My first saltwater tank- 75g

Mattg023

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Hi all,

I figured I might as well post my tank here. It’s been a few months in the process and I’ll be getting sand and water in it in the next few days. I bought a used 75 gallon Aqueon with built in overflow back in February. The stand was pretty beat up. The wood was in fine shape, but the paint was coming off just from touching, the hinges rusted out, the doors were off level, the tank brace was scratched up, etc. first thing I did was Take off the doors and sand down the exterior and interior of the stand. Then nailed a couple 2x4’s underneath the stand for added support. I painted the stand a flat black color and then used a satin clear coat which I really liked. Once the stand was painted and the doors were put back on with new hinges I mixed and poured a resin epoxy inside the stand for waterproofing. Next focus was on the tank. Got the tank all cleaned up, overflow cleaned out, and then used plasti-dip on the tank rim/brace, which made it look brand new. Once the aesthetics on the tank and stand were good I then Filled the tank with water to do a leak test. Didn’t really like how it was originally done, so I replaced the bulkhead fittings on the overflow and redid the plumbing from the sump to overflow. Fast forward to the fun part, I bought 80 Lbs of life rock, and 80 lbs of nature’s ocean live Samoa pink sand. I’ve been messing around with the aquascape And will probably be epoxying the scape together today. I got the sand delivered and I was pretty disappointed upon initially seeing it. It looks nothing like the picture on their website. It is not the pearly white and pink sand. It’s typical grey beige sand with some pink specks in there as well. So I’m not sure if I’ll be using this sand or not.
Here’s a list of equipment, most of which I just bought new:
-Eshopps Rs-100 sump (came with tank)
-Eshopps psk 75 skimmer (came with tank)
-2 x Kessil A360x w/ spectral x controller
-BRS 300W titanium heater w/ inkbird controller
- 2x reefbreeder RPM powerheads
-reefbreeder exo ATO
- jebao dcp 3000 return pump
-80 Lbs life rock
-80 Lbs natures ocean live Samoa Pink sand

pictures:
First pic is of the tank when I first bought it.

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andrewey

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Looking good! That puppy is going to look great filled in! Sorry about the sand, have you tried rinsing it and seeing what it looks like wet/after removing some of the dust?
 

Victor_C3

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its certainly not necessary, but if you put a piece of “egg crate” aka “light defuser” under your rocks before you add a sandbed, you’d have an extra barrier to protect your bottom glass in the event of an avalanche.

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A 2’ x 4’ section of light figure is like $16 from Home Depot/Lowe’s.
 

Victor_C3

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I also use the stuff all the time to make different baskets or stands for stuff in my sump. Just use zip ties to hold things together.

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Mattg023

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Just finished organizing (to the best of my ability) all of the wires and mounted the controllers Inside the stand, with the exception of the Kessil controller on the outside. Coming along slowly but surely.

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Mattg023

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Got the sand in. And tank is filled halfway. Got the second half of water mixing right now in a 40 gallon tote with a power head. Using the old return pump to fill the tank. Got a nice 5 foot piece of tube for this and will be using that for future water changes..

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Mattg023

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The tank has officially cycled.. Put a bottle of bio spira in and then dosed 2ppm ammonia last Tuesday, and 10 days later It is cycled.

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Mattg023

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Ordered two longfin phantoms from cultivated reef. Picture doesn’t do justice, but they are absolutely beautiful. The darker one has iridescent blue in his coloring that is amazing.

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Being sticky and staying connected: Have you used any reef-safe glue?

  • I have used reef safe glue.

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  • I haven’t used reef safe glue, but plan to in the future.

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  • I have no interest in using reef safe glue.

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