Back in again. 75g sps build thread

[DesertReefT4r]

Just got back from picking up about 60 lbs of live rock. Only cost me $165 for all of it, real live rock not dry or man made rock. RODI is plugging along making water, needs to hurry up lol. More pics to come.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

About to hit a mile stone in the build! All plumbing for the drains and return is done and ready for a testing. You know what that means...WATER...soon.

Next up is getting my trusty old Spectrapure RODI up and running, needs filters and pressure gauge. Alao going to add 2 more filter canisters, tds meter. Going to setup a RODI water making station in the garage, summer heat may be an issue though.

To beat the heat, just wake up 2-4am, water will be cooler. LOL. That's what I've notice, nice build.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Bam!

Only half way full, making RODI and mixing saltwater when I can at this point. Still waiting on my replacement live sand. So for now this is how it sits. Plan is to aquascape on friday and just make water til then. We will see what I can do with the rock I got. Man I miss the live rock we used to get 8-10 years ago. Makes me sad especailly knowing newer reefers have no idea what real live rock is. Now I hear people referring to dried out dead rock as live rock.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Bam!

Only half way full, making RODI and mixing saltwater when I can at this point. Still waiting on my replacement live sand. So for now this is how it sits. Plan is to aquascape on friday and just make water til then. We will see what I can do with the rock I got. Man I miss the live rock we used to get 8-10 years ago. Makes me sad especailly knowing newer reefers have no idea what real live rock is. Now I hear people referring to dried out dead rock as live rock.

Wow

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Got the tank all filled up, controller running, skimmer and pumps going. Also played with the aquascape, not 100% sure if I am happy with it yet. MB7 and frozen plankton shrimp is in to start the cycle. The skimmer so far has been great, no time at all to break in and stable, so far. More time will be needed to see if I picked a good one but looks promising, I was worried I went too big but now I dont think so. More pics of the build as it progressed on friday.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Tank has cleared up nicely since I added the last of the sand and water. More pics to come.
One issue I am having is my temp calibrarion keeps dropping way low causing my heayer to kick on and heat the tank to over 79°. I keep calibraring the temp in SL1 but it will go wacky on me. Temp probe is new DA for SL module, never had this issue before.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

So pics with the water cleared up. Please let me know what you think of the aquascape.

 

[medic17]

The tank looks great. Mine finally just got done cycling. Putting a couple onyx clowns in tomorrow. I really like the 2 separate aquascapes.

 

[Raege]

Very nice. Will be following along

 

[najer]

Great build, love the scape, I was worried when it was all low, keep up the good work.

 

[happyhourhero]

Great looking system! Will be following along!

 

[NY_Caveman]

So pics with the water cleared up. Please let me know what you think of the aquascape.

I am a sucker for two rock structures. I like it.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Great build, love the scape, I was worried when it was all low, keep up the good work.

Yeah the low rock scape was just me putting the rock in the tank so it would not die. It was late I needed more water still and the rock had been in buckets for a few hours so it just went in with plans to scape later.
Thanks everyone for the comments. I guess the rock is not that bad I may leave it. Its the least amount of rock I have used in a reef tank.
So I woke up and my temp reading has climbed again, something is up with my RKL. The iTemp probe is working so I may just use that but I bought a new temp probe for the SL module and want to use it.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Update and pics. Tank is doing well, water is pretty clear, everything is working as it should. Pumps, skimmers, drains are very quiet, loudest thing is water spilling into the overflow wier (worse when I have a good wave going). I wanted this to be a quiet system and I feel I achieved that. Happy with the performance of the skimmer, cup is just hard to remove. Cycle should be happening. Adding MB7 every other day to boost bacteria seeding. Feeding a both blood worms and plankton shrimp to the tank as the ammonia source. I still need pick up an ammonia test kit but at this point I am taking it slow and not really in a hurry to get the cycle done.
Water test
PH 8.02 RKL
Alk 11! API
Ca 420 ppm API
NO3 0 ppm API.
I know cheap test kits, getting some Red Sea and Salifert once corals start going in.

 

[Raege]

Very nice. Looking forward to watching your tank progress.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Took some water to LFS for ammonia and nitrite testing. Testing undetectable. Dont know if thats good or bad right now. I have been feeding 1 cube of frozen plankton shrimp or blood worms daily, did some flake food today as well, fishless cycling. I will test no3 later to see if its detectable yet. So my tank could be cycled already or I have not been feeding enough to get things going. I will know know more after I do my water test. If no3 is present. I will do 1 more heavy feeding, dose more MB7 and let it cycle for another week. Then I will start to seed the micro fauna a bit. This is how I have always cycled tanks in the past, but used Bio Spira, and have cycled in under 3 weeks every time.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Well it was hard to tell if I have any no3 yet. I want to say yes about 2-4 ppm but its hard to read when so low on the API kits.

 

[Will Milberger]

Nice tank. Great landscape!

 

[00Barracuda00]

This is seriously a great thread. I've seen those exact tanks at my local store, and I've been too nervous to purchase. The general consensus is that only the bottom pane of the tank is tempered, but I was still really nervous about shattering a tank.

You mentioned your overflow came with incorrect instructions. Could you elaborate?

 

[Will Milberger]

Where you drill. If you go to the website, there is an updated video. If you have a rimless tank, there's no problem. Make sure you clamp your template at the top of the tank and not at the bottom of the lip. I bought the Eclipse L for my 75 and I had to have a new weir made from Modular Marine. I bought their sump kit, I should have bought the overflow kit from them too. Sorry to hijack thread..