Zach's 60 gallon cube

[zbryant91]

New to the site so I am starting with the beginning of my current tank. This all started about 3 years ago or so. Will add more of the updates/changes soon. I built my own stand to hold the sump I was using with the old 55 gallon this one replaced.

Some of the more current upgrades include an apex controller, lsm module w/ lights, breakout box to run my ato, and a BRS gfo carbon reactor.

About 3 weeks ago my aquatop heater exploded and fried everything in the tank except for a damsel, clownfish, and green chromis. All the corals died, lost a flame angel, scooter blenny, firefish, & 6 line wrasse.

Tank just finished cycling this week so hoping to do some shopping this weekend and thought it would be a good time to jump into doing a build thread.

Some more specs on the tank are:
20 gallon long tank with acrylic baffles for the sump
eheim compact+ 3000 return pump
eshopps pf-800 overflow
Reef octopus 110ss skimmer
Neptune apex controller
Cheap chinese led light from amazon

 

[P-Dub]

Looks good! Welcome!

 

[VB313]

Welcome !Looks good sorry to hear about your loss what caused your heater to explode?

 

[zbryant91]

Not sure. There were burn marks around the thermostat so not sure what it was. Definitely a first for me

 

[SPR1968]

The tank looks great Zach and you’ve made a really nice job of the stand

And welcome to R2R as well, great to have you with us!

 

[zbryant91]

Did some restocking today. Picked up my first pair of clarkii clowns. A few frags and a new clean up crew to get things back under control

Also here’s a shot of my cluttered and unorganized cabinet. Hoping to make some more changed down here in the coming weeks to clean things up a bit

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R, very nice setup and I really like the stand you built

 

[zbryant91]

Got some new goodies this week and got all the work done yesterday. Very happy with the quality of the sump. Just need to find a new, slightly smaller container to use for the ATO as this one is slightly too wide and keeps the door from closing all the way. Finally got all my wiring managed a little better. Not pretty, but much safer and more easily accessible.

New Sump. Trigger systems sapphire cube 20

Old Sump. custom 20 gallon long with acrylic baffles. served it's purpose but was limiting my capabilities in the cabinet.

Cleaned everything out.

Test fitting things.

Filled up using an old light I had for a 10 gallon nano build.

Made a new silencer for the overflow.

Everything mostly buttoned up. Now I have room to add another powerbar for the apex...

Rehung the light but now I need to sort out a way to mount the lunar pods. No good ideas for this yet.

 

[zbryant91]

Got my frags in from the unique coral live sale today. 8 new ones. Have a couple more from BC coming next week. Finally getting some color back in the tank.

 

[zbryant91]

Been fighting some aging equipment. Just tying the threads together.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-gfci-keeps-tripping.543995/

 

[zbryant91]

Got all my new frags glued on to the rock.

Also got a new ATO container in. Matches the trigger sump. Really didn't want to spend that much but it was the only good container I could find that would fit in my sump. Literally is the perfect size. Just expensive. Probably going to put some vinyl on the side so the fuge light doesn't grow algae in it.

Also have a magnetic float switch holder on the way so I can get rid of the pipe and let the lid close

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Looking good! Really liking that sump. Is it difficult to change out that sock? Looks like the skimmer is in the way.

 

[zbryant91]

My skimmer is a reef octopus 110sss space saver so it's pretty small and that skimmer chamber has plenty of room for me to move it around. It's certainly not easy since it's at the back of the stand but once a week isn't so bad. Typically I pull the collection cup and clean it at the same time anyways.

Also just added a brs dosing pump to add soda ash so there is literally no room left under the tank.

 

[zbryant91]

Here's a better shot of my access to the filter sock and the new dosing pump.

So far I am only dosing soda ash to keep the alk up since my ATO with kalk in it is still enough to maintain calcium.

 

[zbryant91]

Got it my frags from the TSA live sale over the weekend. Didn't realize I had got so many but they are all looking good and starting to open up after less than an hour in the tank. New ones are all on the frag racks.

 

[zbryant91]

Well after JCR's reef mentioned that it looked difficult to change the sock I got to thinking and realized I could turn the sump 90 degrees and have the sock and skimmer right at the front of the stand. So I did that today and cleaned up the wiring a decent bit. Also ordered a new reefbreeders photon v2+. All the new frags are still looking good as well. very relieved that things seem stable.

 

[zbryant91]

Replaced my black box light yesterday with a reefbreeders photon v2+ 24”. So far I like it. Went with the 24” to try and get as much light across the whole tank as possible. Still playing with the programming but build quality seems great

 

[zbryant91]

removed my gfo and carbon about a month ago as I wanted to see if I could see a benefit in running it. So far no real change. Hooked up a co2 scrubber last night. not a huge spike in PH yet but it is still rising. Will see how the trend goes over the next week or so. Also added a fan above the sump as my temps have been creeping up with the summer heat.

Main reason I decided to add one is because of how high my PH got when we were on vacation a couple weeks ago. Actually turned off the soda ash for a couple of days since I wasn't home and was afraid something went wrong. Then realized that it was likely due to the reduced co2..

 

[zbryant91]

Hooked my co2 scrubber inlet into the cap of the skimmer a few days ago. PH has been over 8.25 ever since.

Also found that my float switches were made of PLA and started to dissolve into my ato kalk mix. Starting to think that is why I lost a cookie monster and my shag priority for the grow contest.

 

[zbryant91]

Starting to see the PH graph dip a bit. Ran the current co2 media for a week without the inlet being fed by the skimmer lid and got another 2 weeks out of it. Still pretty high PH so no complaints. Just the trend is heading down so I am guessing I will need to change this week. Very happy with the results so far.