New to reefing Waterbox marine 60.2

mcass1005 · Dec 7, 2023

Hey all! New to all of this , hubby always wanted a saltwater tank so I have been researching like crazy! I know literally nothing. So I am surprising him with a setup/ build.

So I have on the way a waterbox marine 60.2 plus complete so it will come with

Prime 16HD Reef
Prime Flex Arm 12"
Nyos Quantum 120 Skimmer
SYNCRA Silent 3.0
Mesh Lid System
Nero 5
XP Aqua Duetto2
SCUBA ContactLess Submersible Heater 200 Watts
RO/DI (4 Stage 100GPD)
Refractometer
Magnetic Glass Cleaner (Medium)
REEF SALT 160G

The substrate I’m looking at natures ocean bio-activ live Argonite looking at doing 40-50 lbs?

And live rock looking 20-40lbs?

Looking at live only rock and sand.

What other supplies as far as testing equipment will I need?

We want to feed live food, looking at adding soft corals , clown, blemmies, six line wrasse, yellow clown goby, a watchman and pistol shrimp and possibly others but that’s my list for now

Any help much needed!

randomfishdude · Dec 7, 2023

That's looking pretty good.
Definately go with live rock it can save you alot of hassle.

You are going to want a ammonia test kit for when you're cycling.
For the rest you are going to want alk, ph, cal and very importantly nitrate and phosphate.

I would go with brine or mysis shrimp. It dosnt matter. You can even feed both.
I'd say 40lb if rock and 20lb of sand.

I recently upgraded to a 90gal and was able to get a 2inch sandbed with 40lb of sand. Thick enough to where my nems love it.

Corals I wouldn't recommend going with super fast growing ones like xenia.
I am now dealing with the issue of pulsing xenia and wavinghand growing like crazy and now fragging itself.
If you want to start woth soft corals I would recommend zoanthids, kenya tree(yes it's self fragging but you can get a small kenya forest).
Kinda just what you think is cool.
If you know how to not move things once a week you can be successfull with almost any coral from the beginning. Heck even anenomes.

If you like wavey/moving corals that move in the water (I love them) I would say go with some euphillia. Like torches. Along with anenomes if you're willing to wait 2 or 3 months.

If you don't care too much you can go with montipora or some stylophoria. Zoanthids too.

You can even get photosynthetic sponge that grows somewhat fast but not too fast.

There is so many more things than what I'm saying. If you see a coral or fish you like just put it here in this thread or somewhere.

Also there are tons of cool clowns put there too.