The Basement 60

Big B · Feb 11, 2016

I have never done a build thread so here it goes. A little History here. Almost 8 years ago my wife and I lost our one month old son. After that, I needed something peaceful to occupy my time with. I was fortunate enough to have a friend getting out of the hobby to give me his 120 set up. It wasn't much, mainly a fowlr with a Naso, Yellow Tang and Tomato clown. I took that tank and built it up to a softie tank with more inhabitants. Fast forward 2 years latter and my now 5 year old son was born. As so many of you know time became rare and the tank started to slip and I ended up taking it all down.

I have spent the last year remodeling our home in the country, we have a five year old and a two year old, both boys, and together will be setting up a 60 gallon rimless cube from Marineland.

Wanted to do a custom stand to allow for more room underneath. My main goal for this system is to be as automated as I can with out being neglectful to the tank or its inhabitants. Getting close to being finished with the stand.

reefwiser · Feb 11, 2016

Gets good to get your kids involved in helping you . They will learn valuable lessons and you will be able to spend quality time with your sons.

Big B · Feb 16, 2016

I was able to get a lot done in the last few day. Stand is complete, finally. I am no woodworker by any means but it turned out ok. Being a 60 cube, stand space is limited so I built something that gave me ample space. The left sided will house all electronic equipment and the right side will hold reactors, carbon and gfo. Looking for some scrap granite for the tops on the two sides.

Chrisfish · Feb 16, 2016

Looking really good, thanks for sharing your story. Looking forward to watching your thread progress.

Big B · Feb 16, 2016

Started on the plumbing. Its amazing how many mistakes and the things you can forget while doing something. Wanted my manifold to run from right to left, forgot that it would be in the way of my skimmer. Now its running from back to front with an angle lol.

Big B · Feb 16, 2016

This is a Marineland tank and they use a durso style overflow. Thought about making it a herbie but didn't want to have the return up and over the back of the tank. Would like the tank to look as clean as possible. Plumbed her all up and got her wet.................................................no leaks!!! Another brilliant idea from Marineland is to drill the siphon break hole in the return about an inch above the water line. Basically this sound like your garden hose nozzle is set on "stream" and your filling up a five gallon bucket. I took a small zip tie, cut it and stuck it small in first in the hole. I then took another tie and zipped it around covering the hole. Still breaks the siphon and quiets it down a lot.

My next battle will be the typical durso drain Niagra Falls sound into the sump. Right now Im using an Eheim 1262 but ordered a 1260 for the return. There is no reason to throttle a 1262 over 50%. Running it full blast Im sure you could hear this thing from upstairs. To quiet the drain to where I would want it, it seemed that I had to really cut off the flow. Not sure how much I had going through the sump but the returns seemed really slow. I would like to do a version of a reverse durso in the sump but Im not sure how to utilize the filter sock if I do it. Any suggestions would be really very welcome.

Big B · Feb 16, 2016

Here is a little teaser with what Im going to try to do with my light. Kessil 360we. Of course, If I decide I need two then back to the drawing board. More to come on this.

revhtree · Feb 16, 2016

Looking good!

Big B · Feb 18, 2016

Almost ready to start playing with some rock. I have about 30lbs of BRS Pukani and another 30 of their Reef Saver. I decided to do the acid bath but there was still a lot of gunk on the Pukani, so I bleached it for 24 hours. Now my rock smells terrible. Im going to do another 30 min acid bath and then soak them with fresh water and water conditioner and see where that gets me.

Big B · Feb 20, 2016

In the words of Matthew Mcconaughey, "allright allright allright". Rock work is done, stable and in the tank. Sand, check. I received my Eheim 1260, busted of course, so waiting on a replacement which should be here by Tuesday. I might go ahead and add water and just use the 1262 for now. We will wait and see how much patience I have over the weekend.

I'm also still waiting on the two pieces of granite to be cut for the top sides of my stand.
I am really bad at taking pictures, that's something I need to work on with this tank lol. I probably should get a decent camera rather then a Moto cell phone, that would be a good start. Pictures look like a blob of rock lol.

Purpule Tang · Feb 20, 2016

Very good tank so far

Andreww65 · Feb 20, 2016

Very nice setup Love the stand.

Chelle's Ocean · Feb 20, 2016

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Can't wait to see those rocks with growth and coral- really like how it climbs up the overflow- nice placement

Big B · Feb 21, 2016

Thanks Chelle. I swear the pictures doesnt give it justice. Its really easy to get too much rock and then it gets cluttered when the corals start to grow.

Big B · Feb 23, 2016

Water is in, salt is mixed to 1.025 and cycle has begun. My frag tank/qt is cycled and ready to go. I started it about a month ago but Im a little worried to add any frags to it being extremely new, any opinions. Right now there is only a 5lb piece of live rock, two small hob filters and a small cheap powerhead. The tank is a 20 long. We should have a couple clown fish by the end of this weekend and they will immediately start the TTM and then go into a 10 gallon for a week or two.

Big B · Feb 25, 2016

Finally getting a few things cleaned up. Still waiting on my ATO and tops for the side cabinets. Started working on setting up the RKE. This is my first controller so there is a little learning curve here. Eric with Digital Aquatics has been great through everything and actually returns phone calls. Im also finding a few minor design flaws in my stand. I really thought that I had this the way it needed to be and how I wanted it, WRONG. No major deals just a little annoying and makes things a little less clean and organized then I wanted. Here is where Im at today.

Big B · Feb 25, 2016

For some reason my water has turned a bit cloudy, not sure why. I noticed it before I installed the light so I know that's not it. Ill give it a week or so before I go crazy. Here is my weak attempt at an electrical cabinet.

Andreww65 · Feb 27, 2016

I think it looks pretty slick.

Big B · Feb 27, 2016

Thanks all, appreciate it. Water has cleared up and looking good. Received my Spectrapure ATO and got it installed so I'm pretty well set.........I think. I did notice yesterday that I have a very small minor leak in my drain line at a 45 degree union. Its very small but aggravating; the bad thing is I don't have room between the bulkhead in the tank and the 45 to cut it out and replace it. I would have to pull the bulkhead which I really don't want to do. I'm thinking about taking some silicone and making a nice seam all the way around where the pipe slip into the union. The leak is like a drip every 10-15 min.