75g Reef Build

You mean air recirc mod? Works good. Had it hooked up on Brian Prestwood's reef and it went from HCHCHCKKKKKK to hchchckkkkkk on the air-suck.

I'm cleaning out my sump. I should remove the bio-balls and whack them at the driving range, correct?
 
Cleaned out sump. Paint is done. Mods to canopy are about finished. Had to have a bracket fabbed to mount the gas struts around the friggin' huge light. Got my geometry wrong on strut placement and dang near chopped off a finger. Decided against replacing fan in light housing. Put silicone damper in instead. Lined some stand/canopy surfaces with dense foam to attempt noise reduction. Installed DI. Ran DI under house to tank. 0ppm baby, with a tap at the tank. I can say I know claustrophobia now. Cut plywood to add to base to raise tank/spread load. Bought rubble to fill sump. Plumbed tank/sump for coming citric acid flush. Scratch guy's gonna look at it Monday.

Wanted to keep powerheads etc. out of tank, but it's looking more likely that I'll have to cave in to get the kind of tank movement I want... Thought about MJMods but by the time you buy the mod and pump you might as well get an OEM high output unit. Seio? Hydor Koralia? Supplemented by Zoomed Powersweeps? Any input?

I'm scared of the aquascaping...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9276495#post9276495 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kevin95695
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Dude this just seems wrong to me...

But the skimmer looks great...

John
 
Update: Finished detailing/cleaning. Tonight I'm running the citric acid bath. Scratch guy came by... No go. As most have told me, won't touch it unless I fork out major dough, and that's a no no. Gonna go as is. Should dump acidic flush tomorrow, rinse w/RO. Adding one last 5/8" sheet under tank. Final extra rise = 1-7/8". Then migrate stand and tank to house (from garage). Should begin the cycle of SW+LS+SW+LR+SW thereafter -- w/MARS members support should have a SW LS/LR tank by week end. Might take a run w/KMP to Modesto pick up some craigslist finds Wednesday.

Pics of how I solved some problems:

First -- Had to figure out how to mount light in lid. Cannibalized coralife hanging bracket and bolted to improvised spar...

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Next -- Quartering shot of assembly clam-shelled open. You can see an exhaust fan and sound reducing foam if you look close...

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Finally -- An end shot. Really tight. Guess how I got a bracket on each end and still screwed it to the canopy with less than a 1/2" wiggle room...

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Questions? Comments? Advice?

Thanks so far everybody.
 
i stopped by and checked out the progess tonight. kevin found this deal on craislist, we picked up a tank that had potential, and as of today this thing is something to see in comparison to the old. kevin's done a great job giving this tank a new lease on life. can't wait to see it w/sand and rock.
 
Thanks KMP.

KMP's buddy picked up a Hydor Koralia 3 and he likes it so far. I'm thinking of getting a couple to push water around the tank. Would 2 @ 1200gph be overkill in my itty bitty 75g? Should I scale back? I thought about MJMods but decided against.
 
The tank is in the houuuse...
The tank is in the houuuse...
The tank, the tank, the tank, the tank,
the tank -- is in houuuse!!!

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Perhaps... But Mrs. kevin95695 said Mrs. KMP told her you might be busy at the moment. Either way it's a psychological turning point and on-going thanks. The tank, the tank, the tank, the tank, the tank is in the houuuse... Let's get Mr. KMP's craigslist getup and plop down in tinker town!
 
This evening was Woodland-Modesto-Woodland to pick up Mr. KMP's 65g Oceanic w/stand'n'sump fer cheap. Nice deal. Finally I can feel like I returned the favor.

Geek on, KMP.
 
thank you mr. kevin for your time, picking up buckets, supplying blankets, offering your truck, and good conversation. people helping people :beer:













make sure you grab that money off your dash, i'd hate to see it blow out the window :D
 
KMP: Where's yer build thread?

MrMikeB, pbetito, jlfnjlf: THANKS.

Mike: Do you recognize that shelf there in the right hand corner of the shot? Sweet.

This is my LR stack based on a nearly blind attempt -- The photo is after several hours of settling of the cloud. I like the layout in general. I wanted real estate for clams and after RC postings I thought I'd like islotated patches for xenia.

My only gripe at this point is that I think it's too steep for max utilization.

Canopy and lights to follow after major aquascaping is accomplished.

Input?

THANKS AND THANKS AND THANKS! What a blast!

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Looks good. Sorry about the delay, but if you still need seed, I have three tanks I can take from. What are you doing for lighting?
 
KMP: You know me and you knew I'd be half nekked and up to my shoulders in SW half the night when we plunked down the lawn chairs and b.s.'d in front of it...

Mark: No worries, between the LS, cup o' mud jlf gave me and the amazing diversity and density of life on these rocks from MrMikeB/pbetito, I think my tank is nearly cycled. Not kidding. My lights are the Odyssea/Aquatraders CF/HQI MH's @ 760W. "Buy cheap, buy twice": I could buy this light three times over and still be in the money on LFS prices. I would have (and will be) going to replace bulbs at about 6mo's out either way -- Just about the time to seriously consider colorful corals. If the ballasts give me any friction I'll upgrade too (By-the-way: MH ballasts are the new 'electronic' versions, not the 'magnetic burn yer house down' versions).

Anybody out there got the proper instrumentation to measure light values like PAR etc.?
 
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