75 Gallon Budget Build

[Jordan Parker]

After having decided not to buy a house in the current city I live in (which doesn't have any saltwater market at all) I had concluded that as a renter, I will not be setting up my 500 gallon system.

In light of this decision, I decided to build (on a budget) a 75 gallon system with a 55 gallon sump.

I'd purchased the display tank from a local shut down and used an old 55 gallon that had been sitting in my closet for a couple of years.

Because both these tanks were used and rather old, I elected to reseal them with some new silicone.

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And of course I had to add the baffles to the sump, I did all three tasks at once while I was on a Netflix binge streak.

Now that the messy jobs were done, I could begin working on building a nice custom stand that would give me ample amounts of room to do what work I needed to do and still keep the unsightly components concealed.

I planned for the stand to accept a 5' tank in the future if I decided to upgrade the display. The frame was way overbuilt and would likely support my 390 gallon tank.

Skinning the rough stand was next on my to-do list and it was difficult to decide on which type of hard wood I would prefer. After a week of shopping, I landed on some birch that I liked the grain of.

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Everything from here on was pretty straightforward, a lot of sanding, staining, and sealing.

I added a false wall all over the inside of the stand to route my wiring and keep everything neat and organised.

 

[Jordan Parker]

From here on, I could start adding in the equipment that I would be using.

I added some sump compartment lighting as well.

As far as my sump layout goes, (from left to right) it's 8 gallon ATO compartment, dual 4" filter socks, skimmer, return pump, then a return pump fed 25 gallon refugium.

I'd also decided that I wanted to keep the front of the stand open to keep the sump in view. No doors would be added to the stand. For this reason, I chose to spend the extra little bit on some red PVC pipe.

I also wanted to do something a bit more special with the controllers.

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[fabutahoun]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, Nice build.
following..

 

[Jordan Parker]

After finally getting all of the controllers mounted to the control box I could fill the tank! There's always something about doing this that makes me nervous.

With the help of some bottled bacteria and some prime on a regular dosing regimen, I added my livestock at the time which had consisted of two clowns and a yellow watchman goby.

Here was the tank one month after the build was completed.

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[Jordan Parker]

For equipment, I use mostly Jebao/Jecod and Coral Box

Return Pump: Jecod DCP 7000
Wavemakers: Jebao OW-25
Skimmer: Coral Box P-450
Doser: Jebao DP-4
Heater: 300W Eheim
Refugium Light: LightTime 100 watt.
Lights: Viparspectra 165W Black Boxes and two Coralife dual 36" T-5's

I run everything off of two Alexa WiFi power bars for more control of the tank.

So far, I've been keeping my corals, which consist of SPS and LPS healthy and happy with this setup.

 

[Jordan Parker]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, Nice build.
following..

Thank you!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice! The stand came out great! Thanks for sharing all of the details and welcome to the forum!

 

[norfolkgarden]

Beautiful build!

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Jordan Parker]

Very nice! The stand came out great! Thanks for sharing all of the details and welcome to the forum!

Beautiful build!

Welcome to R2R!

Thank you both! It's been a very welcoming community so far, I think I'm here to stay.

 

[Jordan Parker]

Yesterday I brought my two media reactors online. It was an entertaining project.

They are Two Little Fishies 150 Phosban reactors. As we all know, two little fishies requires the use of 1/2" vynil lines... I don't do soft lines.

I first had to find a threaded fitting that would fit snugly on the 1/2" hose barb, I spent probably a half hour in home depot rummaging through the plumbing isles to find what I needed.

With the modified fittings bonded to the lids, I had a base to work from.

With the help of some thread tape, I added the slip fittings to the new threads.

I had to "T" into my existing plumbing to make a feed point for the reactors, which wasn't very hard to do. I simply used the refugium feed and cut into some exposed plumbing (there was some forethought in this while doing the original build.)

That was basically it, I've now a GFO and carbon reactor in my system.

 

[Will Milberger]

Nice tank! I like the stand setup. I knew I should have built mine bigger.

 

[Captain Quint]

Jordan Parker greetings and I'm so glad you chose this forum to present such an awesome, beautiful DIY complete build. Your craftsmanship is second to none and I thoroughly love your build, good sir.

 

[Jordan Parker]

Nice tank! I like the stand setup. I knew I should have built mine bigger.

Thank you! Because the stand is a foot larger than the tank and six inches wider, it was fairly challenging trying to come up with a way to support the tank and sump with with them sitting in the middle of the joists.

Jordan Parker greetings and I'm so glad you chose this forum to present such an awesome, beautiful DIY complete build. Your craftsmanship is second to none and I thoroughly love your build, good sir.

Thank you, it was a fun project to complete. I'm enjoying this forum far more than the others that I'd been a member to. The people here are far more personable and kind.