The Reef Tank banner

Finally my upgrade!

15K views 102 replies 14 participants last post by  fsureefer 
#1 ·
Warning: post is extremely long lol

Over the last few years Ive been in the hobby I went from one upgrading idea to another. At one point I had a 150 custom tank sitting on my back porch while I collected equipment for it. I had a bunch of stuff for it then...... I needed a car. Obviously at 16 a car> upgrade tank was my mind lol. So I sold everything off I could sell and got a car.

Then time goes by and my main tank crashes in the beginning of july. That kind of sparked an upgrade again ( both my parents wanted to get rid of the tank I had, since it crashed) So I decided it was time to get a bigger tank :dance:

I looked around for about 6 weeks and found a reef redy 75g, stand, and skimmer for a decent price. a 100 mile round trip later its sitting in my family room.

The build begins :beer:

Now I dont know if this is how the first post should start but I needed to throw down all the ideas and thoughts I have because I dont want to forget anything

Pictures will be added once I find my camera battery..... thanks mom :mad:


Tank :

75 Gallon with megaflow overflow

Cleaning
This thing smells worse than cooking live rock. The entire tank( glass part ) is clean but the overflow, durso, and return pipe are either covered in hair algae or coralline. My mom freaked out whenshe smelt it lol


Its nearly impossible to clean coraline off plastic.Ive been fighting
with de-corallining this overflow for days. Even after its dried out it still wont come off easily. Day by Day though I'm chipping away at it. Glass
and a razor blade, coralline comes off now problem. Plastic on the other hand
seems impossible

Sump:

30 long
I was nervous using a 20 long because I was afraid the backfrom from the 75 would overflow the 20. So I searched a few pet stores and picked up a 30 long. I was going to use a 29 but the extra 6 inches will be nice since my skimmers pretty big

Design:

Going to be pretty simple, Skimmer, 3 baffles, fuge, 2 baffles, and then the return pump I have a sketchup design but havent gotten a screenshot of it for the forum

Stand:

Unsure of brand and DIY Canopy
Inside Paint
Should I paint the inside white? I see alot of people do it but I dont know why.
Maybe it reflects better in the canopy... idk lol

Equipment:

Lights:

Reflectors-
I have lumenarc minis, lumenbright mini, and a full size. Im going to be testing with a par meter for best fit for a 75g

Ballasts:
I have a big dual 250w magnetic ballast and two icecap 250w. Like with the reflectors I'm going to choose one
Light bulbs:
I feel like my phoenix bulb "washed" out the colors. So I may try 10k ( reeflux ) with VHO supplementing or a higher K bulb ( radium ). I hate this decision because its such an expensive thing if you make a mistake
Actinics:
May try VHO's. I have two IC660's lying around I could use

Protein Skimmer

Octopus Extreme 200
- I dont know if this is oversized or the right size. I hope I'll be able to keep decent amount of fish with it

Return Pump

Quietone 3000
- I'm trying out the quietone on the build, my return can handle 600gph so I may step up the pump in the future

Refugium

Bulb?
- I dont know what bulb to use. I guess I'll try one of those flood lights from lowes. Then again I dont even know if I want a refugium.

Sand

CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand
- In my tanks right now I have done bare-bottom because of the easier maintence. But after staring at purple tank bottom I just cant stand it anymore. I'll do the extra work for sand ( planning on a super short sand bed ~ 1-1/5")
- Also will this sand be too big for a sand sifting goby?

Liverock
~60lbs
- If I had to guess I'de say I have roughly 50-60lbs or liverock After my tank crashed I jammed all the rock I could into my 20 long and the remaining rock is in my 30 long right now cooking ( I have HORRIBLE bubble algae issues )
- I also have some aiptasia, but hope with some peppermint shrimp and kalk theyll all be dead soon enough

Powerheads

Koralia's
- Right now I have two K2's, a nano, and a Koralia 750 I feel like my tank is not going to have enough flow with these
- I'll see how it goes and change things from there Vortech's
- I HAD two mp40w's but I sold them when I had to buy myself a car ( I'm 16 ) but now that I'm upgrading I have the urge to buy them again. Maybe around christmas I'll buy one for myself

Livestock:
Fish
Right now I have
- One false percula ( Occerlaris )
I want ( this will probably change but )
- Another false perc
-3 green chromis
- Kole tang
- Orange Spotted Diamond Goby (sand small enough for them )
- Maybe another fish ( suggestions? )
- I thought an ORA tank bred mandarin but that would be a fish down the road
-I know alot of people pick anthias over chromis but I sometimes am
away from the tank for 2-3 days and if I remmeber they need to be fed
a few times everyday so I couldnt get them
- Will this Bioload be too much for the tank?
- Will the goby get enough food out of the sand to survive? Or should I
try target feeding?
Coral
- My main tank crashed after in the beginning of july and killed all my sps
and everything besides 3 coral. I plan to have a mixed reef with the top
sps and the bottom whatever I like ( acans, zoas, my toadstoll etc )
Right now I have
- SPS
- Brown Birdsnest
- Frags of pink and green birdsnest. ( I swear my snails gonna kill them before
the build though ) i HATE turbo snails
-Purple monti
-Brown cap with purple tip
- Some brown acro I have yet to identify after owning for over a year
- LPS
- Toadstoll
- Pink Leather
- Kenya Tree
- Softies
-Red Mushrooms
- GSP
- Xenia
- Green mushroom
- BUtton Polyps
- Green Zoas
 
See less See more
#10 ·
I think another clown would be good. and if they become a mated pair, that would be even cooler. I plan on getting 2 clowns this weekend. And if you have a sump, with lots of copepods, then a mandarin would be cool. possibly a school of Chromis for starting the nitrogen cycle as well.... since you are going to have a sand bed, an engenering goby is cool. I have one, and he loves creating sand mounds! It is fun to watch. :)
 
#13 ·
My tanks crashed 7/6/10 because when I was on vacation the air got turned off and both my tanks went over a 100 degrees. The one that normally runs hot had minimal loss but the one that ran at ~78-80 had mostly sps and I lost everything.

I got rid of most of the dead stuff immediately, but then went and got my camera and took some pics of the remaining things.





I tried saving the torch but hour by hour the flesh was just coming off of it. I had to pull it out
 
#14 ·
Now the 20 long has been running 2 months since the crash, I threw all the rock I could in there and the remaining rocks are in buckets with a powerhead and heater.
Heres where it is today






^^ still have no idea what it is, it started getting green polyps and a purple shade but since the crash Its been brown and white



 
#24 ·


I have moved some of my corals around, and added 3 chromis and a pair of chocolate clowns since this pic. I will hopefully add a yellow tang/ more zooanthids or a birdsnest coral. I want to add a UV so that my tang would have more a chance to survive because ive heard that tangs are ich magnets.
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=639&pictureid=4892
 
#28 ·
First thing I built, heres a 30 long sump.

First area is 12x17 to fit my skimmer even though online it says 14x8. I guess I have it sitting weird anyways then there is 3 baffles an inch apart with the middle one being 1.5" off the ground. then the refugium I think was ~11" then the return was the room I had left

Here is how I built it


^ I made a rough estimate using a pizza box ( I ran out thats why some baffles are shorter than other )


^ then I installed the baffles


^ I checked to see if everything fit ok
 
#29 ·
Looking good Tim!
I really would recommend a yellow tang (small one) if you can't find a kole tang. I thought the same thing about yellows when I first started my 90 but I bought a small one and he is awesome! Bright colors, eats algae along with everything else, and no aggression at all. He actually sleeps with my anthias at night and swims with my clowns during the day. I got mine at a small size though, I wonder if that matters.
Also, if you think you're happy with the fish you have now, stick with just them... I have had my 4 little guys for months now and every fish I have added just for looks since then has caused a problem. I'm sticking with 4 fish for my 90.
If you're looking for a wrasse, get a flasher wrasse, they're beautiful!
 
#30 ·
I found a fat kole tang tonight :D , I really wanted to buy it. I just wish I had a q/t tank setup. I may just put him in the 20 long with the clown and hope for the best. Its the healthiest one I've seen yet

Yeah ive been looking for wrasses too, just all sixlines

I saw this fish in a store today and I had to double look the name. Turns out its a common fish

 
#31 ·
Right now Im doing a freshwater leak test and trying to quiet the tank down. The return pump is noisy and this stupid durso. I hate the durso, its great that it makes the DT quiet but the sump is LOUD. I have tried everything from designs on forums, reverse durso, submerging the pipe, EVERYTHING. but now I think I offically got it. Ill post pics tomorrow
 
#34 ·
OK over the past week I've got the sump put in the stand and leak tested ( had two leaks ). then I did the plumbing, I figured out how hard it is to make plumbing look clean without having the purple primer drip everywhere. I did the entire leak test of the system, no leaks which is good. Here are a few pics





Heres my latest issue, My rodi is downstairs in my basement and my tank is on ground level. I have 4 gallon buckets and have to make 100 gallons of rodi. You know what that means ? I have to go up and down 25 times! To date I have the entire sump filled to level and I have the 75 3/4th filled. Its taking forever :(
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top