60g Forever Reef

[aquaworld75]

Hello ARC! This will be my 60g reef tank build thread. I’ve been in the hobby for over 25yrs. Looking back, I’ve had a 20g long, 46 bow front, 45g corner, 2 75g, 180g, 30g cube and handful of small pico tank start ups…thus I’m calling this tank the “Forever Reef” (fingers crossed not breaking this tank down anytime soon)

The genesis for this tank was to “upgrade” from my 30g cube. So I used a 40g as a holding tank to the left and setup new 60g where the 30g used to be.

Initial setup 7/20/2025
Added initial corals and fish by 7/23/2025

Tank: 60g traditional glass w/ built in overflow. 36” (L) x 18” (W) x 24” (H)
Stand: painted wood cabinet w/ gel coat bar glaze coating inside walls and floor (waterproof)
Sump: Eshopps RS-75
Skimmer: Eshopps X-120
Return pump: Sicce Synchra 4.0
Heater: BRS 300w titanium
Lighting: 2x Kessil A360W E-Series Tuna Blue
Controller: APEX Neptune Classic
Dosing: Red Sea Reef Dose 4 (Alk, Ca, Mg, Iron, etc.)

Most of the equipment was from prior setups or purchased used recently. I re-applied inside corner silicone to the 60g. I also applied white background to the back and bottom of the 60g. Resurfaced the wood stand floor and applied bar glaze.

Live rock and recent additional pieces of dry rock were puttied and glued down to glass and together for initial structure. Additional existing live rock and coral was also puttied and glued. Live sand was from a previous tank / cleaned & running in a holding tank for weeks prior. I also wanted to apply the rule of thirds principle for aquascaping and taped out the layout to create focal points

Enough back story and information, here are some photos from initial setup and I will add some progress updates from this weekend.

 

[project1004]

Maybe paint the black trims of the tank white as well? Canopy should cover the top it seems? Looking forward to it. I came back to hobby as well 3yrs ago. lol.

 

[aquaworld75]

Day 5 update.
- got an ammonia spike (~2ppm) on day 2. Did a 15g water change
- today ammonia is reading around 0.5ppm. Did another 20g water change.
- soft and LPS corals are doing fine
- SPS are showing some tissue recession. With a few not opened fully.
- Fish: Green chromis, percula clown, watchman goby (my motley crew from previous tank) are doing fine and settling in

Overall progressing as expected but with my multiple light changes (from 30g cube, to holding tank, to new 60g lights. I think the SPS are struggling a bit.

Still need to sort out my in tank circulation. My old MP10s are not working on the thicker glass. May have to go with an MP40 or older gyre I have.

@project1004 - agree the black trim may have to go white. I am also planning to build an enclosed canopy. Thanks!

 

[project1004]

Are you currently cycling the tank?

I don’t understand why you are doing any water changes while your tank is cycling. You are slowing down your tank from achieving the nitrogen cycle you are disrupting the tank from finding its equilibrium.

Having ammonia spike is necessary, you suppose allow your tank to go thru nitrogen cycles…. And you should never have to change your tank water from ammonia spikes unless you had tons of death…. Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Using corals to cycle is fine but you still need to let the tank go thru it.

Being a 60Gal tank, it may table few weeks or a month if you do it naturally.

I was speaking to another reefer and we were talking about how we should never put any expensive corals until tank matures. It’s too sensitive and dyes easily but when matured, that’s not an issue likely.