Back to the hobby 75 gallon build.

Salt Creep · Mar 27, 2023

Hello everyone!

Due to life changes I have been out of the hobby for about 4 years. I bought a house a little over a year ago and since I’ll be here a while I can get back to the hobby… finally!

I started this a year ago when I bought a 75 gallon and a 40 breeder. I was busy with other projects around the home since then but have been thinking about this and planning. On March 6th I took the first step to this build by making a stand out of 3/4” birch plywood.

First step, prep area and get wood

I used a pocket hole jig and after screwing together I glued a wood peg in the hole to hide all screws. sanded these down after to sit flush with the wood. Every part of connected wood was glued and screwed

corner clamps helped out a lot with getting things square

used edge banding on all exposed sides of the plywood to hide the plys

Stand is done. I put wood filler in the seams to fill yhem

Painted with a few coats of white primer and then everywhere but the sump area black

Salt Creep · Mar 27, 2023

Next up was putting baffles in the sump. I did the first area to have the skimmer and second to have the refugium. I have always done it the other way around but think it might be easier to keep the detritus that settles cleaner if it’s not getting bound up in a ball of cheato. The return section is going to have a Cor20 return pump

Time to drill the tank. For rimmed tanks I like to put tape around the brace edge to keep white clumps of glass shavings washing between that and the tank. I drilled for a 1600 GPH overflow with two smaller holes on the sides for the returns.

The back was painted with krylon spray paint. I always used latex paint rolled on in the past but this seems to be much better so far

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Next project was the aqua scape. I ordered 100lbs of Marco rock, broke it up with a chisel, and glued then epoxied it back together trying to make enough hiding spaces with a lot of top down real estate for mounting coral on its own spot to try and stall any coral warfare.

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Time to bring this inside!

got the tank on the stand

Worked on the plumbing. Went with a bean animal style overflow.

the returns I did eventually shorten these to just one loc line segment different from this pic

Plumbing down below almost done. Ran a manifold off the return. One for the reactor and an open spot for any future use

We have the first drops of water going in!

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Set up the lighting. Going with four xr15s. These are only turned on right now when I’m working on the tank or for pictures. I’m going to keep them mostly off for a while. Flow will be from two MP40s across the front and two MP10s across the back with a schedule switching between different modes through the day. The lights I’m going to run on the AB+ soec

started working on the control board that will hold the electronics in the left side of the stand. I built a false wall with about a 4” gap behind to hold all the power supplies and cords

Behind the controllers

Mounted in place. I got some magnets that I screwed to blocks on the stand and the back of the panel to hold the two together but still allow easy removal is needed

More work on the plumbing below and hung a Kessil refugium light

Mounted the DOS

and of course a screen top

Getting there..

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Last update was finished today. Had some space in storage so set up a water/observation station.

cut into the cold hard water before the water softener with a sharkbite tee for the source

I built some shelving to maximize use. I could not find premade shelving that would fit just right. This was cheaper anyway. Made the shelves just big enough to fit some bins. One will be for DT equipment and the other for QT

6 stage 150GPD with booster pump

Coral QT. I have a more appropriate frag rack coming but the one in there was one of the very few things I still had when I had to get rid of my tanks years ago

Fish QT

Water going to a 32 gallon Brute with a float for shutoff

some super cool magnifying glasses with a light for inspecting coral in QT for pests

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

My ammonia just dropped to 0.25 today and nitrite and nitrate are present. Going to let the nitrite ride for a bit before adding any fish, but I do have some livestock on the way in the form of pods and cheato

I still need to finalize my fish list but so far I know first will be chromis. Second clowns and a nem with a diamond goby. Third will be tang(s) don’t worry, it’s going to be two max. Then I’m thinking wrasse and anthias.

Cichlid Dad · Mar 28, 2023

Looks great!

Petcrazyson · Mar 28, 2023

Nice work on your tank! Really like your sump layout. Really liking that rock scale though many many places for coral and fish caves. Are you planning on running a Roller Mat? That reactor going to be utilized as a Carbon/Calcium Reactor?

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Petcrazyson said:
Nice work on your tank! Really like your sump layout. Really liking that rock scale though many many places for coral and fish caves. Are you planning on running a Roller Mat? That reactor going to be utilized as a Carbon/Calcium Reactor?

Thank you!

Im not going to have a roller mat or filter socks. I do like the roller mat idea in general but no space for one here. I always just let stuff settle in the first section and siphon it out weekly. I don’t know how much truth is behind this but I have a theory detritus breaks down slower if it settles to the bottom instead of being forced into mesh. Filter socks just feel like a lot of maintenance to me.

The reactor will be for carbon mostly and GFO if needed. Dosing will be done with 2 part for at least the first couple years.

SpunCoral · Mar 28, 2023

Nice build! Looking forward to more updates.
I dont run socks or a roller mat either. Easy enough to find the spot it settles and just suck it up.

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

SpunCoral said:
Nice build! Looking forward to more updates.
I dont run socks or a roller mat either. Easy enough to find the spot it settles and just suck it up.

Thank you!

And totally agree. I feel like when it’s not being pushed against some felt it is not breaking up as quickly giving more of a buffer for time to deal with it. I don’t trust myself to stick to an every 3-4 day change of socks for the next however many years. That task just seems like so much of a chore to me in a bad way.

That being said, I do feel like filter socks are great for people willing to maintain them.

GatorGreg · Mar 28, 2023

Nice craftsmanship. Very very impressive.

Petcrazyson · Mar 28, 2023

Salt Creep said:
Thank you!

Im not going to have a roller mat or filter socks. I do like the roller mat idea in general but no space for one here. I always just let stuff settle in the first section and siphon it out weekly. I don’t know how much truth is behind this but I have a theory detritus breaks down slower if it settles to the bottom instead of being forced into mesh. Filter socks just feel like a lot of maintenance to me.

The reactor will be for carbon mostly and GFO if needed. Dosing will be done with 2 part for at least the first couple years.

Interesting theory. Hopefully it works! I HATE filter socks. That’s why I love Roller Mats because it saves me the hassle and the clarity is outstanding.

Remember to change the carbon every few weeks to a month or so for you to have expected results with the carbon.

Salt Creep · Mar 28, 2023

Petcrazyson said:
Interesting theory. Hopefully it works! I HATE filter socks. That’s why I love Roller Mats because it saves me the hassle and the clarity is outstanding.

Remember to change the carbon every few weeks to a month or so for you to have expected results with the carbon.

Yeah, if I had the room I would consider a roller mat. Only maintenance really is changing the fleece roll WAY less often than socks and the occasional deep cleaning. I just use like a 1/2 diameter vinyl tubing to quickly vacuum out the first section of the sump with water changes.

I used a bit more carbon than normal the first time. I figured some pores will get clogged in the carbon clearing out the dusty water from the setup. I’ll use less than this normally and change it out monthly. GFO will be added to tumble at the bottom only if I have phosphate spikes.