New 75g Build - Page 2

Rustylugnuts · 03/21/2008, 12:42 PM

Ive been running 4x39w retrofit t-5 HO (from hellolights) on initially my 29 (bare reflectors atop of a glass lid!) and now on my newly built 40g breeder (now happily nestled within a canopy) and I've been very pleased with them. I accidentally received 3 actinics and 1 10k bulb with my order (instead of 2 of each). I decided to try them out before I kicked up a fuss and was pleasantly surprised how good the 3 blue to 1 white ratio looked. It looks like you're off to a good start, I'll definitely be checking back to see how things turn out. Good luck and have fun with the build.

swilcoxen · 03/21/2008, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skibum1681
Thanks. I'll check them out as well. I want to start curing / cycling live rock and i dont want to use conditioned tap water for it. I think that is part of where all the red slime is comming from in my 40g.

I know its said over and over (and you probably already know this), but RO/DI is way better than conditioned tap. I fought red slime and other goodies to some extent for the longest time in my 29G. Recently picked up a 65G and an RO/DI unit at the same time. World of difference. The corals I've moved over from the 29G look way better than they did (this could be due to different lighting/flow as well as water quality). The biggest difference is the near lack of unwanted algae. Of course there is some, but its not where near like it was in my 29 pre-RO/DI.

If I had it to do over again, this would have been one of my first investments. I didn't see coral in your old tank. If all you have at the moment is fish, maybe go for RO/DI and then save pennies for the lights over the next month or so. Just a thought.

skibum1681 · 03/21/2008, 02:19 PM

Thanks for the tips on lighting. An RO/DI unit is very high on my priority list. What i meant was that i wanted to get my rock and i want to get RO/DI water for it not conditioned tap like i am using on my 40 where i have quite a bit of red slime starting.

I am looking at a Buckeye Field Supply or The Filter Guys RO/DI units. Both look pretty good and are priced well too.

Thanks all for the input! Please keep it comming.

skibum1681 · 03/26/2008, 09:26 AM

I'm thinking about purchasing live rock on-line. Most likely in the area of 100# or so. Does any one have a suggestion or expierence with any on-line suppliers? I would like premium Fiji rock with as much purple coraline as possible (dont we all).

Any and all suggestions welcome.

Rustylugnuts · 03/26/2008, 09:44 AM

One thing I would do in your situation would be to purchase half or less of that 100 lbs as Premium fully cured LR (25 lbs if you have the patience for a longer cure) with the remainder of the rock being dry rock (either eco rox or marco rocks with a couple of shelf pieces thrown in the mix). The savings would be two fold. First the shipping priority on dead rock is much lower (cheaper) and second you're not paying for the water thats in the rocks so a lb goes further. I would then proceed to blow the savings on a refractometer and a case of beer =p . One caveat would be that dry rock is not just dead (easily solved by being seeded w/LR) It is also uncured so there's lots of leftover organics from the total die off due to drying out. (again easily solved, this time by a good soak in fresh water w/a few 100% WC's) HTH

skibum1681 · 03/26/2008, 12:16 PM

Looking at either marinecenter.com or liveaquaria.com to purchase the live rock. Does anyone have any expierence with either of these?

skibum1681 · 03/26/2008, 06:52 PM

bump

skibum1681 · 03/26/2008, 08:41 PM

Just ordered a 75 GPD RO/DI System from Buckeyefieldsupply! Hopefully it works as good as they say it does. We will see.

skibum1681 · 03/28/2008, 07:00 AM

So i used limo window tint to color the back of my tank black. Does anyone do this and how well does it work? I have a little while till my tank gets wet so there is time to change it if i need to.

skibum1681 · 03/31/2008, 08:44 PM

I got some new goodies for the build today!

Koralia 3:

40 lbs of Fiji Pink Sand:

Octopus NW-150:

And last, a shot of the limo tint on the back of the tank:

My RO/DI unit should be here tomorrow. I'll post some pics of the install under my sink tomorrow.

I also checked out a new LFS (about an hour away). Nice shop tons of SW parts in case of an emergency. We also bought a new Valintini Puffer while we were there. That is one odd fish.

skibum1681 · 04/01/2008, 09:40 AM

I dont know if anyone is still here but i want to start to build my stand and the skimmer didnt come with any instructions. How deep should the skimmer be in the sump (bottom of skimmer to top of water)

Thanks for the help.

Rustylugnuts · 04/02/2008, 01:27 PM

Not sure about the skimmer depth but my guess would be that it is designed to sit @ the bottom of the sump (if not heres a free bump!) .
As far as a stand height think of what angle you will be viewing from the most. I had to base the height of my stand as the tallest that would fit in the back of a saturn wagon ( It was originally 2 inches to tall to fit

so there was some cussing and re-cutting involved). This just so happened to be perfect height to stare at my reef while sitting in the couch (luck went my way for once).
One question where did you order the skimmer from and how was your experience with that vendor? I see that octo out of stock in a few of the places I've looked through (not that I'll be able to fit it into the budget anytime soon).

skibum1681 · 04/02/2008, 09:54 PM

I have heard that skimmers need to sit in about 6" - 8" of water and I have seen people build little stands in their sumps to "get the skimmer to the right level". I guess i'll read the 40+ pages on threads on octo setup....

I got the skimmer from aquacave.com - No problems at all, they shipped it the next day, which was a thursday and i got it on monday. It shipped from IL so you should get it just as fast or faster. They charge $8 surcharge for "heavy item shipping" but if you spend over $175 they dont charge any more shipping other than the 8.

I got the RO/DI hooked up today and i just got the bugs worked out - but i dont like where i set it up so its getting moved tomorrow. i'm learning that Apartment life is not good for reefing The Buckeye system seems really nice so far 150ppm TDS tap water 4ppm TDS RO/DI. Easy set up & easy to use.

Hopefully i can get started on the stand this weekend...

Linina · 04/02/2008, 10:15 PM

Very nice setup so far. Tagging along...

Avgou · 04/02/2008, 11:06 PM

I am on week 6 of my 75 gallon Marineland Corner Flo Tank. I have photos up recently in the Photography forum. Check them out there on the first page. I will upload some photos soon of the plumbing. I have a 15 gallon sump and a 5 gallon refugium which is tee'd off from the overflow line and gravity feeds into the return section. That way copepds and biologically cleaned water return to the tank.

I used a Quiet One 3000 and that kept up with the overflow that's tee'd off providing a bit of backpressure.

I guess it depends on how you plumb your tanks together. What a learning experience. Everyone who sees the plumbing of my tank thinks I should join a pipe fittters union or NASA hahaha.

I have for now the CurrentUSA Dual Satellite Sunpaq lights. They are good enough for the first year or so once my tank is still being estabished.

The only piece Marineland screwed up on was the elbow for the return plumbing nozzles. It's siphon is too low and sprayed water everywhere in the overflow chamber. I bought a new elbow and drilled a couple holes in the loc-line. It works great. No flooding issue here.

I will take more photos of the plumbing, the pics I have right now are just the tank itself.

skibum1681 · 04/03/2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Avgou
I am on week 6 of my 75 gallon Marineland Corner Flo Tank. I have photos up recently in the Photography forum. Check them out there on the first page. I will upload some photos soon of the plumbing. I have a 15 gallon sump and a 5 gallon refugium which is tee'd off from the overflow line and gravity feeds into the return section. That way copepds and biologically cleaned water return to the tank.

I used a Quiet One 3000 and that kept up with the overflow that's tee'd off providing a bit of backpressure.

I guess it depends on how you plumb your tanks together. What a learning experience. Everyone who sees the plumbing of my tank thinks I should join a pipe fittters union or NASA hahaha.

I have for now the CurrentUSA Dual Satellite Sunpaq lights. They are good enough for the first year or so once my tank is still being estabished.

The only piece Marineland screwed up on was the elbow for the return plumbing nozzles. It's siphon is too low and sprayed water everywhere in the overflow chamber. I bought a new elbow and drilled a couple holes in the loc-line. It works great. No flooding issue here.

I will take more photos of the plumbing, the pics I have right now are just the tank itself.

I just checked out your "day 34 & 35" thread. Nice looking set up. I'd love to see some of your plumbing pics as i am starting to think about how i am going to plumb them together.

Thanks everyone for your comments, please keep them comming!

skibum1681 · 04/09/2008, 09:03 PM

I'm gonna ask again about where to buy live rock online. Any suggestions?

P.S. - I got my 30g long tank for the sump today. I'm hoping to get the glass baffle walls measured and ordered by the weekend.

skibum1681 · 04/12/2008, 01:10 PM

I just ordered 110# +/- of live rock. I got 30# of dry fiji shelf rock, 30# of dry Fiji spagetti rock from bulkreefsupply and a 50# box of premium Fiji rock from marinecenter.

It should be here by next weekend!

skibum1681 · 04/15/2008, 09:10 PM

Well Marinecenter sent me an e-mail today saying they cancled my order because the items i ordered are not avaliable... so I just ordered a 45 lb box of Premium Fiji Live Rock from drs foster & smith.

We also have 2 hatchling bearded dragons on their way this week to add to our reptile collection. We already have a 4yr old Sulcata Tortoise, a yearling Leopard Tortoise, a 2 year old Russian Tortoise, and 3 Leopard Geckos. Maybe I'll add some pics of our herps while im waiting on the live rock.

Oh yea, i got another 20 lbs of fiji pink sand for the 75 build over the weekend.

kudora · 04/15/2008, 11:10 PM

i will be tagging along, nice work so far

skibum1681 · 04/16/2008, 03:16 PM

Its great to have you along. As always constructive critisism and comments are welcome!

kelt_22 · 04/16/2008, 06:45 PM

I have the Currant USA T5 Novas and they have worked just fine on a 55Gal( 14 months). I just moved them to a 90Gal 2 weeks ago and so far all good. they where about $230 have 216watts and four moon lights. I am still new to the hobby but Frog spawn a finger leather, colt coral, mushrooms, zoos and a carpet anenome have all done well and grown/spread.
Good luck

skibum1681 · 04/16/2008, 08:43 PM

Thanks. I think i'm going to go with a T-5 retro kit and mount them in my hood, when i build it. I'm still kicking around lighting though.

skibum1681 · 04/16/2008, 08:48 PM

I just checked my e-mail, one box of rock is due here tomorrow and the other is due on friday.

skibum1681 · 04/17/2008, 09:30 PM

The 65 lbs of dry rock got here today. Its in a tote with the aquacleer PH that ate one of my percs and a valentini as well as a heater. The live rock gets here tomorrow and that will go into a tote with 50% water change water and 50% new water and a PH and another heater.

Im prolly gonna split up the dead rock and live rock so there is some of each in each tote.

The two baby bearded dragons got here today too. They are sweet!

03/21/2008, 12:42 PM	#26
Rustylugnuts Powdered Toast Man Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Peoria, IL Posts: 813	Ive been running 4x39w retrofit t-5 HO (from hellolights) on initially my 29 (bare reflectors atop of a glass lid!) and now on my newly built 40g breeder (now happily nestled within a canopy) and I've been very pleased with them. I accidentally received 3 actinics and 1 10k bulb with my order (instead of 2 of each). I decided to try them out before I kicked up a fuss and was pleasantly surprised how good the 3 blue to 1 white ratio looked. It looks like you're off to a good start, I'll definitely be checking back to see how things turn out. Good luck and have fun with the build. __________________ And now back to my regularly scheduled lurking. Drill It! Current Tank Info: Buncha parts and tanks of various size. Nothing currently running :(

03/26/2008, 09:44 AM	#30
Rustylugnuts Powdered Toast Man Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Peoria, IL Posts: 813	One thing I would do in your situation would be to purchase half or less of that 100 lbs as Premium fully cured LR (25 lbs if you have the patience for a longer cure) with the remainder of the rock being dry rock (either eco rox or marco rocks with a couple of shelf pieces thrown in the mix). The savings would be two fold. First the shipping priority on dead rock is much lower (cheaper) and second you're not paying for the water thats in the rocks so a lb goes further. I would then proceed to blow the savings on a refractometer and a case of beer =p . One caveat would be that dry rock is not just dead (easily solved by being seeded w/LR) It is also uncured so there's lots of leftover organics from the total die off due to drying out. (again easily solved, this time by a good soak in fresh water w/a few 100% WC's) HTH __________________ And now back to my regularly scheduled lurking. Drill It! Current Tank Info: Buncha parts and tanks of various size. Nothing currently running :(

04/02/2008, 01:27 PM	#37
Rustylugnuts Powdered Toast Man Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Peoria, IL Posts: 813	Not sure about the skimmer depth but my guess would be that it is designed to sit @ the bottom of the sump (if not heres a free bump!) . As far as a stand height think of what angle you will be viewing from the most. I had to base the height of my stand as the tallest that would fit in the back of a saturn wagon ( It was originally 2 inches to tall to fit so there was some cussing and re-cutting involved). This just so happened to be perfect height to stare at my reef while sitting in the couch (luck went my way for once). One question where did you order the skimmer from and how was your experience with that vendor? I see that octo out of stock in a few of the places I've looked through (not that I'll be able to fit it into the budget anytime soon). __________________ And now back to my regularly scheduled lurking. Drill It! Current Tank Info: Buncha parts and tanks of various size. Nothing currently running :(

04/02/2008, 10:15 PM	#39
Linina Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Aurora, Colorado Posts: 366	Very nice setup so far. Tagging along... __________________ 40 breeder, Elos Mini Current Tank Info: 40 breeder, elos mini

04/16/2008, 06:45 PM	#47
kelt_22 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Batavia, IL Posts: 1	I have the Currant USA T5 Novas and they have worked just fine on a 55Gal( 14 months). I just moved them to a 90Gal 2 weeks ago and so far all good. they where about $230 have 216watts and four moon lights. I am still new to the hobby but Frog spawn a finger leather, colt coral, mushrooms, zoos and a carpet anenome have all done well and grown/spread. Good luck __________________ feel free to correct any mistakes I make. I am new to salt water. Current Tank Info: 90gal reef Buget built.

03/21/2008, 02:19 PM	#28
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Thanks for the tips on lighting. An RO/DI unit is very high on my priority list. What i meant was that i wanted to get my rock and i want to get RO/DI water for it not conditioned tap like i am using on my 40 where i have quite a bit of red slime starting. I am looking at a Buckeye Field Supply or The Filter Guys RO/DI units. Both look pretty good and are priced well too. Thanks all for the input! Please keep it comming.

03/26/2008, 09:26 AM	#29
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I'm thinking about purchasing live rock on-line. Most likely in the area of 100# or so. Does any one have a suggestion or expierence with any on-line suppliers? I would like premium Fiji rock with as much purple coraline as possible (dont we all). Any and all suggestions welcome.

03/26/2008, 12:16 PM	#31
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Looking at either marinecenter.com or liveaquaria.com to purchase the live rock. Does anyone have any expierence with either of these?

03/26/2008, 06:52 PM	#32
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	bump

03/26/2008, 08:41 PM	#33
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Just ordered a 75 GPD RO/DI System from Buckeyefieldsupply! Hopefully it works as good as they say it does. We will see.

03/28/2008, 07:00 AM	#34
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	So i used limo window tint to color the back of my tank black. Does anyone do this and how well does it work? I have a little while till my tank gets wet so there is time to change it if i need to.

03/31/2008, 08:44 PM	#35
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I got some new goodies for the build today! Koralia 3: 40 lbs of Fiji Pink Sand: Octopus NW-150: And last, a shot of the limo tint on the back of the tank: My RO/DI unit should be here tomorrow. I'll post some pics of the install under my sink tomorrow. I also checked out a new LFS (about an hour away). Nice shop tons of SW parts in case of an emergency. We also bought a new Valintini Puffer while we were there. That is one odd fish.

04/01/2008, 09:40 AM	#36
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I dont know if anyone is still here but i want to start to build my stand and the skimmer didnt come with any instructions. How deep should the skimmer be in the sump (bottom of skimmer to top of water) Thanks for the help.

04/02/2008, 09:54 PM	#38
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I have heard that skimmers need to sit in about 6" - 8" of water and I have seen people build little stands in their sumps to "get the skimmer to the right level". I guess i'll read the 40+ pages on threads on octo setup.... I got the skimmer from aquacave.com - No problems at all, they shipped it the next day, which was a thursday and i got it on monday. It shipped from IL so you should get it just as fast or faster. They charge $8 surcharge for "heavy item shipping" but if you spend over $175 they dont charge any more shipping other than the 8. I got the RO/DI hooked up today and i just got the bugs worked out - but i dont like where i set it up so its getting moved tomorrow. i'm learning that Apartment life is not good for reefing The Buckeye system seems really nice so far 150ppm TDS tap water 4ppm TDS RO/DI. Easy set up & easy to use. Hopefully i can get started on the stand this weekend...

04/02/2008, 11:06 PM	#40
Avgou Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Western Mass Posts: 170	I am on week 6 of my 75 gallon Marineland Corner Flo Tank. I have photos up recently in the Photography forum. Check them out there on the first page. I will upload some photos soon of the plumbing. I have a 15 gallon sump and a 5 gallon refugium which is tee'd off from the overflow line and gravity feeds into the return section. That way copepds and biologically cleaned water return to the tank. I used a Quiet One 3000 and that kept up with the overflow that's tee'd off providing a bit of backpressure. I guess it depends on how you plumb your tanks together. What a learning experience. Everyone who sees the plumbing of my tank thinks I should join a pipe fittters union or NASA hahaha. I have for now the CurrentUSA Dual Satellite Sunpaq lights. They are good enough for the first year or so once my tank is still being estabished. The only piece Marineland screwed up on was the elbow for the return plumbing nozzles. It's siphon is too low and sprayed water everywhere in the overflow chamber. I bought a new elbow and drilled a couple holes in the loc-line. It works great. No flooding issue here. I will take more photos of the plumbing, the pics I have right now are just the tank itself.

04/09/2008, 09:03 PM	#42
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I'm gonna ask again about where to buy live rock online. Any suggestions? P.S. - I got my 30g long tank for the sump today. I'm hoping to get the glass baffle walls measured and ordered by the weekend.

04/12/2008, 01:10 PM	#43
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I just ordered 110# +/- of live rock. I got 30# of dry fiji shelf rock, 30# of dry Fiji spagetti rock from bulkreefsupply and a 50# box of premium Fiji rock from marinecenter. It should be here by next weekend!

04/15/2008, 09:10 PM	#44
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Well Marinecenter sent me an e-mail today saying they cancled my order because the items i ordered are not avaliable... so I just ordered a 45 lb box of Premium Fiji Live Rock from drs foster & smith. We also have 2 hatchling bearded dragons on their way this week to add to our reptile collection. We already have a 4yr old Sulcata Tortoise, a yearling Leopard Tortoise, a 2 year old Russian Tortoise, and 3 Leopard Geckos. Maybe I'll add some pics of our herps while im waiting on the live rock. Oh yea, i got another 20 lbs of fiji pink sand for the 75 build over the weekend.

04/15/2008, 11:10 PM	#45
kudora thread reader Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minot, ND Posts: 1,639	i will be tagging along, nice work so far

04/16/2008, 03:16 PM	#46
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Its great to have you along. As always constructive critisism and comments are welcome!

04/16/2008, 08:43 PM	#48
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	Thanks. I think i'm going to go with a T-5 retro kit and mount them in my hood, when i build it. I'm still kicking around lighting though.

04/16/2008, 08:48 PM	#49
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	I just checked my e-mail, one box of rock is due here tomorrow and the other is due on friday.

04/17/2008, 09:30 PM	#50
skibum1681 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Depew, NY Posts: 180	The 65 lbs of dry rock got here today. Its in a tote with the aquacleer PH that ate one of my percs and a valentini as well as a heater. The live rock gets here tomorrow and that will go into a tote with 50% water change water and 50% new water and a PH and another heater. Im prolly gonna split up the dead rock and live rock so there is some of each in each tote. The two baby bearded dragons got here today too. They are sweet!