Tygger’s 72g New Bow Front Setup – *Pic Intense*

[tygger]

Just noticed... you can see the reflection of my floor standing fan. I use it for the room, but when the tank gets too hot, I just turn it to face the top of the tank.

Also, the camera doesn't pic up the shimmer lines from the halides.

[yoboyjdizz]

nice setup good only wish my old 72 looked that good. I gave up after a year trying to make it look nice but worked out for me, got a new tank ... I really like the look of bow's wish i would done it on my larger tank.

[chip721]

Originally posted by tygger
I added a couple bags of Yardright Tropical Play sand without rinsing. The blue bag in the center...

Tygger I've been following your thread from its begining too. You've really done a great job. Keep up the good work and please continue to post pics of your progress. BTW, where did you find Yard Right in NOVA please?? Thanks - chip

[tygger]

yoboyjdizz, thanks. Hopefully I can keep it looking decent in the long run

chip721, thanks. I bought the YardRight sand a while ago from a lfs called ReefTank in Burke, but they went out of business.

Last I heard (about 1 month ago) is that a place called Southern States in Manasas carries YardRight. I'd call to confirm first... let me know if you find any.

Right now I don't have any sand in the fuge, just a lot of LR rubble and chaeto.

Also, quite a bit of algae is growing in the fuge. It hasn't spreaded to the display (yet) and I'm hoping that it doesn't. Does anyone know if it would be a good idea to scrap/clean the algae off the fuge walls?

[spiderman2000]

lookin good so far can't wait to see more.

[chip721]

Tygger: I called Southern States Cooperative. They say they sell Yard Right play sand for $3.49 per 40 lb. bag. Ph. 703.368.2165. Located just off Hwy 28 in Old Town Manassas. chip

[tygger]

Cool. That's actually pretty cheap. I think I paid $10-15 at the lfs. Did you confirm if it was the blue label?

[kravi]

I've got to check some of these places out. I'm in Bethesda, on the opposite side of DC.

But I found a nice LFS called Marine Scene in Herndon where I'm picking up a six line wrasse this weekend.

--Me

P.S. Your tank is gorgeous. I'm using an inherited 30 Gallon, but plan on upgrading once I move to a larger tank.

[chip721]

Originally posted by tygger
Cool. That's actually pretty cheap. I think I paid $10-15 at the lfs. Did you confirm if it was the blue label?

Didn't confirm the label. But I certainly will before I make the trip. I live in Alexandria and that's still a good 30 miles from me. Heck I might even ask if they'd ship it. With the cost of gas and well I don't have to tell you about weekend traffic around the infamous "mixing-bowl". For $20 or 30 bucks, I might let UPS make the trip for me. It's still a savings considering what we pay for sand at the LFS. I telecommute from home a lot and I guess I've just gotten lazy

[lbear]

Hi! tygger,

You mentioned in other thread that you drip limewater and Randy's two parts. What's your dosing equipment? Do you have auto-topoff?

[tygger]

Hi lbear,

I have an auto top-off, but have not been dosing anything yet. Just water changes...

Here's a current pic of the sump w/ the ATO.





Here's the RO/DI reservoir. I don't any space under the tank and I don't have a fancy fish room like many others here, so I had to stick it on the side of the tank.

[lbear]

Thanks for the pictures.

I have the same double switch from autotopoff.com except I am using Mini-jet MN404 to feed RO/DI water. My reservoir is placed out of cabinet too.

Do you think it's ok to use this ATO setup to dose limewater?

[MJAnderson]

tygger,

I have the same tank you have (and same stand). I got it used and they tossed in a glass tank 30x18x18 they were using as a sump.

I'm looking at designs that include a fuge (they didn't have any baffles, just one long piece. Is your baffle between the fuge and the return section too high? Was that creating all the noise? I'm thinking of T-ing my drain partially into my fuge with a lower flow rate than what's going into the skimmer section. Also, I have stealth heaters which are 14" tall. With my shorter walls only place to put them is at an angle in either the return (laying on the bottom) or skimmer section (upright). How are yours? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a 30g tank like you have...

[tygger]

If you look at the first page towards the bottom, there's a pic of the back of my tank. It shows two ball valves that I use to control the flow between the skimmer area and fuge. Since the pipe distance to the skimmer area is shorter than the distance to the fuge area, I needed to restrict the flow to the skimmer to increase flow in the fuge.

The fuge baffle was originally too high, but I solved that by putting channels on the return side of the fuge baffle. There's also a pic of the channels on the 2nd page towards the middle. If the flow is low enough, the height didn't really matter because the water would just run down the baffle. But when I increased the flow, the water was pouring over the baffle creating noise and bubbles to be returned through the pump.

My heater is in the skimmer area upright. I have about 14" height in that area, but my heater is only about 11". I only needed one since everything else in the tank keeps it fairly stable at about 80 degrees. I might need to add another heater during the winter, but I won't know that for months.

Since yours are stealth heaters, you don't have to worry about cracking them, but I would place them in the skimmer area upright. I wouldn't put them in the return in case you ran dry one day, your heaters might break (even though they're suppose to automatically shut off). I had the option to put heaters in the fuge, but the flow was better in the skimmer area...

Your 30x18x18 sump is a bigger than mine... mine is only 30x12x18, 29g.

Let me know if you have any other questions...

[MJAnderson]

Thanks for the info. My tank is actually 30x12x12. My bad. Since I need 9" of the heater submerged, I'm not sure I can squeeze them in there. I'll probably go get the 29g tank. If you were to do it again, would you change any of the dimensions?

My other option is this with a hole drilled it. It would sit above my 12" high tank and drain by gravity into the return. Gives me 10g and a light.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2030099&Ne=2

[tygger]

Good question. I never really thought about having to do it again since I'm quite happy with the design. Hmm... I guess I would use thicker baffles, not because I'm afraid that my glass baffles would crack, but because I'm afraid that the baffles would not hold up. Particularly the fuge baffle since it's so high compared to the water level in the return. The thicker baffles would give the silicone more to hold on to.

I'm less worried now because I have an ATO in the return area so the water height doesn't drop too low.


The problem I see with your other option is plumbing the feed to the 10g tank. If you put that 10g on top of your existing tank, it's going to be too high in the stand to give you any working room... I think.

You might as well do it right (or the way you really want) from the beginning because changing it down the road is going to be a pain.

[MJAnderson]

Thanks for the feedback. My stand has 28" of interior room and my sub is only 12" high, so I have some room to play with. Not sure if it will work, but it's always fun to try.

[tygger]

Originally posted by lbear
Thanks for the pictures.

I have the same double switch from autotopoff.com except I am using Mini-jet MN404 to feed RO/DI water. My reservoir is placed out of cabinet too.

Do you think it's ok to use this ATO setup to dose limewater?

Sorry, didn't see your question.

I guess it's ok since I know some people have their ATO setup dosing kalk. What I might do is mix the kalk in a separate container and fill it to my RO/DI top off container manually. I marked my top off container in 2g increments so I'll know how much kalk to mix...

The pump might wear faster since it would be sitting in kalk 24/7.

Anyone know better? I'm new to dosiing kalk...

Originally posted by MJAnderson
Thanks for the feedback. My stand has 28" of interior room and my sub is only 12" high, so I have some room to play with. Not sure if it will work, but it's always fun to try.

The only reason I suggested to do it right from the beginning is because once you get your display filled and setup, it's going to be a pain to remove the sump from that stand. For me to fit the 29g sump in, I had to put it through the top opening. If you decide to put it through the front once the display is setup, you'll have to make temporary support braces....

[MJAnderson]

Hey Tygger,

Setting up my sump finally. I was looking at the ASMg2 skimmer which is similiar to yours. Was wondering if you can get yours out of the stand if needed? With only 28" in that stand and your 14" baffles, I'm guessing not.

[tygger]

My skimmer is removable. I have to take off the skimmate cup and disconnect the pump first. That leaves me with just enough wiggle room to remove the skimmer body.

It's a pretty tight fit, but it works.

[MJAnderson]

Any recent pics? I'm aquascaping my 72 bow and am curious as to what you did. I'd take pics but most of my tank is still covered by sandstorm.

[ovrmyhdagn]

I wish I had seen your thread before I set my tank up.

[tygger]

Here ya go: (im horrible with the camera)




Side view:

[slothguy]

Great tank. I have been looking at the LR from reefermadness, and was wondering how much rock you have in your tank? It looks great, I am just trying to gauge how much I need to buy for a 150g tank.

[tygger]

Thanks. I have 88lbs of Pukani and about 15-20lbs of base rock. The Pukani is very light compared to the base rock. You can't really tell from the pics, but there's a lot of swim throughs and its pretty open in the back.