Scratch’s Reboot..The never ending Itch

[Scratch08]

Next up was setting up a 40b to house the final 4 fish in the 75…my Tomini tang, 2 black bar cardinals and a Valentino sharp nose puffer. Once it was set up I tore down the 75 and all of the associated equipment.
The 40b…

the empty 75…

75 is out…notice the salt creep? Overflow bulkheads never would seal correctly…

 

[Scratch08]

With the amount of salt creep I had, I found some places in the top that were discolored and still damp, even though I had several coats of poly on it. So I decided to replace the top and add some extra bracing underneath.

I seriously thought I had more pictures of the replacement process, but I can’t find them…oh well

 

[Scratch08]

Yeah, just went through all my pics on my phone…no luck on the top replacement…So we shall continue on.

got the tank up on the stand…again, probably shoulda gotten some more help for this, but I’m stubborn and still think I can do everything by myself , pretty sure my fuzzy buddies looked like this for about a week afterwards

tank on the stand…

new ATO reservoir came in…

test fit everything in the stand, and it was at this time I realized I received the wrong ATO reservoir

contacted Bashsea, they sent out the correct reservoir the next day…

 

[Scratch08]

While I was waiting on the new reservoir, I went ahead and installed pvc panels inside the stand, sealed all the edges with silicone and put a new yoga mat(stole it from my wife) in the bottom for the sump to sit on

Set the sump back in place and started on the plumbing…I already had most of what I needed to do the plumbing, for the few pieces I did not have, instead of ordering it and waiting for it to show up, I found a nifty video on YouTube about how to go about recycling pvc fittings…so I spent a day cutting up all the plumbing from the 75 and removing the fittings I needed…

 

[Scratch08]

Light mounts were next…ordered some 2040 extruded aluminum and brackets from Amazon…

made some wooden brackets to mount them to the back of the stand with

using the 2040 gave me a way to mount the power supplies for my lights as well.

had to order the light mounts from Reefi to attach the lights to the rails, so I had to hang them with the safety cables temporarily, just so I could see what they would look like…

light mounts came in…lights installed…

 

[TDiefRN]

Make sure you clean and dress that wound, it's looking red

 

[Scratch08]

Make sure you clean and dress that wound, it's looking red

Lol…it looks good in that picture…

day it happened…

It probably could’ve used a few stitches… I just glued it and wrapped it, after cleaning it of course. All healed now

 

[dieselkeeper]

I super glued a cut that should've had stitches in front if the wife. Married 38 years, I don't think I ever got scolded that bad. Ever

 

[Scratch08]

I super glued a cut that should've had stitches in front if the wife. Married 38 years, I don't think I ever got scolded that bad. Ever

I had to have my wife hold it closed while I glued it…she was not amused in the least little bit …she kept reminding me that the ER is just a mile up the road… told her I wasn’t paying $350 for 4 stitches when I have a $5 bottle of super glue sitting in a drawer

 

[Scratch08]

Water test time…

started filling it up and found out starboard floats …soooo…put some rocks in to hold I down

then figured I might as well put them all in and give them a good rinse…

Ran it like this for about a week, drained it and fill with rodi water and ran it for a few days. Found 1 tiny leak on 1of the return bulkheads, ended up replacing it because I found it had a small crack in it.

 

[Scratch08]

Time for saltwater and sand

8 gallons at a time

I have 2 of the 10 gallon brute cans that I was using to mix saltwater in. Did this way so I could keep up with the actual system water volume. Ended up with 121 gallons total including sump. System was full and running May 1st.

 

[Scratch08]

On May 09, I ordered 25 pounds of live rock fro KP Aquatics…box arrived on May 11…

mixed up some hypo salinity saltwater and soaked the rocks for about 15-20 minutes…

then put all of it in the sump…

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I absolutely LOVE this stand!

Same here! This builder knows their stains, I’m in love.

 

[Scratch08]

Coolest addition from the live rock..

 

[Scratch08]

Same here! This builder knows their stains, I’m in love.

Lol…that would be me

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Ok…back to the build…maybe

with all the algae and vermetid issues ongoing in the 75, I decided back in June 2021 that a reboot was best option to rid the tank of the nasties. So, I ordered some dry rock from KP Aquatics to build a new scape and ordered new sand for the tank…then, a certain Enabler suggested I upgrade to a larger tank too…since he was in the know of exactly how unhappy I was with the 75 overall. Aside from the nasties, I had a good amount of salt creep happening on the back of the tank from the closed loop bulkheads and the external overflow as well. Never was really happy with the closed loop, could never seem to get it to flow the way I wanted/expected it to. Plus, the plumbing for it, in combination with my sump, made it a pain to work on anything under the stand…

the first attempt at the closed loop…

This worked until fairly well until the Oceans Motions 4way unit got some sand in it which ate up the inside of the unit and caused the wet side magnet to rupture from salt exposure…so, ripped it all out and went with 2 RO Varios6’s in place of the Reeflo and OM 4way

cleared up some space under the stand…needless to say…no closed loop on the reboot

Looks like a reefers playground! I see a few cool build ideas here. Really like the concealed returns, lots of flow with optional directions, very nice

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Lol…that would be me

Pro level buddy! What kind of wood is that? I love the grain

 

[Scratch08]

Dad passed on the 15th…we were gone for most of that following week, so that gave the tank time to just run and settle in…

 

[Scratch08]

Pro level buddy! What kind of wood is that? I love the grain

It’s oak plywood…double layered 3/4”. Glued screwed and sealed. I actually used a torch on it to raise the grain…originally it was stained gray…decided I did not care for the gray, so sanded it down and coated with poly…original color…

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Finally…in the house

she claimed it too…

Hahaha this cat is hilarious