75g Money Sink

[Photo_John]

Greeting RC,

I have been a forum lurker and random poster on RC for a few years and recently decided to move my budget 75g reef build to RC.

The Past:

I have kept fresh water fish most of my life and decided in college, with all the spare cash a college student has at their disposal, to start a reef tank.

My first reef tank was a lps/softie 24g JBJ cube. It went well for a bit then it went bad. I lost most of my corals and all the fish but two clowns.

I then built a 46g bow front. I thought it was huge! It wasnt. I made alot of mistakes, flushed a lot of money, and learned some expensive lessons.

I purchased a 180g tank about a week before I got married...It was dry for about a year till I sold it. Who knew a 6ft tank wasnt the coolest thing ever?

I then began this 75g tank build: Copied over from the original now empty website/community;

I purchased a 75g All Glass Aquarium co. tank from someone who had kept bearded dragons in the tank for the nice sum of $100. I was originally going to use the tank as a fuge for my 180g tank, but the 180 was sold. The 75 didn't have any overflows, so I drilled my tank. I researched several websites before drilling and most said that the tank did not have tempered glass sides. The first hole took almost an hour. I was afraid of breaking my tank so I went slow and flushed the area often. Glass-Holes.com was very helpful along with several youtube videos.

Never thought I would be so happy to have a fish tank with holes in it!

I live about a mile from Lowe's, so that is where I shop, I believe them to be the Walmart of the hardware world (evil). At any rate I had designed my stand, well I picked a design from several I drew after researching fish tank stands on TR, GARF, and RC, and went to Lowe's to purchase wood. I purchased several 2x6s, and 2x4s. I didn't think to check the wood for straightness when I bought it, wow did I feel stupid about that later. I took the wood back to the saw in Lowe's and asked them to cut the wood for me. They did cut it up and on the last board the guy said "You know this isn't a project saw right!" Apparently he had something better to be doing at 5pm on a Monday night. I suppose he could have been talking in the corner like all his coworkers. So apparently the saw in Lowe's is only there to get the wood cut to a size that will fit into your vehicle, who knew. I got the wood home and began assembling the bottom and top(all 2x6). When I finished the bottom and top I checked for squareness...it was way out. So I measured and checked everything. Several boards had been cut to short, one was twisted enough to pull everything out of square, I almost lost my mind right there. But I pulled myself together and took apart the bottom and top that had just consumed a few hours of my life. The next day I went back to Lowe's, and you thought I learned my lesson, and purchased another 2x6. I cut this one up myself. I got everything back together and it was close enough to square for me, and I am not easy to please. Then I assembled and began installing the 2x4 lengths attaching the bottom and top. I ended up having to cut them all down a little bit simply because the stand was getting to tall.

The final size of the stand is 40"tall x 48.5" long x 19" wide. It is an imposing bit of furniture now.

I didn't like the normal height of fish tank stands. I am 6'4" and they just seem a bit low for my tastes. I wanted to make this stand even taller but I was worried about cleaning hassles and getting the center of gravity so high off the ground.

 

[Photo_John]

I thought I had more pictures but apparently I either didn't take them or they dissolved into cyberspace.

I installed several metal L brackets inside the stand to help everything hold together. I think I saw them inside Phurst's stand, but it could have been someone else. I looked through many. I cut paneling to fit the sides and front of the stand and attached it with finishing nails. I built the doors out of MDF (somehow was a bit warped, a big pain) and trimmed them with chair rail and quarter round. The trim was a major headache! I am dreading trimming out the hood. I don't have a power miter saw so I am using a cheap and crappy hand miter saw and plastic box from Lowe's (My bane at this point).

I should have used a thinner MDF for the doors, i think this is something monsterous like 1/2" *** was I thinking?

 

[Photo_John]

My progress on the 75 has been slow but my wife is encouraging me to finish up. I think she wants her living room back. I also promised to integrate my nano and 46g into this tank...thus opening up more living space for us...and I thought it was the living space for the fish that mattered. Anyway the stand is finished. I sanded, primed, and painted everything inside and out. I am now constructing my hood. It will house 2 175w 15k MH and 2 t5 actinic w/ individual reflectors. I purchased 4 48" t5 lights but only 2 will fit in the hood, sadness. There are two 120mm computer fans blowing into and out of the hood. I put them near the bottom of the hood in hopes of increasing evaporation a bit and cooling the entire hood by blowing directly across the MH bulbs.

Back plate

A few days later and I have all my lighting installed! It took about a day to get everything buttoned up but it is in. The MH bulbs are about 7"-9" off the surface of the water and the t5 bulbs are as close to the water as I can get about 1-2" I didn't mention it before but the hood is constructed out of 1x2. Finding 1x2 at Lowe's that is even close to straight is a nightmare! I went though what seemed like a pallet to get 4 boards. It took about an hour of searching...

 

[Photo_John]

These are the side panels. It took atleast 1hr per panel. I cut them with the jig saw

Front, no door yet...Should have made the door/hole much bigger and or made a system to move the lights out of the way.

Some door handles that screamed fish tank

 

[Dustin1300]

Looking forward to the rest of the build. What's in the plans for lighting/filtration/aquascaping???

 

[sstewart81]

looks good so far, cant wait to see it up and running.

 

[Photo_John]

My stand is DONE!!! for the most part. I have a few nit picking items to address but other than that it is ready to go.

I talked with Manny and he led me to a web page on RC about a glass overflow that will probably work well for my application, but before the overflow can be built the 90 elbows have to go into the bulkheads. I went to Lowes today, bulkhead in hand, looking for a 90 deg street elbow. The "plumber" on hand (lost in the back) was little help and I basically fittled with fittings till I found a low profile adapter between the bulkhead and street elbow. After installed I will need to measure the length of the elbow out from the glass and determine the size of the overflow box needed. I am hoping to use a gray or black glass. Depending on price.

Black and gray glass didnt work out. I simply purchased normal 1/4" glass. 1/4" was probably over kill, it was encrusted with coralline in no time anyway.

I just finished installing my semi coast to coast overflow box. I will get some pics soon. About half way through the silicon process I put my thumb through the silicone tube, DUH! Cheap...china...BS!

Anyway I completed the job by squeezing it onto my finger which i used to try to run a bead along the glass. I hope it holds water *fingers crossed* I have to wait 48hrs. Not that it is a big deal if it leaks a bit, it is just a drain after all. I must say the smell is pungent, I feel a bit...um...interesting :0 I guess i didnt need those brain cells after all...hope not

Question: Anyone ever have the weight of the overflow overcome the silicone and fall to the bottom of the tank...shattering everything /cry! I am a bit worried.

hope to get this tank wet soon

I discovered later the silicone is very strong, I dont think the overflow could fall off!

It is 9" tall, 32" long and 5.25" deep (front to back) It leaves plenty of clearance around my bulkheads, I hope it holds on I am waiting till tomorrow to turn it vertical. It does not have teeth. I am trying to decide if I need teeth or not.(I never installed any, should have, will on the next tank) I can always pick Houdini my clown out of this overflow too (I have done so several times!)

This overflow looked great to me and I still like the coast to coast idea but wow this one takes up a bunch of real estate. I would make it much smaller or go with a slotted PVC coast to coast if I were doing it again.

static water test success

 

[James404]

Nice build so far, will tag along.

 

[Photo_John]

Most of it is just fit together, I am waiting till my 46g makes its home in the stand to finish the pipes and bonding.

In retrospect I would not do plumbing again without the fuge in the stand. I ended up having to redo the drains so everything fit right.

I have everything sealed I am going to try testing it tomorrow if I have the time...I am also considering running silicone around the screw fittings (i used Teflon/plumbing tape). I could not find 3/4 slip fit ball valves or slip fit unions so I had to get some male/slip 3/4 connectors for the return line. My wife is a bit worried about flooding the house, wheres the faith in my PVC skill? Placed about where it should be, I imagine

Advice when building hoods:

Decide where your return line will be entering the tank and make room in your hood's base for the pipe!

 

[Photo_John]

Well almost...I did have one very, very, small leak on one of threaded connectors. I had a similar one leak on my skimmer pipe and it stopped pretty quickly...salt build up i imagine. I think i will throw some silicone on it and see if it helps.(it did) Good news: It works! All the plumbing is solid, the drains drain and the returns flow. I did have one annoying issue. Where I tested the tank in my living room is not level. It was sloped to one side about 1/8 of an inch over 48." This caused only half my overflow to actually work, luckily it could skim what I was pumping. I am hoping the final display spot will be level, apartments can be fun that way.

The returns will have loc-line, ordered it today...there goes $45.
Got it here: http://www.customaquatic.com/estore/control/ctgsbrand/~brand=Loc-Line/~pi=777/~srt=1

 

[Photo_John]

I...oops, I mean: My wife and I spent the last several hours moving my 75g to its final home and transferring my 46g inside the 75g stand to be used as a fuge. To make the transfer we filled buckets, totes, and old fish tanks with water and rock. I then spent about an hour pulling out small rocks, shells, shed cheto bits, and unknown thick brown bio gunk, from the sand. I am pretty sure my tank is going to have a cycle from all the sand disturbance, my clown is resting in a spare 12g eclipse.

Doing the pipes before placing the tank become a problem. I measured everything but the tank fits just a bit differently than I thought. So its time to cut/splice and make it all work, again.

I washed out the sand from the 46g in 5g buckets till it ran mostly clear. It is the black sand which I dont want in the DT, going with a white sand bed in the DT, so it was put back into the fuge.

If I were doing it over I would concentrate the sand bed in a section of the fuge making it deeper and leaving some BB areas for things like pumps.

I didnt plan the move very well and putting baffles in a bow front (the 46g) is kind of a pain so it didnt get baffles...that was a mistake that would cost me alot of money later on...plan and pay attention to the fuge with the same discerning eye as the DT.



A Great Development

We have decided to make a giant ant farm out of our fish tank!

Here is a picture of me washing the sand before scooping it into the tank. I purchased 8 30lbs bags for pure aragonite sand. I got the sand from Dick, a proud sponsor of TR and a strong member of the community. If you have not ever spoken to Dick you must! He is a wealth of knowledge and a great story teller. Meeting him was wonderful. He told me to get the milk out of the sand, here I am trying! I found the best way to get the crud/dust out was to turn the hose on full bore and go poking around through the sand moving all of it, then dumping the water and repeating 3x. Dick no longer sells to individuals

This is 3 bags in the tank

When all 8 bags were in the tank all I could think was, where will the rock go? Where will the fish go? All the space is gone! The sand bed ended up just shy of 6 inches when dry.

I was going for a DSB but I over did it a bit...My pistol shrimp/yellow watchman loved it though

 

[Photo_John]

I spent most of today moving water, rock, sand, and fish from their old homes to the new crib. For the 30g of new water I had to add I used the red sea coral pro. I think I like it better than IO, but we shall see in a few weeks. I have had no chance to aquascape, all the rock is just underwater. I have 10 pvc stands and I think I will be cutting more, sounds like fun doesnt it? The PVC stands help keep water flowing over the entire sand bed. When you set rock directly on the sand bed you can create two problems. One: if you have any digging animals expect rock slides. Two: wherever the rock is covering the sand bed, the sand will not function as a DSB breaking down nitrate.

Here is the tank as of Nov 16th 2008

Here are my two clowns. The b&w Percula (I think her name was R2 after R2D2) has been with me since the beginning, its mate died shortly after purchase but her new boy friend Houdini keeps her happy. They are jubilant to have swimming room finally, the nano was getting cramped!

I had 3 clowns in this tank. I thought its big enough, its a 75, I was wrong. Thankfully nothing was badly hurt by my stupidity. I end up pulling the clarki out in a few weeks. I was more attached to the ones pictured above

 

[Photo_John]

A few shots of the yellow watchman and his pistol shrimp. I no longer have the shrimp RIP but the watchman makes himself known on occasion and I say "wow, your still alive I havent seen you forever"

The overflow is great. The location on the floor is more or less level, less than a 16th off (the tank test site was way off level and worrying me the entire apt would be like that). The overflow is draining like a dream, it is even fairly quiet. The 42" of surface skimming is keeping the waters surface ultra clear.

My problem right now is a possible power outage, I would flood! I drilled two 1/16 in holes in the returns just below the water line but it does not seem to be enough to break the siphon. I am going to have to fix that soon or I am sure it will bite me in the arss. It nearly has several times, I ended up leaving more drain space in the fuge.

something odd i found on a rock

 

[Photo_John]

some shots from the first few day/weeks

the evil clown

 

[Photo_John]

Some New Items and FTS

I found a new LFS in Lakeland FL that seems to actually be knowledgeable! I know that sounds like an Oxymoron but the store is run by a reef keeper who is a hobbyist at heart. He deals directly with CA importers instead on the middle men in FL and offers prices on livestock that beat most people in the area. He doesn't advise tangs for nano tanks, he buys lots of ORA, he has had several coral spawns (only open 6 months)...Nice guy to talk to. Anyway I purchased two frag from the new store. A few weeks back I also re arranged my rock work to allow for more open swimming area and a less rock wall look.The store is good for Lakeland FL but doesnt hold a candle to some of the stores in Tampa/Orlando. After a couple years of visiting his store I think alot of his coral spawning stories were boasting.

The color is off because the images were taken under full actinic and I didnt bother with white balance. I am not sure what the $10 frag is but I think he said it was a pink something...The frag is several inches high and looks great. It was from a very large colony that someone purchased and then had bleaching and die off problem. They took it back! Amazing...they came to find out this person had just set their tank up within a week and thought hey corals are cool. Anyway they fragged it up and are selling the frags cheap. I got the duncan for $10! He has 3, 10-15 head colonies and fragged this head off for me and mounted it up. He cant sell the duncans, I am amazed.

 

[Photo_John]

I started dosing Oceans Blends 2 Part, I still am currently11-7-10 seems to be great stuff.

Some better coral Pics

I didnt get the glass clean but here is a pick of the large frag from earlier with the halides on.

2 days after buying the duncan it sprouted a baby...I was amazed

Baby Duncan and new ORA ElkHorn

Wow duncan Babies grow fast!

And a small accidental frag of the above coral amazingly enough this tiny chip survived and now is a large frag/small colony

 

[Photo_John]

The slow decline of the tank begins now...I didnt know it but most of the corals I buy for the next few months are going to die. I should have figured hair algae means I have an issue but alas I did nothing.

Coral Pictures May 10th

All my corals are a bit freaked out. I just cleaned HA off the rocks for an hour or there abouts. I then moved all of them and attached them to rocks via epoxy. The frags were being knocked into the sand by crabs and snails; it was getting annoying placing them back where they go several times a day. The polyps are all retracted for the most part but I usually have good PE.

You can see pictures of some of these frags from about a month ago if you scroll î (up) and how much they have grown. In a few months I will make a growth comparison picture.

the little accidental frag has put on some growth!

 

[Dustin1300]

Looks good Seems the wife really put the pressure on!

 

[Photo_John]

Wow, duncans do grow like crazy! 1 head frag 3 months ago!

5-11-09
I tested all my parameters yesterday and today, My results:
Ammonia: undetectable
Nitrite: undetectable
Nitrate: undetectable
PH: 7.8 its always low
Ca:450
Mag:1300
Alk:4
Phosphates: 0.1

I am having a rather serious outbreak of HA. I have been plucking it every 2 weeks or so to keep it kind of in check. My occ. clown has decided to host in the flowing "tentacles" of the HA. Within the last week I have also started to develop cyano bacteria (yes, it is cyano, I know what it looks like). It is mostly on the sand, even in high flow areas. My skimmer has produced a greatly increased amount of skim since the cyano, probably 2X to 3X the normal amount, which is minimal usually...I have a light bio load.

I believe the HA is due to feeding 2-3x a day and running an extra long lighting cycle. (it wasnt) I dont mind it particularly but the cyano is worrying me. Can cyano be a sign of the tank "breaking in" or is it just an indicator of instability? The tank got wet nov 17th, but all fully cured and 1-3yr old LR from my other tanks was used and about 50g of water from the other tanks. Could the HA cause the cyano to get a foot hold?(seemed to)

With the next water change I am going to suck out all the cyano...hopefully in the next few weeks I can rid myself of the cyano.

 

[Photo_John]

6-1-09

lost its color but grew like crazy

put it high in the tank and blasted it with the MHs...after nearly killing it moved it down and it started encrusting

Wow thats a ton of HA! What was I thinking! Its just a phase, nope, just me being dumb