James's 60 Gallon Cube Reef

[sewerman45]

James's 60 Gallon Cube Reef

I have recently jumped into the world of saltwater. I was really into planted tank over the last couple of years but after moving in the spring I thought I'd go for a change. I started with a 47 gallon tank but quickly jumped on an opportunity to upgrade to a proper tank with a great stand. I have been meaning to start a journal for it for weeks now but haven't gotten around to it. I am really new to all this so I am excited to get everyone's input and help.



The stand is huge! It's almost 7 feet long and makes the tank look tiny. I really wanted the ability to be able to do whatever I wanted with a tank but couldn't put a huge tank in my apartment so this is perfect for me.



As you can see, there's so much room for activities. Here's a mechanical rundown:

Sump: 36" acrylic
Skimmer: Bubble Magus that I got an upgrade kit for and now it is super solid
ATO: Hydor Smart Level Auto Top Off Controller
Chiller: TECO Seachill TR10 1/8 HP Chiller
Return Pump: Lifegard Aquatics Quiet One Pro 5000 Water Pump
Controller: Neptune Systems Aquacontroller Jr.
Light: 24" Vertex Illumina SR260 LED Light Fixture with Red, Green and UV modules.
Circulating Pump: Ecotech Marine VorTech MP10w ES Water Pump
Water: Vertex Puratek Reverse Osmosis (RO) Filter

The 10 gallon tank in the middle is the reservoir for the ATO. The whole stand is metal and everything connects to it by magnets. It's pretty great.



Here are the controls. They are sitting on the wall to the right of the tank. You can't see them in the pictures above. The one on the left is for the LED lights under the stand.



I can't seem to get a decent picture of the tank itself. Does anyone have any tips for how to take a good full tank shot? I have a Nikon d5100.

Fish and Invertebrates:
Clown Fish, Six Line Wrasse and a Royal Gramma Basslet.
Cleaner Shrimp and an Arrow Crab.
Lots of red and blue legged hermits and some snails.

Coral
I adopted a bunch of corals from someone and don't know the exact details of them all.
Hammer, Big Green Mushroom, lot of little mushrooms, 3 Acans, 3 Zoas, whatever the tall one behind the Kenya Tree, and what I think is a Brain Coral on the left side.

I am planning on putting all SPS on the higher rocks once I get the tank balance and feel much more confident.


Thanks for looking. I am loving this project and would appreciate any input, ideas or help that people have to offer. I will try to keep this updated.

James

[sewerman45]

I am also hoping to get some help with the first of many problems.



I have a bunch of this string algae on the sand and on some of the rocks as well as some kind of thick brown algae that's growing on a lot of the rocks. I don't really know enough to know what's causing it. I need to get a phosphorus test kit and see if that's it. I am using RO water, not RODI water. How big of a deal is that?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by sewerman45

I am using RO water, not RODI water. How big of a deal is that?

Not a big deal at all, I haven't used DI for years. Vancouver has soft water and not anything to be concerned with.
Algae could be diatoms, but being stringy like that, I'd worry about dinoflagellates. These are bad. Google and see if it's the same.

Not sure you'll need a chiller, but if it does kick on, the heat it puts out might be an issue under the stand like that.

Otherwise, great looking setup!

[moloto]

Great to see the setup from Jakegr up and running again.

[Slyguy00]

Sorta looks like dinos to me... Hope that it isn't though, because its not fun to have.

[sewerman45]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Not a big deal at all, I haven't used DI for years. Vancouver has soft water and not anything to be concerned with.
Algae could be diatoms, but being stringy like that, I'd worry about dinoflagellates. These are bad. Google and see if it's the same.

Not sure you'll need a chiller, but if it does kick on, the heat it puts out might be an issue under the stand like that.

Otherwise, great looking setup!

Great. Good to know about the water. I am really hoping it's not dino as it appears to be out of my league to deal with. I was running a metal halide light originally and my apartment gets really warm so the chiller was pretty crucial in the summer but you're right that it's definitely not ideal in that stand. Ideally I'd put it somewhere else.

Originally Posted by moloto

Great to see the setup from Jakegr up and running again.

Thanks. I am very excited about it.

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

Sorta looks like dinos to me... Hope that it isn't though, because its not fun to have.

I am really hoping it's not... everything I've seen looks more green than what I have and there is always little bubbles in it... which I don't have. I'm not really sure what to do about it either way.

[Slyguy00]

Dinos are usually a dark brownish algae that forms a nasty layer over everything, generally starting on the sand. It will start off in thin layers here and there, but eventually will start to get thick, stringy and will be full of air bubbles. If you don't have a microscope a way to sort of gauge if it is dinos is the speed it grows back. If you clean your sand and it reappears within hours or even less its usually dinos. It can be one of the hardest forms of algae to get rid of. I have read about a lot of different ways to get rid of it, none that seemed to work for me. I eventually did a total black out for 3 days, and that solved my problem completely.(Look into it before trying it) Anyway I hope it isn't, but if it is maybe this will help a little bit.

[sewerman45]

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

Dinos are usually a dark brownish algae that forms a nasty layer over everything, generally starting on the sand. It will start off in thin layers here and there, but eventually will start to get thick, stringy and will be full of air bubbles. If you don't have a microscope a way to sort of gauge if it is dinos is the speed it grows back. If you clean your sand and it reappears within hours or even less its usually dinos. It can be one of the hardest forms of algae to get rid of. I have read about a lot of different ways to get rid of it, none that seemed to work for me. I eventually did a total black out for 3 days, and that solved my problem completely.(Look into it before trying it) Anyway I hope it isn't, but if it is maybe this will help a little bit.

That is helpful. I am going to try to clean a ton of it out and see what happens.

If it isn't dino and is diatom or something else what would be my best course of action? Should I get some macro algae and a light for the sump? Feed less? More water changes? Any help anyone can give me would be great.

[sewerman45]

I'm pretty sure it's dino. I am going to black out the tank for 3 days and hope that I can clear it up before it gets out of hand. Anything else I can do?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by sewerman45

I'm pretty sure it's dino. I am going to black out the tank for 3 days and hope that I can clear it up before it gets out of hand. Anything else I can do?

Nope, not really. Everyone tries lots of other things, but it usually comes down to a black out. Best to do it now before you're fully stocked with coral.