Dave's 75g build thread

[dmb5245]

Hi everyone.
After years in freshwater and the dart frog hobby, I've finally worked up the nerve to get into reefing. I'll describe my ambitions as relatively low: I just want a nice looking tank with happy fish and some coral growth, so you won't be seeing any high end equipment or rare livestock here. I also enjoying tinkering, so I expect lots of DIY.

Plan
* basement location
* 75g rimmed tank (Seapora)
* 29g DIY sump
* DIY stand and floating hood
* FijiCube 1200 external overflow with BA drains
* Jaebo DCP-4000 return
* Bubble Magnus 5 Elite skimmer
* black box LEDs
* powerheads undetermined
* future Reef-Pi controller

Placement
Half of my basement is finished, split by a partition wall (I did the work myself). The original plan was to put a large sump in the unfinished side, but I decided not to after realizing how close it would be to the furnace. So I downsized to a 29g and kept it in the stand. The only spot that really worked was in a corner, so the tank will be 2-sided viewing.


Plumbing
I went with the FijiCube 1200 external overflow to keep the tank as free of clutter as possible. This overflow is also set up for the BeanAnimal drain which was a non-negotiable for me. But the overflow did present some problems as it was clearly designed for higher-end rimless tanks.

First, it was a challenge to find a 75g that wasn't tempered on the back. Something I didn't realize until I blew one up while drilling

After that fiasco, I learned the polarized sunglasses trick and eventually found a tank that did not have a tempered back and could be drilled. But then I hit another snag as I realized the rim was preventing me from getting the return holes high enough to avoid seeing the water line below the rim. Some people cut a section of the rim to accommodate (no thanks), but I decided to add an acrylic sheet to "bulk out" the glass so it was as wide as the rim, making it geometrically the same as rimless. Here's a sketch-up of that:

And here is the finished plumbing. 3/4" single return with 1" BA drains. It's standard PVC spray-painted black. I also brush painted the non-viewing sides of the tank black so the interior side of the overflow is almost invisible in the display tank. After a short time fiddling with the ball valve and secondary height, the return is incredibly quiet.

 

[dmb5245]

Scape
I picked up ~80lbs of rock quite cheap from someone getting out of the hobby. It has a different look than most of what I see, but it's nice. It had also sat dry in storage for awhile and I could see dead organics all over it, so I decided to bleach cure it for 2 weeks. Hopefully it works out without too much trouble.

I stacked it into two simple islands and surrounded it with 2" of Fiji Pink. It's not photographing well as I don't have the lights up yet, but it looks good in person.

 

[dmb5245]

Sump
My stand is on the high side, so I used a 29g for the sump with glass baffles. Here is the sketchup design:

And here it is the completed IRL. I mostly stuck to the design, except I eliminated one of the cup holders. I also added a ton of messy silicone!

I'll have to add a platform for the skimmer, but that's no big deal. The problem I think I'll have is that the water seems to be flowing over the first baffle into the skimmer chamber rather than through the filter cup. So I might have to play with how the return line lands so it actually gets filtered..

 

[dmb5245]

Water Mixing
My mixing station is dead simple. I picked up two food-grade 20g barrels and built a stand for the one to receive RODI water. I tapped two holes - one to drain via gravity to the salt barrel or top-off water and one to avoid a flood and send water to a floor drain if I forget to turn off the RODI.

The tank is just on the other side of the partition wall, so I can pump mixed salt water to it with a cheapo submersible pond pump.

 

[dmb5245]

Not a ton to add at this point. I have the tank cycling nitrogen after dosing with ammonia for a few weeks and I hung a pair of black box LEDs a few days ago and have been running 12hrs a day. No algae growing yet.

I do have a question. Besides the bacteria from the Fiji pink sand, the system is basically sterile. I know this is controversial, but would it be worthwhile to add a couple pounds of wet live rock to bring in some good biodiversity - coraline/sponges/pods/worms/etc?

If not, what would you add next?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

looks like it's coming along good

 

[ElementReefer]

Not a ton to add at this point. I have the tank cycling nitrogen after dosing with ammonia for a few weeks and I hung a pair of black box LEDs a few days ago and have been running 12hrs a day. No algae growing yet.

I do have a question. Besides the bacteria from the Fiji pink sand, the system is basically sterile. I know this is controversial, but would it be worthwhile to add a couple pounds of wet live rock to bring in some good biodiversity - coraline/sponges/pods/worms/etc?

If not, what would you add next?

As an alternative, you could always ask hobbyists in your area for a piece of live rock. Put it in the sump.

Most of these creatures will come in naturally on frags and invert shells as you populate the tank over time.

Once you start to see diatoms, order some pods from a place like Algae Barn.

 

[dmb5245]

Added a pair of clowns. My sons were super excited. They seem to be eating well, but looked like they were struggling with the flow so I turned it down for now

Also got the protein skimmer running. I can’t seem to get it dialed in, but hoping it will break in soon

Still no diatoms despite running the lights 12hr a day.

 

[fishface NJ]

Congrats on the new tank! Welcome to the hobby. You may want to dial back on the lights. There is no need to run them. Fish don't need lighting

 

[dmb5245]

Roughly 3mo mark: New additions and a mini disaster.

Additions:

• Nassarius, Astraea, and Cerith snails. About six each since the tank is fairly low stocked at the moment.
• Jebao SCP-120 Gyre Wavemaker. I run it around 30-40% on a sine wave setting. Really pushes water. If I go much higher, it starts pushing sand or sloshing into the overflow.
• Jar of pods (5 species). At first, I thought I wasted my money, but it paid off, because they wiped out a VERY big diatom bloom within a matter of days.
• Fire fish. Bold little guy who settled in soon.
• Zoa frags. I think zoa gardens are awesome, and they were cheap enough to be a good test into coral.
• Bubble tip anemone. This one might have been a mistake to get so early, but the LFS kinda hard sold it and my young son really wanted it. I should have known better, but It seems to be doing alright. And now that I have it, I think it's so cool! I find myself watching it more than the fish.

Mini Disaster:
I got lucky here actually. The overflow box suddenly started leaking at the seam where the sides meet the bottom and was leaking a couple drops per second. I was fortunately messing with my skimmer at the time and noticed it before the carpet got too wet. My assumption was the gaskets were the problem, so it took a good bit of trial and error to figure out it was the box itself.

Solution was to drop the water level below the bulkhead holes, pull off the entire box, and add a fat bead of silicone. My plan is to add 2x4 supports so the box is resting on them like a shelf and not just hanging from the bulkheads. I think that downward pull from the water and pipes on the bottom piece of acrylic is what caused it to separate from the sides in the first place.

So until that silicone cures (or the company sends a replacement) I have a 80% full display tank and a non-running sump. It's ugly, but I have heat, water movement, and lights so it should be fine for now. The tank is low enough on stocking that I don't think I'll miss the skimmer for a few weeks.

 

[Seansea]

Thats sucks about the tank. Hopefylly a quick turn around. Seems like it can always be something in this hobby. Good luck with the nem. I wasnt so lucky with the one i added in the first couple months.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

hope that box fix works or the company replaces it

 

[ElementReefer]

My BTA has been far more resilient than I thought it would be based on internet lore. He doesn’t even like high light, medium light and flow makes him happy. They are happiest though when you feed them once a week or so.

 

[dmb5245]

My BTA has been far more resilient than I thought it would be based on internet lore. He doesn’t even like high light, medium light and flow makes him happy. They are happiest though when you feed them once a week or so.

Hoping I get lucky like that. He was happy for the first week until the overflow went. He didn't like the commotion and flow going off while I fixed everything. It moved a couple inches, balled up almost completely, and did the white stringy throw up thing. It was back out by morning looking a little rough, but now seems pretty good after a few mysis feedings. Other than that short movement, he's been stationary on a rock in the bottom third of the tank.

The clowns haven't shown any interest in it yet.

 

[dmb5245]

Pics of new inhabitants. BTA was a little deflated at the time of the picture. He needed a snack

Also, this new bright neon green algae showed up post diatom bloom and spread rapidly on the rocks and sand. The astreas don’t seem to be eating it. It actually looks kinda nice for now. Better than stark white rock

My phosphates are high at 0.25 (I think anyways, the API test for P is next to worthless) I’ll eventually get cheato, but I’m guessing it’s in the rock and I’m just going to have to deal with those levels for awhile

 

[dmb5245]

Looking for some advice. This ?algae? hit hard. Every part of the rocks the light touches is covered plus glass and some sand. It’s a dark green, not slimy or hairy and doesn’t rub off the glass or rock easily. My pod population is booming on it. It kinda looks like the diatom bloom, but dark green instead of brown

Normal part of the new tank uglies or something to worry about? It just doesn’t seem to match the common descriptors

Nitrates 5ppm
Phosphates <0.25 ppm

Thanks in advance

 

[ElementReefer]

You’re at 3 months? Normal uglies.

 

[dmb5245]

Good news is that after some teeth pulling, I finally got a replacement overflow box so we’re back up and running!!

Current inhabitants:
BTA
Clown pair
Striped blenny
Cleaner shrimp
Yellow watchman goby
Pistol shrimp
Various snails
Cheapo corals

The corals are doing well and showing growth. And I’m really enjoying the blenny. He’s all over the tank but not aggressive. The pistol and ywg have become good friends too

The downside is I appear to be in for a hair algae bloom soon. Hoping the snails can keep it reasonable

Thanks for looking
Dave

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Good news is that after some teeth pulling, I finally got a replacement overflow box so we’re back up and running!!

Current inhabitants:
BTA
Clown pair
Striped blenny
Cleaner shrimp
Yellow watchman goby
Pistol shrimp
Various snails
Cheapo corals

The corals are doing well and showing growth. And I’m really enjoying the blenny. He’s all over the tank but not aggressive. The pistol and ywg have become good friends too

The downside is I appear to be in for a hair algae bloom soon. Hoping the snails can keep it reasonable

Thanks for looking
Dave

Tank looks like it is doing well!

 

[dmb5245]

Update:
The algae has mostly gone away (thank you turbo snails) and a Coral Beauty got added to the crew

I seem to have picked up a hitchhiker coral on this one Zoa frag. Is this Xenia? I’m not crazy about the idea of it in my tank. Do I need to scrap the whole frag?