Rick’s 60g Psychedelic Circus Tank

[AquaRick]

I've been wanting another aquarium for quite some time. My 12g is in the dinning room and isn't view-able from my two favorite spots; the couch or my office. I finally decided to go for it and get a 60g cube.

Definitely wanted this one drilled. I went with a DIY overflow for my 125, and although it works well with an aqualifter pump, a drilled set up is definitely the way to go. Gravity has been around since the start of time; a small pump to prime the overflow, not so much.

 

[AquaRick]

The main features of this tank will be two pairs of mandarins (1 red, 1 green) and a pair of either black ice or picasso clowns with an anemone. I haven't decided yet on the clown or anemone specie, but we'll see.

I'll be training the mandarins to eat prepared food. I've trained a 2 inch male green mandarin to eat mysis. It's been about 6 weeks since I bought him and all is going well so far. The first two weeks I fed him about 1/4th a cube 2-3 times a day. Weeks 3-4 I fed 1/4th a cube once a day. Currently he's been eating 1/4th cube every other day for the past few weeks.

With all the extra feedings, I had an increase in algae in my 125. Cyano also appeared for the first time. Things are now stable and back to normal as I'm feeding the green male along the same schedule as the rest of the fish.

 

[AquaRick]

Finished the stand and applied a few coats of varathane to seal it. Still debating how I want to skin this and how to create the doors. Stand is 24"Lx24"Wx32"H.

 

[Oldspice]

Tank

Keep posting. I would like to see what you end up with.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Following!

 

[Natetrix]

This is cool.is that an acrylic tank?

 

[AquaRick]

Thanks guys!

This is cool.is that an acrylic tank?

Nope, it's a glass tank. I'm pretty rough with my cleaning; there's no way an acrylic tank would hold up to the scraping. It's just so much easier to be rough with glass than to be careful with acrylic....at least for me. Though I did think of doing a diy acrylic tank for this cube. In the end my LFS price was so much cheaper. $150 for the tank, $20 for drilling; $180 total. The acrylic I was going to use was going to be about $240 for all the material needed.

 

[AquaRick]

Still can't decide on a protein skimmer. I really need one that's silent or that I can at least easily mod to make it silent.

Debating b/w a reef octo:Reef Octopus 4

Or a Reef Dynamics: INS80 Protein Skimmer Rated Up To 250 Gallons

This is going in the living room so it needs to be quiet.

 

[mr_X]

That reef dynamics skimmer is no way going to handle 250 gallons, judging by the air intake.
I'd probably go with the octo simply because it's got a gate valve on it, which will make dialing it in a lot easier.

 

[AquaRick]

Yeah the RD skimmers have a different rating system. It mentions a rating of about 50g for sps tanks. I'll probably just go with the octo unless you can recommend a different skimmer, Doug?

 

[AquaRick]

I could also use some help deciding on what pumps to get. I'd really like to go with the vortecs. Just don't know if 1mp10 is enough, or if i should get two MP10s, or go with 1 Mp40.

 

[mr_X]

I do like those bubble magus skimmers for the money. I never owned an MP40 so I can't comment on it, but I've heard and seen a pretty dispersed flow, and I could swear that every MP10 owner i've ever talked to wished they got a MP40, so my guess on this situation would be the single MP40.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i donno a 60 gallon cube is only 24" across an MP10 might be enough. a 40 might be to much flow for it. i'd be afraid the waves might push water out of the tank. across a 36" tank an MP10 is able to push liek 2" waves on the surface

 

[Squidy07]

I've been wanting another aquarium for quite some time. My 12g is in the dinning room and isn't view-able from my two favorite spots; the couch or my office. I finally decided to go for it and get a 60g cube.

Definitely wanted this one drilled. I went with a DIY overflow for my 125, and although it works well with an aqualifter pump, a drilled set up is definitely the way to go. Gravity has been around since the start of time; a small pump to prime the overflow, not so much.

hey Rick is having the tank drilled better than a reef ready built in over flow box? also where did u get that tank ? aquarium depot?

 

[Sniperhank]

Everytime I read this thread I can't stop thinking of Insane Clown Posse lol.

Any decision as to the powerheads? 2 MP10s might be your best bet imo.

 

[AquaRick]

hey Rick is having the tank drilled better than a reef ready built in over flow box? also where did u get that tank ? aquarium depot?

Well they're both pretty much the same thing. Both are drilled through the tank and rely on gravity to drain the tank. The "reef ready" just has an overflow box and/or section. The other way to handle it is to use strainers.

Personally, I'll be putting elbows on the bulkheads and topping them off with a strainer. I like the look of this alot more. I've never liked the internal "reef ready" overflow boxes. I've never seen the need for them when compared to just strainers. They just take up more space in your tank.

I have 2 returns on the tank. I plan on having one strainer sitting higher when compared to the other. This higher return will be the emergency return and will not have a gate valve on it. The lower return, or main return, will sit lower than the other in the tank. This return will have a gate valve on it and will be fine tuned to get the flow of water as quiet as possible. I'll probably put a hybrid durso pipe on the back of the tank for this. This way, if the main return ever gets clogged i still have the emergency return to handle the draining.

Yup, bought the tank at Aquarium Depot. Great bunch of guys there. Jack and his sons know their stuff and have never pushed me to get something I didn't need. Great customer service and great prices have kept me going there.

 

[AquaRick]

Everytime I read this thread I can't stop thinking of Insane Clown Posse lol.

Any decision as to the powerheads? 2 MP10s might be your best bet imo.

I wish clowns would school. That'd be insane. As for the PHs, I think I'll just be going with 2 mp10's. Seems the better way to go and to get synchronized wave action.

 

[carey]

Waiting to see how you do with 2 powerheads. I just ordered a single MP10 today for my 60g cube. I'm of the opinion that 2 would be too much flow BUT I will wait and see how it goes with you.

 

[redsea]

I wish clowns would school. That'd be insane. As for the PHs, I think I'll just be going with 2 mp10's. Seems the better way to go and to get synchronized wave action.

Sometimes juvenile Clownfish will swim together it one big ball, I guess you could count that as schooling, LOL.

 

[Squidy07]

Well they're both pretty much the same thing. Both are drilled through the tank and rely on gravity to drain the tank. The "reef ready" just has an overflow box and/or section. The other way to handle it is to use strainers.

Personally, I'll be putting elbows on the bulkheads and topping them off with a strainer. I like the look of this alot more. I've never liked the internal "reef ready" overflow boxes. I've never seen the need for them when compared to just strainers. They just take up more space in your tank.

I have 2 returns on the tank. I plan on having one strainer sitting higher when compared to the other. This higher return will be the emergency return and will not have a gate valve on it. The lower return, or main return, will sit lower than the other in the tank. This return will have a gate valve on it and will be fine tuned to get the flow of water as quiet as possible. I'll probably put a hybrid durso pipe on the back of the tank for this. This way, if the main return ever gets clogged i still have the emergency return to handle the draining.

Yup, bought the tank at Aquarium Depot. Great bunch of guys there. Jack and his sons know their stuff and have never pushed me to get something I didn't need. Great customer service and great prices have kept me going there.

idk wth that's means I don't have a sump lol.I plan on upgrading my 55gallon thats y I ask. I need to do research on that plumbing stuff yor talking about.

and yea that's one of my favorite places to go they always give me deals since I live kinda far frm their location. I want a 90gal system or 100gal but it seams a little pricey especially since i don't have any equipment I cud use on the new system