Cosmo's 75G Build Thread

imcosmokramer,

Who made this tank? What is its size, what deminsions is it?
Also, who made the stand, I love the color, I want this stand!

Do you mind me asking how much the tank and stand were?

I've shopped top of the line manufactures; ELOS & A.G.E
But wow, super expensive!

Glasscages.com, nice prices but iffy customer service.

So now I'm hoping I can get custom made AGA or Oceanic?
Would they make one rimless? Anyone know?

I'm starting from scratch as well, and new, I've had a tank before, but nothing like todays tanks. So its all new to me again.
 
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Nice start imcosmokramer, looking good...

Where did you get your baserock from (page 1 picture), specifically the shelf rock? That's the kind of rock I'm looking at for part of my aquascaping ideas. I've been so focused on the hardware and infrastructure to date I haven't given much thought or effort to the rock and stocking yet. I'm waiting for most of my hardware orders to start arriving and need to shift gears now...lol You're many weeks ahead of me...

Thanks
 
thanks eyes

Don, the base rock was ordered from BulkReefSupply.com 25 lbs of shelf, 25lb of spaghetti rock. Let me know if you have any problems finding it.

I am already getting coralline on the shelves (although, I thought it is way too early for that....).

Chris, also, since this was my first tank, if I had to do it all over again, I would make sure to have a bunch of extra heaters, powerheads, filters for mixing, moving, QT, etc. Hopefully I'll have my ro/di system set up the way I want it over the next couple of days.

The tank is a Reef Ready AGA 75 gl. 48x18x20.
I will post a FTS with stand tomorrow once the stand is put back together. I had to remove the doors in order to get the fuge in/out. Everything should be all set by tomorrow. Don't even think about going with one that is not Reef Ready. It cost around 220 at a LFS. The stand was bought there as well and was about 370 plus I had a 25% off coupon which made it 277. It looks great!!.

The lights that you see are the T5's. I don't have the MH's on yet bc there is no reason. The T5's are really blue. Together with the MH's they look great. The moonlights are great at night. They create a very pretty look with the shadows from the waves.

Love the flow from the Tunze's.
 
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wooohoooo

wooohoooo

finally!!

DSC00872.jpg


The tank is up. Right now it's filled with microbubbles. The stand is put back together. The Reefkeeper 2 is mounted on the right side of the stand. I'll post pictures of the fuge a little later. :)

There wasn't enough light in the room, so getting the correct exposure for the stand and the tank was difficult using the dinky little digital camera (and I was to lazy to get the digital slr). :D So the tank is a overexposed.
 
WOW thats awesome, thats the exact look I'm going for!
Ok, so the tank is a standard size, I think I want a custom size and I prefer rimless...so I might mod that part there.

Is there a way you can find out who made the stand? Its beautiful...love the stain and the fixtures etc...but saying you got it at the LFS doesn't help me much, I'd need the manufacturer.

I'll probably be bugging you more on your equipment!

But nice work so far, its looking great!

Would you prefer me to PM you with questions about your setup or post them here? I can also email, if you respond quicker?

Thanks! Great Job!
 
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This works

This works

I'll respond quicker here :)

The stand was made by a local guy who builds all the stands for the LFS. It's not a big company making stands. The store always has a certain number of stands that he builds and you can pick the stain you want. Otherwise, you can order a custom one from the store and they contact him. Since you want a custom size tank (what size do you want) you will clearly need a custom stand. Make sure the support on the stand meet the tank requirement.

The rimless tanks look sweet, especially if you have the lights hanging. I was not ready to do that in this house. Not sure that I've ever heard of a rimless aga, but I may be wrong.

Please feel free to ask me any questions you want about the equipment.
 
Ok so if I wanted a custom stand from this local guy how would I get in touch with him or the LFS? What stain did you pick, do you know the name of it? Or how would I make sure I got the same stain as the one I see you got?

I wonder if the shipping of one of these stands would be too much? Maybe I can buy the blue prints for making one of these stands and have a local carpenter make one?

Either way I need to get in touch with the LFS and hope they know which stand I'm talking about.
 
PM sent

I only bought the tank and stand there. I'm sure you can call them and talk to them about custom stands. I don't have the name of the stain bc the stand was in the store and I said "I WANT THAT ONE!". They will ask you for the dimensions and then would be able to give you a quote on shipping. They also had a 25% off sale, which was nice. Not sure how much shipping would be though....

I would go local if I were you. Do you have any stores near you? They would probably know of local guys that can build them and then you can pick them up and not have to worry about shipping. Do you live in a house or an apt? Do you own or rent? will you keep the sump under the tank or in the basement?
 
I live in a house, own it, no basement.
Sump will be underneath.
Maybe you could send me some better pics of the stand, so I can get the builder to see exactly what I want...do you mind taking some shots with better lighting and more angles?
 
I would cut away some of that slack in that drain hose,& make it a more direct kind of.The soft gray pieces at the end screw off so you can reattach it after you trim the hose to size.

O BTW looks great man.
 
blktank - THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH for suggesting the RK2. So much better than to have to turn everything on and off manually, plus it's so easy to use.

I will try to shorten the return hose. Sounds like it shouldn't be a big deal.

How long should it take for the skimmer to make foam? It has been on for 24 hours and nothing. Will it take a few days?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12129078#post12129078 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by imcosmokramer
blktank - THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH for suggesting the RK2. So much better than to have to turn everything on and off manually, plus it's so easy to use.

I will try to shorten the return hose. Sounds like it shouldn't be a big deal.

How long should it take for the skimmer to make foam? It has been on for 24 hours and nothing. Will it take a few days?


Yeah the RK2 is great isnt it?

after 2 days i would try to adjust it to get the bubbles comming into the neck.It should be skimming a little something by now.


Shortning the hose should take about 2 minutes.The way mine is there is like 4" of hose to the sump,but mine is directly under the drain from the bulkhead.
 
Bt, what do I adjust on the skimmer and how?

It is putting out less microbubbles but still quite a bit.

It is not skimming anything after 1 day. Not sure if it's too early.

Here are some more pictures:

DSC00888.jpg


DSC00889.jpg


DSC00891.jpg


DSC00892.jpg
 
Ok first slide that black sponge all the way down the drain tube.Then pull up on the gray drain tube & watch the bubbles rise into the neck of the skimmer.It will take some adjusting at first,& it will take about 3-4 days for the skimmer to break in.Stop when the bubbles are about 1" from spilling into the skimmer cup.
 
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