75 Gallon Rebuild

[MeghanisradxD]

I had a tank crash due to poor planning and rushing things when I shouldn't have, so the fish that survived have been re-homed, corals have been put in a biocube that has been running empty for several months, and the tank has been drained/emptied.

The tank is in my living room and behind the wall is a coat closet that just gets filled with junk, so I've emptied it out and it is going to be converted into a mini fish room. I've attached some pictures of the sketchup plans I've drawn up as well as some pics of the tanks that will be in the system.

There is my 75 gallon on a custom built stand before I tore it down. I will be using the same stand and lights (Mars Aqua Chinese LEDs) but I will be building a canopy that will match the stand and drilling the tank for an overflow box. I would like to get rid of the curtain on the stand and add doors, but my construction skills are limited and could never get doors to look good.

Overflow will drain into a sump, a 29 gallon that I've installed baffles into, in the closet. There is a hex tank on the other side of the closet that will be draining into the same sump and will act as a display refugium.


As I update, please feel free to criticize away, I'd like to do this right the first time which is the main reason I'm posting this here.

Oh, and the RODI unit is not going to be 6 stages, that's just the only RODI sketchup object I could find :) RODI unit will probably be a 4 stage 75gpd

[MeghanisradxD]

Tank stand was in bad shape, so fixed it up slightly and painted it to match the rest of the color scheme in the house. Will probably paint the rims on the aquarium black or an off-white color.

The display tank has been emptied completely and hosed out. I need to clean the glass with some vinegar to get rid of the caked on algae and the rock has been sitting in a bleach/water mix for a couple days. I will drain it and soak it in fresh water tomorrow. I'll be starting the new tank off with dry rock.

The hex refugium will have sand in it, but the display is going to be bare bottom. I'm still working out all of the plumbing. I'm not a fantastic plumber, so that's going to be the most difficult part of this build. I picked up a 29 gallon tank with baffles already installed from the shop I work in. It needs one hell of a cleaning, but it was really cheap and ther is no work that I need to put into it.

[Bogue Chitto]

Looks like you have a good plan, We will be looking for updates...

[MeghanisradxD]

Looks like you have a good plan, We will be looking for updates...

I will definitely be updating! It may go slow, but that's the key to reef tanks, right?

Next up is drilling the glass...Im working up my courage.

[MeghanisradxD]

Well, after running into a fantastic deal, the 75 gallon rebuild has officially turned into a 150 gallon new build. It will be a room divider. Same plans as before with the hex refugium and sump in the closet, just a bigger display.

Will have to take this one slow and build as the disposable income comes in, but I am excited!

[Bogue Chitto]

That is a good looking setup. You will be able to put a lot of stuff in there.

[MeghanisradxD]

Rock is in the process of drying out and the tank was cleaned, so you can actually see through the glass.

Im am going to build the canopy soon, but unsure of how I'm going to match the stain on the canopy to the stand.

[Bogue Chitto]

That looks like pine so get a piece of wood and see if a paint store can match the color. You might have to take one of the doors with you.

[MeghanisradxD]

That looks like pine so get a piece of wood and see if a paint store can match the color. You might have to take one of the doors with you.

I can take one of the doors off and take it in...didn't think about that.
Will probably get working on the canopy next weekend.


I've been playing around with the scape and haven't found anything that I'm crazy about, yet. I want it to be a minimalist design, but all of the rocks I have are pretty small in comparison to the size of the tank, so it just ends up looking like a pile of rocks. I'll post some pics of scapes I've played with later.

Im also thinking about ordering a quarter of the total rock needed from TBS. I can't afford to do all of it, but the quality can't be beat and I think it would be great rock to start up the tank with.

[Bogue Chitto]

Yes, TBS can't be beat. It's the only rock that I have seen come in without leaking bags. They use multiple thick bags to ship them in. You might check on some other kind of rock or pieces of concrete to put under your live rock to build it up. I know a lot of guys will fuss about concrete, but if is is aged and clean, it works well. I have used cinder blocks for years and never had a problem. They just need to be cleaned first.

[MeghanisradxD]

This is what I came up with for aquascape using just the rock I have from the 75. I want it to be minimalist, but will probably need to get a little more as I really want to do the valley between two hills type of look. Plus some for the sump as the display won't have as much as it should.

[Swope2bc]

By the look of it you will need lots more! It's hard to decide on a scale without all the rock... I tried in my 40b and it looked nothing like the final product. +1 on the TBS rock, I love mine!!

[MeghanisradxD]

I will definitely need tons more rock. I'll probably pick up about 50 more pounds of dry and then 50 more pounds of the tbs rock to seed.

Swope, your build thread is actually what got me hooked on TBS!

[Swope2bc]

I will definitely need tons more rock. I'll probably pick up about 50 more pounds of dry and then 50 more pounds of the tbs rock to seed.



Swope, your build thread is actually what got me hooked on TBS!


Lol, it was the most expensive part of my build but well worth it! Talk about instant reef!! I'm working on convincing a friend to go full TBS package on a 125g build lol

[MeghanisradxD]

First hole halfway drilled....I have an old, crappy, battery powered drill that dies in about 10 minutes. Drilling is going very slowly, but almost done with the first hole. It probably would have been faster to drive an hour away and borrow my father's wired drill, then drive an hour back to return it. lol

Oh well!

[MeghanisradxD]

Lol, it was the most expensive part of my build but well worth it! Talk about instant reef!! I'm working on convincing a friend to go full TBS package on a 125g build lol

Believe me, if I could come up with the money to do the entire thing in TBS rock...there would be no question at all!

[Swope2bc]

First hole halfway drilled....I have an old, crappy, battery powered drill that dies in about 10 minutes. Drilling is going very slowly, but almost done with the first hole. It probably would have been faster to drive an hour away and borrow my father's wired drill, then drive an hour back to return it. lol



Oh well!


Lol, fun! I used battery too but had spares... I also didn't get my area as wet as many others do.. I just stuffed some Polly wool into the hole of the bit that had been soaked.. Every so often I gave it a little rinse to freshen up the water. Worked like a charm [emoji3]

[MeghanisradxD]

Lol, fun! I used battery too but had spares... I also didn't get my area as wet as many others do.. I just stuffed some Polly wool into the hole of the bit that had been soaked.. Every so often I gave it a little rinse to freshen up the water. Worked like a charm [emoji3]

You might have just saved me some headache. We've gone through so many towels spraying water onto the drill bit! I'll try that when we get started on the last of this one.

[Swope2bc]

You might have just saved me some headache. We've gone through so many towels spraying water onto the drill bit! I'll try that when we get started on the last of this one.


Lol, I hardly made any mess at all.. Btw, don't forget to tape the inside of the tank so the piece your cutting out does not fall and break, or worse break the tank.

[MeghanisradxD]

1 hole drilled! waiting on the drill to charge, so I can get the other drain line drilled. I haven't decided if I'm going to drill a hole for the return or have it hang over the back into the tank with a U-shaped return nozzle. We'll see how I feel after getting these two holes drilled.

Hoping to get some rock soon, so I can aquascape the tank and I should be ordering the rest of the hardware (one more light, powerheads, etc...) in the next 2 weeks.


Going with a couple Jebao WP40's for flow and I am going to get one more mars aqua LED, so the light will cover the whole tank.

[Swope2bc]

Sweet!!! Man, that glass looks crazy thick lol

[MeghanisradxD]

Sweet!!! Man, that glass looks crazy thick lol

It took a while! It's 1/2" thick glass and it was a BEAR to move into the house. It took 6 of us and it was still tough

[Swope2bc]

It took a while! It's 1/2" thick glass and it was a BEAR to move into the house. It took 6 of us and it was still tough


Lol, but it will be sweet!!!

[MeghanisradxD]

I got some equipment in the mail today!

I'm trying out two Jebao WP-40s on this tank for flow
I also ordered my heater and a return nozzle
Last thing is my third 165w Chinese LED light!

I haven't quite decided whether or not I want to add more rock or not, so it's just been sitting there. Need to finish up the plumbing and then it's ready for water!

[MeghanisradxD]

Started plumbing today! I picked up some clear vinyl tubing just to see how it all would fit. The store didn't have anything opaque nor did they have enough clear, so I'll be running around town this afternoon to get the rest of the plumbing supplies/canopy supplies.

I siliconed the overflow box in and didn't think about having to silicone the one edge when planning the hole placement and it's too close to the glass to fit a caulk gun into :headwallblue: So, the backside is incredibly messy. But, it's clear silicone and I figure it will be covered in coralline algae soon, so it's not that big of a deal. The tank is too big for me to lay on the side, so we ghetto rigged some stuff together to hold it in place.

Also started the canopy! Making some progress this week and hoping to do a fresh water run tomorrow after I get all the plumbing in place.

[MeghanisradxD]

Finished up the plumbing and got the frame for the canopy done. It's coming along! I'm going to figure out how to hang my lights before I skin the rest of it. I also installed the two Jebao WP-40s. They are much bigger than I thought!

[MeghanisradxD]

I got the rockscape done last night and after several hours I settled with the below. I think I like it.

Tonight I spent some time getting everything plugged in, labelled, and mounted. I need to work on some cable management this weekend, but I think it is starting to look good!

[Swope2bc]

Looking good indeed!! I'm curious to learn how well the 40s provide flow to that tank. I have a friend preparing to set up a 125 and I've recommended those. Perhaps a couple smaller units to push flow behind the rocks too.

Keep up the good progress!

[MeghanisradxD]

I will definitely let you know how they hold up. I was torn between a maxspect gyre and after seeing some youtube videos on these along with the price point...I was sold. I've heard so many mixed reviews, but am giving them a shot. They are a bit bulkier than I'd like, but hey...ya win some ya lose some.

[Swope2bc]

I will definitely let you know how they hold up. I was torn between a maxspect gyre and after seeing some youtube videos on these along with the price point...I was sold. I've heard so many mixed reviews, but am giving them a shot. They are a bit bulkier than I'd like, but hey...ya win some ya lose some.


I have a pair of linked wp-25s in my 40b and everyone said they would be too much flow but I love them! And my fish and coral seem happy too.

[MeghanisradxD]

I'm slightly behind in updating, but I got lights hung and water in the tank!
it's actually been running for a week, I believe. It took about 4 days for the cloudy water to clear after adding salt, but it's looking good. I'm going to get some live rock from a friend's tank, so I can seed it.


The RW-40s are perfect for this tank along with the 1200gph (minus some for headloss) in the return pump. It picked up all the rock debris on the bottom that was left from aquascaping and put it right in the filter sock. I'm leaving it bare bottom, so I have the flow turned on the high setting and it is running great.

[MeghanisradxD]

i got so excited I forgot to add pictures in the last post! :debi:

[MeghanisradxD]

2 weeks in and we have an algae bloom.
Tested water last weekend and ammonia was at 4.0!
Tested again this weekend and it's down to 1.0.
Came home last night and the tank is green. Shut off the lights and will finish the cycle without them, then turn them back on when I'm able to add the cleanup crew.

Still haven't finished the canopy. I'm notorious for only ever halfway doing projects, plus the money for the supplies all went to equipment on Cyber Monday.

I've ordered a Reef Octopus Classic 202-S 8" Internal Protein Skimmer and a JBJ Auto topoff, so should be getting those new toys in this week.

[geekengineer]

Hey there I just stopping by looking at your thread.. I trying to look at more build threads lol but I can't keep up with all of them. :)

Looks like this will be really nice setup I sure you exited to get it going. The glass thickness of your tank reminds me of this really old 55 gallon I got from someone for free, but its all scratched really bad up so if I ever use it probably be a QT tank.

[MeghanisradxD]

A few new updates:

I got the new skimmer in and it BARELY fits in the 29 gallon sump, so I've done a little bit of re-planning.

I'm going to have a 40 breeder on a stand in the closet that will hold the skimmer in half of it and the other half can be used for frags sometime in the future when I will need the space. The water will drain down to the 29 gallon tank where the extra live rock and filtration will be, then pump back up to the display.

THere will be a 15 gallon tank underneath the fish tank stand that will be the ATO resevoir. I got the JBJ auto topoff system in and have yet to set it up, so I need to get going on that.

I also plumbed and filled the hex refugium. The plumbing is all soft plumbing right now and it's a pretty big mess, so another reason I want to redo the fish area with hard plumbing.

The rock is almost cycled! Oh, and I re built the canopy with 2x4s. A little bit cleaner looking, because the wood isn't so warped.

So far so good!

[MeghanisradxD]

I've got the sump switched out. I need to do some serious cable management, but I wanted to get a test run going before I spent so much time getting things looking cleaner.

I'll let it run for a while and hopefully go pick up some cable management supplies, so I can work on that next weekend. I work 6 days a week, so Sundays are pretty much dedicated to the tank until it is done (if that ever happens) So far so good!

[Jade5051]

I've got the sump switched out. I need to do some serious cable management, but I wanted to get a test run going before I spent so much time getting things looking cleaner.

I'll let it run for a while and hopefully go pick up some cable management supplies, so I can work on that next weekend. I work 6 days a week, so Sundays are pretty much dedicated to the tank until it is done (if that ever happens) So far so good!

What program did you use to draw the skimmer/sump pic?

[MeghanisradxD]

All my drawings are done in Sketchup Make. The skimmer component is something I found in 3D Warehouse.

[MeghanisradxD]

The tank has been running for a while now. We've got a few new fish and I put my clowns in the tank a few weeks ago. I haven't been good about updating this thread.

So far we have 2 clownfish, 1 hippo tang, 1 kole tang, and 2 coral frags.

The duncan I purchased last week and there is a hammer coral that I recently added from another nano tank. He wasn't doing so well, because that tank is kind of the red-headed step child. I added him to this one in hopes that he will come back.

[mgoulding]

Following along