75g SPS build on the cheap

[hockeyhead019]

I love the tank dimensions on the 75g tanks. Bummer that the Petco sale was only with tempered glass though, that would have been an awesome steal!

Welcome back to the hobby, I'm looking forward to this build

 

[NickC]

I love the tank dimensions on the 75g tanks. Bummer that the Petco sale was only with tempered glass though, that would have been an awesome steal!

Welcome back to the hobby, I'm looking forward to this build

Thanks! Yea I really thought I was getting the deal of the century for a second haha. I like the 75g as well. My last tank was great, but I found myself wishing for a bit more length than the 40br had. 75 is still small enough to work on but big enough at the same time. It’s a nice compromise I think.

 

[hockeyhead019]

Thanks! Yea I really thought I was getting the deal of the century for a second haha. I like the 75g as well. My last tank was great, but I found myself wishing for a bit more length than the 40br had. 75 is still small enough to work on but big enough at the same time. It’s a nice compromise I think.

I couldn't agree more. Have you looked into the self siphoning overflows? I'm currently using one on my 20g tank and it's definitely not as good looking as a drilled overflow, it definitely hasn't caused me any issues. Works fine, is quite quiet and provides more than enough flow for my tank.

 

[NickC]

I couldn't agree more. Have you looked into the self siphoning overflows? I'm currently using one on my 20g tank and it's definitely not as good looking as a drilled overflow, it definitely hasn't caused me any issues. Works fine, is quite quiet and provides more than enough flow for my tank.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve looked into them, but I am aware of them and have seen a couple smaller tanks that used them. Not really something I’ve ever really considered on any tank I’ve put together to be honest.

 

[N00B1]

This always boosted my coralline. "Coralline Algae in a Bottle + Nitrifying Bacteria for Saltwater Aquariums, Pink Fusion Strain" They also have purple
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DN2HSSQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[NickC]

This always boosted my coralline. "Coralline Algae in a Bottle + Nitrifying Bacteria for Saltwater Aquariums, Pink Fusion Strain" They also have purple
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DN2HSSQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks Noob! That is a new product that wasn’t around before my hiatus. I saw it while browsing around the web and while pretty skeptical, the reviews seem positive. Maybe I’ll give it a shot when the tank goes together.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Welcome to R2R!!! Great start to a great build!

 

[NickC]

Welcome to R2R!!! Great start to a great build!

Thank you!

 

[cracker]

Hello Nick , I have a 75 reef also, it's good size. Not to big or small & easily managed . You gonna be able to get those hoods to work for Ya? Too bad you don't have the T5/MH's. I don't like the leds either. I have the ATI 4 foot 6 bulb T5's & very happy with this light fixture.

 

[NickC]

Hello Rick , I have a 75 reef also, it's good size. Not to big or small & easily managed . You gonna be able to get those hoods to work for Ya? Too bad you don't have the T5/MH's. I don't like the leds either. I have the ATI 4 foot 6 bulb T5's & very happy with this light fixture.

Hi Cracker. I think the hoods will work for me just fine! They cleaned up pretty nice. While they don’t look brand new, I sanded them up and got several coats of paint on them. I plan on building a hanging canopy for the lighting, and will be leaving myself room for a couple of t5 retrofits. The canopy will hide the hoods so the paint was more for protection than cosmetic reasons. Thanks for checking out my thread!

 

[Corey Shelk]

Thanks Noob! That is a new product that wasn’t around before my hiatus. I saw it while browsing around the web and while pretty skeptical, the reviews seem positive. Maybe I’ll give it a shot when the tank goes together.

I'm following along! I actually used this product, the pink strain, and it was successful! Granted I did have live rock in the tank already, I hadn't noticed any new coralline until using the bottle. Just make sure you follow the directions on the bottle, it's extremely easy

 

[NickC]

I'm following along! I actually used this product, the pink strain, and it was successful! Granted I did have live rock in the tank already, I hadn't noticed any new coralline until using the bottle. Just make sure you follow the directions on the bottle, it's extremely easy

I’ll look into it a little more, thanks Corey

 

[Corey Shelk]

I’ll look into it a little more, thanks Corey

No problem, let me know how it goes

 

[NickC]

Well I did some testing and there is definitely ammonia being processed. The bottled bacteria I bought must be working, as it’s only been three days since I dosed ammonia.

Ammonia didn’t come down much, it’s at 1.25 or so from the 1.5/1.75 starting point with a salifert kit. There is nitrate though, so something is happening. Got a solid 5mg/L, also with a salifert test. Pretty cool, I wasn’t expecting to see anything for at least a few more days at the earliest.

 

[NickC]

The cycle seems to be going well, just ran some tests. Ammonia tests have always been difficult for me to read, it’s hard to tell if it was 1.25 or .75. I’m going with the latter, as it is definitely lighter than the other day and there’s no question that no3 is coming up. No3 read at 20-25, both tests salifert.

So far I am very happy with the bottled bacteria that I used. I bought it on a whim at my lfs as it was the only one they carry (small store). I had never heard of it before so I wasn’t sure if it was any good but, there is no doubt in my mind that it works now. Was cheap too at 16 bucks.

I will continue to monitor ammonia, and re-dose to 1.5-2ppm once it hits zero. I’m expecting that to happen in the next day or two, only time will tell.

I found a couple tiny aiptasia on the live rock that I purchased, made short work of them with a smothering of kalk paste. I’m still glad I got the rock, but I’m even more glad with my decision to quarantine it! The rock looks great, covered in coralline and even saw some pods crawling around. I’ll probably end up leaving it in the sump however, and just scraping some pink off to introduce to the display when the time comes.




Only other news is that I transferred the reefcleaners stuff to a brute trash can. 100lbs didn’t need the stock tank, and now I have a lid to stop evap for when we go on vacation for thanksgiving. I had to add another heater as well, it’s been cold in the shop and the 150w jaeger couldn’t get it above 72 or so during the day and even lower at night. I like to cycle rock at normal tank temperatures, maybe unnecessary, but that’s what I do. Just seems right to me.

 

[NickC]

So the ammonia levels seem to be hanging around .5 for the last few days. I decided to get to work on a stand for the display tank while I wait.

I got some TS kiln dried cedar 2x4’s and pretty much followed rocket engineers plans. I used west systems 2 part epoxy and wood flour for glue, and stainless fasteners. Same program I learned from my local shipwright for doing wood work on my boat.



Only modifications to the plans were the materials that I chose, and the wedges I installed to the inside corners for shear support.

While I felt perfectly comfortable with the stands ability to hold the weight, the lack of lateral bracing had me concerned. The wedges stiffened it up nicely.



Still undecided if I want to paint it black, or stain it. I guess I’ll see how it looks when it’s all sanded. I’ll be making a hanging canopy to match for the lights as well, probably from the same cedar except at 2x6”. This stuff is surprisingly light, and cedar resists rot very well.

If I were to build another stand, I would alter the plans a little more. The corner upright pieces would be cut, clamped, glued and screwed. I would then fasten to the upper and lower frames from the top and bottom, forgoing the “screw strips” completely.

The stand would retain its integrity this way, but it would look a lot better and installing a bottom shelf inside would be much easier.

 

[NickC]

Sanded and routed. I think I’m gonna use a product that I put on bare wood on my boat. It’s a walnut colored oil that soaks in real well.


I think it turned out pretty good, be a shame to hide it with paint!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hi Guys! I’m new to the forum, but not necessarily new to reefing. That being said, it has been a very long time (6 or 8yrs?!) since I broke my last tank down. My last tank was a 40 breeder display with the same size sump and was filled with mostly SPS and a couple of fish. I’ll try and post a pic.





Cool! That was easy from the phone. Long story short, the tank ended up being neglected for a while and was overrun by caluerpa. I did a major overhaul and got it back in shape, but a year or so later I broke it down to install tile flooring in half of the house. That was the end of that.

Here’s a closer fts



I gave a friend of mine the tank and everything else, pumps, skimmer, etc. and it has all sat in his garage since then. He had a reef at the time, and was interested in my equipment but never ended up doing anything with it.

He ended up breaking his tank down a few years after mine, and all of his equipment has been stored as well.

So the wife and I were out to dinner a few weeks ago and while checking out the tank they had in the restaurant we got to talking about how much we missed our reef, and how our son (2yr old) loves looking at aquariums. That got my brain spinning and I called my buddy up to see if he still had all of the stuff. He said he should so here we are.

My plan is to build an SPS dominated reef with as much re-used equipment as possible, keeping the cost as low as I can.

I’m hoping to dig through his garage this week or next, and when I do I’ll update this thread with what I find. I thought it would be fun to post a build thread, and have you guys help me decide on what stuff to use and what to keep in storage! We both had some good equipment back then so it’ll be interesting to see it all again.

A lot of this build will be DIY, and I’m hoping to keep costs at a minimum like I said. One big expenditure will be a new light I’m sure, as his went belly up and I don’t remember what I did with my mh/t5 combo (do they even make those anymore?).

The new reef will be his old 75g, put against the same wall that the old 40 sat at. This time, however, I’ll be plumbing through the wall and the sump will be in my shop.

Here





Don’t mind the mess. So far I’ve got,

my old filter guys ro/di installed in the laundry room, with new filters from BRS



I also ordered 100lbs of reef cleaners rock a couple of days ago, and will be curing it in the stock tank pictured in my shop above. I’ve aleays started tanks with live rock, so the reef cleaners stuff will be a first for me. Anyone use that stuff before and have some tips on curing it? I was gonna spray it off, then start a cure with a dead shrimp and a product such as Dr. Tim’s.

Anyways that’s what I got for now, and like I said before I’ve been out of the hobby for quite a while so it’ll be fun to ask questions and re-learn all this stuff. I’ll be updating this thread as often as possible!

I returned little over a year. I still have equipment I made in 80's, and used at first. Good idea

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Sanded and routed. I think I’m gonna use a product that I put on bare wood on my boat. It’s a walnut colored oil that soaks in real well.


I think it turned out pretty good, be a shame to hide it with paint!

Very clean

 

[NickC]

I returned little over a year. I still have equipment I made in 80's, and used at first. Good idea

Yea, I’m glad a lot of my stuff was held on to. There would be no way I’d be setting up this tank if I was starting from scratch due to cost.

Very clean

Thank you!