Usingthejohn's 60G build

[usingthejohn]

Name's John, and I picked up a 60gallon acrylic tank saltwater tank from a friend. The previous homeowner left the tank in his house after he moved in; however neither wanted it. So for $300, I picked up the following:

60 gallon acrylic tank
about 50-ish lbs live rock
substrate was crushed coral
Greck GW-302 canister filter
CPR BakPak skimmer
36" T5 light
1 water circulator (although I don't know how strong it was)

When I saw the tank, it was about half full; although A) the water wasn't circulating and B) I'm not sure how long it was sitting stagnant. Water was clear, though and I didn't see any algae on the tank walls.

Took it home, and did the following:

added about 12 gallons saltwater from petco (that premade stuff). When I ran out of that, added another 10 gallons from the LFS
added another 15lbs live rock
added 40lbs live sand and mixed it with the pre-existing substrate
bought a new Aqueon 950 water circulator
bought a new Accelera pump for the HOB skimmer
ordered a SunSun HW303B canister filter
rearranged the rocks...about oh...10 times since coming across this forum
tossed in 2 dead shrimp to aid in cycling the tank (and for whatever reason, decided to smell it. BAAADDDD idea)

As it stands, its been cycling for about 1 week since making the above changes, and here's what I have so far:

pH 8.4
Nitrate 160
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0.50
Salinity is 1.032

So, I did a water change and added only 4 gallons fresh RO/DI water and rechecked salinity: 1.030. After work tonight, I'll go home, change out 2 gallons at a time and add the same amount of distilled water until I get my salinity to 1.025
John

 

[usingthejohn]

Updates for today: After Google and YouTube searches, I made my own Sump and PVC overflow kit, to give myself a sump. :bigsmile:

I'm hoping that it'll help out; after reading other opinions, as well as speaking with my auntie, uncle and a few friends, I opted against using the a canister filter. As it stands right now, it's a 57QT Rubbermaid bucket (roughly 15Gal) sump with a 5 drawer chest thing, which I drilled holes in the bottom to allow flow. First drawer will consist of some scrubber pads for mechanical filtration; second drawer is full of finer pads for more filtration; 3rd drawer will be carbon pads or what not and some of the media that was included in my previous canister (you can see it in the photo); 4th will be some crushed rock; I simply removed the 5th drawer, since it'll be covered in water anyway and may add another rock to sit in the bottom of the sump.. There's some room, so I may try and fit in a protein skimmer; otherwise I may go the DIY route and have the skimmer be a tall/skinny one and have it behind the tank.

My return pump is rated at 460gph; I utilized 3/4" PVC piping for the return and sump, which is rated at roughly 330-340gph based on my searches. It was working great; however the first pump I had was rated at 800gph and simply drained my sump faster than the overflowed...well, flowed.

Please critique, and let me know what changes you would make.

 

[usingthejohn]

Regarding Post #1: I just simply cut and pasted that from my other threads; sorry for redundancy, but I'm trying to get as much exposure as possible, to gain as much knowledge as I can. The first post was when I first joined about 3 or 4 days ago; post #2 was from yesterday. Thanks again!

John

 

[revsgirl]

Lookin' forward to seeing how it comes along!

 

[usingthejohn]

[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif]update: levels today are pH 8, salinity 1.025, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 80. Last week they were pH 8.4, Salinity 1.030, ammonia 0.5, nitrite 0, Nitrate 120.

I changed out 6 gallons with 6 gallons distilled water-why did my pH change?[/FONT]

 

[usingthejohn]

OK, quick update: Ph 8.4, Salinity 1.024, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 80. No photos yet, however added one mean *** Domino Damsel. He's been in the tank for the last week, and appears to be doing well. Swimming all over; swimming in between the LR formations. Hoping he'll handle it well, then sadly I'll have to bring him back to the LFS (he attacked his other damsel buddy...and they were from the same tank AND added at the same time!)

 

[usingthejohn]

Found a photo I put in my Instagram feed

 

[usingthejohn]

Built myself a taller stand, and traded my old CPR bak pak skimmer for a 40 gallon tank. Also going to put my uncle's hand me down Bubble Magnus skimmer to use as soon as I add the top shelf and skin this stand.

 

[usingthejohn]

Got my 40 gallon sump and hand me down Bubble Magnus skimmer up and running.

 

[usingthejohn]

Another one.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Looking good buddy!

 

[usingthejohn]

Here's a photo of my oscellaris clownfish pair-or as my kids call them Daddy Nemo and Baby Nemo

 

[usingthejohn]

Here's the best photo I took of my Purple dottyfish. And this is after 2-3 days of trying-he's really shy.

 

[usingthejohn]

Two of my lemon peel tang.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Nice fish.

 

[skinz78]

Lookin good so far, keep the updates coming!

 

[usingthejohn]

Got my hawkish. This guy is chill-just lays out on rocks, algae scrubber, whatever unless its feeding time.

http://socaltropicalfishoutlet.com/...-expandable-led-fixtures-bluewhite-p-525.html
Also any opinions on this system? I was thinking of picking up a pair of them for my planned reef tank.

 

[usingthejohn]

FTS last night with my single 36" T5.

Planning on buying a 48" aquaticlife LED today, then upgrading to a 75 gallon next month.

 

[usingthejohn]

Picked up my Aquaticlife 48" 21.6W LED last night. Will pick up another one next week, as I'm going to buy a portable rodi system to use in my apartment.

 

[Poriferan]

Nice Tank. Sounds like you have been bitten by the saltwater tank bug:xd:

Funny how that happens...