RocketEngineer's 75g/125g Setup

[RocketEngineer]

I got all the old sand washed and into the tank last night but even after an hour the tank still wasn't clear enough for pictures. One thing's for sure, I definitely need more sand to have a decent sand bed. Right now I only have about an inch of sand all the way around which really isn't enough for the jawfish. Now I have to figure out what kind of sand I want. I'm looking at Tropic Eden Reef Flakes, maybe two bags plus another bag of Tropic Eden Miniflakes. I figure three bags of sand spread around the 6' tank should add another inch+ to the sand bed which should put me about where the level was in the 75g.

Thoughts/Input?

 

[sirreal63]

I used the Tropic Eden reeflakes and mini reeflakes in a 50/50 mix and it has been wonderful. It is a very clean sand as well.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Now that the aquascape is mostly complete, all the old sand is in the display, and the dust has settled out, I am really enjoying the result.

FTS:

Left:

Center-Left:

Center-Right:

Right:

A few of the corals have been placed but most are still awaiting their final positions. The Acan Lords will likely be glued to small pieces of rock while the SPS will go onto the main structure. The brain and lobo corals will go in the sand bed. The fun part will be figuring out where to put them all, realize how little space they take up and going shopping for more.

 

[Knd107]

Looking good. The lighting is not the LEDs yet, right?

I have the same issue with trying to buy too many corals.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Looking good. The lighting is not the LEDs yet, right?

I have the same issue with trying to buy too many corals.

The light is my 4' T5 setup from the 75g. The LEDs are still a work in progress.

I have realized that collecting corals is just as bad as collecting anything else, there is always something else to get. For the moment I'm going to let everything settle in before adding to the ones I have.

 

[RocketEngineer]

While a lot of work has gone into the display, the sump also got replaced.

The new sump has the compartments reversed which places the skimmer on the left and the refugium on the right. That way the refugium cord only has to go about a foot to plug in. Reversing the sump also put the kalk reactor outlet in the skimmer section with the drains so there is plenty of flow.

 

[whiteshark]

Nice legos!

 

[RocketEngineer]

Nice legos!

Thanks, I have a ton more where those came from plus even more at my parents house. The nice thing is they won't hurt the fish if you drop them into the tank.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Coral Count: 38

Coral Count: 38

Since last weekend I have placed most of my corals. Now that they are all settled in I took the time to snap pictures of them all.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Two different frags of the same coral:

 

[RocketEngineer]

 

[RocketEngineer]

 

[RocketEngineer]

The rough ones:

And new ones:

 

[RocketEngineer]

More new ones:

Last but not least, my anemone:

There are a few corals I don't have good pictures of due to their locations and/or level of algae. With the new tank I should have more stable conditions. Lets hope that translates into growth so I end up with colonies in another couple years.

 

[footballdude2k3]

I am thinking about doing a 40, 75, or 125 starting this summer, so I have been reading your build all the way through, not finished yet, I am WAY too ADD to read 21 pages in one sitting.

A couple questions, what are you doing to try and fight the GHA?

Is there anything you wish you would have done differently on your 75 build?

I will be stealing your stand design, I LOOOOOVE the side doors that you have

 

[RocketEngineer]

I am thinking about doing a 40, 75, or 125 starting this summer, so I have been reading your build all the way through, not finished yet, I am WAY too ADD to read 21 pages in one sitting.

A couple questions, what are you doing to try and fight the GHA?

Is there anything you wish you would have done differently on your 75 build?

I will be stealing your stand design, I LOOOOOVE the side doors that you have

I can understand about the 21 pages. Sometimes it takes me a while to find what I am after even though I know its in here somewhere.

The GHA problem has been ongoing for almost a year. Part of the problem was not enough flow to the sump. This let stuff collect in the display tank rather than being removed by the skimmer. Running GFO kept it in check until the upgrade. Now that the plumbing has been redone I have much more flow through the system so hopefully the new skimmer and GFO can put a dent in what is left in the display. Another thing I did to help is I thoroughly washed all the sand before transferring it into the new tank. It's amazing how much gunk can settle into the sand bed over a couple years. Once the system settles a little more I'm going to add more snails and another tang. I don't mind having a little GHA but it has overrun some of my corals and that I hope to see change.

If I were to do the 75g over again, I would have done several things different. First, I should have done a Coast-to-coast overflow with a BeanAnimal drain setup. The 125g has that now. Second I wish I had made the stand 24" instead of 21". That extra 3" would have made the BeanAnimal drain much easier to implement both then and now. It would also have made running wires and pipes behind the tank much easier as well as given me options in the stand that I don't have now. If I were doing the 75g today I would have started with DIY LEDs but that wasn't as good an option two years ago as it is today. Of the three sizes you mentioned, I would go with the 75g for your first tank. Learn from my mistakes and do it right from day one.

The end doors on my stand are one of the best ideas I had. For my setup I have the ATO bucket in the left end, the sump in the middle, and the controller in the right end. Above the ATO bucket are a pair of shelves and I use the other end for storing bulky stuff. Most of the time I go in from the front but having access from all sides means I can reach just about everywhere. You would be amazed at how often you go into the stand and not having to fight to reach stuff makes any task less of a chore.

HTH,

 

[RocketEngineer]

Lesson of the evening: Make sure pumps are easy to remove for cleaning......

I noticed that the foam in my skimmer was low and I hadn't collected much skimmate. So I started closing the outlet valve to raise the bubble level only it wasn't moving. When I had totally closed off the valve with no change I knew I needed to see if the supply pump had something stuck on the inlet. Funny thing, when I went to remove the supply pump it wouldn't come out because the cord was trapped in the skimmer legs. DOH :headwally:

After taking the entire skimmer out of the sump I found a wad of algae and other gunk plugging the pump inlet. Digging in my stuff I put one of the MJ strainers onto the inlet, put everything back together, and got the foam level back to just where the skimmer neck starts.

Needless to say, this time I made it so that pump can be removed if need be. With the strainer I should be able to just remove that for cleaning but it never hurts to be able to remove the pump for maintenance. Lesson Learned.

 

[RocketEngineer]

March FTS:

 

[footballdude2k3]

What are your plans for the new tank? More corals or fish on the horizon?

Also, thanks for the above info you gave

 

[RocketEngineer]

footballdude2k3, I actually did part of it in the picture. I added an MP40 on the left side and moved the two MP10s to the right side. I also removed the two propeller pumps. When I picked up the MP40 I got a yellow tang which you can see in the picture.

The next step is the LEDs. After that is likely upgrading my controller to an apex so I can do dawn/dusk cycles on the LEDs as well as eventually control the three MPs to change up their settings throughout the day. If I get ambitious I might do tides based on the moon cycle but that's pretty involved.

I will keep my eye out for new corals and fish. I am running out of good spots to mount certain types of corals so I think I will just let everything fill out for a while before I buy more. On fish, I was thinking about a group of smaller fish but haven't seen any I like. Watching what I have is enough for the moment.

Glad to be of help.