New Basement= New Stand= New 75g Build

[Saadatski]

Welcome all to my very first 75g build! If you knew me last year, you would remember my 75g that i bought exactly one year ago. Now it is time for me to take it down and hopefully build it all over again.

First, here are some photos of the tank i have right now. It has been a FOWLR for the longest time but for about 2 months it was a reef when i added a hammer coral that fell off the rock and died. But here is the tank now!

And my newest addition that i saved up for about one year...

Now as you see there are many things i need to redo, and i have been waiting the longest time for an opportunity to do so. Here is my list!

Stand- My stand sucks, as it is very ammature, has ugly stain and is poorly put together.

Sand- My sand is way too fine, and now with the vortech it is blowing around everywhere. I plan on having a nicer, better sand such as seafloor special.

Make the ATS work from the beginning so it can eliminate and prevent the cyano from ever growing again.


With this, i also want to set up a beautiful reef, full of my favorite corals and fish and do it with the least amount of money as possible. Since i work and don't make all that much, DIY and efficiency is key for me especially since i will start school in September too.

I will be getting the wood for the stand sometime this week and hopefully when the workers are done with the basement. I plan on building the stand with oak hardwood planks, with 2",4", and 6" planks. I will stain it a nice stain, this time SAND IT and finish it with a nice pol coat. here is my design right now. Tell me if it will support the tank!!

Now, this is ideal and i have a bad feeling this is going to cost me a lot. If I can use the old stand, remove the ugly skin i had on before and use the 2x4 structure, that would be great. Show me how to skin or send me a link to a detailed thread that shows how they do it.

Thanks guys and enjoy!!!

 

[Saadatski]

Hey guys,

Today i will go to home depot and get a feel for how much this stand is going to cost, so i still need you to give me some sort of approval on it and tell me if it will support.

 

[Saadatski]

Although i completely took a different approach from the design above, here is the new stand.

Before

After!!

I used the same interior structure and painted it white. Then i got going cutting the wood and the trims. Took me about a week total to build with the stain and finish, but i finially finished today!!

Lastly, I put in the order for Carib seafloor special grade reef sand and it should be coming in soon probably next week.

The fish are in quarantine and I am sad to say i lost my Yellow tang which I had since the beginning of this tank. He died when i was on vacation

 

[Saadatski]

Stand in place and getting ready to clean the tank with some RO and viniger. Then I will hopefully start filling her up by tomorrow and put rocks and sand in

Here is its placement.

 

[james30ct]

Stand looks way better than before.

 

[Lig]

Very professional looking stand. You did a good job. Kind of makes me want to revisit my stand.

 

[welsher7]

That stand came out really nice! I still have to finish mine, I hope comes out as nice yours.

 

[Saadatski]

Stand looks way better than before.

Thanks. Yeah I have been waiting a long time to redo it and after much research I finally pulled it off

 

[Saadatski]

Very professional looking stand. You did a good job. Kind of makes me want to revisit my stand.

If you feel you need to redo it, go right ahead!! if you have any questions on how to do a couple of things feel free to post or message me.

That stand came out really nice! I still have to finish mine, I hope comes out as nice yours.

Thanks, It took many hours and lots of planning and a couple sheets of sandpaper!!!

 

[Saadatski]

Hey guys, forgot to update this in a while.

First things first i put the tank on the stand and put it in its place. Then I just used my same old sump and removed 3 baffles to make some room.

I ordered the sand and I got Carib Sea Seafloor special sand and to be honest, it looks awesome!!

After a very long time of waiting, I started filling the tank.

Woke up the next morning to this...

Finally, i worked really hard on the plumbing and it took me forever with multiple trips to the Home Depot, but its a simple herbie style overflow with a flex tubing return. Kept it has basic as possible.

I put in the rock and sand and got the tank running finally, and here it is!!!

And a picture of the sump

My very last question is, when can i add fish!!! The skimmer, the sump and everything is running. and the rocks are from my old tank and were kept in a vented and circulating bucket. So should i experience any cycle or can i just add my fish?

 

[Patrick Cox]

Looks like a good start. Congrats! One question. Your sump looks like it might be too full but maybe not. Have you tested to ensure you have enough room in your sump for backflow if the power fails?

 

[Saadatski]

yeah dont worry the sump doesnt run this high, I took this picture when it was not running so this is it when the power is cut.

 

[Saadatski]

Anything? I want to know when I can possibly add fish

 

[Waddleboy]

you can add fish after the cycle

 

[Saadatski]

Yes I know that but my question is whether or not I will have a cycle due to having the rock from my last setup. Once again the rock was kept in a container that was aerated with a powerhead.

Sorry, I guess my question was if I will experience a cycle

 

[Waddleboy]

Yes I know that but my question is whether or not I will have a cycle due to having the rock from my last setup. Once again the rock was kept in a container that was aerated with a powerhead.

Sorry, I guess my question was if I will experience a cycle

sorry misunderstood.You probably wont have a cycle but have a tiny one (like 2-3 days to a week most?). Best thing wait a day or two check for ammonia nitrite nitrates and if they 0 your good to go. You most likely will not have to wait the full month.

 

[rotts4u]

I am thinking about stripping down my tank for a full clean up too and was wondering about the cycle. Thanks for posting this info

 

[Saadatski]

sorry misunderstood.You probably wont have a cycle but have a tiny one (like 2-3 days to a week most?). Best thing wait a day or two check for ammonia nitrite nitrates and if they 0 your good to go. You most likely will not have to wait the full month.

Thanks, and this is what i thought too because there has to be a tiny bit of die-off when the rock was kept in a bucket. I tested for Ammonia and nitrate yesterday and first reading was

(API)
Ammonia-0.25ppm ??????
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Ph-8.1

Then second test because the first boggled me.

(API)
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
ph-8.1

My test kits are about one year old, so I may have had a misreading with the ammonia due to the simple fact of an inaccurate test kit and it being old. Thinking about adding the fish I have left and taking them out of the holding tank. Put it my little Nassarius snail yesterday and he enjoyed the tank.

The feeling of a fresh start is amazing. I think what really got me to restart was the mix of a poor stand and the cyano outbreak i could not control under any circumstance. I hope this setup will be as beautiful as it is in my head!!

 

[Saadatski]

Wow, been such a long time guys... About 3 months!!!

Been Busy with school, and its a really stressful time so my fish became a thing which i feed and top off and thats it. All i had for a while were these two buggers

And now bought them a little friend!!

But its been a while, put lights on the tank and added a beautiful looking torch coral, always one of my favorites.

And here is the tank right now!!! Thanks to my low nuitrient system due to the EXTREMLY light bioload of my clownfish, no algae!

And Finally i have a question. I have been dosing the sailfin with copper and i just realized a mistake... I left my powerhead in there. I know that copper sticks to plastics, but can i remove them using carbon? can carbon remove copper from the water and plastics?

 

[codeblue48]

I know that copper can stick to some things, but I believe some of the talk about copper sticking to plastics is kind of ridiculous. Just give that powerhead a good RO/Vinegar bath and I would think you would be fine. Unless of course somewhere else here has something different to say and can prove me wrong.

Beautiful tank btw man. I really like the open space that you have. I am going to be removing a lot of the rock in my 65 gallon tank to free up some sand space.