75gal Tank Build

[BillyBigReef]

After finding my 75 gal online and speaking with other RC members in the area I have become addicted to this hobby. One problem I have found is that at the moment I lack the space to do the build I would like to do. I currently have a roommate that is living in the spare room I intended to be my fish room. My plan is to remove the window from my kitchen to my sun room and build a tank mount in the wall. My sun room is lower than the kitchen so it makes it nice and easy to do plumbing and its much less than running lines to the basement. Having someone in the room gives me time to plan out the setup I need for that room. I have looked at many different setups and have found some great Ideas. This is what I have so far for my stand setup.:thumbsup:

75gal tank with stand

After a little bit of water and some scraping

Sump:
Currently I will be using a 20 long sump. I'm looking at some ideas with this thing and I'm not really sure what I am going to do with it yet. I have found many ways to do what I need to do. I'm not looking to spend money that I don't need to spend in one hand. But in the other hand I want to do it right and not reflect the old McGyver T.V. series into my tank build. So I'm hoping that I can get a GEO skimmer and sump here really soon. I only have a serpent star fish and not too worried about skimming this far. I could be wrong and need it asap. In that case my patience needs work. Should I do baffles in my 20 long? I have seen some pretty nice setups and don't know what is best. Seems like everyone has a different way of doing it. I am not doing a refugium as of this far. With a 20 long I don't see it fitting anyways. The problem I have found is where to fit the skimmer. I'm thinking if I slide the sump toward the front of the cabinet I may have room in the back by adding to the base if needed. Here is the pump I bought from http://premiumaquatics.com/store/merchant.mvc
Pump:

Model 50PX-X - equal to Iwaki MD30X Circulation rated
1110gph max flow
13 foot max head pressure
90 watts
1" MPT in/out
Footprint 5 x 10
Return Plumbing:
Ok, so going from the return pump I have found this diagram on Google and I think its pretty much right on for what I want to do. Since its a 75gal I don't see going wrong with a triple return. This was the best diagram I actually found that pretty much listed everything I would need to do and buy. http://www.aquacorals.com/Pics/Tank%20Plumbing/PlumbingSteps/Return-Parts- Diagram.pdf

Drain:
This part seemed pretty simple to me... I don't have a great diagram to show this but this is about as simple as I can show you. Keeping in mind that ball valves and unions will be added for easy tear down.

If anyone has any ideas on How I should set up the baffles then please comment. Or should I just wait and do a McGyver bubble trap for now until I get my new sump and skimmer.

 

[SkyReef]

If anyone has any ideas on How I should set up the baffles then please comment. Or should I just wait and do a McGyver bubble trap for now until I get my new sump and skimmer.

The basic bubble-trap design for a sump is over, under, over, and you can find examples all over the web. Go to a big-box home-improvement store, and buy glass, and silicone it. Due to the closeness of the panes in your sump, you may find it a bit difficult to get the silicone placed cleanly. But then again, no one will really be looking at your sump as if it were a display tank.

Depending on the timing of your purchase of a new sump and skimmer, you may just be able to wait on fussing with the bubble trap, if you don't care about bubbles in your aquarium. Sometimes having the return section of the sump set to have a higher water-level helps prevent bubbles from going back to the display tank. But without chambers or section-dividers, this would simply mean putting more water in the sump, overall. I think it has something to do with the stablizing effect of the weight of the extra water, which inhibits bubble formation by the pump sucking water up to return line. But if you add more water to your sump, to inhibit bubble formation, make sure you still have adequate "headroom" in the sump (the volume of the sump not filled with water) to capture the backflow if the pump gets turned off!

Good luck.

 

[BillyBigReef]

thank you. pump has plenty of headroom. was told I will have to keep it dialed down for this tank. I'm hoping to cycle the tank with the possibility GEO will get me a setup that fits my cabinet before I add anything to it. my plumbing design is simple and yet easy to swap out sump and pump if "when" needed. the whole system is hooked up to an APC Backup system. With the hope it doesn't fail. I may just wait to add baffles and use the sump as a frag tank in the future...