Dsdaley's 75G mixed reef

[Dsdaley77]

Ok, lets start with the sump and equipment and work our way up
Here's an old 20g long I had laying around. I see them used so often for sumps so figured why not throw in some baffles and wha la
Here's what I started with......

Here it is today after a little spring cleaning.....

Here's my frag rack I put together using egg crate and acrylic. Works great and I really like to have multiple levels to put stuff.

A couple things I learned along the way.....
Bio balls BAD
clean skimmer neck GOOD

Future additions in the works include PH probe, temp probe, salinity probe and I really would like to build a better lid/cover to keep salt creep at a minimum.


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[Dsdaley77]

My equipment includes a
Coralife 220 skimmer with pump gate mod,
Mag 9.5 return pump with flow mod,
Rio 90 for sump circulation and a
Nova T5 12in 39W X 2 (one 10K and one actinic).
I plan on adding 1 12.5in 453nm stunner strip to my sump lights in the near future as well.


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[Camkha1234]

Nice! I'm planning on making a sump out of a 20L as well.

 

[Dsdaley77]

In hindsight I wish I would have gone bigger Would really like room to add two CPR nano tumblers, one for Cal and one for carbon/phos. For now I just have a little cricket keeper I turned into a Chaeto chamber.

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[Dsdaley77]

Well, I guess it's time for a little update.

I decided to go with a 75G tank as they were easy to find and relatively cheap. I found one priced at $100 after tax and decided to buy it.

It was a beauty..... dual corner overflow boxes, pre plumbed for a sump and was everything I wanted. Even came with the stand!!!!! I walked up to the counter to pay for it and overheard the gentleman in front of me buying the same tank I wanted and it was the last one available of course!!!! Shoot!!!! So I went with the standard off set overflow, 75G.

A little rock, a little sand and I was on my way.

I did have to build a canopy though.....

Really just wasn't finding it easy to scape something I really liked since I had little rock to work with. I kept trying and slowly it started to come together after buying some more rock.

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[Dsdaley77]

At this point I had a four bulb T5 unit for lighting and three Ecoxotic 12.5in Stunner strips. I mounted them in my canopy with chain link and a sheet of acrylic I had left over from my sump.

This would soon need to change. It was a disaster waiting to happen.........


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[Dsdaley77]

So...... After two years of miscellaneous use the 4 bulb T5 fixture decided to go caput. Basically the salt and water exposure had destroyed the electrical system and all would need to be replaced.

Not super skilled when it comes to electronics and the likes so I decided now is the time to upgrade to LEDs.

ONE WORD OF ADVICE HERE......
Don't wait til you need lights to start researching options. It's a game full of vague info, slight and misrepresentations. If you don't take your time researching, you could really regret it in the long run

Fast forward to today and I'm still not fully sold on any one unit lol. We'll get to this a bit later though.

Now, lighting issue aside I was on my way. I added several powerheads (5) and messed around with some lighting combos and temporarily settled on a four foot (two bulb) T5 unit (one 12K White/ one Actinic) and accented with 3 Ecoxotic 12.5in stunner strips, one white and two blue.
As for the powerheads, I decided to go lower flow and spread it around.
The bulk of my circulation is provided by a 3200 GPH dual head unit and then additional units were placed to accent the flow in certain areas. The other pumps consist of two Koralia 550's, one Koralia 750 and a Zoomed 280GPH Wavemaker. The two 750's are at opposite ends of the tank and are connected to a pulse duo wave controller for random flow.

Well, right now that's where I'm at for my equipment. I do however have some upgrades planned. For instance, I would like to pick up two of the WP-25's that are set to come out soon from Jaebo.
I will remove all my current powerheads and position the 25's on the back wall near the middle of the tank. My plan is to cross the patterns towards each other and subsequently towards each units side wall that is furthest away ( in other words, the right pump will point at the lft wall and the left pump towards the right wall) for even more random flow and to ensure all dead spots are addressed.




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