the time and sold it. I had a young family that took up most my time and rightly so. Man were the boys sad and I sure did miss it.
Fast forward to two years ago and I picked up a used 29gal biocube complete with used sand and rock. It was filthy but I thought I could clean it up. Rookie mistake. This tank has been an eyesore. Scratches everywhere, hard to clean and all the traps of used sand and rock. Still I was happy to have a small reef back in my life and the anticipation of a new build when I truly was done with this one.
After two years a finally found a good deal on great tank. Here is my new build.
A 60gal custom built cube, stand and sump. I drove three hours over a mountain pass with my 12 and 7 year old boys to pick it up. Family trip!
I decided to modify the sump a bit. First I turned the ato chamber into the return chamber. Made the transition into an adjustable height skimmer chamber. I then cut a new hole from the filter sock chamber into the skimmer chamber and re-plumbed. I also removed the black vinyl from behind the tank(looks more open!).
I also built an algae reactor.
Next I added some decorative trim and repainted.
It's now in the living room with rodi water going in for a leak test and leveling.
For the rock I ordered 30 lbs of pukani rock from BRS. I'm aware of some of the issues people get with this rock, so after some research I came up with a plan. First I soaked it in tap water and bleach for several days. Then I dumped the water and rinsed it with the hose. Then I went through three treatments of lanthanum chloride rinsing between each one. The final treatment never clouded the water. Next I rinsed and soaked the rock in rodi water and added dechlorinator. I did this three times then left it out to dry. I now have it on the dining room table to aquascape. The plan is to have an open scape but strategically created for lots of coral.
Summary:
Tank Specs
Display: 60gal 24" custom cube
Sump: 17.5" x 17.5" x 16" acrylic three chamber
Lighting: 2 AI Hydra 26 HD's
Heater: 300w ViaAqua & Finnex Max-300 digital controller
Circulation: Accel Aquatics Wide Vortex Twist Flow Accelerator, 2 Jebao PP-4's(for now) hooked up to a JBWave Controller.
Skimmer: Bubble Magnus Curve 5
Algae Reactor: Marine Sources Aquarium 4,500ml reactor, Amazon Topled strip led grow lights & pump from biocube
Dosing: Jebao DP-4
Return Pump: Jacod DCT-4000
Rock: Pukani
Sand: CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade
Additives: RedSea Reef Care Program. (already have it but considering Aquaforrest)
Livestock: A pair of clowns, a royal gramma, a six line wrasse, cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs and snails. Various Coral.
The Plan
Once I get the scape and sand in I will seed with Dr Tims one and only. I will also be putting some blocks of MarinePure I have in the biocube into the the sump for further diversity. The aquascape will be open to allow for high flow. I plan on a mostly an SPS tank but will also have some of my favorite LPS and softies in there. I will emplament the Red Sea program as soon as livestock is moved over. A step I am very nervous about. The reactor will run Chaetomorpha and I'm hoping the added water volume will keep it more stable then I could get with the biocube. For livestock I plan on removing the six line wrasse to avoid aggression. I want to then add a Chalk Bass, McCrosker's wrasse, Poters wrasse, a goby of some sort(maybe a Hi Fin) and possibly a Kole yellow eye tang but I'm not sure yet. I'm sure others will follow. I also want more interesting looking hermits and inverts. As the tank matures I will be investing in a good camera and macro lens for better shots.
Thanks for following along and I promise to update regularly.
