75 gallon tank build

[KazzAhmed]

Hey reef central my name is Kaz and this is the 75gallon tank build i am doing. I would like to hear from you any comments on what I am doing right so far and what you would change. First off I am new to the reefing hobby. I pick up a 75 gallon reef ready tank stand and hood off ebay for a pretty good price. A little bit of time stain and polyurethane I have the stand and hood looking brand new. The tank came with a E.T.S.S Reef Devil delux protein skimmer the pump for the skimmer is a Supreme Classic 9.5 (950 gallons per hr, Coralife Turbo sea 1090 external pump(for return, I think it is a 20 to 30 gallon wet/dry filter(I turned it into a sump). The lighting is 2 MH 10000k 175w bulbs, and 2 Super Actinic FR30 T12/VHO bulbs. I set everthing up under the stand and it was to loud for the room since it is the family room where the TV is. I decided to put the sump in the basement under the DT. It is plumbed with 1" sec 40 PVC into the basement with the return the same but reduced to 3/4 before going back into tank. I used gate valves for shut off and tuning the flows. There and a few unions also If i need to replace pumps or move tank and for cleaning.
I am at the point where i leak tested and did some power failures to see if the sump would overflow. Everything tested out fine.
I emptied tank of tap water and now in the process of adding the RO/DI water (i bought the RO/DI system from BRS it is the five stage with tds meter). I plan on mixing the water in the tank with a 1200gph powerhead for the first time and then using a BRUTE garbage can for the water changes.
i plan I getting about 50 to 60 lbs of reef saver dry rock from brs and seeding it with some live rock. I also plan on using a 4" sand bed with a mix of live sand a regular sand. I would just like to know if i am missing anything or doing something wrong so far. I am posting some pics of the build

[nlgill13]

Looks good...Sounds like you have a great start

One question: Are you planning on putting sand in the tank or going bare bottom?

[KazzAhmed]

I plan on doing a 4" sand bed. I think that looks the best. Im really not a fan of the bare bottom.

[KazzAhmed]

also doing dry rock about 60 lbs

[homegrownREEFER]

Kazz, looks great! Only thing I would question is the gate valve that is right before the return pump. Just because you don't want to restrict the inlet, only the outlet.

[KazzAhmed]

i did that so i can remove pump when i want to upgrade or if pump breaks so i dont have to drain sump i didnt think about flow restriction there

[homegrownREEFER]

Oh ok, smart. Just wanted to make sure you weren't using for restriction, I did notice you had another one on the return right under the tank.

[tony53176]

looks like you got this very well thought out. good luck and happy reefing!

[KazzAhmed]

Thanks I have been planning this for a while. The build to this point has been over a month. Just put the salt in today( i am mixing it in the tank for now since there is nothing in it) hopefully I will be getting the rock and sand in it over the next week or so.

[fpv930]

The build looks great from the pics. The stand came out nice. You are well on your way.
One thing that will make life easier is an Auto Top Off System in the basement next to the sump. Water parameters will stay in check and no worries about the evap.

[KazzAhmed]

ya that is on my list i have to do some research on what one to get hopefully in the next month i will be purchasing one.
thanks everyone for the input keep them coming