SPS 75 Gallon Build

[theaquareef]

It's looking good man, how are you liking the hamilton lights so far?

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by JMorris271

Travis. I am learning a bunch reading and enjoying your build. Would you tell me what you tied into on top of the false ceiling?

Thanks JMorris, that's great to hear. I used a fairly large eye hook and screwed that into one of the joists above the ceiling. Then I took the metal cable and created a loop using a clip. You can see one of the clips in the photo above the pulley and S hook. You can use a ferrule as well if you have access to crimpers. I then fed the other end through a hole I drilled in the metal strip of the suspended ceiling and ran the unlooped end through it and then created the other loop that you see in the photo. The loop above the ceiling was then hung on the eye hook.

All of the pieces are rated well above the weight of the light fixture. Also, I made all of the connections so that it's easy to remove each individual piece for maintenance or ease replacement.

I'm at work now, but if you like I can take a photo of the above portion and post that as well.

Thank you,

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by theaquareef

It's looking good man, how are you liking the hamilton lights so far?

I think I like the amount of blue they are putting off, however until I get water, sand, and rock in there it's hard to really tell. But so far I do like them

[screamingibis]

could you fit a 29 gallon or a 40 breeder for your sump or is there not enough room?

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by screamingibis

could you fit a 29 gallon or a 40 breeder for your sump or is there not enough room?

Both of those would fit. I have 40in x 18.5in between the legs of the stand.

The 40 breeder would be nice, although it wouldn't leave much room for other things under the stand such as reactors. I think you could fit a couple under there, but it would be tight.

The 29 gallon would be I think a little too high and would make maintaining the sump a bit difficult. The 40 and the 20 high that I have are both the same height. However, if you had to use this size sump, you could place the sheet of plywood on the bottom of the stand and not add the cross members I put in to give you an additional 3.5 inches of height under the stand. with a little additional poly added to the bottom plywood and side 2x4's you could essentially seal the bottom of the stand from any accidental spills from the sump.

Are you looking to build a similar setup or you just wondering why I didn't go with the sizes you mentioned?

[exray]

So where did u get the overflow box from

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by exray

So where did u get the overflow box from

I got the overflow from Premium Aquatics

[TTrout]

So lots of updates. I have finished the lights, got the skimmer going, and placed 44lb of Marco dry rock along with 20lb of Fiji live rock. I also got my ATO working tonight.

Still working on getting my Reefkeeper Lite going. I ended up with two bad PC4s, however Digital Aquatics is sending a replacement for them. Hopefully I will get those soon as I don't have timers for the lights, so just manually plugging them and unplugging at night.

I have noticed that the tank stays pretty much at 79 degrees with the lights on and the heater unplugged. I plug the heater back in after I unplug the lights. The rkl will essentially do this for me once it's working.

Here's a pic of the full tank and sump..excuse the big nasty round thing on the right. Darn sticker residue. I haven't had a chance to get it all off yet

[theaquareef]

Looks good man you go a great start! How are you liking those lights so far? Seem to be putting out a great amount of light! Keep up the good work

Kyle

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by theaquareef

Looks good man you go a great start! How are you liking those lights so far? Seem to be putting out a great amount of light! Keep up the good work

Kyle

Thanks. The lights are very bright. The amount of blue in my opinion is perfect. I'm glad I went with the Phoenix 14k instead of the 10k I was looking at. I think the pic is actually bluer than real life, but maybe I'm just getting used to it?

How quickly do most go through DI resin? I think I made 90-100 gallons of Ro/DI and it's already used up. Is that normal the resin?

[mgrmax]

Originally Posted by TTrout

Thanks. The lights are very bright. The amount of blue in my opinion is perfect. I'm glad I went with the Phoenix 14k instead of the 10k I was looking at. I think the pic is actually bluer than real life, but maybe I'm just getting used to it?

How quickly do most go through DI resin? I think I made 90-100 gallons of Ro/DI and it's already used up. Is that normal the resin?

You should be getting a lot more than 100 gallons. How do you know the resin is depleted?

[theaquareef]

Originally Posted by TTrout

Thanks. The lights are very bright. The amount of blue in my opinion is perfect. I'm glad I went with the Phoenix 14k instead of the 10k I was looking at. I think the pic is actually bluer than real life, but maybe I'm just getting used to it?

How quickly do most go through DI resin? I think I made 90-100 gallons of Ro/DI and it's already used up. Is that normal the resin?

I do love the phoenix bulb! I agree on the combo it's gives a nice color and I got good growth out of just my 150w.

I just went through my DI resin and I got about 300gal. I have horrible water in the 700 tds range with about 20-30 tds after ro. My tds just went to 2 on my last fill up so I need to order some more.

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by mgrmax

You should be getting a lot more than 100 gallons. How do you know the resin is depleted?

It's changed from the blue to an orange color and the tds meter is starting to flicker between 0 and 1.

[TTrout]

Originally Posted by theaquareef

I just went through my DI resin and I got about 300gal. I have horrible water in the 700 tds range with about 20-30 tds after ro. My tds just went to 2 on my last fill up so I need to order some more.

Hmm. I wonder if maybe I didn't pack it tight enough in the cartridge. I have about 350 from my well and about 5 after the membrane. I would think it would have lasted longer. I saw a video of mr saltwater tv guy using a beer bottle to tap it in, maybe I'll give that a try

[theaquareef]

Originally Posted by TTrout

Hmm. I wonder if maybe I didn't pack it tight enough in the cartridge. I have about 350 from my well and about 5 after the membrane. I would think it would have lasted longer. I saw a video of mr saltwater tv guy using a beer bottle to tap it in, maybe I'll give that a try

Hey that's worth a try! Let me know how it works if you try it haha. I have a brs 5 stage plus so my cartridge came pretty packed but for my refill I will have to refill myself. Can't wait for winter when my tds drops off though haha only 2 more months

[gavinsepanik]

Subscribed. Im starting a 75 up in a few weeks as well.

[kevensquint]

Fans on my 75 with two 250's and a bunch of T5's is usually enough to keep the tank under 80. The fans are plugged into my Reefkeeper lites as well. Does the job

[gavinsepanik]

bump