60 Cube of Goodies

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

I wanted to share with you guys my tank since i've been away from the community the last 4 years and excited to be back. Over the last 12 years of my career and 4 duty stations i've had 6 cube tanks. The challenge has always been time with my career so go full in with colonies since there's no time for frags, plus i like the full established looks better. Started with a 12 gal JBJ and moving on to my now 60 Cube. This was my last setup in San Diego before i transferred to Hawaii. Tank was a 60 cube and at the time of this picture it was 6 months old.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

4 years in Hawaii allowed for no time for reef tanks due to their strict import laws, so it was only going to be a local species tank which would've worked but i decided to wait. Now i transferred to the Seattle area and one day found a nice setup during someone's moving sale for a great price and it was on. Tank is a custom 60 starfire cube that came with Kessil A150 and a 10 gal sump and an older Reefkeeper system which is enough for me to get started.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

I vinegar soaked the rocks for a week and it was time to start fresh with some Dr. Tim's bacteria as a boost.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

Sump is in full swing, even my Reef Octopus skimmer function like i remembered after 4 years in storage, why upgrade when this hobby is expensive enough. Ordered a Tallboy container off of Amazon and made my gravity fed system from there. 2.5 gallons lasts me 3 days.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

All levels were stable by day 7 and after QT my fish were ready to go in, a buddy was breaking down his tank during this time and the tang was the last fish he had decided to give him a temporary home.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

It was time to upgrade since the lighting was more of a spotlight with the Kessil and i have always wanted to tried out Ecotech Radions. Time to up my game.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

From this point on the tank took off! I have to say the Radion is night and day and it one of the more expensive upgrade ever for my tank but is totally worth it.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

Upgraded the skimmer to a Curve 5 while i was at it.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

At this point I'd like to put a disclaimer. This is my 7th tank in 12 years and I've always done the traditional live rock transfer method and get a system running in days with no cycle. Each one was very successful. After alot of research i decided to go with the cycle in a bottle route. I used Dr.Tim's in one cycle in a bottle this time and is probably the only one I would recommend since it's the only one scientifically proven to work. All major aquariums used it. All levels spiked and leveled out after 3 days. Great stuff! I WOULD NOT recommend anyone new to the hobby to try and push the timetable as fast as I did though. Tests were conducted twice a day and I always had 50 gallons of premixed water on standby. Everything is thriving and a buddy broke down his tank so the tang was the last fish needed gone so he could tear down therefore I added him but it wasn't my original intention. Everyone gets along, livestock is healthy as I feed alot and maintain parameters closely and is working out just fine.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

I added alot of livestock once the tank was stable. Balancing everything out as i went along. Using what i've learned in my past tanks i decided to lean more toward LPS, Acans, rics and zoas in this tank. Here's a video that truly captures how everyone is doing. Watch it in HD.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

Found a new owner for the tang that had a much bigger tank than me so bye bye little dude, you were an awesome fish but i know my 60 cube would've never worked out.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

Here are pics of my additions throughout the last 4 months. There were boxes at my house every week almost. My goal was to get it stocked at the rate that the tank can handle. Everything was dipped prior to going in and thanks to not using live rock i haven't seen any pests in the tank which is a huge plus.

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

My try to keep maintenance as low as possible. Here's a quick breakdown of what i have to do maintenance wise.

Every 3 days- refill ATO, change filter sock, change foam pad (my solution to 0 microbubbles)
Change 10% of water every 2 weeks using Red Sea Coral Pro.
Scrape the glass once a week.
Feed twice a day, morning with Spectrum pellets, night time with LRS Reef Frenzy.
Change out carbon & GFO in reactor every month.
That's it!

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

Here's the tank as it is today at month 5. My livestock includes.

Fish- Pair of Oscellaris Clowns, Melanurus Wrasse, Midas Blenny
Inverts- 2 RBTA, 1 Maxi mini, pair of cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, fighting conch, 10 trochus snails, 2 turbo snails.
Corals- Acans, rics, zoas, palys, 2 types of frogspawn, pulsing xenias, GSP.

Hope you guys enjoy, i plan to update this through it's life cycle until it's time to transfer again, then it's all going to be broken down until my next duty station, any questions about anything let me know, i'm always down to help.

Chris

ricenoodle · Feb 10, 2016

I really don't like to deal with traffic and driving 1.5 hours to get livestock so almost everything in the tank had to be shipped in overnight. Here is some of my favorite pieces. Yes that's 40 heads of bi color frogspawn from Reef Geeks of Chicago, filled the tank beautifully. I have another box of goodies arriving tomorrow from my long time friend Will at AquaSD that i can't wait to put in the tank. Updates once everything is acclimated.