60 gallon cube plans.

[fermentedhiker]

Since I've always kicked around the idea of a lionfish/scropion tank but it never would work in my existing systems I'm leaning toward setting up a dedicated tank. The plan is to end the kitchen peninsula with a 24x24x24 cube. Still pricing and tracking down a tank at the moment. Marinelands reef ready are the most affordable, but I'd really like to go rimless if I can make my budget work.

My idea is to get a 30" sink base cabinet that matches the existing peninsula and reinforce it with Marine/PT plywood and maybe some additional 2x4 bracing. Build the top myself and have a sump, ATO, and chiller under the tank. This will necessitate a relatively small sump but I don't see any way around it. As such I'll probably just make it an open sump with skimmer, heaters, return pumps and fill in any leftover space with LR if there is any.

For lighting I'm leaning towards either radion xr15w or kessil a360w-e. Overkill for a fish focused tank perhaps, but I want full coverage with one fixture.

I do plan on having coral. It will mostly just be softies. Maybe a toadstool and a bunch of different shrooms. I like having a rock flower nem in most of my setups as well.

CUC will probably be less but bigger things. Instead of a bunch of different snails I'll probably just go with a serpent star, a tiger tail cuke, a fighting conch, a short spine/tuxedo urchin and maybe chestnut turbo/fuzzy chiton/tropical abalone if they seem necessary.

As far as which scorps to house.........my dilemma is that I find them all interesting. What I'd like are (in no particular order) dwarf zebra, fuzzy, antennata, fu manchu, japanese redfish waspfish, leaf fish, wartskin frogfish.

I realize that is too many for the tank. The waste would be insane once they were all full grown. So I have pair it down. I've read frogfish can NEVER be trusted not to try and eat something so that's the first one to go. Japanese Redfin Wy aspfish have really small mouths so I may be able to work them into another system that doesn't have anything really small in it. That leaves me with four lionfish and a leaf fish. Fu manchu are my favorite, but also the hardest to wean. So while I want one, I don't think I'll make it my first purchase. Fuzzy is a must. I think the leaf fish would be a good contrast. So if I go with a fuzzy and a leaf fish and reserve room for a Fu Manchu does that seem maxed out or is there room for another? If I had to choose between an Antennata and a Dwarf Zebra I'd go with the Antennata. Also if I'm missing any possible tankmates that might be worthwhile I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks

 

[CrypticLifeStyle]

I have a Deep Blue rimless 60g cube, and while quality feedback on deep blue or marineland can vary, my experience has been fine with at least the deep blue.
A suggestion on sump given the footprint, and somewhat budget friendly idea i use a 29g biocube as a sump opposed to a expensive acrylic cubed sump.

 

[Mr. Leemr]

2 Cents here, the XR15 may not cover those dimensions. I have a gen 3 XR30 pro with the wide angle lens kit over a 36" tank and it barley covers the tank. I cant speak for the coverage of the kessil light.

 

[fermentedhiker]

Both are rated for 24x24 max with something like 18x18 preferable. I was thinking that would be enough because I don't plan on having rockwork(ergo coral) out to the edges and I'm not planning on SPS, just softies and maybe a couple lps. I supsect most lions like it a little on the dimmer side anyways. But if I find a buy on a better light used I'll definitely make the leap.

 

[fermentedhiker]

I have a Deep Blue rimless 60g cube, and while quality feedback on deep blue or marineland can vary, my experience has been fine with at least the deep blue.
A suggestion on sump given the footprint, and somewhat budget friendly idea i use a 29g biocube as a sump opposed to a expensive acrylic cubed sump.

I don't think a biocube would leave me enough room for the chiller and ATO. I'm still drawing things out. space inside the "stand" (estimated) is about 29"x22.5" . A 1/10 HP chiller is 14.5" x 10" x 14.5" which doesn't leave me enough room for a 29biocube. I could fit a standard 10 gallon plus a 5.5 gallon ATO reservoir though. A ten gallon sump for a 60 gallon tank isn't ideal for sure. I'll have to play around with the numbers some more.

 

[fermentedhiker]

So I've narrowed down my potential list to;
Fuzzy Lionfish
Fu manchu lionfish
Hawaiian Lionfish
Leaf fish(brown or black maybe)

Which may still be too much. Looking on Lionfish lair and some of their recommendations , three may be the max for a 60. Which makes it a decision between the leaf fish and the Fu. The Fu is much nicer I think, but the leaf fish is probably way easier to wean onto prepared foods. Any other tank mates I should be considering? I was looking into some alternative in case I had to limit the number of scorps because of the messiness factor. Thinking of a tomini tang, but it looks like then need a bit more room. Atlantic longnose butterfly would fit, but possibly could end up as lunch?

 

[fermentedhiker]

I'm trying to rework this to fit in a bit bigger tank. Ideally the max I could have is a 36x24x24 and have been getting quotes for custom built..............ouch. The freight charges on top of the custom work just makes it a bit unreasonable for my project. Although I've found a local place that does custom acrylic work. Looks to be slightly cheaper for the tank(probably not enough to matter) but the ability to go and pick it up would save hundreds. The other option would which would be cheaper but not as sleek or built in looking would be a 93 gallon cube(30x30). Volume wise it's close and horizontal swimming area is also close. So it comes down to how much do I want to pay to make it look sweet :/

This stock list continues to fluctuate;
Dwarf fuzzy
Hawaiian
Mombassa
fu manchu(probably drop this as they are so hard to wean onto prepared foods)
leaf fish or cuckatoo waspfish
Possible additions or substitutions, tomini or kole tang, Atlantic longnose or Tahatian butterfly, snowflake moray.

 

[Nanoreef15]

Do you already have a stand?
If not, try to build one that is at least 30" long that way you can fit alot of pre made sumps that they sell out in the market...


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[fermentedhiker]

If I get custom I'll be building it. If it's a cube I might go premade.

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[fermentedhiker]

So I ditched the 60 cube idea and ordered a custom acrylic 36x24x24 from Marine ecological habitats. Also ended up going with a trigger systems emerald 20 cube sump as I just couldn't figure out a good use of space using a standard glass tank as a sump. Now on to building a stand.

 

[fermentedhiker]

The stock list has and probably will continue to fluctuate as the project crawls forward.

Eibli dwarf angel
Tomini tang
Possibly a copperband butterfly if I can find one that's eating prepared food.

For lions I'm still bouncing around which to focus on;
Hawaiian
dwarf fuzzy
fu manchu
radiata

choices choices...............