Planet Aquarium 60X20X21

[HD_Reefer]

Here’s some video of the wife and I screwing around with the foam pad. She’s obviously much better at videoing that I am! There are a couple more videos, but haven’t got them loaded yet. Some of it is quite funny!

 

[HD_Reefer]

 

[JayRozzer]

Following! Contemplating this exact tank. What did you make the overflow cover out of? Interesting you had to make that and do the foam pad. Figured that would be included.

 

[HD_Reefer]

Following! Contemplating this exact tank. What did you make the overflow cover out of? Interesting you had to make that and do the foam pad. Figured that would be included.

Neither the lid or foam were included, I was surprised as well. I made the lid out of 1/4 black acrylic that I got on Amazon (LINK). I used a piece of cardboard to make a template, traced it on the acrylic and cut it out using a fine-toothed jigsaw blade. Since the span across the back doesn't have support, I added a 1.5" piece of acrylic to sturdy it up and prevent it from moving side to side. Rough sanded both surfaces and superglued it together. $27 DIY vs $99 + shipping from Planet! I ordered the foam from leveling mat from BRS (LINK) and it worked out perfectly.

 

[HD_Reefer]

Got out of bed to check and make sure there were no leaks after the move....totally dry! I had a small scare when I walked up to the tank tho....its 11:45pm here and everyone in the house is asleep and its dead quiet. I walked up to the tank and literally could not hear it running, so I immediately thought I had already tripped a stupid breaker. The MP40s were running and the water was moving, but that wasn't surprising because they are on a dual battery backups. I opened the stand and to my surprise, everything was actually running. The combo of the #TriggerSystems Sapphire sump, the Herbie drains and the dual #ecotech Vectras (M2 & S2) makes for a truly silent operation.

The water is still cloudy, but I'm going to bed amazed with my new tank!

 

[Try'nNotToKillStuff]

Nice build! I can really appreciate your well thought-out design on the plumbing and wiring. I have a 120 (4x2x2) and pretty much threw things together as I went. You clearly did your homework. Congrats!

 

[HD_Reefer]

Nice build! I can really appreciate your well thought-out design on the plumbing and wiring. I have a 120 (4x2x2) and pretty much threw things together as I went. You clearly did your homework. Congrats!

Thanks! I definitely did my homework and probably the homework of everyone else in the class! Sadly, after all the research and planning that went into it, there were mistakes and hiccups along the way.

This morning, I'm kicking myself because I did something that I knew was risky and went against all of the data that I found during the homework phase. There's tons of advice against it on this forum, youtube and everywhere else, but like a lot of people, I thought I could somehow pull it off!

Well, I was wrong! Turns out the experts, the people that have tried & failed before and all those videos I watched were spot on accurate....fine grain sand is a terrible idea! It looks amazing before the equipment is turned on, but never again. I'll post some pics later this morning....its a train wreck at the moment!

 

[HD_Reefer]

So I went went CaribSea Oolite, against my better judgement. That was a mistake, but I wasn't able to get a pic of what happened overnight. All the sand has been leveled back out and I took this video right after turning the MP40s on at 20%. I'll wait a couple hours and take another of the aftermath!

 

[HD_Reefer]

Here's the look after an hour of the pumps running! Looks like I'll be replacing the sand....ugh.

 

[JayRozzer]

Here's the look after an hour of the pumps running! Looks like I'll be replacing the sand....ugh.

I used special grade in mine. A few swirls below the MP40s but no issues with the water. Sucks you need to switch. I like the look of that.

 

[HD_Reefer]

Replaced about 1/2 the sand with special grade. It still swirls a little, but it’s tolerable now. Cycle officially started this morning!

 

[HD_Reefer]

Day 2 of the fishless cycle and some Nitrates already showing up.

Updated pics from this morning....

 

[JayRozzer]

What are you using to cycle?

 

[HD_Reefer]

What are you using to cycle?

Microbacter StartXLM and Microbacter QuikCycl

 

[ScottR]

Off to a great start. I’m following. Can’t wait to see this filled to the brim with fish and acros. You are going to do acros right?

 

[HD_Reefer]

Off to a great start. I’m following. Can’t wait to see this filled to the brim with fish and acros. You are going to do acros right?

Oh yeah!

 

[HD_Reefer]

Day 6 and the cycle is coming along.

 

[HD_Reefer]

I thought the cycle would be further along than it is, based on the 7 day claim by Brightwell. I am practicing patience though and not getting ahead of myself! Super curious to see what tomorrow's readings are.

 

[JayRozzer]

I thought the cycle would be further along than it is, based on the 7 day claim by Brightwell. I am practicing patience though and not getting ahead of myself! Super curious to see what tomorrow's readings are.

I had a similar experience. I ended up dosing more Start XLM per their recommendation.

 

[HD_Reefer]

2 Clarkii Clowns and 3 Green Chromis went into quarantine today, totally by accident.

The wife and I were out scavenging for dog food in the blizzard and ended up driving to a Petco that I didn't even know existed about 10 miles north of us. I should have taken pics of their tanks, but I felt so terrible about their situation I didn't even think about it. They had been without power the night before, which I totally believe, but that definitely was not the reason their displays looked the way they did. GHA everywhere, 2 tanks full of dead coral. 3 dead BTAs, 1 was just a melted pile with crabs munching on it and the poor little tiny clown still trying to host with it. There was surprisingly no dead fish, but maybe they had already cleaned up the remains. If there would have been someone to report them too, I definitely would have. It was a disgrace to our hobby and totally offensive to folks like us that try to maintain these animals. It was pure and utter neglect.

Anyway, off the soapbox. They had a really nice bonded pair of Clarkii Clowns in a small DT by themselves with no obvious signs of neglect had seem to have been eating well. I told the dude I would take them off their hands for $30, just to save them from dying in case the power went out again. He reluctantly agreed and offered me as many Chromis as I would take for free because he didn't think they would make it through the night if the power went out. There was about 10 of them in the tank, but after about 15 mins of trying, he was only able to catch 3 of them.

So there you have it, stumbled about the first 5 fish for the new tank for $30 + tax. Not exactly the way I thought it would go down, but I'm good with the 'fate' part of it! They have been drip & temp acclimated and added to the 13.5g EVO for now. There are a couple of softies and leathers in there now, but as soon as the new tank is online, it will become the official QT. I think they are all 5 in pretty good health, but I'll be keeping a close eye on them for the next few days. I can honestly say that they seem way happier in their new temporary home than they did in the nasty water they came from. Lights are all out now, but I'll get some pics of them tomorrow.