Noobie starting 75gal mostly DIY

T

Tampico

New member
Hello all, I am super new to Saltwater. Never had a SW setup. Lots of FW. Had 8 tanks running @ one time with Lake malawi cichlids. Took some time off from the aquariums because alot was happening in my life. New baby, home shopping. We have been settled in our home for 2 years and my daughter is now 5. I wanted to try SW, mainly because after setting up a 45 with a few cichlids, I noticed my daughter was only interested in the tank when there were babies. She wanted to hunt and find them, ( although they never last for long in a cichlid tank) I thought the variety of a sw tank, and the nature of things hidden for her to find would be fun and a learning tool for her.

I started to read articles a few months ago, almost made the mistake of buying a used SW 29gal setup. I had this 75 drilled acrylic tank, that I had planned on using to winter a few pond fish. Has a few scratches that I think I can get out. Just got a ro/di unit. will have to wait a few weeks to buy the next piece . Here are some mid-build stand picks.

P1010282.jpg

P1010288.jpg

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The drilled holes are what I am dealing with @ this point.

P1010291.jpg

1 1/4 drilled through right side about 2 inch from the top

P1010292.jpg

This is a 3/4 hole 2 inches from the top left side


P1010294.jpg

This is also a 3/4 hole in the left back corner


It was my intention to use the right holes with a section of pipe and a cap for the intakes. Filled with holes or slots along the top. Built a mockup today @ work and will take the camera in to take some photos.

I also had pplanned to use some locline & y's I have to make a double return top and bottom on the left side. With a provision to build a spray bar for the front edge. Will post some pictures this weekend. Plan to spend most of the weekend @ work. Snow coming and I am in charge of facilities
:mad:

I will use a sump if I can decide what to use. I wanted to make a 20tall into sump and return with another 20gal tall for Fuge. They are just too tall. I also have a 55 that I may get away with. Built the stand alittle tall in the begining to use this 55 gal.

concept:
55galsumpoption1.jpg
 
welcome to Reefnest,
you dont look like a newb, looks awesome
great job on the stand and hood, any diy pics of making it
those shop lights will be fine for a while but like you said mh is the best way to go
 
No other photos of the build process. Its a 2/4 subframe with the the exterior skined in 1x3 and bead board. It was a little over a week of illegal lunch hour home projects @ work. Did not take pics of it until I was busted by the owner. Sounds like my punishment may be helping him set up a wine tasting setup outside his cellar. Will get pics again on monday, playing with a few plumbing ideas and had a hard time explaining it. Its all dry fit now and can be changed fairly easy and then the pieces can go back into the parts bins.

I figured I could try the lights to start. The T5s seem to have a huge following too. Problem is I only gave myself 14inches of clearance on the hood from the water line. Is that enough room for MH?

I have 2 120v 8inch fans I had planned on putting on the hood left and right side. Now I cant drill the holes. I dont want to look @ the fans. so I am planning on putting them on the top. May use them to pull heat out of the hood. not sure will have to play.
 
Any suggestions on getting the glue residue from this tank? Its acrylic and they had 3 different stick thermo's on it and some tape. The glue stayed behind and is now a dust trap. should I try ronsonal (AKA lighter fluid)? something safer? I know goof off and goo gone discolor plastic so not touching this thing with those. Sorta scared to use anything really will have to test it on the back but need some suggestions on what to try

P1010297.jpg
 
Hi, very good to see you here and to share all these pictures with us. I learned few good things from this and the first thing is that you do a good job with woodworking :) and I wish if i was talented like that.

It looks like you have done a good drawing of your system and gave yourself enough room for light in the hood too.

If 55 fits inside the stand then you will have a better filtration than the smaller one you had in mind.

Few things that I would change or it might be a good idea to change.

You won't be needing a ball valve on the blue line coming down from the tank. You will need to put a hole facing down an inch bellow water level to kill the siphone (if you not sure what I mean i can take few pictures for you)

The hole that you have in the tank in the bottom... what is that for ?

and back to the sump,, the yellow line goes out of the pump and it splits to go to the tank and one to the fuge... When the water level drops where the pump is the water coming from the fuge will bring some air with it and it will suck in the line to your tank and you don't want this.

to prevent this you can build another baffles like you have in the left to kill bubbles or you can modify it a little differently.

45.jpg
 
# 1 is to control how much water going to the fuge and more you close it faster water goes to the fuge...

# 2 is to control how much water going the tank in case if your pump is a little too strong for the overflows.

# 3 you can make that line go a little to the right closer to where the water from the fuge coming to give it more chance to get ride of air not that the baffle won't do that..

Make sure the acrylic you are cutting is not tight anywhere and little lose before you cilicon it . Acrylic expands with heat and you don't want water pressure and acrylic pressure crack the sump.


I think I got everything and if I remembered something else will get back to you..
 
you were typing the last one while I was working the graph for you..
Alchool should remove it (I don't mean the beer can in your hand ) :) (rubbing alchool)

and as for the lights I won't put hat fixture in the hood but you can use the ballast from that and with saltwater it will rust so we use endcaps for a long life.
UL-ENDCAP.JPG


here here one from Dr. Foster Smith
p_161085.jpg


Dr Foster Smith
 
No idea why that hole is in the bottom... I did not cut any of the holes. Story goes like this. I am @ this estate auction. The bid comes to me for $40 and I am ready to bail. I have a tank graveyard in my basement the way it is... no current need for another tank. But before I can say no ... the other bidder starts yelling... "They this tanks has holes in it.. I want out" .... hmmm oportunity... I say " what there is holes in it" Auctioneer relists the say and I get it for $1... I may be able to fix it after all;)

Dilled tank could be a good thing If I could figure out a layout using the holes. Will post picks on Monday again. Will try to get some his weekend but with snow coming... I have to make sure all is well with driveways parking lot and sidewalks or I will have 400 employees calling @ 8am monday wanted to express their "love"
 
You can use bulkhead with cap to close that hole or you can clean it well, get a piece of acrylic and weld on. I would've taken it for that price too. Good buy holes can be extended to a bigger size easily with hole saw.
 
Few things about a time table for this project. I hope to be added SW, rock (thinking a mix of manmade and LR) and sand by middle to end of may. Already have about 200lbs of southdown saved from the cichlid days. I do have a few questions that are going to need answered down the road.

1. I have read a ton about rock. I want to make most of it and then add some aquacultured rock from florida (or someplace else if anybody had some suggestions) I would like to seed my manmade with this purchased rock. For those that have made rock, do you use any oyster shells (available @ the feed store)? I was thinking about mixing cement and a mix of southdown and oystershells. I have also read that some are mixing in rock salt with the sand. While the rock soaks this salt leaches out leaving small holes where the salt had been. Curing tanks are finished and in the basement. 2 55gal brute trash cans with 3inch shower drains and ball valves for easy water changes. Will post pics of that project too.

2. Is there a website that offers livestock profiles? When I raised cichlids, Profiles of each fish was available on the website. I'd like to find a website that has a large list of corals and fish so I can start to put together a tank stock wishlist. So far all I know that I really want are clown or 2, blenny of some sort and some zoos.

3. Is there anybody further south? I just did a map quest and montoursville is 2 hours from here. Not good as I am on call 24/7 every other week. I'm way down the river in Lancaster county with the Amish. about 3 miles from ThatFishPlace.
 
Excellent wood working skills, and it looks like you have a hardcore wood working shop too! I used to do some wood working 8 years ago, but I only did some small night stands and other stuff before I went off to college, now I have no room. :)

I was thinking you might be able to make that hole work for you. You could put a bulk head on it and then run some pipe up the corner of the tank and maybe put a U on top. That would let the return water from your sump flow up the tank and come out at the top just like some other setups. As long as you don't mind some PVC pipe or other tubing in the corner of your tank. You could use some suction cups or something else to stabalize the pipe in the corner.

I'm very interested in seeing what you end up doing with that hole.

And I agree, $1 for that setup is a great deal!
 
The room I am working in is a little misleading. I have a good chop saw, a great table saw and a panel saw. Most work done in that room is hvac mechanicals. Alot of the tools I brought from home. Would build it @ home but there was 2 problems. First, evening family time gets priority so cant work on it every night. I do get a hour lunch break everyday and that is moving this along. Also, alot of the lumber was salvaged from a crate we got in from germany. (they make crates so much better than me... They must laugh when I send them a crate made from crap lumber.)

The second problem is my workshop has 3 pinball machines and 2 shuffle alleys taking up my work area. You can barely move in there. This summer they will get moved out, but not before the small barn on my property is turned into a game room.

I just painted the subframe for the stand today. Funny how fast paint dries in that room. There is 2 boilers and 2 chillers in that room.
 
Almost forgot

Zooqi

When you posted the sump layout. The red circle would be my return pump. forgot to label it. I fed the fuge from the return pump because I thought that was the correct way. if the protien skimmer is in the first chamer and the return is in the second chamber............ The fuge would dump water into the return section, bypassing the chamber with the skimmer. I'd like to get a mandarin fish a year or so after the cycle and I thought if the pods went past the skimmer, far fewer would make it up to the tank.. Did I explain well enough?
 
Thought I would show the ideas I had for the plumbing, because it was just too hard to explain. May end up doing an overflow box on the left as suggested. also need to look into finding another way to do the drains I have. The more I look @ them the bigger they seem. Here is what I tried today. Went rooting in bins @ work to try some things out. nothing is glued so it is just like playing with legos.

Looking for opinions onwhy this would not work, be safe or if there is a better way to do it. Its just easy for me to through it together and take a photo rather than try to explain it

RearPlumbingidea.jpg


missing a few pieces to fill it all in but it gives you an idea what has been stuck in my brain the past week. Also thought some flex would keep vibrations down.

proposedtankfrontplumbing.jpg


with 4 movable jets on the left and a spray bar blowing down the fron glass. All water should move right to the drains. Ive seen alot of overflows that pull from near the surface. Thought as long as there was good tank movement that would not matter.

Rightintakesside.jpg


Here is the dual inlets. Just a quick concept proof.


Rightintakesabove.jpg


right drains from above.


I await the pending opinions, comments or flames. Thanks
 
The skimmer on your drawing will go next to the blue line coming down then and this way water level stays same all the time. I missed the part with skimmer if you mention it and where to place it.
 
First let me say welcome to reefnest Tampico. That stand/canopy and tank looks great. Very nice workmanship I must say. As far as your lights if your going to spend $130+ on that fixture you can get this for just about the same price. Thanks to Mo I now have MH over my tank :D. Try them you will like them without a doubt. That company also is a sponsor of RC. Keep us posted on your tank.

http://www.hellolights.com/25methalbalk.html
 
Thanks for the info. Those lights were from a remodel. No money was spent. I was only trying to cut a few corners. Well truth be told I like circles. The fixtures were free and if they are not used for the tank I can alway use them in the basement. Seems like there is alot of reefers using the T5s lately. Think its less heat and alot less cost to operate. So far in the project I have $10 invested in the tank and $70 in some of the wood for the tank. $45 of that the red oak trim. I had wanted to try these lights first since the price was so good. That way I can spent the savings on a good skimmer. Not sure if I should be looking @ venturi or needle valve. Was thinking ASM
http://www.thatpetplace.com/Product...rs/T1/F49BB+0578+0017/EDP/50076/Itemdy00.aspx


Would I need 2 or 3 MH250 for a 4ft long 75?

Any thoughts on the plumbing?
 
Quick lighting update. 2 250 watt Metal Halide ballasts just showed up. Gift form the contractor fairies. Still need mogal bases and reflectors. But I guess that answers the lighting issues, as long as 500watts of light is not too much for a 75 gal.
Think its in the right zone though. No way around the bulbs will have to buy those but every little bit helps

This build is gonna rival any of the cheap reef setups.
 
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