Troutt’s 75gal upgrade

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 9, 2019

Backstory first i guess. Ive had a 40breeder set up for almost 2 years though it recently got rebooted as part of trying to solve high nitrates.
Ive always wanted a 75gal. Its the perfect size for me at this point in my life and things have happened for me to finally get what i want.
Never made a thread for the 40breeder cause i was never proud of it. The 75 on the other hand.....

Ive been getting the equipment over the past few months and its includes

Reefocto classic 150int
Reefocto BR-70 biopellet reactor
UV sterilizer 55watt
Simplicity 1600DC Return Pump
Icecap gyre 1k
Jabeo pp8
Smart ATO
Reef-Pi with 8 outlet power, temp, PH, dosing, and lighting control.

Lights are tricky. I was going to stick with my black boxes but have discovered that i could get better results from T5 as my main source while supplementing LED.

So while the tank is not at my house yet the canopy is. I will be doing a DIY solution within the canopy. Starting out will be an 8 bulb setup driven by the ati HEP ballasts. Not totally sure on bulb selection yet but ill get there. That project is started. See pic. Later i will probably be adding an orphek bar into the mix.

The tank will be getting drilled by myself and an eshopps eclipse medium overflow installed. Its the overflow that is installed on my 40breeder at the moment and i love it.

Currently sump is a 29gal. I may keep it or i may move the 40breeder down and make it a sump.

Not much else to say at this moment. Super excited to get it up and going. Im shooting for this weekend by sunday evening. I started this as well to have the assistance of you good people as i do this.

Peace River · Jul 9, 2019

Congratulations on the new tank! Sounds like you have a good plan! I look forward to seeing pictures as you set up the tank and equipment and then start up the system!

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 10, 2019

Peace River said:
Congratulations on the new tank! Sounds like you have a good plan! I look forward to seeing pictures as you set up the tank and equipment and then start up the system!

Thanks you! I am hoping i have things planned out right. Still trying to decide on returns for the tank. Do i want two? And where at.

The hole for the eclipse is drilled!

Peace River · Jul 10, 2019

Jonathan Troutt said:
Thanks you! I am hoping i have things planned out right. Still trying to decide on returns for the tank. Do i want two? And where at.

The hole for the eclipse is drilled!

Congratulations on the successful drilling! Which eclipse overflow are you planning to use?

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 10, 2019

Peace River said:
Congratulations on the successful drilling! Which eclipse overflow are you planning to use?

The medium

Peace River · Jul 10, 2019

Jonathan Troutt said:
The medium

Ok, so that gives you two drain holes to work with. Have you decided what style of drain configuration that you are going to set up (Herbie or some other variation)?

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 10, 2019

Pretty much gonna just transfer what i have in it now. Which is a herbie if I remember correctly. Super quite which is fantastic.

My 40breeder has the eclipse on it now. So should just be a swap. Ive even ran the plumbing on the 40 with the foresight of doing this upgrade and made it easy for me to add onto the pvc of need be.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 11, 2019

Well ive decided to drill my return holes. They will be 1” slip bulkheads. Should look nice. Had to go and look up rules for where you can put holes in glass in relation to the corners and edges.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 12, 2019

Well i got a good deal on a brand new Eshopps RS-200. $175 couldnt pass it up. So that is going to be my sump now.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 13, 2019

Well manifold is done. I am going to leave a little extra on one end to have the ability to add on if needed. Just in case.

Currently i have a UV sterilizer and a biopellet reactor to add to the manifold. So that already leaves me one extra. Who know maybe one day i wanna add a chaeto reactor.

Its gonna sit right here

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 13, 2019

A side note i am not hard-lining to everything. Soft tube to the manifold. To prevent any vibrations from being transmitted elsewhere. You will only see the soft tube if you look under the stand

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 13, 2019

Plumbing for the return with manifold is finished. Im happy with it for the most part i wanted one more union for the long 3/4” run along the back but ran out. Oh well if i ever have to take it apart i will add one.

I wish the grey sch 80 pvc was as inexpensive as the white, it would have been less noticeable. 1st world problems right.

Was sitting here thinking as i was plumbing this i wish it was some custom 1000gal monstrosity.... but my humble little 75 will have to satiate my need for a reef tank. Hopefully i can make it beautiful.

Oh and excuse the mess.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 15, 2019

Today is the day! Making the move as soon as i get home from the store.

I have also decided to put a GFCI outlet in the wall that provides power to the tank. And i will also be installing a AFCI breaker in my breaker box.

I wanna do this right and i feel like this electrical safety part can be very easily looked over. The breaker will be installed in a little less than two weeks. The gfci i will be installing today.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 15, 2019

Yip not happening today. Tore down the 40 breeder all the way only to find out i drilled the whole for the eclipse overflow to low.

I dont understand why eshopps makes their template the way they do. Using the template if you but it up against the trim your water level will be 1.5 inches below the trim. Total waste of a tank and almost makes me want to use a different overflow.

Im so mad about it even though in the end it is my fault for not double checking. But what the heck.......

Buying a new tank sometime this week of next.

Jonathan Troutt · Jul 17, 2019

Well i didnt have to buy a new tank. Thankfully i have peeps that have great minds. I ended up buying some black acrylic and fixing my mistake. I made the over flow taller and redid the weirs in it obviously.

This will have my water level above the trim as well. Super excited about that.