mherb24
Community Member
My new Aqueon 60 gallon breeder is ready to stock.
It all started with a stroll down the wrong isle at a local pet shop. Needed some dog food and found a brand new 60b tank for $85. I already have a 20 long and a 40 AIO, what am I going to do with another tank. That thought lasted maybe 60 seconds. In no time I had the tank in my car loaded alongside enough 2x4's to build a new stand.
I watched a few videos on youtube and went to work cutting lumber. I decided this was probably going to be the only stand I ever built, so I may have gone a little overboard with the screws.
Applied three coats of gloss black stain just in time for my new wet dry filter from Aqua-Link.
I have no clue how to use a wet dry filter. But when I called Aqua-Link to ask some questions, Tim Link spent more than an hour on the phone with me going over the basic concepts of how they work. That evening I placed my order on their website. Made to order and it only took 10 days to receive. I was going to put doors on my stand, but now I'm not so sure I want to.
I'm glad I had some basics in plumbing. By far, this has been the most frustrating part of the build thus far.
I use Seachem Matrix in my existing tanks, so I added some to one of the reactors. I have not been able to find a similar reactor setup. The water just flows in from the top and uses gravity to run over the media. I have been experimenting with the Jabeo DCP-4000 return pump and I best I can gather is its pumping about 100 gallons an hour over the media. Not sure if thats too much flow, but I figure when I add carbon to the second reactor I would start much less, maybe 50 gallons per hour.
At this point I added API's Marine Quick Start. I started dosing 35 drops of ammonia each day which would raise the ammonia to over 2 ppm. By the next morning I was testing at .5. I kept dosing ammonia each day for a week, but nitrite or nitrate stayed at zero and the ammonia returned to .5 or less each day.
The only thing I was lacking at this point was lights. Wow have lights gotten pricey. I love my Ai Prime 16HD's but decided to try a light I had not seen before, the Noo-Psych K7 Pro III. Again with the super quick shipping. From date of order I had the lights on the 8th day. Shipped from right here in the US.
The provided arms for the lights did not look like they were going to fit the extra wide rim of the Aqueon tank, so I left the smallest of gaps when tightening the screws and they fit snugly.
I quickly found a website that makes creating profiles for the light simple:
Without this site, the light would be much more difficult to use. Even though I had them set up as master and slave in just minutes. I could not get them paired using the wifi option and instead have to use the AP connection. Each time I tried to make an adjustment to a profile I would loose connection between my phone, the app and the lights. I live in the middle of the forest with no cell reception, so when I switch networks to the Noo-Psych network I'm removed from cell coverage. Maybe that is playing a role is my connection issues.
I had read some negative things about Noo-Psych just after I placed my order. I had no similar problems. My lights came in from here is the US, Zach B sent me a tracking number. Came in on the day it was quoted.
The second issue was the power supply. I did get the 126 watt plugs even though the lights output is 140 watts, But I at 50% on the blues and the power block has heated up to 88 degrees. Doesn't sound all that hot, I'll just keep it away from the tank.
The rock pile on the left in the tank is just loose rock. I have a few pieces of life rock covered in coral I want to bring over from my AIO, just nervous as to when I should try. What a few months for the tank to mature some, put in the rocks and bring the maturity I have with me.
It all started with a stroll down the wrong isle at a local pet shop. Needed some dog food and found a brand new 60b tank for $85. I already have a 20 long and a 40 AIO, what am I going to do with another tank. That thought lasted maybe 60 seconds. In no time I had the tank in my car loaded alongside enough 2x4's to build a new stand.
I watched a few videos on youtube and went to work cutting lumber. I decided this was probably going to be the only stand I ever built, so I may have gone a little overboard with the screws.
Applied three coats of gloss black stain just in time for my new wet dry filter from Aqua-Link.
I have no clue how to use a wet dry filter. But when I called Aqua-Link to ask some questions, Tim Link spent more than an hour on the phone with me going over the basic concepts of how they work. That evening I placed my order on their website. Made to order and it only took 10 days to receive. I was going to put doors on my stand, but now I'm not so sure I want to.
I'm glad I had some basics in plumbing. By far, this has been the most frustrating part of the build thus far.
I use Seachem Matrix in my existing tanks, so I added some to one of the reactors. I have not been able to find a similar reactor setup. The water just flows in from the top and uses gravity to run over the media. I have been experimenting with the Jabeo DCP-4000 return pump and I best I can gather is its pumping about 100 gallons an hour over the media. Not sure if thats too much flow, but I figure when I add carbon to the second reactor I would start much less, maybe 50 gallons per hour.
At this point I added API's Marine Quick Start. I started dosing 35 drops of ammonia each day which would raise the ammonia to over 2 ppm. By the next morning I was testing at .5. I kept dosing ammonia each day for a week, but nitrite or nitrate stayed at zero and the ammonia returned to .5 or less each day.
The only thing I was lacking at this point was lights. Wow have lights gotten pricey. I love my Ai Prime 16HD's but decided to try a light I had not seen before, the Noo-Psych K7 Pro III. Again with the super quick shipping. From date of order I had the lights on the 8th day. Shipped from right here in the US.
The provided arms for the lights did not look like they were going to fit the extra wide rim of the Aqueon tank, so I left the smallest of gaps when tightening the screws and they fit snugly.
I quickly found a website that makes creating profiles for the light simple:
Noo-Psyche K7 Profile Generator | BeanAnimal's Reef
Noo-Psyche K7 profile generator can be used to generate custom QR Code lighting profiles for Noo-Psyche K7 Pro III reef aquarium LED light fixtures.
beananimal.com
Without this site, the light would be much more difficult to use. Even though I had them set up as master and slave in just minutes. I could not get them paired using the wifi option and instead have to use the AP connection. Each time I tried to make an adjustment to a profile I would loose connection between my phone, the app and the lights. I live in the middle of the forest with no cell reception, so when I switch networks to the Noo-Psych network I'm removed from cell coverage. Maybe that is playing a role is my connection issues.
I had read some negative things about Noo-Psych just after I placed my order. I had no similar problems. My lights came in from here is the US, Zach B sent me a tracking number. Came in on the day it was quoted.
The second issue was the power supply. I did get the 126 watt plugs even though the lights output is 140 watts, But I at 50% on the blues and the power block has heated up to 88 degrees. Doesn't sound all that hot, I'll just keep it away from the tank.
The rock pile on the left in the tank is just loose rock. I have a few pieces of life rock covered in coral I want to bring over from my AIO, just nervous as to when I should try. What a few months for the tank to mature some, put in the rocks and bring the maturity I have with me.
