Snewcrash's 75 gallon build!

[snewcrash]

Ok, I've been lurking for the past year, learning and getting equipment together. I wanted to start earlier this year, but I had to deal with a move during the summer so I had to wait. I've never ran any type of fish tank before so I'm brand new to all of this.

Here's my equipment:

75 gallon AGA tank w/ Megaflow overflow
55 gallon sump
Home built stand
Octopus NW-200 protein skimmer
Eheim 1262 return pump
Vortech MP-40W Gen 2
Aquactinics Solar Flare (6x84w T5HO, LED moonlights, 6xSLR's)
2 x Two Little Fishes 150 reactors, going to run carbon and phosban
Air, Water & Ice Typhoon III RO/DI Unit
50lbs of Marco Key Largo dry rock

So far I have the stand built and I just finished installing my baffles in the sump. I have to remove the side skin of the stand to get the sump in. That's on my list for tomorrow as well as a leak check on the sump/baffles. Once that's completed I'm going to start plumbing. I'm about to place an order online for some spaflex. Here's a couple of pictures that I have so far. All comments are welcome!

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/1.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/2.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/3.jpg

[jubjub]

wow those are some tall baffles.....you might wanna shrink them down to 8-10" or so. from prior experience having some extra room in your sump incase of a power outage or what not for water from the tank to go to....

just dont wanna see a flood

quote the melev
How tall should the baffles be?

Once the water depth for your skimmer has been ascertained, the baffle height can be set accordingly. If the skimmer needs shallower waters, I still recommend making the skimmer zone deep. By having more water around the skimmer, it allows the bubbles time to rise and pop, so they won’t end up in the display tank. Put the skimmer on a short stand so it still meets manufacturer’s recommendations. Make sure that the skimmer sitting on a stand will still fit within the cabinet area and permit removal of the collection cup!

Average baffle height is 9 to 10”

[snewcrash]

wow those are some tall baffles.....you might wanna shrink them down to 8-10" or so. from prior experience having some extra room in your sump incase of a power outage or what not for water from the tank to go to....

just dont wanna see a flood


Thanks! The level of water in the skimmer/return section is 15 inches and the refugium is 16 inches. I used the calculator to see how much extra space I need when the pumps are off and I have enough up to catch it above the baffles. (I hope :p)

[snewcrash]

I didn't get a chance to put the sump in the stand, but I did finish the baffles and run a leak check. No leaks. I also painted the wall behind where the tank is going to go.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/4.jpg

[snewcrash]

Since my last update I installed the sump under the display tank and did the plumbing. I went with spaflex and some clear vinyl. I will be taping all of the piping to retard algae growth. I am now leak testing it. So far no leaks in the return/reactor lines. I'm just using tap water to leak test this. I'm traveling in the beginning of January and won't be actually starting the tank until the middle of January.

Is there a specific way to fill the tank? Right now I'm just filling the sump and turning on the return pump to fill the display tank. I should eventually get to a point where the return flow starts overflowing into the overflow box. Do I fill more once I reach this point?

Here's some pictures. I'm going to have to shim the stand. The stand is actually level, but as you can see, my floor isn't. I'm on the 12th floor of a building built in 1964... :bigeyes:

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/5.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/6.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/7.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/8.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/9.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/10.jpg

[Screename_116]

Looks awesome so far.

What kind of cat is that? lol

[Skinner]

Yeah, was that thing hairless or something???

[snewcrash]

Looks awesome so far.

What kind of cat is that? lol

It's a cornish rex. Almost hairless but not quite. He was climbing on top of the light fixture last night, going to have to do something about that.

I feel like there are a lot of bubbles in the tank. Is this normal when you first fill it up with water? There's a lot of dust and cat hair floating around in there... I haven't installed a filter sock yet.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/11.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/12.jpg

[Reeftanks6]

Looking really good. Keep it up. Tagging along.

[Giga]

make sure none of those metal clamps are in the water because it looks like the pump one is

[snewcrash]

make sure none of those metal clamps are in the water because it looks like the pump one is

Yeah the pump clamp is in water, I'll remove it, thanks.

[NigerBang]

Lookin Good..

[iwishtofish]

This will be fun to follow! Interesting how you daisy-chained the reactors. Is that common practice?

Why is it cats always show such interest in fish tanks? :)

[jhawkor]

Looking good.

[bryman]

Looks good! Like the others said, you might want to replace all the stainless steel clamps with click-lock plastic clamps. Even the ones out of water will rust out after a few years with the salty air and salt creep.

The bubbles are normal for a new tank - will go away after a week or two.

[snewcrash]

Thanks, I'll look for the plastic clips at home depot. I just put more pvc cement on the connections on the return line to see if that helps with the bubbles. This is just test water so I'm probably going to empty it here in a couple of days.

[bryman]

Unless the bubbles are coming in from your return pipes, they are not caused by the plumbing. Just part of the normal tank break-in process. You probably won't find the clips at HD, but they are pretty cheap from DFS, Premium Aquatics, or Marine Depot. Why not just keep the water in? It takes a long time to make that much RODI!

[snewcrash]

Unless the bubbles are coming in from your return pipes, they are not caused by the plumbing. Just part of the normal tank break-in process. You probably won't find the clips at HD, but they are pretty cheap from DFS, Premium Aquatics, or Marine Depot. Why not just keep the water in? It takes a long time to make that much RODI!

Thanks for the advice about the clips. The water I have in there now is just tap water otherwise I'd leave it in. I'm not going to be home from Dec 27 - Jan 14, so I was wary about keeping water in the tank. I was thinking about starting the cycle while I was gone, but I want to be around during the initial stages and I want to make sure that I don't flood out 120 gallons of water into the people that live below me. =)

So for now I'm just using the tap water to leak test and get familiarized with water levels and everything. Plus, I need to shim my stand since my floor is not level.

[snewcrash]

So I've been running the system with just tap water in it for the past couple of days and I've ran into these issues that I need to fix:

1) Shim the tank to make it level.
2) Get a filter sock to reduce the bubbles caused by the drain line in the skimmer section.
3) Create another baffle between the skimmer and return section to reduce the bubbles getting created by flowing over the last baffle into the skimmer section (Look at 0:18 of the video)

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I'm going to drain the tank, fix those things, order my sand and start doing my aquascaping with my marcorock. Can i just get a filter sock that clips onto the end of my drainline? I know there are filter sock holders out there, but I don't have enough room for that.

Also, does anyone have any idea for a better solution for keeping bubbles out of the return section? I usually only see 3 piece bubble traps, how do you guys not get bubbles from the drop into the return section?

[bryman]

Nice video. I am looking for some kind of filter sock I can just put over my drains as well.

As for your bubbles in the return section, if you just run your water level higher in that section your bubbles should be minimized and probably won't reach the pump on the bottom. However, make sure you have enough room left for backflow when the power is out.

[jimmycent]

Any way of controlling the flow to your two reactors? If not, they could end up with to much. I think they only are recommended to have a certain amount of flow through them and its not much. Might be something to think about. Pretty impressive the thought you've put in considering your first ever tank. Something a lot neglect on the first time round, I know I did. Look forward to watching it progress

[snewcrash]

As for your bubbles in the return section, if you just run your water level higher in that section your bubbles should be minimized and probably won't reach the pump on the bottom. However, make sure you have enough room left for backflow when the power is out.

The water will usually be higher, but I don't want the bubbles after a couple of days of evap. I only want to refill the water level every 3 days or so and I'd rather not have bubbles during that period. I bought a 1/8 piece of glass today, it was only $5, should solve the problem for when the return level is low.

Any way of controlling the flow to your two reactors? If not, they could end up with to much. I think they only are recommended to have a certain amount of flow through them and its not much. Might be something to think about. Pretty impressive the thought you've put in considering your first ever tank. Something a lot neglect on the first time round, I know I did. Look forward to watching it progress

Thanks for the compliment. I have a ball valve on the TLF reactors so I can regulate the flow to them.

[snewcrash]

Ok, so I purchased another piece of glass to stop the bubbles in the return section. As for the unlevel floor, I bought shims from home depot, but they were the 6 inch ones. If you look at the picture below you can see that I need a solid inch raise on the right side of the tank. I can do that with these small shims, but I'm concerned about the area of the stand that isn't touching the floor now.

Will that gap cause my bottom 2x4's to crack when I fill up the tank? Home depot has 12 inch shims, but I'm thinking it might be better to custom build some type of shim/wedge that fills all of the gap. Any ideas? I think some gap might be alright, my floor is concrete so I'm not concerned about the pressure being generated at that front right corner right now...

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/13.jpg

[boxer385]

what are the measurement of your tank i like it very much.

[snewcrash]

what are the measurement of your tank i like it very much.

The tank is just a standard AGA 75 gallon. 48L x 18W x 20D

[snewcrash]

These came in the mail today. Hopefully I'll never hear them, but better safe than sorry.
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/14.jpg

[bryman]

Ok, so I purchased another piece of glass to stop the bubbles in the return section. As for the unlevel floor, I bought shims from home depot, but they were the 6 inch ones. If you look at the picture below you can see that I need a solid inch raise on the right side of the tank. I can do that with these small shims, but I'm concerned about the area of the stand that isn't touching the floor now.

Will that gap cause my bottom 2x4's to crack when I fill up the tank? Home depot has 12 inch shims, but I'm thinking it might be better to custom build some type of shim/wedge that fills all of the gap. Any ideas? I think some gap might be alright, my floor is concrete so I'm not concerned about the pressure being generated at that front right corner right now...

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/13.jpg

Hmmm, that may be OK, but if it were me I would use a jig saw and make a good sized wedge shim to fill the gap out of a 2x6" or similar. Better to be safe than sorry.

[snewcrash]

Hmmm, that may be OK, but if it were me I would use a jig saw and make a good sized wedge shim to fill the gap out of a 2x6" or similar. Better to be safe than sorry.

Yeah, I'm thinking I might do that. I'm also considering buying packs of 12 inch shims and frankensteining them together to make a big wedge shim. I can't believe how un-level my floor is... I'm waiting for the building to collapse any day.

[forrealb50]

Yeah, I'm thinking I might do that. I'm also considering buying packs of 12 inch shims and frankensteining them together to make a big wedge shim. I can't believe how un-level my floor is... I'm waiting for the building to collapse any day.

I love your setup! What did you do to reinforce the floor it's on? I saw that you mentioned the floor is very unlevel. How bad is the floor? You have a lot of weight going on that one spot, it might add to the problem if not looked at.

[snewcrash]

I love your setup! What did you do to reinforce the floor it's on? I saw that you mentioned the floor is very unlevel. How bad is the floor? You have a lot of weight going on that one spot, it might add to the problem if not looked at.

Since my last update here's what I have done:

Built a giant shim out of smaller shims that I picked up from Lowes. I bought that bundle you see in the pictures down below for $8. I measured to see how big of a giant shim I needed to make and then cut out a piece of cardboard as the base. I then took the smaller shims, glued them to the cardboard and in glued other shims on top of that. I ended up with one giant shim that slid perfectly under the stand to make the entire thing level. Underneath my wood flooring is concrete so I'm not worried about collapsing the floor. I live in a 12 story brick/concrete building so the unlevel floor is just from the building settling (it was built in 1964).

Once I shimmed the stand, I added 40lbs of CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade sand. The calculator estimated that I needed 90lbs to cover the bottom with 2 inches, but just using 40lbs I'm at full coverage at about 1.75inches. I have an extra 40lbs bag of sand now; I might end up using it if I decide to create a DSB in my refugium.

After that I put my Marco Rock dry rock in there and started aquascaping. I think this is the design I'm going to go with. I have some room to add live rock to seed the dry rock when I'm ready to fill this up. All the rock is free standing right now, I'm going to epoxy the unstable parts together. I really like the look of the Marco Rock.

Bundle of shims - $8
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/15.jpg

A shim
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/16.jpg

Giant shim in place
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/17.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/18.jpg

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[MattToTheMax]

If you haven't already, you might want to move those reactors to the front of the sump for easy access of media change, also it helps to put another ball valve inbetween them, you'll want more flow in the carbon (first) and less in the phosban.

[bryman]

Haha, your cat does the same thing my dog does when I am paying too much attention to the tank and not her ;). Nice aquascaping and rock. Also good job on the shim - just make sure the tank is solid when you have your Vortech rocking and you should be set.

I noticed you have a Solar Flare - very nice fixture. What are you planning on having in the tank? If you want to do an SPS tank you should be good to go, but anything soft or LPS may melt under that kind of intensity. You might consider hanging the fixture so you can get some height off the tank (and make it easier to get in the tank as well). Just my 2 cents!

Looking great so far!

[snewcrash]

If you haven't already, you might want to move those reactors to the front of the sump for easy access of media change, also it helps to put another ball valve inbetween them, you'll want more flow in the carbon (first) and less in the phosban.

Thanks, I have another ball valve I can throw in there, but ff I turn down the second ball valve, won't that affect the flow in the first reactor? Wouldn't the flow throughout both reactors be based on the ball valve that's set to the lowest flow?

[snewcrash]

Haha, your cat does the same thing my dog does when I am paying too much attention to the tank and not her ;). Nice aquascaping and rock. Also good job on the shim - just make sure the tank is solid when you have your Vortech rocking and you should be set.

I noticed you have a Solar Flare - very nice fixture. What are you planning on having in the tank? If you want to do an SPS tank you should be good to go, but anything soft or LPS may melt under that kind of intensity. You might consider hanging the fixture so you can get some height off the tank (and make it easier to get in the tank as well). Just my 2 cents!

Looking great so far!

Thanks! I was planing on starting with softies and LPS. I've considered hanging the fixture, but I wasn't sure. How would I move the light out of the way when I needed to get into the tank?

[bryman]

Most hanging cables have a quick release that allows you to easily raise or lower the fixture. It takes about 10 seconds to lift up or lower my ATI Sunpower. I am not quite sure about the Aquactinics hanging set, but I am sure you can get an answer in their forum.

[snewcrash]

Most hanging cables have a quick release that allows you to easily raise or lower the fixture. It takes about 10 seconds to lift up or lower my ATI Sunpower. I am not quite sure about the Aquactinics hanging set, but I am sure you can get an answer in their forum.

Yeah I was wondering if they made the cables with a quick release fuction. I have a cable set that the fixture came with, but it doesn't have quick release which is why I was hesitant to set it up. I'll check with Aquactinics now to see if they have quick release version. Many thanks.

[snewcrash]

After a great New Years, I've had a few spare moments to work on the tank. Following bryman's advice, I bought a hanging kit for my Solar Flare and hung it from the ceiling. Thanks for that heads up, definitely better with the hanging kit. Right before Christmas the IceCap ballast on Solar Flare blew. I was running the light and they just popped off. I opened it up and could smell the burning electronics coming out of the ballast. There's a three year warranty on them (which is good because they run $175) so I sent the ballast into IceCap. Hopefully that will arrive while I'm out of the country for the next two weeks.

For my refugium I've decided to go with a deep sand bed. I read this (http://www.reef-eden.net/DSBs.htm)great article about deep sand beds and I plan on going with just a 6 inch bed, no chaeto. As usual, any comments and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged!

Now for some pictures:

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/19.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/20.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/21.jpg

[mjk0301]

looks good, i can't wit to see it stocked, where did you get the RKL?

[snewcrash]

looks good, i can't wit to see it stocked, where did you get the RKL?

Thanks, my brother just ordered it direct from Digital Aquatics.

[mjk0301]

By the way interesting idea with the leak detectors. What made you think of that?

[bryman]

Snewcrash,
Looks great! Hanging from the ceiling isn't always the easiest thing to do in the world, but I think it looks nicer and it is a lot easier to adjust. And congrats on the RKL. I am very happy I have a RK controller too on my new system. It makes life so much easier and having the info at a glance is awesome.

[ReefTECK]

Nevermind, I'm....dumb

Great start btw, I have a AGA 75 too.

Love your cat too, I'm a sucker for felines. We have a Burmilla, an Oriental, and a Siamese

[snewcrash]

By the way interesting idea with the leak detectors. What made you think of that?

Saw a thread where someone was talking about the detectors. I live in a condo building so I'm paranoid about flooding out my neighbors.

[jb61264]

For my refugium I've decided to go with a deep sand bed. I read this (http://www.reef-eden.net/DSBs.htm)great article about deep sand beds and I plan on going with just a 6 inch bed, no chaeto. As usual, any comments and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged!

Love the setup!...hmmm, maybe thats because its exactly like mine (75/55) :)

[aquanerd2000]

I would give your set up a solid C+, but only because it is your first tank. Compared to my tank it would be barely passing. (D or D-) I like the filtration, but what a waste for such a small tank...probably still too small for tangs, unless you are the type to crowd them in there in with a bunch of cheap blue damsels without caring about their stress levels. (Judging from your low budget stand I bet you are just the type)

Your tank build reminds me of someone who works hard training for a marathon, but when it comes time to race decides to take a few short cuts and gets disqualified. I know the type....you are going to be sitting on the curb drinking your G2, kicking yourself while all the rest of the real aqua enthusiasts are reaping all the glory.

Don't get me wrong I do like your passion, but do yourself a favor and tear it down and put a few turtles in there kid.

[Catastrophi]

I would give your set up a solid C+, but only because it is your first tank. Compared to my tank it would be barely passing. (D or D-) I like the filtration, but what a waste for such a small tank...probably still too small for tangs, unless you are the type to crowd them in there in with a bunch of cheap blue damsels without caring about their stress levels. (Judging from your low budget stand I bet you are just the type)

Your tank build reminds me of someone who works hard training for a marathon, but when it comes time to race decides to take a few short cuts and gets disqualified. I know the type....you are going to be sitting on the curb drinking your G2, kicking yourself while all the rest of the real aqua enthusiasts are reaping all the glory.

Don't get me wrong I do like your passion, but do yourself a favor and tear it down and put a few turtles in there kid.

Ignore this guy. He's a troll.



On the other hand, Tank is looking great! What kind of corals are you planning on stocking?

[billsreef]

I would give your set up a solid C+, but only because it is your first tank. Compared to my tank it would be barely passing. (D or D-) I like the filtration, but what a waste for such a small tank...probably still too small for tangs, unless you are the type to crowd them in there in with a bunch of cheap blue damsels without caring about their stress levels. (Judging from your low budget stand I bet you are just the type)

Your tank build reminds me of someone who works hard training for a marathon, but when it comes time to race decides to take a few short cuts and gets disqualified. I know the type....you are going to be sitting on the curb drinking your G2, kicking yourself while all the rest of the real aqua enthusiasts are reaping all the glory.

Don't get me wrong I do like your passion, but do yourself a favor and tear it down and put a few turtles in there kid.


For this you made a second account?

[chimp]

Care to PM me an explanation why both accounts shouldn't be banned for the combined infractions of a second account and trolling?

[bryman]

Snewcrash,
Ignore the idiot, your tank is coming along great, and your choice of equipment is solid. I look forward to your updates.

[hazmat319]

I have a 75 that I'm setting up. I like your choice of flex tubing for your return and drain. What exactly is it? I like that you can add ball valves to it.

My setup is very similar. Eheim pump, 30L sump/fuge that I made myself. Bubble King skimmer. Eco rock from BRS. You have given me some great ideas.

Definitely ignore the troll doll!

[sharky334]

Nice looking tank! Can't wait to see pics with coral and fish in it! Keep us updated!

[CeeGee]

permaban?

the tank is coming along fine. Keep up the good work.

[hazmat319]

permaban?


Is that what the tubing is called?

Edit: My bad....just saw on the first post where OP said it was spaflex. Guess I should read a little better!

[todd141]

I would give your set up a solid C+, but only because it is your first tank. Compared to my tank it would be barely passing. (D or D-) I like the filtration, but what a waste for such a small tank...probably still too small for tangs, unless you are the type to crowd them in there in with a bunch of cheap blue damsels without caring about their stress levels. (Judging from your low budget stand I bet you are just the type)

Your tank build reminds me of someone who works hard training for a marathon, but when it comes time to race decides to take a few short cuts and gets disqualified. I know the type....you are going to be sitting on the curb drinking your G2, kicking yourself while all the rest of the real aqua enthusiasts are reaping all the glory.

Don't get me wrong I do like your passion, but do yourself a favor and tear it down and put a few turtles in there kid.


I just have to say this person is a complete idiot.

Sorry for the intrusion, but he/she sounds so stupid I just had to comment.

[jb61264]

Sorry if this has already been suggested but as far as your bubbles getting into your pump...it looks like you could "twist" the pump a bit more to keep the inlet further away from the bubbles and also just keep the water level in your evaporation section higher. Have you drilled anti-siphon holes in your returns?

The only other thing I would suggest is running a separate pump for the reators vs. t'ing off your return. Have you tested to see if you get enough flow to keep the media tumbling?

I LOVE that light you have on there!

[jb61264]

Sorry I forgot to add this earlier when I posted...

Something I did to the overflow from my fuge section into the return is I cut a piece of eggcrate two squares high by the width of the baffle and used silicone to mount it at about a 75 degree angle. My primary reason for doing this was to create a sort of "catch" so no chaeto would tumble over the top of it...while it does work for my intended purpose, I noticed that it also eliminated bubbles because it made the water adhere and trickle down the baffle versus the "spillover" that causes lots of bubbles.

[CeeGee]

no the product isn't called permaban.

permaban (not being allowed to post here ever again) is what that ahole that posted that ridiculous comment should receive. Unless that is one of your buddies just ribbing you and in that case they aren't a ahole but appear that way.

[snewcrash]

I have a 75 that I'm setting up. I like your choice of flex tubing for your return and drain. What exactly is it? I like that you can add ball valves to it.

My setup is very similar. Eheim pump, 30L sump/fuge that I made myself. Bubble King skimmer. Eco rock from BRS. You have given me some great ideas.

Definitely ignore the troll doll!

The white spaflex tubing is 3/4 tubing from savko.com. The clear tubing on the drain line is 1 inch clear vinyl tubing from Home Depot. The flexible tubing is connected to the ball valves via barbed fittings. I need to wrap black tape around the clear tubing to prevent algae growth.

Sorry if this has already been suggested but as far as your bubbles getting into your pump...it looks like you could "twist" the pump a bit more to keep the inlet further away from the bubbles and also just keep the water level in your evaporation section higher. Have you drilled anti-siphon holes in your returns?

The only other thing I would suggest is running a separate pump for the reators vs. t'ing off your return. Have you tested to see if you get enough flow to keep the media tumbling?

I LOVE that light you have on there!

I installed another baffle next to the return section so that bubble problem should be gone when I finally fill the tank in a couple of weeks. I'm using the megaflow return/drain and it had pre-drilled anti-spihon holes so I should be good there. I'm going to do your eggcrate suggestion, did you have it angling back towards your refugium, or away hanging over the return section?


I finally opened up my RODI unit from Ice, Water, and Air last night. I had briefly looked at it before and it seemed really confusing, but it took me about 5 minutes to setup and get running. I flushed it for about an hour and I've now started making water. I'm leaving on a 2 week trip tomorrow, but I'm going to make as much RODI water before I leave. Here's some pictures of it in action. I only have a kitchen sink and 1 bathroom... not sure the girlfriend is going to like the new addition to the bathroom. :)

No worries about the troll, but I'd have preferred it if he had given me some tips. =) jb61264, do you have a build thread or some pictures of your setup?

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/22.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/23.jpg

[Lyfey]

haha!! great first setup! glad you decided to try it the right way first, and reading ALOT before buying/building! I lost alot of money not finding RC until way over a year in:)

I have the same RODI and I am running a 75 gal RR tank also. As far as the wifey goes, she is going to hate that damn RODI, I always have it crowding up our kitchen sink! LOL "Why is this damn thing always here?!?" she kills me lol :) Great job by the way though!! get back in country soon so you can get some colored sticks thriving!!

[jb61264]

I do have a build thread, but it doesn't really detail the eggcrate addition :)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1619337

I put a bead of silicone on the inside (towards the fuge section) top edge of the baffle and then attached the eggcrate so the leading edge of the eggcrate just touched the edge of the baffle (if that makes any sense at all...lol). I'll be happy to forward you a picture if you want.

[snewcrash]

I just got home Friday night and immediately started working on the tank. Here's a list of what I've accomplished:

- Filled tank and sump with RODI
- Adding salt to the tank
- Created a ghetto reverse dorso on the drain line
- Installed my Reefkeeper Lite and hooked up my heater to it
- Installed Vortech
- Installed filter sock holder

Things I need to do:

- Wrap clear vinyl tubing in black tape to prevent algea growth
- Warranty work on Aquactinics Solar Flare (Monday)
- Pick up 25 pounds of live rock from established tank (Monday)

Once I get the live rock I'm going to run the tank as is for about a week. I am transporting the live rock in water so I except little to no cycle. I am going to put a shrimp in there after a couple days and see if the bacteria from the live rock can take care if it. If so, I plan on starting to stock the tank. Since I'll only have 25 pounds of live rock I'm going to go very slowly.

Here's what I eventually want in the tank, any ideas on what order I should add? I was thinking of starting with the clownfish...

Fish list:
- A pair of Snowcasso Clownfish from Doni's reef
- Yellow Tang
- Some type of goby

Non-Fish list:
- Lots of zoanthids
- Green star polyps
- Frogspawn

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/24.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/25.jpg

Reverse Dorso
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/26.jpg

Water in refugium is cloudy because that's where I am mixing the salt
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/27.jpg

[adddo]

Hey! Looks good Snewcrash!

[Maverick2009]

Tank looks great. You could put your RO unit under the sink and run the waste water line into the back of the toilet. You could easily tap intot the cold water line uder the sink. I do this at my house and it works great.

[snewcrash]

Tank looks great. You could put your RO unit under the sink and run the waste water line into the back of the toilet. You could easily tap intot the cold water line uder the sink. I do this at my house and it works great.

Yeah I was thinking of doing that, but I think my RODI unit might be taller than my cabinet. Is there a piece that you can tap into a line with or would I have to solder piping?

[bryman]

Great update and progress! Looking forward to seeing more....

[bryman]

Yeah I was thinking of doing that, but I think my RODI unit might be taller than my cabinet. Is there a piece that you can tap into a line with or would I have to solder piping?

Yup, it's called a self-piercing saddle valve, but that's for hard copper lines. Also, you might be able to find an inline adapter so you don't need to pierce the existing line.

[forrealb50]

Dry erase board – that’s a great idea! Especially when you have tank sitters coming over.

BTW, very jealous of the build! Way to do everything right the first time and not skimping on any hardware.

[Lyfey]

As far as a cycle, expect a cycle and I would be safe and wait until all params are 0 before adding any life. Inverts are very very untolerable to ammonia. Also, because your rock is already cycled, remember your water has to cycle also. Better to be safe than sorry. Just my .02c

-Chris

[mnml]

Nice build, snewcrash. May I ask what bulb combo you're using for your lights?

/subscribed

[fasteddie99]

Lookin good!

When I upgrade to a 75 I will be using my current 55 as a sump so thanks for the great ideas:wavehand:

[fasteddie99]

Sorry, the rest of the post didnt appear.:hmm4:

Everything looks great, I love the aquascape and a nice job on that shim:D

[snewcrash]

Yup, it's called a self-piercing saddle valve, but that's for hard copper lines. Also, you might be able to find an inline adapter so you don't need to pierce the existing line.

I'll check this out, thanks.

Dry erase board – that’s a great idea! Especially when you have tank sitters coming over.

BTW, very jealous of the build! Way to do everything right the first time and not skimping on any hardware.

Thanks!

As far as a cycle, expect a cycle and I would be safe and wait until all params are 0 before adding any life. Inverts are very very untolerable to ammonia. Also, because your rock is already cycled, remember your water has to cycle also. Better to be safe than sorry. Just my .02c

I am taking it slow. I threw a chunk of steak in there on Monday to see if my live rock would take care of it and my levels are all still 0 today.

Nice build, snewcrash. May I ask what bulb combo you're using for your lights?

I need to double check to make sure. I bought the fixture used and haven't changed out the bulbs yet. I know there are 4 actinics and 2 white bulbs. They are all made by Geissman. 2 of the actinics are really blue and the other 2 are purpleish.



Thanks for all the good comments. I have all the live rock in there now and I am currently figuring out my aquascape. I'm slowly aquamending the rocks together and should be done in a couple of days. I'll post some pics once I'm done.

[snewcrash]

Sorry for the lack of updates, the tank has been running and I've been busy.

Added 26 pounds of live rock from an established tank on January 18, 2010. Some of the coraline looks like it is starting to bleach. I've cut back on my lighting and am now running two actinics for 10 hours and all six lights on for 6 hours a day. I haven't started running carbon or phosban yet. All of my water parameters are great.

I really wanted to add something to my tank, so I picked up this small zoa frag. There's about 15 polyps on the frag, got it for $15. Anyone know what kind these are? They are more neon green in real life. Anyway, aquascaping is done and I'm just going to run the tank as is for the next couple of weeks. I have some algae growing on the flat rock shelf on the right side of the tank, but I plan on getting a starry blenny as my first fish so that will be his food. On to the pictures...


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/28.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/29.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/30.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/31.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/32.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/33.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/34.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/35.jpg

[Ansphire]

HEY tank looks great bro,, but I can't help to be worried about those baffles being so high...

Did you do a test power outage?

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Sorry for the lack of updates, the tank has been running and I've been busy.

Added 26 pounds of live rock from an established tank on January 18, 2010. Some of the coraline looks like it is starting to bleach. I've cut back on my lighting and am now running two actinics for 10 hours and all six lights on for 6 hours a day. I haven't started running carbon or phosban yet. All of my water parameters are great.

I really wanted to add something to my tank, so I picked up this small zoa frag. There's about 15 polyps on the frag, got it for $15. Anyone know what kind these are? They are more neon green in real life. Anyway, aquascaping is done and I'm just going to run the tank as is for the next couple of weeks. I have some algae growing on the flat rock shelf on the right side of the tank, but I plan on getting a starry blenny as my first fish so that will be his food. On to the pictures...


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/28.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/29.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/30.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/31.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/32.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/33.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/34.jpg


http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/35.jpg


Coming along nicely, i think those are palys though :) Very nice looking palys at that! I should mention, GREAT choice on the fish. I have a starry and its easily the coolest fish in the tank!

[reefermad619]

Have you thought about cutting a hole in the door of the stand so you could recess your RKL in it and make it visible with out having to open up your stand? I think that would look BADA@$!

[snewcrash]

HEY tank looks great bro,, but I can't help to be worried about those baffles being so high...

Did you do a test power outage?

They're high, but there's plenty of room for backflow when the pumps kick off.

Have you thought about cutting a hole in the door of the stand so you could recess your RKL in it and make it visible with out having to open up your stand? I think that would look BADA@$!

Yeah that would look good, I'll eventually do this when I have some time.

Coming along nicely, i think those are palys though Very nice looking palys at that! I should mention, GREAT choice on the fish. I have a starry and its easily the coolest fish in the tank!

Thanks! What's the difference between palys and zoas and how do I tell? Also, the guy who I'm getting my fish from says that starry blennys can sometimes pick at SPS... anyone experienced this?

[snewcrash]

It's been about a week since my last update. Here's what has happened since:

All of my parameters are remaining good. I had a diatom bloom which started when I last updated. It is now fading, so it ended up lasting about a week. I now have an algae growing on my rock, on my sand and on my glass. It is not reappearing where I cleaned it off my grass, but it is getting longer on my rocks. My snail and rabbitfish are both feasting on it. So far it remains under control and I think it is starting to fade. You can see it in the first picture below.

About 2 days ago I changed out filter socks and put a brand new one in. I forgot to rinse it before using it and it started fizzing and making the water white in my sump. It was in the skimmer section so I quickly shut everything down, and pumped out 3/4's of the water in that section. That's probably about 20 gallons or so. I didn't have saltwater made, but I did have RODI ready. I wanted to drop my salinity anyway, so I just added the RODI. My salinity went from 1.025 to 1.023 and everything seemed good. Nothing seemed affected by whatever was making the water cloudy and fizzy. Remember, always rinse new equipment before putting it in the tank!! :spin3:

All of the livestock in my tank is doing great. Right now, here is what I have:

Two-barred Rabbitfish
Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
10 snails
A 15 polyp paly
Frogspawn with 4 heads

I currently have the frogspawn on the sand, but I am going to move him to the rock all the way on the right side of my tank. I just have to grab the aquamend out of my car.

I've also ordered new lights for my fixture. I bought my fixture used so I'm not sure how old the bulbs are. I really like a blue look, so on Grim's advice in his T5 lighting thread I ordered 5 ATI Blue Plus and 1 UVL Actinic White. Those should arrive this week. This morning I had the shaft on my return pump (Eheim 1262) break. It's still running but making an awful vibration noise. I've ordered a replacement shaft.

The next fish addition will be a pair of snowcasso clowns from donisreef.com. There's a club meet this weekend so I'll probably pick up some frags as well.

Here's the pictures!

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/36.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/37.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/38.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/39.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/40.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/41.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/42.jpg

[adddo]

Looks great, very good job aquascaping!

[snewcrash]

Looks great, very good job aquascaping!

Thanks, I did it all with 2 tubes of aquamend!

[snewcrash]

So I moved the frogspawn to the spot where I wanted it. Here's a couple of pictures. I also noticed that my paly has 2 new polyps growing! Here's a video of my rabbitfish eating too.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/43.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/44.jpg

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[snewcrash]

I haven't updated in a while, but here's some zoa's and a green toadstool leather

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/45.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/46.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/47.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/48.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/49.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/50.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/51.jpg

[forrealb50]

Looks awesome! Do you have a FTS with all the new corals?

[snewcrash]

I have to learn how to take a full tank shot... everything is washed out. Any pointers? Here's some pictures of some zoas that I've picked up in the past couple of weeks.

Since I last updated I've added moved rock that I had in the refugium up to the display tank. I thought it looked empty and I could also see how I was going to run out of room with the small amount of rock that I had in the display. I removed my peppermint shrimp because he was bothering my dendro. Every few minutes he would go over to the dendro and start picking through it and the dendro would close up.

I've also added livestock, so my fish list is now:

1 yellow tang
2 clowns
1 yellow watchman goby
1 tiger pistol shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 bi-color blenny
1 rabbitfish

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/52.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/53.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/54.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/55.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/56.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/random/rabbitfish1.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/random/rabbitfish2.jpg


I'll try and add more photos soon.

[jb61264]

Everything is looking really good Snewcrash...we have about the same fish stock level...what type of skimmer are you running?

[Anthonius]

those are some gorgeous zoas!

[snewcrash]

Everything is looking really good Snewcrash...we have about the same fish stock level...what type of skimmer are you running?

Octopus NW-200... Definitely overkill for the size of my tank I think.

[jb61264]

Octopus NW-200... Definitely overkill for the size of my tank I think.

You have a pretty good skimmer on there...yours is a bit bigger than my stock list, a clown and a rabbitfish bigger :) mine includes a fire shrimp as well though

[Reeftanks6]

Wow this is really looking good. Love the new additions! Keep it up

[reefinder]

fyi the green zoas and some other ones are fast growers i would isolate them for the long run of your tank. they can quickly take over the tank killing all corals in their path.

[forrealb50]

dude! You have an awesome collection of zoanthids. They all look good it wouldn't matter if some got out of control.

[snewcrash]

fyi the green zoas and some other ones are fast growers i would isolate them for the long run of your tank. they can quickly take over the tank killing all corals in their path.

Thanks, can you point out which green ones and which other ones I should be aware about?

[forrealb50]

Thanks, can you point out which green ones and which other ones I should be aware about?

I think it's these guys. Almost look like radioactive dragon eyes.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/46.jpg

Zoanthids are very easy to frag out. You don't even need to pull the rock. You can grab some with your fingers and usually pull up a nice chunk off a rock. It's almost like pulling up carpet.

[snewcrash]

Here's a couple of new pictures. Just got the aussie elegance today, took these pictures it had been in the tank for 15 minutes.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/58.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/59.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/60.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/61.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/62.jpg

Can you see my blenny?
http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/63.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/64.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/65.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/66.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/67.jpg

[LFSguy]

That elegance is a stunner. It will be interesting to see how it does with that fragging scar. That has always been bad news for this species in my experience. It looks like there is new tentacle development there though, so maybe it will recover nicely. Keep us posted!

Also, nice Virgate Rabbit! That's a fish that doesn't get enough love. This tank is gonna be great in a few months.

[Carriegiesler]

anymore updates on the tank?

[snewcrash]

Wow, it's been about 4 months since I updated last. Lots of things have changed since then. I've basically switched over to a SPS tank, with the exception of a few pieces. Besides adding CA/ALK dosing pumps and another Vortech, not much else on the tank has changed. Here are a few pictures I took last week.

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/68.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/69.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/70.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/71.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/72.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/73.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/74.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/75.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/76.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/77.jpg

[snewcrash]

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/78.jpg

http://www.porfusion.com/snewcrash/reef/79.jpg

[Dnic]

Awesome tank, i can't wait to start a 75 once i can save some money.

[bryman]

Very nice - tank looks great! Your pictures are awesome, may I ask what camera you are using?

[project-roc]

Wow, I just read through this whole post...great build! I didn't catch which vortechs you had? And also are you stll running the carbon and gfo?

[aquaenthusiast]

Any updates ??????

[Reefnut2010]

Those shims will cause trouble. Tanks need to be leveled the right way. That's a lot of weight , and you have a glass sump. JM2C. Aside from that minor detail, your tank looks great. I wish you continued success