wrxreefer823
New member
Good evening, and happy (belated) holidays to all!
Let me preface this by saying, I never planned on building a new tank.
I was originally planning on upgrade the lights for my 56 gallon column. My T5HO fixture's daylights had stopped functioning properly (probably just a ballast or something simple, but the lights had been giving me trouble for some time). A week before I planned on ordering the new lights (wanted a Ecotech Radion), I was cleaning my tank and noticed that the cheap particle board stand (one of my many errors on this tank), was warping and the tank was starting to lean... badly. After a bit of research and talk with a few fellow reefers/ LFS employees, I decided to scrap that system as I was already going to buy new lights, and a stand. I had planned on doing either a 55 gallon or a 75, since it's basically a wider 55. I wanted to find a pre-drilled, but I either couldn't find one in such a hurry, or if I did find one, it was not in the price range I wanted to spend. I decided to go with a standard 75 with an oak stand, since my buddy had an over flow kit I could use, and a few tanks that I would be able to use as a sump.
Here's the equipment list...
Aqueon 75 gallon tank w/ oak stand
20 gallon tall sump
Acrylic overflow with two bulkheads
950 gph mag-drive sump
Two hydor koralias (for now)
90 gallon heater
Aquatic Life 6 buld T5HO system
90 pounds live rock (used from the old system)
40 pound bag of crushed coral (decided against using live sand again, since the coral is a lot easier to clean, and probably wouldn't turn into a nitrate factory like my old sand bed)
65g Coralife Super Skimmer (going to be upgrading to a Reef Octopus within the next few weeks).
Originally, I thought the transfer of livestock and water was going to be a nightmare, but with the help of my buddy, his girlfriend, and my girlfriend, we had more than enough hands to get it done efficiently and easily. I ended up pretty much stupervising as my buddy had a good hand on the plumbing, and the lovely ladies were busy transfering the rock, usable water, and livestock. The whole process took around 4 or 5 hours (including a trip to Lowes, and a much needed dinner break). The tank's been up and running for three days now, and I couldn't be happier!
Picture time!
Here is the new tank sitting next to the old one. Originally I planned on putting it in the same spot, but it was pointed out that with the new tank next to the old one, the process would go much more smoothly (and a lot more quickly!). This also marks the last existing FTS of the column tank (I don't miss it one bit).
A few hours, trip to Lowes, and a dinner later, the 35 gallon trash bucket I was using to make the water to top off the tank and fill the sump was ready, and we were done with plumbing and live stock transfer. I used the existing 4 bulb T5HO fixture to get me through the few remaining hours of the night.
The following morning I went to That Pet Place to pick up my new light fixture. As previously stated, I was planning on upgrading my old tank to a Radion, or some sort of LED fixture. Unfortunately, it wasn't in my budget light a 75 gallon reef with LED's, so I was pretty set on getting an Aquatic Life T5HO fixture, but was pretty torn between the 4 bulb and 6 bulb model. The 6 bulb was on sale, and had a mail in rebate offer, so I decided to take the plunge and go for that model. I don't really have anything that would benefit from the extra coverage, but I'm sure I will in the future, so better to go with more coverage now. Here's the first FTS with the new lights (excuse the blue light from the crummy cell phone picture...).
After a little while of messing with the new lights, I can say I'm VERY pleased with the new fixture. I couldn't believe the vast improvement over the old fixture. Even the lunars are amazing! Note that the old fixtures lunar LED's weren't really visible at all, even in a pitch black room... so when I saw the tank in all its shimmering glory, I was ecstatic!
This morning I took a trip to find a light that would be able to light the the make shift fuge in my sump, as well as a background for the tank. After a bunch of tinkering around with the tank, I had the skimmer moved into the sump, as well as the heater.
Decided to keep the old Fluval 305 on there for a few weeks to use the bacteria from the old tank (I'm using LR rubble in the filter as media).
Let me preface this by saying, I never planned on building a new tank.
I was originally planning on upgrade the lights for my 56 gallon column. My T5HO fixture's daylights had stopped functioning properly (probably just a ballast or something simple, but the lights had been giving me trouble for some time). A week before I planned on ordering the new lights (wanted a Ecotech Radion), I was cleaning my tank and noticed that the cheap particle board stand (one of my many errors on this tank), was warping and the tank was starting to lean... badly. After a bit of research and talk with a few fellow reefers/ LFS employees, I decided to scrap that system as I was already going to buy new lights, and a stand. I had planned on doing either a 55 gallon or a 75, since it's basically a wider 55. I wanted to find a pre-drilled, but I either couldn't find one in such a hurry, or if I did find one, it was not in the price range I wanted to spend. I decided to go with a standard 75 with an oak stand, since my buddy had an over flow kit I could use, and a few tanks that I would be able to use as a sump.
Here's the equipment list...
Aqueon 75 gallon tank w/ oak stand
20 gallon tall sump
Acrylic overflow with two bulkheads
950 gph mag-drive sump
Two hydor koralias (for now)
90 gallon heater
Aquatic Life 6 buld T5HO system
90 pounds live rock (used from the old system)
40 pound bag of crushed coral (decided against using live sand again, since the coral is a lot easier to clean, and probably wouldn't turn into a nitrate factory like my old sand bed)
65g Coralife Super Skimmer (going to be upgrading to a Reef Octopus within the next few weeks).
Originally, I thought the transfer of livestock and water was going to be a nightmare, but with the help of my buddy, his girlfriend, and my girlfriend, we had more than enough hands to get it done efficiently and easily. I ended up pretty much stupervising as my buddy had a good hand on the plumbing, and the lovely ladies were busy transfering the rock, usable water, and livestock. The whole process took around 4 or 5 hours (including a trip to Lowes, and a much needed dinner break). The tank's been up and running for three days now, and I couldn't be happier!
Picture time!
Here is the new tank sitting next to the old one. Originally I planned on putting it in the same spot, but it was pointed out that with the new tank next to the old one, the process would go much more smoothly (and a lot more quickly!). This also marks the last existing FTS of the column tank (I don't miss it one bit).
A few hours, trip to Lowes, and a dinner later, the 35 gallon trash bucket I was using to make the water to top off the tank and fill the sump was ready, and we were done with plumbing and live stock transfer. I used the existing 4 bulb T5HO fixture to get me through the few remaining hours of the night.
The following morning I went to That Pet Place to pick up my new light fixture. As previously stated, I was planning on upgrading my old tank to a Radion, or some sort of LED fixture. Unfortunately, it wasn't in my budget light a 75 gallon reef with LED's, so I was pretty set on getting an Aquatic Life T5HO fixture, but was pretty torn between the 4 bulb and 6 bulb model. The 6 bulb was on sale, and had a mail in rebate offer, so I decided to take the plunge and go for that model. I don't really have anything that would benefit from the extra coverage, but I'm sure I will in the future, so better to go with more coverage now. Here's the first FTS with the new lights (excuse the blue light from the crummy cell phone picture...).
After a little while of messing with the new lights, I can say I'm VERY pleased with the new fixture. I couldn't believe the vast improvement over the old fixture. Even the lunars are amazing! Note that the old fixtures lunar LED's weren't really visible at all, even in a pitch black room... so when I saw the tank in all its shimmering glory, I was ecstatic!
This morning I took a trip to find a light that would be able to light the the make shift fuge in my sump, as well as a background for the tank. After a bunch of tinkering around with the tank, I had the skimmer moved into the sump, as well as the heater.
Decided to keep the old Fluval 305 on there for a few weeks to use the bacteria from the old tank (I'm using LR rubble in the filter as media).
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