John's 75 g Basement Sump and More

[rooneyj889]

Hey all, I have had my 75 gallon tank up and running for about a month and a half with a canister filter. Originally, the plan was to do a FOWLR but the draw of corals have pushed me over the edge, so I have decided to put a sump in.

Upon talking to some reefing friends, and looking towards the future of my plans in the hobby, I decided the best (and most economical) route was to put a sump in the basement. In the next year or so, I have plans to do a much bigger 200+ gallon tank but, because of the weird layout of the 1st floor, the only option was to put it in the basement. So, I also plan on keeping the 75 gallon as well and hooking both tanks up to the same sump.

I have spent the last few weeks planning and plumbing, and my overflow box arrives today so I should get that set up and everything up and running today. For now, enjoy (or don't) some pics of the tank, the current plumbing, and I will go over some of the equipment.

Equipment:
Display: 75g Seapora
Display Refugium: 40g Breeder
Quarantine Tank: 20g Long
Sump: 150g
Power head: MP40WQD
Return Pump: BlueLine 70HD
Still have to decide on some other equipment, including lights and skimmer, so any suggestions would be appreciated

Stocking:

Display:
- 2 Caramel Misbar Ocellaris Clownfish
- 1 Watchman Goby
- 1 Melanarus Wrasse
- 1 Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
- 1 Royal Gramma
- 1 Exquisite Firefish
- 1 Cleaner Shrimp
- 1 Blood Red Fire Shrimp
- 2 Emerals Crabs

QT:
- 1 Midas Blenny
- 1 Coral Beauty
- 2 Banggai Cardinals (For Display Refugium)

 

[Dub_G]

Looks like a great start. I want to move the sump of my tank to the basement. Thinking about doing this next year when we finish the basement and I'll have a small fish room.

 

[rooneyj889]

Looks like a great start. I want to move the sump of my tank to the basement. Thinking about doing this next year when we finish the basement and I'll have a small fish room.

The plumbing is a pain, but I know it'll make everything so much easier. And will just make it cheaper to hook every tank up to one sump instead of paying for a bunch of different dumps and skimmers and whatnot.

The really question is whether you want the water volume of a stock tank or the ease of use of an actual sump. Maybe in a few years J will upgrade to a custom sump, but for right now, it just didn't make sense to pay so much more for a custom sump.

 

[rooneyj889]

Haven't updated this in a while, but figured I would since a lot has changed since I started this thread. First off, the tank has been up and running for just over 11 months and will hit one year old on August 31st. Unfortunately, I go back to college in two weeks so I won't be able to enjoy the tank for 3 months or so, but I will hopefully be getting a nano tank started up at school in the next few months.

As for fish and inverts, I have had a few deaths and an ich outbreak since I installed the sump. Over the winter, I started to notice ich on a few fish and immediately moved them to my quarantine tanks. Most did okay, but I did lose an exquisite fire fish, royal gramma, valentini puffer, and flame hawkfish. While I was at school this past semester, I had a clown from my 40 breeder jump as well as a clown and firefish from my 75 display. Overall, the stocking currently looks like this:

75 Gallon
- Yellow Tang
- One Spot Foxface
- 1 Wyoming White Clown
- 1 Black Snow Clown
- Royal Gramma
- Melanarus Wrasse
- Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
- Blue Spot Jawfish
- Yellow Watchman
- Midas Blenny
- Coral Beauty

40 Breeder
- Nearly Naked Clown
- Darwin Clown
- 2 Banggai Cardinals
- Diamond Goby
- Scooter Blenny
- Blue Striped Pipefish

I am happy with the stocking of my tank and will probably keep it there. While I do have a lot of fish, my total system water volume of nearly 200 gallons including my sump allows me to keep them without any nutrient issues.

Corals:
The first corals went into the tank around Thanksgiving last year. I managed to do okay with them and they were generally healthy and growing before I left for school in February. At the time, it was generally basic things like Zoas, Leathers, Ricordeas, Favias and Euphyllias. Unfortunately, my anemones nearly disappeared while I was away ag school, but they are slowly but surely starting to come back. Since I have returned from school, the tank has been flourishing. Everything is happy, healthy and thriving. I have since become addicted to acropora and am excited to see my tank mature and grow over the next year. Here are some of my favorite corals in the tank right now (Will follow up with pictures):

- Walt Disney Tenuis
- RRC Orange Passion
- Milka Stylo
- Various unnamed Acros
- Rainbow Acan
- Avatar Chalice
- Apple Pie Chalice
- Cotton Candy Chalice
- Red Monti Cap and Green Monti Cap
- Spicy Lemon Favia
- Japanese Neon Toadstool
- Various zoas

Lessons Learned and Next Steps:
I am very proud of where I have come even since May. While I was away my Dad took care of the tank and he did his best. Because I left very suddenly I wasn't able to develop a thorough plan for the tank for while he was taking care of it so it was kind of on the fly. I didn't have him test or anything so I had some nutrient imbalances that killed a couple corals, upset many more, though most are making a full recovery. This semester, I will be having him test weekly, send monthly ICP tests and will have a stricter feeding schedule to maintain nutrients. Additionally, he will not need to deal with things like dosing since I will have a dosing pump. I'm hoping regular testing, weekly 10% water changes, monthly icp tests, and lots of pictures will make sure the tank stays on track. As for corals, I get roughly 11 frags in the mail wednesday so I will update with pictures then and am hoping to keep up with more regular updates in the future.

 

[rooneyj889]

Got two coral shipments yesterday, one from WWC and one from GWCorals. 11 Acros and 1 birds nest and everything arrived happy and healthy. The corals I received are:
WWC: Muy Verde Birdsnest, Too Legit Tenuis
GWC: Ultimate Christmas Acro, Strawberry Shortcake, AoA Wonderland, WWC Cookie Monster, PC Rainbow, Izzie's Robusta, Purple Planet, WWC Night Rider, Pink Goblin Tabling Acro and a free frag of what I believe is Bali Green Slimer

Overall, everything in the tank is looking good. My bicolor frogspawn is starting to bounce back, which you can see in the bottom of the third picture. Additionally, my two black widow BTAs, which had all but died off while I was gone are starting to grow back and color up, though they are still an 1/8th of the size they were before I left.

Also, I picked up an inkbird temperature controller today. Was getting some wild temp swings from 76-80 degrees with my eheim so I pick this up to make sure things stay steady and don't put undue stress on the colors. Also, Enjoy a couple picks of my basement 40 and sump/fuge.

Lastly, I have included a photo of my current tank parameters as well as attached the results of my most recent ICP test. Due to the iodine levels, which have gone down from the last test, I picked up Iodion from Brightwell and will see if that can elevate that to a better range. (Note this is not from 6/24 but from this past Saturday)