75 Gal tank build From Scratch!!!

[fagundespavinp3]

Hello All I'm New to the SW World. So we all know what that means..... I have Zero Equipment!!!!!!! Little Back story am a Certified diver and love the ocean an have been wanting to bring the reef home. I have Been working on the idea of a SW tank for a while doing my research and trolling this forum for the Best Info I can find. So being a newbie gives me the Unique opportunity that the older reefers don't have I cant skip any steps to get this thing off the Ground by just having something just laying around to throw into the System. My objective with this thread is to try and keep a running documentation of this system as it evolves and Grows. as of right now the System will Be a 75 Gal DT and 30-35 gal Sump (still up I the Air on size as I have not bought it yet). I will be build in as I need and buying when *wanting* LOL. to give a small sneak peak to where this build Is going the 75 will not have any holes drilled as it will Be the Sump for a later build. So keep an eye out for this one as I will try and document all I can to help out future new comers. Feel free to Kick in any ideas past experiences or other ways to do something.thank for fallowing!!!!

 

[fagundespavinp3]

here is a pic of the tank that I will be starting out with!!!

 

[Mike J.]

I have a 75 gal. with a 32 gal. homemade sump with Chaeto compartment. It has a CPR 102 overflow, a Seaside Aquatics CS180 skimmer, and a Mag 7 for a return. It has two Sicce Voyager 1600 pumps with a Koralia Smart Wave. It has a Current eight bulb T5 on it. I like that tank very much. Just to give you an idea. It's simple, but very clean and efficient.

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Yeah I was looking at the CPR over flow but the only thing I couldn't figure out was how many GPH would be enough to keep it flowing right. Just waiting to get the next paycheck to get my "fix" LOL

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Looking forward to your build!

 

[Flameback Pair]

Subscribed.

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well sorry all it's been a rough few monthe but I finally picked up some more stuff for the tank. Like the title says from scratch!!! The new additions concise of the new tank stand, I went to Home Depot thinking hey I will just make my own stand to my liking.... No... When I was raked up to about $210 in just wood I thought it best budget wise to just buy the $140 already assembled. Don't worry there will plent for me to build as this project moves on. Next is the protein Skimmer. I picked up the Coral life supper 125 gal going to give it a shot as this is the first tank ,it's on the small side of my liking, I decided it would be best to stay away from the 400-500 rigs for now and just get the tank running. Last was some 7 inch filter socks. I will be building a 30 gal sump for this setup I got an extra fish tank in my garage and some plexi glass laying around it will be the basic 3 chamber. inlet refu and pump with a three baffle it help kill bubbles. Not so happy with my LFS at the moment I was hopping for a little bit mor selection for equipment and livestock. Is it a rule that a fish store always look and smell like you walked in to a bad Chinese food place or am I just lucky where I live?? Any ways thanks for following I'm hopping things pick up at work and I can keep moving on with this

 

[fagundespavinp3]

tank stand

 

[TJ's Reef]

Nice start but your first 'Livestock' in the tank is to big and already trying to climb up and out.... lol. I like the fact that you are starting out in this side of the hobby with a Diver's perspective and should really be of a benefit to you. Looking forward to your progression on this build.

Cheers, Todd

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Skimmer and Filters

 

[fagundespavinp3]

LOL yeah I got the tank and had to stock It right away!!!
I have seen a few Dream builds on here as of lately and I kinda know where I want to end up as the "Final Build".... not that there is ever a stopping point in all of this Reefing Madness LOL.

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well did a little more work on the tank got it moved to its semi final spot.

Don't mind the current residents I managed to pick them up bc they were living in sad conditions 10 gal tank with shriek swamp water so I felt bad and took them home to give them a little better life.

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well did a little work on the tanks sump this weekend. got most of the Pieces of Acrylic cut for the baffles and the Shelf that will hold my Monster 7" Filter Sock Pick up a few replacements from the LFS as per most of your Recommendation on this forum. Just got to go through and Silicone in the Pieces and test run the System. I Will Get some Pics Up in a Few...

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well Finished the Shelf that my Intake and my filter sock sits came out nice. does anyone have any ideas to get rid of hard water deposits not to worried about the old tank that im using for the sum but I got another tank with some white film. I have tried good old elbow grease no go... tried white vinegar for 3, 6,12, and 24 hr soak no go.. any ideas???

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well lookingto pick up some more parts and was wondering how many time do you want to tune you tank water over per hour? Like I have a 75 gal tank and a 30 gal Sump and with a 1000 GPH pump it wolf be about 10 time the water got change over is that to much or just right??

 

[fagundespavinp3]

well had a bit of an emergence about 3 days ago friend of mine (That I didn't even Know Had a SW tank) cracked their tank and called me up bc they knew was putting this 75 together. asked if I would take the tank over for them. little did I know what I was getting in to. they had a 15-20 gal nano half cylinder tank with a HOB tetra filter about 2 bags of live sand and 15-20 lbs of LR. heater and API Starter test kit. Fish list (1) Clown (1) Blue Tang (1) Seahorse (1)Sand Sifting Star (1) Unknown Sand Sifting Rock looking Fish and (10-15) CUC Snails. the problems started when I started asking simple Questions Like Where Is the salinity refractometer Answer: I don't have one? Me: Oh No. So I had to take all of this back to my house mind you home was 2 and half hrs away. Got home picked up some test kits and food for the Livestock and find out what I was working with. ( I haven't gotten all my stuff yet as I have not gotten to this point in my build yet)

Salinity: 1.022
Ph: 7.8
Ammo: 0.5
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate:10-15
Water Temp: 80-74

But the Damage was done found out I had Fire Worms (Almost the Hard Way) 5-8 Dead Snails; Blue Tang started to eat but expired shortly after ,and the Unknown Sand Sifter fish also.

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Fts

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Slowly Changing the Chemistry

Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8.0
Temp: 76 and Still Holding
Ammo: 0.5
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate: 15-20 it think its mostly due to the move and me starting to feed.

Feeding Frozen Mysis Shrimp Seahorse is eating the Shrimp too but I kinda have to target feed him a little on the Lazy Side LOL

 

[fagundespavinp3]

Well its Been a bit since I have done anything with this build but now I'm back at it... Originally I was to buy a CPR Overflow Box but I came to realize I didn't want the headache of the possibility of a Siphon breaking and flood had it happen on this tank with fresh water. so I decided to Drill two holes at Either end of the tank and do drain and flow. Ps. Drilling not as bad as it seems now have 5 Holes drilled no probs so far. Ok so back to my progress went a little different on the Back glass color I decided to do 5% black tint instead of paint. so for tonight its off to Home depot For a few more Pipe fitting and I should have at least fresh water flowing by this weekend Woohoo!!!

 

[danangelo]

Ya best choice is to drill that tank hopefully It went well