65 g Craig's List Build

[mjr]

New to r2r and new to saltwater. I've been keeping tanks for less than a year, and this is my first big-boy tank. When my brother-in-law gave me his 10 gallon panoramic tank almost a year ago, I wasn't so sure about the hobby. I now have added a 20 long, and another 10, and I just HAD to upgrade to something more serious as I've already filled my other tanks. The plan is to consolidate my existing livestock and much of my existing equipment into this new build. I also plan to "build" as much of the tank system as possible, including the protein skimmer and outfit a fish room in my basement. I've been negotiating the whole thing with my wife for the past 4 months. She agreed to tolerate my obsessively deep dive into the hobby as long as a new tank is preceded by a basement renovation. My plan is to make the whole thing happen as a basement rec-room-renovation, tank-in-the-wall DIY project. With that said, here we go! I'm roughly 2 months in, and expect the whole thing to take roughly 6 months as my time and budget is limited.

First, some pics of my current tanks that will become part of the new system:
Almost 11 months old.

 

[mjr]

 

[mjr]

The elusive and territorial Regal Damoiselle (or whatever it is called. I just liked it when a saw it in the store)

The clownfish before he was evicted from the tank for trying to host in and eating ricordia.

Nina chasing a goby.

 

[mjr]

And the craigslist find. Complete with holed drilled for an oversized bean-animal overflow. It came with 1.5" and 2" plumbing and a black acrylic coast-to-coast overflow. I am re-plumbing the whole thing, cutting down the overflow to make it more compact, and re-sealing the silicone. The tank did not leak, but the silicone is a bit beaten up from cleanings and I just don't like the looks of it or trust the integrity.

Cutting down the overflow.

Old silicone scraped and seams taped off.

New silicone curing.

Sizing up the overflow return assembly before I clean up the acrylic and reinstall.

 

[ShippD]

Looks great so far

 

[mjr]

Looks great so far

thanks

 

[mjr]

1 inch pvc return and 2x 1 inch drain pipes. I opted not go go with a beananimal as I did not want to drill a new hole for the return and want a compact and clean look.

2 x 1/2 inch loc line returns, split off a 3/4 inch supply.

 

[mjr]

Leak tested and plumbing passed.

 

[mjr]

This is where the tank will sit. I'll cut a window in the wall so the tank is viewable from the rec room. The sump and refugium will go on the shelf.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Good job on the resiliconing. That stuff is messy.

 

[mjr]

Good job on the resiliconing. That stuff is messy.

Funny, You said that... I actually sealed it twice. The first time was not quite as clean as I had hoped so I re-scraped, cleaned
, taped and put down new silicone.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Did you cut out the center-brace? I see it was replaced.

 

[Kdxboh]

That looks pretty clean so far! I have yet to do a good job with any of my silicone work!

 

[mjr]

Did you cut out the center-brace? I see it was replaced.

The guy I bought it from off Craigslist cut the brace. He Replaced it with a powder coated piece of aluminum.

 

[mjr]

40Lb Bahama Aragonite sand (shipping included)(*All sand ships USPS priority mail*) - MarcoRocks.com Store

Anybody have experience withe the Marco coarse sand?

 

[PepperDeath]

lookin good!

 

[Diamond1]

Looks good so far.
Taggin along

 

[PepperDeath]

...

 

[mjr]

Just got 50 pounds of dry rock from Marco Rocks.

50 lbs. for $75... Black Friday deal.
Super Saver - MarcoRocks.com Store

 

[mjr]

As soon as I receive the rocks, I will start building my reef.

One thing I have to figure out first is the sandbed.

Do I go for a rock lift and gravely substrate? Or do I go for a deep, live sandbed? I want to go natural, but I have head many say that lives sand makes coral keeping more difficult.

And suggestions?