Brian24540
Community Member
After several months of research and an annoying false start (more on that in a minute) I’ve finally started cycling my tank. I am a newcomer with lots to learn and no advice to offer anyone. However, I plan to review the kit and supplies I install/use, not (obviously) as an expert, but as someone going through the learning process in the hope that others can learn from my mistakes.
Background
I am retired in SW France, in a picturesque medieval village, about 1 hour from my LFS, The Fish House near Agen. I am by the way, a UK citizen and, after 13 years living in Maryland (and 1 in New York), also a US citizen and taxpayer.
Several years ago, I suddenly evolved into a writer, with four novels published to date. This means I spend a lot of time writing upstairs in my study, which is where I planned to install my aquarium. Despite a huge amount of planning and prep, on the day my tank was delivered the LFS team pronounced my selected location unsuitable without even more work which would have possibly placed an intolerable strain on the floor. So, the photos show the tank in its location in our pretty large entrance hallway.
PART ONE
Aquarium
I chose an Aqua Medic Armatus 375 XD tank as it perfectly fit the space in my study, but even now, in its unforeseen location, I do like the proportions of the display tank – 100cm x 65 x 55 (39 x 26 x 22) (effectively 50cm (20”) of water).
The cabinet seems well built and sturdy enough to support the weight of the filled tank. I painted it and added some mouldings to better fit in with the other furniture in the room.
My biggest complaint about the cabinet is that it has no feet. Not only are there no adjustable feet for levelling up, but the melamine-covered material sits directly on the floor. It is inevitable that there will be water spills setting up and running the tank and there should be some rubber/plastic/metal material to insulate the cabinet – a major failing. I plan to run silicone around the front and sides of the cabinet soon.
The Aqua Medic sump is pretty useless. My guess is that it received very little attention – this is borne out by the fact that nowhere do Aqua Medic give the dimensions of each of the 6 compartments. I planned to turn the sump into a quarantine tank, but Julien of The Fish House managed to cut out most of the partitions to create a very useable sump – one that could accommodate a Red Sea ReefMat 500. I guess the arrival of the ReefMats will lead to a lot of sump redesigns.
The black object on the left is a rubber square to protect my knees! I also placed a rubber mat under the drip tray to help stifle any vibrations.
My other problem with the tank is the overflow. As a newbie, I have no way of knowing whether my problem is endemic to all tanks, or specific to Aqua Medic. It is incredibly time-consuming trying to balance (or tune or whatever the correct term is) the overflow. Striking a balance between draining too slowly and having a loud emergency overflow and draining too quickly and turning the siphon protection into a noisy fountain.
All of this would be bearable if the balance point didn’t shift every time the return pumps are turned off and back on - or changed to a reduced setting. So, while it’s possible to turn everything off for a manual or automatic feeding, there is no way to avoid a pain in the butt period of trial and error rebalancing. Any thought of exploiting the variable speed programmes for the return pumps is completely out of the question!
The tank comes with a drip tray, but I replaced it with one that covers more of the cabinet base and is much deeper. By the way, after scalping my (almost completely bald) scalp on the cabinet opening, I stuck on some foam weatherstrip – a major improvement!
I don’t know why tank manufacturers don’t always offer a lid as an option, but Aqua Medic do not. I plan to build one from acrylic (plexiglass) sheets, which I think will be a lighter option than wood.
All things considered, I am happy with my choice - mainly because of the proportions of the tank. It seems that almost everyone has had challenges accommodating the ReefMat, so I doubt those issues could have been avoided.
The aquascape is constructed from artificial rock using a fairly minimal amount of high viscosity superglue. Although not visible, on day 5 of the Red Sea cycle, there are some hints of coraline emerging.
