75g reef rebuild

[skyshrimp]

Well finally a few more pics from all the prepping im doing. My shipment finally came and i got most of what i need for now.

-mp40 wireless
-garden hose adapter for ro/di unit
- 1/4 tubing to connect to garden adapter
-replacement kit for ro/di unit

I took the vortech out of the box and checked it and did a test run in a large rubbermaid tub i had laying around. After that i went to the website and had it registered for "just in case" measures.

The garden hose adapter was because since I moved to a new location the sinks did not have the same threadings that my last place had. So I got the adapter to see if it would work the same, I hooked it up and it worked like a charm. Since this is working i went ahead and filled the sterilite tub i had set -up for cooking the dead rock with ro/di water. I put the pump and heater in and when it was full i started mixing the salt.

So now the rock is cooking to help let out any phosphates that may have been in it from my last setup. I'm so glad i decided to do this outside because the stink would have made me dread coming home from work everyday. I have a 300 watt sera heater in it outside on my porch and even when it gets cold outside at night the water hasn't dropped below 80 degrees. The water has already went from clear to dirty and murky and I'll be doing the weekly water changes for 2 months like I plan. I still have to buy more buckets for dunking and swishing the rock during the weekly water changes.

Other things i have bought were:
- American dj powerstrip to plug everything into
-JBJ automatic top-off system, self explanatory

I still need to buy substrate and i was thinking of going with aragonite reef grade like i had before. Still deciding on using just this one substrate or using a mix of reef grade and sugar fine together.I made so many mistakes in my last set-up i wanna make sure i get it right this time. It took me a total of about a month to set up my last tank but this one will take some time and will be healthy. So, thats the update for now folks and there will be more to come. Thanks!!!

 

[ThurlowR]

Using sugar fine sand I've always had nothing but sandstorms while using vortech's. I'd check out reef flake from Premium Aquatics, great stuff.

 

[skyshrimp]

I'll check it out, long as it doesn't blow around everywhere is good for me.

 

[skyshrimp]

Well i just ordered about 120 lbs or reef grade substrate which should roughly equal about3 inches of sandbed. My last sandbed was about 5 inches deep but seemed kinda too deep for me in a 75g and took up up alot of room.

I also orderrd new bulbs for my ati sunpower and instead of getting the ati aquablues like ihad before i went ahead and tried out 2 the new coral plus bulbs to see how the look. I've been hearing good things about them and hope they were worth getting.

I still have to buy gate valves for my plumbing and the kit for the asm g3 skimmer as well as the actual sump for my set up and have the baffles cut to size.

Other than that im just patiently waiting for my rock to cook and clean itself, it's water change day for the rock and hopefully all this planning will pay off and the tank will show it. As things from my orders get to my home i will post pucs and let you all know how things are going. Thanks for keeping up with my thread folks slow as it may be for now.