Window to a reef - 75 gallon build thread

[Phillybean]

Well I figured it's about time I started a build thread, so here we go.

In March 2005 my wife and I moved. The place my wife picked out, we had couldn't keep my cat, Trogdor. We made a deal that Trogdor would stay at my inlaws if...I could set up a fish tank. My wife agreed.

I decided on a 55 gallon reef, however picked up a 75 gallon AGA on sale for $299. After consulting with my LFS, I had my plan! A Prizm HOB skimmer, two Maxi Jets and a Fluval 404! But first I had to buy a book...the back of the book mentioned a website by the name of Reef Central. So I checked it out...and my wife would regret agreeing to the fish tank ever since.

Now that you know the background, here is where we are at. I have the 75 gallon tank, drilled for a overflow and closed loop. I have a DIY stand and matching canopy, 2x175 Watt Metal Haliades and 2 x 40 Watt HO (one white, one acintic) for dawn dusk. I also have a unique sized sump. It was a hold Hagen tank (45l x 16w x 15h) converted into a sump with a large refugium. I currently have a Mag 5 return.

Thru work I was given $1500 worth of gift cards to fish.com. With them, I am ordering a ASM G3 Skimmer, 120lbs of Carib Alive Fuji Pink, Kent Marine RODI and some random goodies. First weekend in Febuary I will be getting my Live Rock and next weekend my Dart should be here for the closed loop!

Before we get to the pics, I want to share some tanks that have inspired me and I hope my tank will turn out like theirs.

Nano Gurls 75 Gallon
hcrk 800 gallon Reef Window
Travis Stevens 75 Gallon Reefing on a Budget
Can't say enough about Melev

As you can see from the above threads, my overall goal for the theme of the tank is a 75 gallon "window" into the Ocean, done on a budget, with lots of DIY, mixed reef with SPS and eye catching fish with cool names

Now for the pics...

Here is the stand with a 15 gallon tank I was going to use as a sump.

A close up of the stand, showing the support 2x4's

Stand painted with "skin"

The finished product, with molding and Canopy.






That's all for now. I have more pics of the sump and plumbing for tomorrow. I also have some more pics of the tank with the back painted black. I'll also have more details on the stand and canopy tomorrow.

Enjoy!

[chrismunn]

cool

[Phillybean]

Well I don't have my camera with me today, so no pics. I want to give a run down of my stand and canopy.

The stand is made with 2x4's. I took two 2x4's, notched one of them enough for the frame to sit on and then glued/screwed them together. When all four where done, the frame, was put on top and glued/screwed. A 1/2" sheet of plywood was used for the top of the frame.

I have a 3" overhang on both sides of the take for a ledge. I like the idea of having some where to place things while working on the tank (fish food, nets, beer etc.). The stand is skinned with 1/4" plywood.

I have two large 24" x 30" doors which gives me easy access into the front of the sump.

Finishing is done by a gloss black paint, corner molding and baseboard used as trim. The handles really finish it off, I have two 8" nickel handles for the door and a 10" handle for the canopy. Inside of the stand is sealed with a white sealer and every edge is siliconed.

The canopy is framed with 2x2's and skinned with 3/8" plywood. The top of the canopy is 1/2". I wanted a thicker plywood for extra durability. The inside of the canopy is again sealed with white sealer and siliconed on all edges. The canopy houses 2x175 Watt Metal Haliades with 14k Hammy's. The dawn/dusk is done by 2x40 Watt HO bulbs. In the future, once I start getting SPS heavy, I will upgrade to 4 T5's.

Mounting the HO bulbs presented a challenge. The kit they came with was just the ballast, wires and end caps. Knowing that they won't stay forever, I just screwed some hooks into the Canopy and hung the wires on them. They don't look the greatest, however will do the job.

[Phillybean]

Currently the overflow I have (not siliconed in yet) is 6"x6"x6". Is this a good size or is it too long? The tank is 18" wide, so it that section I'll be blocking 1/3rd of the light. I read off someone re-doing their overflow for this reason and don't want to be in that spot. What are your thoughts?

[SeaSerpant]

looks good so far. any updates on it?

[Phillybean]

So, yesterday I received my Dart for the closed loop, however won't be plumbing it until next weekend.

That said, I did silicone in my overflow. It is a 6x6x6 overflow box, painted black with Kylon Fusion. I also took some pictures of my sump.

My sump fills the entire stand, so I need somewhere to put the Dart. There is no room behind the stand, so that leaves onto of the sump. In the far corner of my fuge, I have uit placed now. It should work, and most of the light will still get in. What are your thoughts?

Here's two of the overflow



Sump:


Dart:

[MichaelRyanSd]

looks good man....

[swisha]

WOW! Cant wait to see it with water.

[zotzer]

Looks like a very well thought out build. Looking forward to watching it bloom!!
Tracy

[Phillybean]

I figured I would upload some pics of my 33 gallon planted. I know it isn't a reef, but is keeping me sane until the 75 is set up.







It's a 33 with 2 24" NO Lights, a Fluval 304 and a DIY CO2 unit. I have play sand, drift wood and various live plants. For fish, I have four autocats, 5 Convicts, 1 Black Convict and a Jack Dempsy. I saved the 5 concivs from a Toilet, someone at work was going to flush them as their fish had babies. I got them when they were about 3/8" long. They are about 1 1/2 - 2" now. Im hoping to breed a hybird between the Black Convict and regular Convict, however have had no luck yet.

[Purple Haze]

What you will find is the internal overflow box will block light. I've got a smaller overflow box mounted in a similar fashion and find myself wanting to mount frags to the back glass but cannot due to the large shadow cast by the overflow.

If I had it to do over, i'd devise a way to install an external overflow.

[NanoGurl]

Great start! Tagging along!

[Capt_Cully]

I think 75's are awesome starter reef sizes. They have great dimensions for interesting aquascapes. You've clearly done your homework. Nice build so far! Keep us posted!!!

[vanmo92]

good start.

[chrismunn]

thats a nice planted tank.

[Phillybean]

Woot!

Very excited right now. No pictures sadly, however I just got back from Vancouver, while I was there I picked up all the Loc Line fittings I will need for my closed loop.

I also ordered my ASM G3 and Kent Marine Maxxima RODI unit. I'll have them late next week!

Can you tell I'm all giddy?

[Phillybean]

Well, mixed emotions today. My ASM G3 came in today

And my Kent Marine 60 GPD RO Unit...thats right, RO. Not RO/DI.
Fish.com sent me the wrong unit. They will not return/refund or exchange it either. And there countinues my horrific fish.com experience which I will share with everyone...beware it is a long read.

Two years ago, the company I work for received $2500 worth of super certificates to a online retailer from our parent company. They sell you "super certificates" which you redeem for gift certificates at a retailer of your choice. Sadly, they did not ship to Canada, so although we had the super certificates, we could not use them.

In early December I found them in a desk. I checked their website and saw that I could redeem them at fish.com, which ships to Canada. I made a offer to buy some from my boss, he agreed. I paid $500 for $1500 of gift certificates. Sweet deal eh'

Or so I thought. The gift certificates come in increments of $50. I used the online chat system to ask if I could use more then one gift card per order and was told yes I could! I phoned about shipping to Canada and spoke to a Mike. He seems great so I got his extension and said I would call him back to place the order. I received the e-mail with the gift cards to fish.com, phoned Mike with the item numbers I wanted to order and placed the order. I gave Mike the card numbers and he said the order would be shipped the next day. The next day however, I received an e-mail from Mike saying that they could actually only use one gift card per order. My numerous called to Mike went to his voicemail and they, like my e-mails were never returned.

Working in a Call Center, I know the tips of the trade so I called about a week later and spoke to a supervisor. She apologized for the error and said she would check with her bosses. She called back and said I could use two gift cards per order. Doesn't help me much, so I purchased four mag 9 pumps. I paid with my two gift cards and sold them on RC. With the money I made from those, I went to buy my Protein Skimmer and RODI unit. When placing the orders I was asked why I was making two orders. I told the rep that I could only use two gift cards per order. She said that wasn't true. So I placed one order and gave her 11 of my gift cards. She processed them all and then had them shipped out!

Today when I received my RO unit, I called in to complain and get a partial refund or exchange. The rep transferred me to his supervisor and just my luck it was the same supervisor who told me I could only use two per order. She was rude, called me out on using them. I told her the story and she said that I should have never listened to the rep because she told me I could only use two. I asked if she would exchange the unit. She said no and she would escalate this to her managers and have them charge my visa for the difference the RO and Protein Skimmer on Monday and/or void my remaining gift cards.

I called Visa and had my card number changed and will be phoning tomorrow to finish my order, buying my sand, salt, heaters and a few other supplies. Luckly I can buy the DI unit for my RO, but it will be $100. In the long run I am still ahead of the game, however they really screwed me over, did not stand by their word and caused me a lot of stress. I'm setting up a reef tank with a wife who doesnt share the interest...I have enough stress!

I am now done venting. Thanks for listening.

[chrismunn]

wow, what a drag! better buisness beuraeu! do they have BBB in canada? fish.com is based out f the US right? ide contact the BBB!

[cy88]

That is a ridiculous experience! Dont' they have some sort of set policies in place?

I hate hate hate companies with bad services. Marcorocks is one of them.

[sd_schoppert]

I work for a credit card company and have heard more than one story like yours. It is aggravating when companies don't follow their commitment with customers. I am sorry for your experience and hope your Reef tank looks great after being set up.

[Phillybean]

Thanks for the sympathy, it sucks, but just another step in the long road to having my reef set up.

sd_schoppert, any advice you can give me? I'm thinking of changing my card number so they can't charge it. Will that work?

cy88, I know I hate it. I'm the Customer Satisfaction Manager at a Sprint Call center. My center is always with-in the Top 10 in Customer Satisfaction out of their 70 sites. I do this off of one motto - Do whats right for the customer. I just wish they would.

chrismunn, we do have the BBB up here and I have called them. They can't "force" them to solve the problem though. I'm not sure if it would do any good. Fish.com goes under the name of their parent company, Pets United LLC, I doubt many people would search for them.

[Phillybean]

Onto better things...



I was stoked about my skimmer. I was surprised by how large it is. Even the box was massive. It came right from the ASM warehouse and was shipped very well.

I am very dumb when it comes to skimmers, as this is the first once I've ever held in my hands.

Does the water enter into the skimmer thru the riser tube or does it get pumped in?
Where does the water go?
Does all the water that enters the skimmer go into the collection cup?

I realize how newbish I sound, please don't laugh too hard ... lol

[chrismunn]

well hopefully it came with a pump, because thats how the water gets into the skimmer. if not, youll have to buy one. the water level should be at the top of the reaction chamber, or where the skimmer starts to slim down at the top. the water will exit through the riser tube. that piece with the foam on it.

[Phillybean]

Thanks Chris. It came with a Sedra 5000.

I am trying to plan some mods to the inside of my stand to be able to make room for a Auto Top Off, a better place for my Dart and in the long run, a Calc Reactor.

I am also planning to make my own Phosban Reactors. I'll post pics of the build on here.

[chrismunn]

cool