74gal. 24x24x30H Tower build thread

[SumptyDumpty]

Some of you may be interested in what a 24x24x30 high tower looks like.
Yes, I know, this is not a reef.
90% of the equipment and aquarium glass is still the same.
Tunze tops offs, Inkbird controllers, Vectra pumps, wavemakers for high flow fish of color near Japan.

The Seapora 74 tower and Deep Blue Tower are said to be both made under the umbrella of Aquarium Masters.
The rimless (48x24x16) 80gal. reef ready and the 74 tower both have the same thicker glass I was looking for.
The 80 standard rimmed 48x24x16 has thinner glass of the 3, but is fine due to the shallow height.
A Deep Blue rimless cube even has the same thickness as the 80 rimless and 74 tower, even though the 74gal. tower has a rim for support.

The room-
Setting up the the Seapora 24x24x30, 74 gallon tower in the corner.
Deep Blue 80gal. reef ready rimless on the left.
Deep Blue 80 standard on the right.
The whole rimless 80 build on the left has to go in mid 2018 due to moving and how heavy the stand is.
I pulled most of the plants out so far.
A friend will not enjoy helping the move of this stand.

As for the 74 tower, the stand and final outer trim will come later - this stuff takes time.
Powerful nano gobies all day, dream by night.
There is something special about being in the movie room when it is all lit up.

If your in the market for a tower build, I would suggest to proceed.
You will be quite happy with the project if you can keep it simple with small fish and build up or dial it in for easy maintenance requirements.

 

[superchargeme]

Very nice!! Fish are fish

 

[SumptyDumpty]

'Moving along on the 74gallon tower and cleaning up a mess of cords.
The large driftwood from the 1st post is being cleaned, while I tossed the small and older driftwood in the tower for now.

The rimless 80 is coming down and being parted out in a few months.

 

[Travenous]

I love your planted tanks, they look so well aquascaped.

 

[SumptyDumpty]

I love your planted tanks, they look so well aquascaped.

Thanks, but they are mostly simple plants (Anubias) that are easy beginner type ones spaced out to be a bit more aesthetic or pleasing to the eye.

The Tower tank replaced the rimless cube.

 

[Travenous]

I used to do freshwater and recognized some of the wendeti you had in a few of the close ups. Just like coral, I think the cost of the plant doesn't necessarily relate to it's aesthetic. I was impressed at how clean your planted tanks are, no algae or dead leaves.

 

[aquatictec]

It looked so beautiful, like a museum....Until the last picture

 

[SumptyDumpty]

Thanks guys.


I did notice a thing on 74 gal rim/trim to note:
When I placed the Sicce Tidal 55 on the rim of this 74gal. tower, it fit, but it did not fit on my 48x24x16H 80 gal. rim.

 

[fishbox]

How much $ will you be looking to get on the rimless 80?

 

[SumptyDumpty]

How much $ will you be looking to get on the rimless 80?

'Not sure yet.
They are $425-450 I believe for a new "non-starphire".
Some are asking $350ish area for a used.
$325 no less, would sound like a good way to sell it faster.
It should be cleaned out and ready to sell by the end of March.

This is a clean freshwater one with no scratches.
I'd like to sell the stand with the tank.
We'll see how it goes when the time comes.

 

[fishbox]

That's around the time I'll be looking to start gathering things for an upgrade from my 40B. I'm definitely interested. So please drop me a line when ready.

 

[zaireguy]

Wow super nice thanks for sharing

 

[jt48]

Glad I found this. I have decided to downgrade from my 344 gallon DT/900 gallon system. Will be getting the Deep Blue Tower Edge 74 Rimless RR. This has the optipure on front panel. The non RR is framed and does not have optipure. It will be a LPS dominant reef. Shopping around now for best price. Your tanks are awesome and love how the single light on the 80 has dark sides.

 

[SumptyDumpty]

Glad I found this. I have decided to downgrade from my 344 gallon DT/900 gallon system. Will be getting the Deep Blue Tower Edge 74 Rimless RR. This has the optipure on front panel. The non RR is framed and does not have optipure. It will be a LPS dominant reef. Shopping around now for best price. Your tanks are awesome and love how the single light on the 80 has dark sides.

My 2 cents...

I would opt to do the "Herbie drain" with a gate valve.
The emergency can have a little or great angle/slope like Gumby's head.
It allows the water to just barely find its way in the emergency.
Use slip pieces to find your favorite angle.

The emergency can be the big hole or the small one.
I was amazed at the flow that the small drain had and the large hole was ok to handle big problems if needed.

A DC pump matched my old corner flow project's main drain to allow the gate to be running near 90% open.
A half shut gate at 50% had plant leaves and garbage sitting in there one day. An open gate valve near 90-95% seemed to allow garbage to pass into the mesh bag below it.

Use a micron sock on the main drain like a condom that catches all large detritus. Your skimmer should do the rest of the job if I am thinking correctly.
Poly socks are less easy to clean than the easy micron mesh bag.



The 30 inch height is tricky to fiddle with pipes.
- use multiple slip fittings to allow access to the deep cornerflow without pressing too tight on them.

- use craft store mesh rolled and zip-tied to protect the main drain.
- come over the top of the tank glass with your return water.

I hope this helped.

 

[jt48]

Tank I'm looking at getting is rimless. I would rather drill than have return line go up and over. Or, I may get framed without the over flow and drill to install the 16" shadow overflow from synergy reef systems

 

[Kreeger1]

Incredible pics, what service do you use to host them?

 

[SumptyDumpty]

Tank I'm looking at getting is rimless. I would rather drill than have return line go up and over. Or, I may get framed without the over flow and drill to install the 16" shadow overflow from synergy reef systems

Great choice.
I would have loved to have had the opportunity to use the ghost overflow or shadow overflow systems.

The standard stuff was all I had when I started out.

I do have a Vectra M1 and a Elos 11000 series that did not run warm back when the sump tanks were up and going.

The Elos SF 11000 starts out at 15% power and can ramp up by single percent changes.
The Elos is not truly a silent product, but can be better when used in creative fashion in the sump.

I know you saltwater guys can't be messing around with heat changes from pumps though, so the Vectra series gets some bad comments here and there.

 

[SumptyDumpty]

Incredible pics, what service do you use to host them?

Flickr.

It's like photobucket and all those places.
2 versions I know of.
One free version.
Another is the "pro" that has more options and allowed pics.