Jstan84's 60 breeder build

[Jstan84]

I am starting this thread to document my new 60 gallon breeder build and see how it unfurls over time. I have been keeping reef tanks off and on since 1998, and this is the first saltwater tank that I have set up since I tore down a 65G in 2019.

My main plan with this tank is to keep my all time favorite fish, an emperator angel. I plan to for the emperator to be one of my last editions and will buy as small as possible and rehome once it outgrows the tank.

Current and planned equipment are as follows:
Tank - Imagitarum 60 breeder 48X18X18
Stand - Vevor 48" x 20" workbench, may skin with magnetic panels
Overflow - Modular marine 800GPH
Sump - 20 long with refugium style baffle kit, 2 filter cups with maxpect media, plan to run the refugium in the future as needed
Lighting - Maxpect razor r420R 160w 16k from my old setup, will supplement in the future as this light wont give enough full coverage for 48"
Flow - (2) MP10's with plans to add at least 1 gyre style pump, likely to give Hygger or Jebao a try
Skimmer - Currently an old Eshopps S-120 but will be testing an IOAOI reef-100
Heater - Hygger 200w Titanium w/ thermostat
Controllers - Hydros X2 w/ 4 plug wifi bar, as well as an old reefkeeper lite. Keeping the reefkeeper for now for PH control and less important items that dont need to be app controlled
ATO - Controlled by Hydros
Dosing - Future TBD
RODI - BRS 5 stage

I have run RODI line from my garage to the room the tank is in and have a 20 gallon brute reservoir in the closet with plans to add a second to keep salt water on hand.

As everything currently stands I have the stand built, tank drilled and painted, rock scape built, and the majority of the plumbing done. waiting on the sump kit to arrive so I can build that out and finish plumbing, hopefully I will be able to get water in the tank by next weekend.

I went with Tropic Eden Morrocan dry rock as I was able to get some from a local reefer for cheap. Really liked it so I added more from premium aquatics. Shoutout to premium aquatics for giving me a 20% off discount code just because I asked and there were no current promotions on Tropic Eden, excellent customer service and rock arrived 2 days later.

Pictures of how the scape is currently set up, appreciate any feedback. I am very happy with how this has turned out so far, used super glue and NYOS reef cement. The pictures dont capture the depth very well but super happy with the Tropic Eden rock, I went back and forth a lot between this and an Ecoscapes kit.

Thanks for looking, I will keep updating as I go along.

 

[Fish Fan]

Looks like a great start, good luck with your build!

 

[Jstan84]

Got sand and water in the tank Sunday. Wish I had a way of mixing a large enough quantity of salt water to fill the tank because the sandstorm was bad.

Got the sump built last night and plumbing mostly finished today. Still need to get another union for the emergency drain line but the hardware store was out.

 

[jonelder68]

Following along love my 60 breeder!

 

[Jstan84]

Following along love my 60 breeder!

Thanks, your build sold me on the modular marine overflow proving it would hide the water line above the trim, though yours came out better. My bit walked a little so mine isn’t quite level and I had to sand the weir box because it was pushing up on the trim

 

[jonelder68]

Thanks, your build sold me on the modular marine overflow proving it would hide the water line above the trim, though yours came out better. My bit walked a little so mine isn’t quite level and I had to sand the weir box because it was pushing up on the trim

Next time drill a 1x4 board on a drill press to hole saw size. Acts as a bit guide when drilling.

 

[jonelder68]

Jax racks sump baffle kit?

 

[Jstan84]

Jax racks sump baffle kit?

yeah, well see if I regret not going with the 40 breeder. Main reason I didnt is because I may make magnetic panels to skin the stand at some point and an ATO container was not going to fit under the stand with a bigger sump. My fuge section is pretty small. The skimmer section fits everything fine for now, but not a ton of room to add anything in the future.

I was a little irritated with jax racks because I had some messaging back and forth about using imagitarium tanks and he said he had the kits for them, when I ordered I indicated this was for an imagitarium but clearly this kit was for an aqueon. I was able to make it work but had to fill some pretty large gaps with silicone. Some of the pieces didnt fit together as well as I would like but being all in for about $130 on this sump is a fraction of what an acrylic sump would have run, so I can't complain too much. I like the design much better than a fiji cube kit and it was a lot cheaper.

 

[jonelder68]

yeah, well see if I regret not going with the 40 breeder. Main reason I didnt is because I may make magnetic panels to skin the stand at some point and an ATO container was not going to fit under the stand with a bigger sump. My fuge section is pretty small. The skimmer section fits everything fine for now, but not a ton of room to add anything in the future.

I was a little irritated with jax racks because I had some messaging back and forth about using imagitarium tanks and he said he had the kits for them, when I ordered I indicated this was for an imagitarium but clearly this kit was for an aqueon. I was able to make it work but had to fill some pretty large gaps with silicone. Some of the pieces didnt fit together as well as I would like but being all in for about $130 on this sump is a fraction of what an acrylic sump would have run, so I can't complain too much. I like the design much better than a fiji cube kit and it was a lot cheaper.

Ya it’s a bummer petco dropped aqueon. It was superior tanks.

 

[CKW]

I also am building a 60 breeder. However I’m not using a sump. Instead I’m using a Fluval 407 canister filter. Yesterday filled the tank with RO water and in the process of adding and mixing salt. I’ll start the cycle process this coming weekend.
I really like the tank size as it gives me room for the rock structure without crowding the rear wall.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Jstan84]

I also am building a 60 breeder. However I’m not using a sump. Instead I’m using a Fluval 407 canister filter. Yesterday filled the tank with RO water and in the process of adding and mixing salt. I’ll start the cycle process this coming weekend.
I really like the tank size as it gives me room for the rock structure without crowding the rear wall.

It really is a great dimensioned tank at a great price. This is the first 4' tank I have ever had that had workable dimensions. First salt tank ever was a 55G in the late 90's which was way too narrow, then later after Hurricane Katrina I had a 110G that was like 30" tall and couldnt reach the bottom without a step ladder and always getting deodorant in the tank. I don't think I will ever own another tank that is taller than it is wide. Even my last tank, a 65g that was 36x18x24, was a PITA.

 

[Jstan84]

A thought for the people out there considering the tropic eden morroca rock. Skip over the small/medium/large standard rock boxes. They are boulder pieces that dont easily create interesting scape. Pick from the individual pieces and build on those with the tiny and mini pieces.

I ordered a 4 piece small box along with several individual pieces and ended up not using any of the small box, the other pieces are just much more interesting shapes.

 

[Jstan84]

Everything is up and running. Now for the hard part, gonna shut down the lights and follow a loose version of serious reefs 90/10 biome cycle. Can’t get TBS sand till the first week of September so I dosed some sea chem stability and will dose ammonia tonight to jump start the cycle.

 

[weavertank]

That looks beautiful. I have just ordered a small bit for my IM 15 gallon cube as my own scape just looked,well,awful. I am putting some maxspect nano spheres to get seeded and have rubble full up in the return section so hoping to pull ugly rockscape and replace it with an arch,a cradle cave, the smallest branch, some minis, and some small base pieces. Yours just looks really nice.

 

[Jstan84]

That looks beautiful. I have just ordered a small bit for my IM 15 gallon cube as my own scape just looked,well,awful. I am putting some maxspect nano spheres to get seeded and have rubble full up in the return section so hoping to pull ugly rockscape and replace it with an arch,a cradle cave, the smallest branch, some minis, and some small base pieces. Yours just looks really nice.

Thanks, It is by far the best aquascape I have ever made. I used superglue and Nyos reef cement to build it. The reef cement is messy and kind of annoying but it worked well.

 

[beardedman11]

Everything is up and running. Now for the hard part, gonna shut down the lights and follow a loose version of serious reefs 90/10 biome cycle. Can’t get TBS sand till the first week of September so I dosed some sea chem stability and will dose ammonia tonight to jump start the cycle.

Love the aquascape looks amazing. Following along.

 

[Jstan84]

Since TBS had a long lead time on sand I ordered and added 4lbs from gulf live rock. Price was comparable but freight was a small fraction since they will ship sand usps if you are close enough.

Also added a small tomini tang as the first fish to help fend off any uglies that might start popping up. I have an order of galaxy pods arriving tomorrow.

Photoperiod is up to 8 hours at half intensity and will be up to full intensity this weekend.

 

[Gulf Live Rock]

Ill tell you a funny story. My wife's maiden name was Jen Stanley and she was born in 1984 and her email is still Jstan024. We all had a laugh when your order came thru. Thanks for the support. That package is available now on the new r2r marketplace if anyone is interested.