My 75 gallon 2nd hand special

kanders87

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In Dec. 2018 I acquired a used 54 gallon corner aquarium and stand. The stand was in good condition, the tank was ok. The front glass had a number of scratches on it, but I convinced myself that once it was filled with water, I wouldn’t notice them. WRONG! It was awful to look at, especially as algae started to collect in them. But, I “dealt” with it for awhile. After about 6 months, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. So, I began my hunt for a better aquarium. I did lots of research and knew that a) I didn’t want to go much bigger than what I already had b) I don’t want a standard 55 as everyone says they are too narrow. So I decided on a 75 gallon with internal over flow (so that I can have it right up against the wall).

I planned on simply moving my rock over from the existing tank with new sand. However, due to the width of my rock work, the 75 internal overflow tanks with the central overflow wouldn’t work. I needed a corner overflow model...which apparently is harder to find in my area. It seriously took me months to find one. I randomly stopped in to one of my LFS to see how they’re saltwater section was looking, and they had a 90 gallon corner overflow just sitting on the display floor. I asked if they could order the 75, and was elated when they agreed to order it as long as I could pick it up within 3 days of it coming in (small shop, I’m assuming it was because they didn’t have the room to store it). DONE.
Fast forward a bit...I have my new tank, 2nd hand stand and canopy, and 2nd hand sump (Eshopps RS200, total overkill but I couldn’t pass it up for $100).
Still with me?


Here is my old 54 corner set up with my 2 clowns and theres a royal gramma in there somewhere...
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New stuff...
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kanders87

kanders87

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I did learn that moving tanks isn’t entirely that difficult. It took a couple hours and some assistance from the hubby, but all in all went pretty smoothly!
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And everything was level without any adjustments. Yay! I did take several leveling measures and it was level all the way around.
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Equipment wise, this is what I’m running:

Sump: Eshopps RS-200 with filter sock, Brightwell Xport Bio plate in the refugium section, and finnex titanium heater with Ink Bird controller and carbon reactor in the skimmer section.
I’m currently running skimmerless, but have an air pump hooked up and I micro bubble about 3 times per week for a few hours. We’ll see how this works once my bioload increases. I may add a skimmer in the future.
Lighting: Kessil AP700 from @vetteguy53081 (thank you again, for both the light and shared info)
Circulation: Ice Cap 1k gyre on the left, and the 3k (dialed way down) on the right.
Return pump: Sicce 4.0 I believe? Could be wrong though...
ATO: XP Aqua Duetto Dual. Reservoir is a simple 5 gallon column aquarium I bought 2nd hand for $15. Can’t beat that!

Rock is CaribSea LifeRock, and sand is Caribsea Fiji pink (20# live sand, 40# dry sand).
 
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kanders87

kanders87

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I ended up only moving over the clowns and urchin. The royal gramma was banished to a different tank for attacking and killing any new fish I had tried to add in the past.

After letting everything settle for a couple weeks, I added a Blue Reef Chromis trio and McCoskers flasher wrasse. I love watching them swim so peacefully in the current :)

Current stock list:
3 Blue Reef Chromis
2 ocellaris clowns
1 flasher wrasse
1 pin cushion urchin
3-4 trochus snails
4 turbo snails
A few ceriths and nacariuss snails

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vetteguy53081

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Nice !! tank and overall room looks great and how that tank glows under the kessil Ap700 !!! Looks like you've planned well and this will go well.
Feel free to ask any questions !
 
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kanders87

kanders87

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At this point, the tank has been up and running for 2 months. Every other day I dose Aquaforest Bio S just to make sure that everything is growing properly. And just cause I have it on hand, might as well use it! This weekend I added 2 new favorites to the tank... a coral beauty (which I’ve wanted since getting into reefing 2 yrs ago, but never had a tank large enough) and a horned blenny that is just comical to watch! He has quiet the feisty personality. I watched him today go after a large hermit crab because it was encroaching on his space.

* pardon the picture quality btw. All I have is my phone. I’m working on getting better though.

So we’re pretty much up to speed at this point. I do 20% PWC every 2 weeks, dose Aquaforest Bio S EOD. There’s some brown on the sandbed, but I can’t figure out if it’s diatoms or dinos. I haven’t seen any bubbles, but it’s only noticeable after the lights come on. Once it clears up, it’ll be time to start moving corals over from the frag tank!!
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kanders87

kanders87

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Nice !! tank and overall room looks great and how that tank glows under the kessil Ap700 !!! Looks like you've planned well and this will go well.
Feel free to ask any questions !

Thank you! I love Kessil lights. Everything looks amazing under it. My only qualm is that it’s hard to photograph what it looks like in person. Can’t wait to get some corals under it!
 
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kanders87

kanders87

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I should mention that inside the overflow I have my main drain durso, and I set up an emergency drain in the 2nd bulkhead. I’m overly fearful of a flood, so I like some redundancy. I ran my return line up and over the tank with a return fitting from brs. Everything has been working well since set up.
 

vetteguy53081

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You are well on your way . For phone pics..... coral view lens filter by polyp labs are fantastic. Will filter out blue and give you natural look.
Heres a pic with coral view filter:
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and one of sky outdoors

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vetteguy53081

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Oh boy !!!
Going to RAP this weekend in Schaumberg ??
 

vetteguy53081

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sfin52

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I may be on Sunday. It’s almost too close to not go. Just gotta convince the hubby to go with instead of hunting! Fingers crossed!!
Wow trying to take a hunting weekend away. That's going to be like trying to pull a tooth from an angry gator
 
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kanders87

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Thanks everyone. Without further ado...

Bluelipped Bristletooth tang

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Gold Midas blenny...hiding on my gyre
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And I think that’ll do it for fish. Current stock list is:
1 - Bluelipped Bristletooth tang
1- Midas blenny
1- Coral Beauty
1- Horned blenny
2- ocellaris clowns
3- Blue Reef Chromis
That brings me to 10 fish, everyone is currently active and getting along so I think I’ll stop here. Next up, adding corals. I’ve put a couple acans, blastomussa, and a candy cane coral in to see how they adjust.


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If all goes well, I’ll place them on the rocks and move a few more over from my tiny frag tank.

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kanders87

kanders87

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Wow trying to take a hunting weekend away. That's going to be like trying to pull a tooth from an angry gator

Lol! Not the whole weekend, just one day :) And he’ll get to spend it with his wonderful wife (she’s pretty fun, I like her) instead of sitting in a tree in the cold and wind HOPING to see a deer. Plus, he’s already hunting Friday and Saturday.
Maybe if I dress up like a deer...
 

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