75 Gal Rebuild Thread

[schneijt]

The tank and stand are now in their place. I filled the sump and the refugium with saltwater, and put some RO water in the freshwater ATO section. No leaks so far, so that makes me happy. I don't see why any leaks would develop overnight in an acrylic sump, but I'll still check on things tomorrow morning.

Since I'm not an idiot this time, I plumbed the whole tank BEFORE moving it up against the wall. :-) Boy did that make things easier.

Let's see...what else... I put my Arag-Alive down in the bottom and put about 15-20gal of saltwater in the tank to keep it moist so it doesn't dry out. I was going to use dry Select Grate aragonite sand, but I couldn't find it at Petco and the world's most evil LFS (Tropic Waters here in EC) wanted FORTY-TWO DOLLARS for a SINGLE 30LB BAG of the darn stuff. So I went to another place in EC (True Value along Clairemont Ave) and ended up getting Arag-Alive in the grain size I wanted. It didn't end up being much (if any) cheaper than the dry sand, but I love giving True Value my business, and I refuse to pay that much $$$ to Tropic Waters... Plus, it's already got some good bacteria in it, and it didn't require rinsing like the dry stuff would have.

So, yeah, the sump holds water and things are coming along nicely. I'll try my best to post some pictures tomorrow when I have some free time.

-Joe

[Timmy]

How big was the bag of sand and how much at true value?

[schneijt]

20lb bag was around $27. That's only a few dollars more than Marine Depot, so it's a really good price, IMO. I ended up only using 40lbs of the 60lbs I bought, so I've got 20lb of it sitting around that I'm debating what I'll do with.

-Joe

[ReefLuvR]

Hey Joe, been following your progress, looks great! I understand your "DIY" concerns. I had a bit of trouble myself when it came to trusting my own work. All you can do is try! Not to mention, it feels so good when what you did yourself, actually works.

Can't wait to check our your setup some time. Keep the updates coming!

Jen

[schneijt]

Ok, tank is about 80% full, and pumps will (hopefully) turned on tomorrow once the last of my saltwater gets mixed up and added. Then, I get to hook up the Osmolator, controller (AC Jr.), and kalk reactor. So, lots of work to be done still once the water is flowing and circulating. Once everything is up and running systems-wise, I can then start adding some live sand samples (hint, I'll be asking for some pretty soon).

As far as the rock, it's been sitting in the tubs without a water change for two weeks. The cycle's gotta be done, I think, so I'll do a water change and let the cooking process start if it hasn't already (I think it's probably already started).

With this tank, I've vowed to improve my TEK T5 lighting with active cooling (fans), new and better reflectors, and an acrylic shield. To start off, today I ordered four 120mm computer fans (a sexy red color!) and a power source/controller that can run all four of them at once. My next door neighbor has a workshop in his garage, so I'm going to use a hole saw of his to cut four 4" holes in the top of the fixture. Two fans will blow air into the fixture at each end, and the other two fans will be in the middle blowing warm air out of the fixture.

To improve the reflectors, I'm going to replace my nasty TEK reflectors with Aquactinics T5 reflectors that clip onto the bulbs. They're actually a bit shorter than the bulbs, which means that the two fans on the ends of the fixture will blow air right onto the ends of the bulbs, which is a good thing to help get maximum performance out of them. They're also only 2" wide, so there will be space between the reflectors to also help me maximize airflow/cooling. What sucks, though, is that there's no place I've found that sells both the Aquactinics reflectors and the TEK acrylic shield on one website. Boo double shipping charges... :-(

I'm attaching some pictures for you to see the progress. You can see my drain line going right into the sump. My return pump gets split between the 'fuge and the return pipe back to the tank. To regulate flow to the 'fuge, I've got a 3/4" gate valve above the fuge to dial in just the right amount of flow. For flow in the tank, I've got two Koralia 4's in the upper corners, and I may add more pumps inside the DT (display tank) as needed later on.

Enjoy!
Joe

[schneijt]

Apparently my refugium plumbing photo was too large of a file, so I had to make it smaller...

[D.J.]

hey joe ill be glad to help you out with some live sand......got 2 tanks that i can pull from......one is liver than the other.......

tanks coming along......bet ya cant wait to get some color in there.....im just getting started on looking at a box o water starting next week.....but at least ill have the 75 to look at for the time being!!!!

[schneijt]

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last couple days. Tank is full of water, Osmolator is installed, and water is circulating through the tank/sump/fuge/etc. I also threw in my two Koralia 4's, and found that one was rattling really bad. I thought that was strange, since both were silent before the tank was torn down and got vinegar baths before storage. I cleaned it and soaked it in vinegar, and it's better but still not silent. It may get replaced down the road.

I'm dealing with a drain pipe noise issue right now, but I know what the fix is and I just have to do it. I'm hearing lots of gurgling from the drain line, but to explain my fix for the problem would just be confusing I'm sure. So once I turn off the return pump and do some minor plumbing and tweaking, I'll snap some pictures.

Oh, also got the skimmer fired up and breaking in, even though there's not much of anything to pull out. I'll get pictures of that as well pretty soon.

-Joe

[ReefLuvR]

Hey Joe,

Once you fix your gurgling drain line, let me know. I need some help with mine!

[schneijt]

Ok, here are some pictures:

#1. Full tank shot showing everything as it is right now.

#2. Here's my drain pipe setup right now. You can't see it since there's a filter sock on the drain, but there is a ball valve on the "main" line. It's closed off enough that roughly half the water draining down to the sump drains through the "T" fitting and down the second line. It reduces my noise problems quite a bit, though not entirely. I think I'm going to get some acoustic foam in the future and put it in the stand to help absorb some of the noise that still remains.

#3. Here's my refugium and ATO section. You can see the teeth letting the water fall gently back into the sump. I feed it with a gate valve from the return line. It doesn't get much flow, since I don't want that "crashing waterfall" sound to come from the teeth due to the large drop the water makes down to the sump. As far as the ATO section, you can see the pump at the bottom of the chamber on the far right. (Oh, and the little white sand-looking stuff is stuff from my salt mix that precipitated out into the bottom of my Rubbermaid trash can. I don't know what it is, but it's probably some impurities in the salt mix or something. I dunno.)

#4. Here are my electronics on the left door of the stand. On the left is my controller, the AquaController Jr. It controls eight power outlets (a DC8 module), which are located on the right door for more convenience and less clutter on the left door of the stand. On the right side of the picture is my Osmolator, which is my top-off unit. It connects to the pump in the freshwater reservoir. There's an optical sensor in the sump that perfectly maintains a water level of 8.25". I don't have baffles to keep a rock-solid water height for the skimmer, so the ATO has to be right on, which the Osmolator does for me. Also, there is a float switch mounted a few inches above the sensor that sounds an alarm if the water level gets too high for some reason. I can honestly say that these two pieces of technology are the best money I've spent on my tank. They make my job easy. :-)

#5. Here's my Octo Extreme 200 skimmer. It's hard to get a good picture, with it being behind the central support of my stand. I'm running the Sicce PSK2500 pump horizontally with the Marine Solutions (MSX) pinwheel. The MSX pinwheel pulls more air than the stock one, and running the pump horizontally also provides a slight performance bump. It's still breaking in and there's nothing in the tank, so it'll be a while before I get to see what this beast can do.

#6. After a couple weeks, I finally did 100% water changes in my tubs of rock. The rock is pretty nearly done cycling, I think, and the cooking has already begun. I know the cycle isn't completely done because the water stunk a little bit still and was a bit murky. But, lots of crap and sand/silt was the bottom of each tub, so I know good things are happening in there. I know it's a boring picture, but I figured I'd include it anyway. :-)

Enjoy,
Joe Schneider

[schneijt]

I just got my Federal tax refund in my bank account today, and even though I'm jobless and that's the only money I'll probably have for a while, it didn't stop me from buying an acrylic shield for my 6-bulb TEK fixture, three new T5 bulbs to play with (75/25, another Blue Plus, and a GE 6500K) in my bulb combination, an upgraded temp probe for my AC Jr. (since I currently have the older version that is prone to going bad and possibly causing your tank to get cooked or get too cold), some filter socks, two small PC fixtures to go over my refugium, and six Aquactinics reflectors to replace the crappy TEK reflectors...

And that's just for my reef tank; I also bought some things to upgrade my paintball marker, my other expensive, exciting hobby. But that's not what this thread is for, it's for my reef tank.

I'm still waiting on my 120mm computer fans to get here so I can start modding the heck out of my light fixture and get that up and running the way I want it. But, really, right now I have to wait for my rock to cook. I'm going to get a new heater to get the water up to 81 degrees, and then I'll start seeding the sand bed. But other than that, until the rock cooks and gets in the tank, I've just about done everything I can do at this point. Once I get my lights modded, I'll have to play the waiting game while the rock cooks for another 6-8 weeks.

Ok, that's all I've got for now. I know that I'm rather long-winded in this thread, so I apologize if you hate reading so much to get all the facts and info. Right now I'm throwing in pretty much anything. If you'd like me to be more concise to save you some reading time if you're following along, just let me know. :-)

Until next time,
Joe

[Kyuss]

It is looking great Joe!!!You are right about it being a mixed blessing. There are things that I would love to have done differently. Don't apologize, it's a great summary.

I was just discussing the D-day paintball game with my buddy tonight, can't wait for the season to start

[Timmy]

Your not to long winded in fact I would like a little more info from you. First are you happy with your AC jr? Or would you rather have bought a AC 3? Do you like your six bulb tek fixture? What kind of mod are you planning?

[snickersalad]

Awesome looking tank!! I wish I had room for a larger tank haha. Great read.
-Alex

[schneijt]

Originally Posted by [WDT]TardFarmer

I was just discussing the D-day paintball game with my buddy tonight, can't wait for the season to start

I hear ya. The season can't come soon enough. I just bought the Magna valve internals for my Angel One, so I'm excited to get it installed and get my marker tuned. Should be a worthwhile upgrade.

-Joe

Ok, time to get back to my tank... :-)