Lysix
New Member
For the last couple of years I have had a 72 gallon bowfront mixed reef set up. It had been stable for most of its time post cycle. I was growing a nice mix of leathers, lps, and sps. The weekend before Thanksgiving I came home to a funny odor, so I quickly go and check on my tank. Things were not in a good state. The tenants in the upstairs apartment have a half bath that sits almost directly above where the tank was sitting. One of the pipes had leaked through the plaster ceiling.
I quickly ran upstairs and shut the water off to the sink and toilet, but the damage had been done. I did several large water changes and hooked up my carbon reactor. The fish were unharmed but the coral took a large hit. Lost purple and green tipped torches, three monti caps, large pocillopora and stylo colonies, bicolor hammers, and a pavona. The Red Planet acro and red/green acro have recovered nicely, M. spongodes was looking rough but coming back, marbled nem and gsp were untouched and the blue green sympodium was hit hard but patches are coming back.
While this was a pretty large setback I have been trying to view it as an opportunity to upgrade on the shortcomings of that setup. The bowfront tank with internal overflow box has a limited footprint and the curved glass can make viewing up close skewed. I have the matching stand so the sump was limited to a 20 long that was functional but hard to clean and work in.
This is an older pic of the tank, fish seem to all be hiding. Residents were a pair of photon clowns, melanurus wrasse, flame angel, and a purple tang. The clowns and wrasse will be making the move to the new tank, possibly the angel. He has been a model citizen. The tang will be going into a friends 125.
Now some decisions had to be made, the tank had to be broken down and moved to repair the plumbing and ceiling. I wasn't going to be placing the new tank back in the same place after this incident and also finding out that basically all plumbing runs through the adjacent wall. I was limited to a 4 foot tank and began looking at 120s and 90s. Next caveat was that I wanted to run an external overflow (more to come on this later) so I needed a tank that was drillable. There was going to be a netting on the top to keep in jumpers so a rimmed tank would suffice. Come to find out that deep blue tanks larger than 75 gallons can not be drilled in the back panel, aqueon was a roll of the dice on whether or not the large panels are tempered. My other options would have taken several weeks to arrive and I was under the gun to get the tenants bathroom usable again. Talking with the shop owner he said he would cut me a deal on a 75 gallon tank he had sitting in the back, so my decision was made.
Now that I had a tank it was time for a stand. This time I wanted a stand that was a bit taller than stock and had room for a nice size sump and room to work in it. So I went the diy route. Knowing that the finish product was going to be painted I opted for just some rough cut pine from a local mill. Also picked up some nice pieces of cherry and black walnut while i was there for another project I have in mind.
Planed everything down and trimmed it to size.
Kind of winged the plans as I went, basically a Skaker style. I have done the 2x4 frames in the past and that seemed like overkill for this tank. Pocket screws and glue.
Gave it a good sand and was ready for paint. For the interior I used the appliance epoxy paint. Three good coats sealed it nicely. The framing was painted with a metallic bronze and the door and side panels were done in a black satin. The top frame that the tank sits on was stained a dark walnut.
I quickly ran upstairs and shut the water off to the sink and toilet, but the damage had been done. I did several large water changes and hooked up my carbon reactor. The fish were unharmed but the coral took a large hit. Lost purple and green tipped torches, three monti caps, large pocillopora and stylo colonies, bicolor hammers, and a pavona. The Red Planet acro and red/green acro have recovered nicely, M. spongodes was looking rough but coming back, marbled nem and gsp were untouched and the blue green sympodium was hit hard but patches are coming back.
While this was a pretty large setback I have been trying to view it as an opportunity to upgrade on the shortcomings of that setup. The bowfront tank with internal overflow box has a limited footprint and the curved glass can make viewing up close skewed. I have the matching stand so the sump was limited to a 20 long that was functional but hard to clean and work in.
This is an older pic of the tank, fish seem to all be hiding. Residents were a pair of photon clowns, melanurus wrasse, flame angel, and a purple tang. The clowns and wrasse will be making the move to the new tank, possibly the angel. He has been a model citizen. The tang will be going into a friends 125.
Now some decisions had to be made, the tank had to be broken down and moved to repair the plumbing and ceiling. I wasn't going to be placing the new tank back in the same place after this incident and also finding out that basically all plumbing runs through the adjacent wall. I was limited to a 4 foot tank and began looking at 120s and 90s. Next caveat was that I wanted to run an external overflow (more to come on this later) so I needed a tank that was drillable. There was going to be a netting on the top to keep in jumpers so a rimmed tank would suffice. Come to find out that deep blue tanks larger than 75 gallons can not be drilled in the back panel, aqueon was a roll of the dice on whether or not the large panels are tempered. My other options would have taken several weeks to arrive and I was under the gun to get the tenants bathroom usable again. Talking with the shop owner he said he would cut me a deal on a 75 gallon tank he had sitting in the back, so my decision was made.
Now that I had a tank it was time for a stand. This time I wanted a stand that was a bit taller than stock and had room for a nice size sump and room to work in it. So I went the diy route. Knowing that the finish product was going to be painted I opted for just some rough cut pine from a local mill. Also picked up some nice pieces of cherry and black walnut while i was there for another project I have in mind.
Planed everything down and trimmed it to size.
Kind of winged the plans as I went, basically a Skaker style. I have done the 2x4 frames in the past and that seemed like overkill for this tank. Pocket screws and glue.
Gave it a good sand and was ready for paint. For the interior I used the appliance epoxy paint. Three good coats sealed it nicely. The framing was painted with a metallic bronze and the door and side panels were done in a black satin. The top frame that the tank sits on was stained a dark walnut.
