75g SPS build.

[CrazyEyes]

A few months back I had a 40B that was LPS dominant, soon went BB and got hooked on SPS. The tank was never meant to be an SPS tank so there was a lot of things I did wrong and wanted to redo. One night while looking at the tank I decided to sell everything off and redo the tank. So I sold all the SPS, LR and placed my clowns in a temp home. I then wanted to run a bigger sump so I built a 48x18 stand so I could run a bigger sump. Well that led to me selling the tank and picking up a drilled 75g and 40B for the sump. I also knew my current LED light wasn't going to work so I decided to sell it and build some more up to PAR bigsmile. So for the last month or so I've been slowly getting everything together. The final result will be a 75g DT with a 40B, DIY LED light, a couple wp-40 powerheads, bare bottom SPS tank running bio pellets and rowa. No fuge, no sand. Enjoy, should have some more pictures soon, hopefully.

Last shot I have of the 40B running.


Everything gone and emptying it.


The stand, still looks exactly like this. Needs to be sanded, prepped and painted. Oh yes and our cat who is certain this is his.


40B sump with Reef Octopus nwb-150, looks so perfect in there.


Tank arrived, it was a filthy mess but it actually cleaned up fairly well.


Just a test fit for the 3/4" conduit I picked up for a light hangar, I will probably leave them this tall but they will be cutting cut short (horizontal pieces)


The P/S and LDD boards for my Diy LED light.



5.886x10 heatsinks from HeatSinkUSA, great company btw.



A little enclosure for the heatsinks.


Heatsinks sit on 3/4" x 1/2" aluminum angle, not secured in place so I can slide the heatsinks if need be.


Finally started receiving the LEDs and a few other things. Rebel ES Cyan w/ 60° optics.


Rebel ES 20mm star Vs Bridgelux 950 multichip.


The reflectors for these Bridgelux chips are amazing.



Today's delivery. LEDs, optics/reflectors and a swanky controller.

 

[Wetdiver]

Very nice set up. Keep us posted

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

 

[fish2reef]

The build is looking good specially the light fixture inwood.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very cool!

 

[rovster]

Ooooo, can't wait to see the finished lights! NICE!

 

[CrazyEyes]

Wow, it's been so long since I've even visited this thread. Quite a bit have happened. I actually sold all the light stuff, just to free up some money and put it towards something else to get the tank up and running. The biggest thing Ive done is, I had to make the stand longer and wider so, I tore the original stand apart.

This is how much the sump stuck out originally.

After making it wider and longer.



Now time to wrap this thing up and make it looks presentable.
Test fitting the 1x6's I picked up for the facade.



Picked up some more wood to enclose the inside.



Now it was on to the sump (which was actually done before the stand was redone)

Need to touch up some spots




The sump is done, I may have built the baffles too high so I might have to redo it.


Had a spare reactor laying around so I chopped the bottom off to make a diy recirculating bio pellet reactor.

Just some sloppy mockup.


And for anyone who is interested in the light, most of my light stuff got sold to a friend of mine to make a light for 29g biocube.


That's it for now. Should have more to add soon.

 

[AquamanE]

looking good wheres the rest!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrazyEyes]

The rest is waiting for the holidays to be over with lol.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Well, I decided to go a different route for lighting. I sold all of my LED stuff and decided to go with a 6x54w T5 setup. I think I am going to go with a light combo along the lines of, from front to back,
UVL Super Actinic
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
UVL Super Actinic


Today I found three 2x54w Sunlight supply retrofit kits, all 3 for $75. I couldn't pass it up considering the end caps and stand offs along are $75. In true fashion I couldn't help myself to "set it up" to get an idea what it would like. Here it is rigged to some 2x4's. The tank is filthy, there is only 4 of 6 bulbs working (2 bulbs are burned up) and the bulbs are also the wrong color but anyways, I will probably order some new bulbs soon. I still might also supplement these LEDs just for some shimmer.

 

[Pappy]

Nice build! Following along and glad u decided to go a different route with LEDs. The bridgelux and rebels would have been a bad choice IMO Crees would've been a great decision if u should you with that idea again. Can't wait to see more pics!

 

[TarHeelReefer22]

What product did you use to suspend your lights like that I have my leds built into the canopy now but I don't get the spread i need and I can't turn them up past say 25 percent! I need to get them higher in a fashionable way!

 

[Jurg]

What product did you use to suspend your lights like that I have my leds built into the canopy now but I don't get the spread i need and I can't turn them up past say 25 percent! I need to get them higher in a fashionable way!

Look up 8020. Nice sleek aluminum that you can customize for your setup.

 

[TarHeelReefer22]

Look up 8020. Nice sleek aluminum that you can customize for your setup.

Please excuse my ignorance on the subject of DIY but is 8020 a grade of aluminum piping or something?

 

[CrazyEyes]

For the LEDs I made a box out of 1x6's. Inside the box I put 1"x1" aluminum angle. The heatsinks just sat on the aluminum angle. And the box was going to hang from a diy conduit light hanger. The T5s though, I literally just screwed them to some old 2x4's to set them on the tank for now.

 

[Jurg]

Please excuse my ignorance on the subject of DIY but is 8020 a grade of aluminum piping or something?

8020 is their name and yes they sell all different grades of aluminum framing. This isn't a great picture, but this is what I did.

 

[CrazyEyes]

For those still interested, stand is done, tank now has an acrylic sump instead od a 40B sump. Oh and, picked up a brand new Deep blue 75g which will be getting a 36" calfo style internal box with bean animal overflow.

 

[nivram]

Nice. What finish do you have on the stand exterior?

 

[CrazyEyes]

Its just spray paint, a lot of coats though. I sprayed probably about 4-5 coats, then sanded it with 2000 grit and sprayed again. After everything is done I am going to take the stand outside again and sand it once more, spray it then clear coat it. Also Just siliconed the overflow together, now letting the silicone cure. Pretty happy with the way it came out.

 

[AquamanE]

Very nice. I gather you are now going with an external pump since i dont see a return section in sump.

questions:
How will you control evaporation and skimmer level since no return section?
Is there enough space in stand for external return pump?
No "teeth" on overflow?

 

[CrazyEyes]

Yeah Im going with an external pump, it's going to be a tight fit but it'll fit. There will be a set of baffles before the return hole. The skimmer will also be a recirculating skimmer so water level won't be affect anyways. And not using any teeth on the overflow, just going to run a piece of like eggcrate to prevent fish/snails from getting in.