MY 75 Gallon RR project and soon to be "former setup" DIAL UP BEWARE!

[concept3]

I wanna SHARE my experiences with all of you........

A little background:

I have had this setup for a little over a year, and I live Upstairs in a condo. Due to Weight concerns, I stepped up from my former 45 gallon Pentagon to the "current" 55 gallon tank. 95% of my colonies started off as 1-3 inch frags purchased from a LFS. 14 months later, and they are already competing for space, being that the tank is very narrow. Some colonies are the size of small Oranges and what you see in the current pictures are "fragged" or "trimmed" colonies........

Here's what I have:

55 gallon standard tank on an AGA pine stand. Bare Bottom, about 65 lbs of LR

CPR wet/dry sump (only used as sump since NOTHING else fit under stand) and Overflow box

AquaC Urchin with Maxijet 1200

Hagen 802 as return pump from sump

Tsunami "soft start" wavemaker hooked up to 3 Maxijet 1200's

Fluval 202 (only as return pump for DIY chiller......LOL)

DIY poplar hood with 2 X 250 watt SE AB hooked up to 2 Icecap ballasts, 2 X 110 watt URI VHO's powered by ARO Ballast (from hellolights $35), Two 4 inch computer fans and 4 blue LED's from Circuit City

I dose only Tapwater+Kalkwasser constantly, and use TropicMarin salt. Every week, I dose Trace Elements, Iodine and Strontium/Molybdenum.
I feed DT's (not anymore, since I'll be getting Fast Fred's Phyto soon) and use Selcon as a food supplement.

Very light fish load, I only have a Blue Tang (3"), 5 chromis, a firefish, a 5 year old Convict Blenny, a sally lightfoot crab, and two emerald crabs. I do, however have 3 croceas, an ultra blue, purple, Gold, and teardrop maximas.

I WILL BE BREAKING DOWN THIS SETUP IN MID MARCH!
I need to finish all my projects before then, and plumb my new 75 RR when it comes in next week. In the meantime, I'd like to share my project with all of you here in New Jersey!

FEBRUARY SHOT (for some reason, I can never get the whole tank shot to look good )

ROUGHED tank stand and HOOD

My friend said as she walked into their garage: "Whose FIREPLACE?" DUH......... MINE?

OPEN WIDE!!! ALL THE HOOD ACCESS I WANT!!!

Doors still unpainted...

NEW stand, current stand

 

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Fast Fred was kind enough to lend me his dremel so I can drill a 20 LONG tank for my sump.....you guys didn't think that I would use that little excuse of a CPR wet/dry as my new sump did ya?

I Ordered an IWAKI MD40RLXT yesterday, and so here I begin the very tedious process of drilling (FOR THE FIRST TIME) my own hole through glass with NO prior experience.....HECK, the tank only cost $23

So here I go:

I purchased 3 things at Home Depot: A diamond tipped cutter, a deburring bit, and a finishing bit. I also asked for the help of my personal water assistant, a 12 ounce bottle with a hole in it, which I attached a piece of silicone tubing to wet the glass as I cut.

MATERIALS........

I used my girl's STENCIL which was exactly 1 3/4 inches...perfect for that hole for my 1 inch bulkhead!!!

I finally got somewhere after 25-30 minutes......almost there!

Breakthrough!!! Very rough though.........

This is what took the most time, deburring the edges and polishing for that smooth finish!

 

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THE FINISHED Product.............Now where is that Pump?!?!?
I finally decided to go all 1 inch to 3/4 tubing for the new pump setup. There will be a total of 4 outlets on top of the tank, terminating with 3/4" LOCLINES. I will be using BOTH pipes in the Megaflow box of the reef ready tank as RETURNS. We'll see when the tank arrives. Things always change along the way anyway.

New Sump/Refugium underneath my stand........

The New reflectors and Mogul bases came in today (I ordered them like yesterday!?!?! How's that for fast! Vince at www.Oceanencounter.com is located in S. Jersey I guess that HAD to do something with it!

I WILL BE RE-USING MY ICECAPS ON THIS NEW HOOD, But am mounting my Halides Perpendicular to the front of the tank since I have 18 inches of depth now.........WHOOHOOO!!!

I also had my Computer Genius friend, Andy Tan order me a pair of 5 inch 125 CFM fans for cooling in the new hood. He fixes Computers, and orders parts and stuff anyways.....

I'll probably start working on the hood after I get off work tomorrow, so I'll post pictures in a few...........

Till then...............

 

[concept3]

BY THE WAY GUYS, FEEL FREE TO CHIME IN! MAYBE GIVE ME A FEW POINTERS ON THINGS........

 

[Fast Fred]

Keep going Merv!!! It looks great!

 

[Reeftreasures]

hurry up and finish that new set-up so i can get a lot more frags. JK looks amazing can't wait to see it finished and those corals in their new home it's good be niceshoot me a pm if you need any plumbing help

 

[concept3]

Thanks Kevin..........
I'll definitely be shooting you a pm when I need to "resize" my corals again. I'll have a lttle more of a selection in about 3-4 weeks since I'll probably be fragging the other guys...

Can't wait to get home tonight and start working on that HOOD!!!

I'm gonna try and leave early because of that snow storm, supposedly, South Jersey is gonna get hit harder; and the Evo doesn't handle too well in the snow.......... I got an hour drive home, more like 2 hours today!!!

HA HA HA, It was late last night and I just noticed I put TWO of the same pictures on the first post........

THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO PUT:

FULL HOOD ACCESS!!!

 

[Phyl]

Looks great. What did you use for plans for the stand? It came out great!

 

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Ummmm, no plans really. I just kinda calculated the actual tank dimensions and compensated for the fact that plywood comes in 4 X 8 feet sheets. The actual footprint of the tank is 49.5" by 19.5".....I kinda went from there.....

I could measure it all up and post em up here.

 

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LIGHTS!!!

LIGHTS!!!

Before I went home, I stopped by ACE hardware store to get two receptacles. Another Great Idea from Fast Fred was used! He showed me his mogul-to-Ballast connection, and I decided to do the same. It's basically the same as getting a PFO plug or something like that, so I just went to the hardware store to buy generic ones. I got two different plugs, one a right angled and one left angled. I'll use it to differentiate between left and right bulbs/ballasts, plus, during those days that I'm feeling STUPID, I couldn't mistake them for a regular 110 V outlet.

I couldn't decide whether or not to lower the halides in this new hood, but I've decided to keep them 9 inches above the water in case of heat issues in the future. I can always lower the lights by adding a piece of wood behind the reflector/socket.

This is how she's going to look after installation

I HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT THE HALIDES WERE DEAD CENTER ABOVE THE TANK. I ended up screwing the Halides in and then Measuring Top Dead Center above the tank, obviously taking into account the center brace.

I just ended up soldering my connections. It's gonna be awhile before I change this setup. That Butane torch is awesome!

The hood and some computer fans that I might put above the tank to suck in fresh air. I'll be using the larger ones (5") that my friend, Andy ordered for the back of the tank to vent out the hot air.

AND ON THE 2ND HOUR, MERV SAID "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" Then I said........ "That's good!" Test firing the new XM bulb with my new EVC TECH ELECTRONIC BALLAST FROM OCEANENCOUNTER.COM, which I'll be using in my 20 gallon in the bedroom

Well, STAND is done, HOOD is almost done, and the meeting is this Sunday, so I won't be updating for a few days.........

In the meantime, feel free to comment!

 

[RichT]

Looks great Merv......you know.....your gonna have to change that tag line in your signature.....don't forget.

 

[concept3]

Huh?

HA HA HA I just got that.

You mean "That's only a 75?" "No, really?!?"

In a few weeks, Rich, in a few weeks...... see you at Fred's on Sunday.

 

[ToUcHoFeLeGaNcE]

looks good man keep up the good work!

 

[concept3]

I didn't work Monday due to the snow, so I decided to stay home and needed something to do. I laid out all the pipes and connectors that I had been collecting for the past 2 weeks now, and decided to make a mock-up of the plumbing while I patiently wait for the Iwaki pump. The pump will be here tomorrow, so I figure, what the hey?!?!

I've never been more confused. I guess it's hard to decide especially if the main component of my circulation system would be the stooooopid pump. I glued some pipes together anyway, and I start the acrylic baffles for the refugium/sump.

Plus hopefully, I'll get the tank tomorrow. That should make things a little easier so I can put everything in perspective. I am deisgning (off the top of my head) a system that will enable me to dismantle the pump from the sump, and also to interchange the return piping in the future if I want to reduce my loclines or clean the pipes. You'll all see in a few days. Remember, I'll have a 1 inch exit from the Iwaki to a TEE into TWO 3/4 inch pipes, up some 45 degree angles and spilling into the tank 4 ways with TWO being 3/4 inch and TWO 1/2 inch loclines. Confused yet?
So am I!!!

If she can only see the living room now!!!

First baffle for the refugium, and then I RAN out of Silicone! I thought I had another tube somewhere.....I guess not! I'm always at Home Depot darn it!

 

[RichT]

If the exit on the pump is 1 inch then maybe you should upsize the piping to help reduce frictional loss. My pump manufacture recommends 2 times the output or 3/4 x 2 = 1.5". Then you reduce it down as close to the discharge as practical.

 

[concept3]

Went to HD and got more silicone to finish the fuge/sump.



Later on during the day, I stop by the LFS since they got a new shipment of Live rock in, I now one has to pay a premium when buying LR from a fish store, but at least I got to cherry pick some nice light pieces for the contraption I'm ready to make. When you drive for one hour everyday for work, you think of the weirdest things.............. CHECK THIS OUT!!!

GRABBED the MAKITA, A DRILL BIT, BLACK PLASTIC CLOTHES HANGER, EPOXY PUTTY..........

Drilled a pilot hole, only about 1 inch deep.

Shoved the cut plastic coat hanger DOWEL with some epoxy in the hole........

VOILA!!! Peg leg live rock!
WHY?!?! Because I am going bare bottom, and it makes cleaning or vaccuuming the tank I should say, EASIER!!!!

 

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RichT has a beautiful ARCH that he picked up at DrMac, and since I didn't want to beg for him to give it to me, I decide to "MAKE" my own.

Now think of this as "Mad Crazy reefer LEGO"
I took the Plastic hanger dowel thing and ran away with it. I grabbed the lightest flattest rocks I could find in my Live Rock pile, and "placed" them together so that they somewhat interlock together naturally. I then drilled a hole straight through the first rock going into the second rock.

You can clearly see the three pieces of Live rock that will comprise my "MAN MADE" arch........

Here is the arch right before I epoxied the $@#% out of it.

 

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I was able to make three "AQUASCAPE READY" rocks out of my pile of regular liverock. I'll use the other smaller pieces as support for my aquascaping.

 

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Tank came in FINALLY on the 3rd of March. Fast Fred helped me out by lugging it up the stairs. Here she is sitting beside my soon to be old setup.

With the tank now FINALLY in place, I work on the returns for the pump. Like I mentioned before, there will be a 1 inch return from the Iwaki, that splits into 3/4 inchers, and then splits 4 ways. Here are a few pictures to better illustrate what I'm talking about.

Rear shot of the plumbing returns

 

[concept3]

HEY EVERYONE, GOT MAD FLOW????

Tank front with the UGLY looking LOCLINES....I might have to reconfigure this setup........ Maybe later.