60 Breeder No Rush Build

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We have been running now for 15 minutes with no leaks anywhere!!
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Plan to start with the aquascape this week. Have around 40 pounds of Reef Save from Marco Rocks on hand. I will grab more if needed, but it feels like it should be plenty for a tank this size.

Finally put together the full equipment list for the build as well.

Tank - Aqueon 60 Breeder
Sump - Ice Cap 30
Stand - DIY
Overflow - Exotic Marine Systems 20”
Lights - Maxspect Jump 65 Watt x 2
Powerheads - AI Nero 5 x 2
Heaters - BRS 200 Watt Titanium Element x 2
Heater Controller - Innovative Marine Helios Heater Controller
Skimmer - AquaMaxx DFC 80
Return Pump - Sicce SDC 3.0
Reactor - BRS mini carbon reactor
Controller - Neptune Apex EL System
Refractometer - BRS
ATO - Tunze Osmolator
 
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Been working on the aqua scape all week. Using Reef Saver have come up with the below scape for now. Will likely make some minor tweaks to the left side over the weekend. Utilized BRS extra thick super glue and insta set to hold everything in place. Coming behind with epoxy to really hold. Thoughts?
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More done today. Heats installed. Went with 2 of the 200 Watt BRS titanium heaters and a Innovative Marine Helio heater controller that will be backed up by Apex.

Will get skimmer installed, powerheads, cable management and sand before the weekend is over.

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Spent the afternoon rinsing sand and getting it in the tank. I chose Caribsea Special Grade Aragonite. Used probably 30-35 lbs, for a depth between 1/2” and 3/4”.

Trying to decide what to use to cover the gray epoxy in the aqua scape. Open to suggestions and ideas. Going to browse the forum this evening for ideas.

Finished some of the last cable management today. Now I’m going to get my BRS Mini Reactor installed and mounted. Then it will be time to start adding RODI and making saltwater!

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Water is in the tank! Rinsing of the sane apparently worked better than I thought, just a slight haze to the tank. Going to give it a couple days to clear. Fired up the heaters to get the temp where I want. Slowly starting to setup everything on the Apex, got a long ways to go with that as it's my first one. Going to add salt later this week and then start cycling.

Have some drain noise I have to work on as well, seems to be from the 2nd drain, not the full siphon, and noise from the filter socks. Open to suggestions on how to resolve both of those.
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Water is in the tank! Rinsing of the sane apparently worked better than I thought, just a slight haze to the tank. Going to give it a couple days to clear. Fired up the heaters to get the temp where I want. Slowly starting to setup everything on the Apex, got a long ways to go with that as it's my first one. Going to add salt later this week and then start cycling.

Have some drain noise I have to work on as well, seems to be from the 2nd drain, not the full siphon, and noise from the filter socks. Open to suggestions on how to resolve both of those.
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Glad you got water in the tank!!
 
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Been working on finalizing everything in the cabinet and finishing running cords to clean them up. Learning the Apex little by little. Got a FMM added to my EL last night with a leak sensor I placed in my cabinet and a MOS I added to the ATO storage to let me know before it runs out.

Will finish getting salinity right tonight, then start the cycle. Doing a fishless with Dr. Tim's. Never used this product in the past, so figured I would try something new. Since my tank is all Marco rock I am going to order a small pack of real ocean rock from Tampa Bay or somewhere similar after the cycle ends to start bringing in more variety of bacteria and micro fauna.
 

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Got the cable raceways installed in the sump today. Up next will be plumbing.
I'm looking to buy some raceway too. Where did you buy it? What size? Is that 2" x 2"? Would you go smaller or larger next time?

Thanks!
 
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I'm looking to buy some raceway too. Where did you buy it? What size? Is that 2" x 2"? Would you go smaller or larger next time?

Thanks!

Amazon for the raceway. Zihyoo was the brand. I went with the 2” and it worked, however it’s cramped in a few places and next time I would step up to the larger size. Quality was good and was easy to cut with just a hacksaw.
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BrettE

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Amazon for the raceway. Zihyoo was the brand. I went with the 2” and it worked, however it’s cramped in a few places and next time I would step up to the larger size. Quality was good and was easy to cut with just a hacksaw.
Cool! What's getting cramped? I was hoping to use slightly smaller raceway, but maybe that's a bad idea. Is it just full of cable? I feel like excess cable could sure build up in there.
 
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Cool! What's getting cramped? I was hoping to use slightly smaller raceway, but maybe that's a bad idea. Is it just full of cable? I feel like excess cable could sure build up in there.
Yeah full of cable. It’s the thick cables like apex EB832, heaters, and the like that are the worst; they are all also routing the same direction towards the apex. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally manageable. However I always have something try to pop out of my main raceway when I open it up.

Plus I feel like it gives me more room to grow down the road if I need to add more cables for things.
 

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Yeah full of cable. It’s the thick cables like apex EB832, heaters, and the like that are the worst; they are all also routing the same direction towards the apex. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally manageable. However I always have something try to pop out of my main raceway when I open it up.

Plus I feel like it gives me more room to grow down the road if I need to add more cables for things.
Roger. Thanks for the insight.
 
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Started the cycle today. Got salinity balanced out over the week at 1.025 measured by a BRS refractometer. Started dosing Dr. Tim’s ammonia last night to try to reach 2 ppm. Measuring ammonia using a Salifert test kit, not a fan of this kit so far. Very difficult to read, I have found the color changes dramatically from natural light outside compared to indoor lighting. I think I’m slightly below 2ppm, but it’s impossible to tell. I added just over 2 tsp of ammonia so I should be close enough. Added a 2 oz bottle of Dr. Tim’s bacteria this morning to kick start things. Socks have been removed and skimmer will remain off the next few days.

Ammonia - <2ppm
Temp - 78.6
Ph- 7.96

Will run all parameters on Monday to see if any Nitrate has shown up.
 
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Tested the tank this evening to check cycle progress.

Ammonia as checked by Salifert was 0.25
Nitrate as checked by Hanna Nitrate HR 0.0
Temp as checked by Apex 78.5
PH as checked by Apex 7.94

Added 2 tsp of Dr. Tim’s ammonia back to bring that level back up.
 
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Just woke up to low temp alarms from my apex, temp is at 72.6 and has dropped since about 12:30 am.

Trying to figure out several issues right now. Heaters are BRS branded Schlage heaters, ran through an IM Helio PTC controller, with Apex on what I thought was fallback.

Issue 1 - everything on the Helio is on and it displays it’s low temperate alarm and shows both heaters should be on. Have already power cycled and so far it’s doing nothing.

Issue 2 - clearly neither heater is on, as is evident by apex power draw. There was no spike in draw before it stopped heating.

Issue 3 - Apparently I have alarms silenced over night on my phone so I never received the alerts from apex until my phone came out of do not disturb
 

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Tested the heaters several ways before work this morning, finally just plugged straight into an outlet and bypassed all controllers, still nothing from them. Somehow they are both just dead. Apex shows no voltage spike before they died or anything. Thankfully I keep a backup heater so I have an Eheim tossed in the display to heat the tank for the time being.

BRS customer service is sending me two new heaters, thankfully a painless process. Chat was under three minutes, so kudos to them.
 

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Tested the heaters several ways before work this morning, finally just plugged straight into an outlet and bypassed all controllers, still nothing from them. Somehow they are both just dead. Apex shows no voltage spike before they died or anything. Thankfully I keep a backup heater so I have an Eheim tossed in the display to heat the tank for the time being.

BRS customer service is sending me two new heaters, thankfully a painless process. Chat was under three minutes, so kudos to them.

That is wild. I've never heard of that happening. Multiple heaters too? The odds just seem completely impossible.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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