New 75 gal tank after 1st tank failed

[chargingxray]

Well where to start.... This will be my second tank started with a Bio cube 29 5 years ago ( 3in sand bed and about 45 lbs of live rock, nano skimmer) .
Then about a year into the tank added a 20 gal sump with new protein skimmer, over flow and so on. Upgraded the light to a HPS.

To make a long sorry short phosphates got out of control and we all know where that leads to (I didn't then). Didn't know about quarantining fish. Got ick ended bad for me, lost my 3 year old clowns that were my first buddies in this hobby. Wife was 3 months pregnant and with all that I tore it down and have missed my tank every day. (son is 1 year old now )

One year and a 1/2 later here I am doing it all over. (After what I went through chasing all the wrong things I cant believe I will try again but I cant be without my tank)

So pushed the Biocube to the side got myself a 75 gal and will reuse my 20 gal sump from my Biocube. I have had the tank with water and dryrcok for about 4 weeks cycling.

the 75 gal is a B.B tank with HDPE bottom ( I LOVE my sand but it don't love me) . I have epoxied the rock together with fiber glass rods placed into them. I have starting with 80 LBS of dry rock. I have purchased a 6 stage RO/DI (no more trips to LFS to buy water that who knows the quality). I have almost doubled my investment on this hobby (don't tell the wife just yet). Have went with LED (ocean revives for now) , new skimmer IceKap k2-160.

What's everyone think? Am I heading in the right direction?

Pictures to follow

 

[chargingxray]

My pictures of tank and purchases

 

[chargingxray]

This is my current test to give you and ideal of where I’m at in my cycle

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Sounds great and if you still have the 29 then you have a qt bonus! Welcome back to the hobby!

 

[Kershaw]

What kinda over flow did you use? Drilled or hob?

 

[chargingxray]

Will setup the biocube as a GT good ideal

 

[chargingxray]

Anyone have a good link to a forum that will aid in setting up a quarantine tank?

 

[Flexin]

Welcome back!!!! Looks like you will have a good time!!!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Anyone have a good link to a forum that will aid in setting up a quarantine tank?

Try this

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.304980/

 

[chargingxray]

What kinda over flow did you use? Drilled or hob?

I did a HOB I wanted to do a drilled but was worried about cracking my new tank.

 

[Kershaw]

How do you like the ice cap skimmer. I have been thinking of ditching my vertex for one. I always used reef octopus before the vertex and I have to say I am disappointed in the vertex

 

[chargingxray]

How do you like the ice cap skimmer. I have been thinking of ditching my vertex for one. I always used reef octopus before the vertex and I have to say I am disappointed in the vertex

I like the IceCap. I had the k2-120 on my bio cube for about 2 years with no problems. There customer support is good I needed a new seal for my 120 because of my own fault and they sent it to me for free. This K2-160 I feel like it didn't even need to brake in and I will say this thing has a TON of air movement. I have no bio load yet so time will tell its skimming power. There are a few micro bubbles that come out of the output but they remain in my sump. It also has a hanging bracket incase you run a high water level in your sump. The IceKap are easy to adjust just one gate valve to raise or lower bubbles that easy unlike some skimmers.

All in all I will stay with IceKap until given a reason not to. They remade the K1 model I have not used the k1 so don't know the difference from the k2 but something to look into because the price of the k1 you cant beat. Maybe someone can input if they know the difference and why the k1 is cheaper?

What made you quit using reef octopus if you don't mind me asking?

 

[jd371]

I have the same tank and stand. I bought mine 3 years ago. Lol! I went with a HOB overflow as well for the same reason.

This is from a couple of months ago, I moved a few things around since then.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I also have the same tank! I really like the rock work!! Good luck with your build!!

 

[chargingxray]

I have the same tank and stand. I bought mine 3 years ago. Lol! I went with a HOB overflow as well for the same reason.

This is from a couple of months ago, I moved a few things around since then.

Oh wow that is awesome!!! Do you have pictures of how you setup the inside your cabinet? Have you had any problems with you HOB?

 

[jd371]

Oh wow that is awesome!!! Do you have pictures of how you setup the inside your cabinet? Have you had any problems with you HOB?

The first picture was from a while ago you can tell there isn't much coral in the tank, and some things have been removed or added under the stand. There was a UV behind that center support, the hose you see coming off the return fed the UV. It was too much of a hassle and always in the way so I removed it. I still have it and use it with a canister filter if I need to run the UV. It came in handy last year when my tank developed Dinos. I set it up next to the tank temporary for a month until the Dinos were gone and then broke it down and put it away.
The sump is an eshopps 20g and I'm using a Vectra S1 for the return. For filtration I have a Curve 5 skimmer, filter sock, Aquamaxx media reactor and some Chaeto in the fuge. I'm dosing ESV two part with a Jebao doser. The ATO reservoir on the right is a 7g pet food container.
I'm using an eshopps pf800 HOB overflow. In the 3 years my tank has been set up I haven't had a single issue with the overflow. They get a bad rap, but if set up correctly there should never be a problem. Out of the box the overflow is very loud. This can be corrected by making a DIY Stockman Standpipe ( look on Youtube for directions), it's super quiet once this is installed. The only sound I hear now is the faint trickle of the water going down the drain hose. The tank is right next to where I watch TV and you don't even know it's there.
Love your rock work! I didn't secure mine in case I wanted to move stuff around. Big mistake, it's nerve racking placing frags on the rocks and having the rock shift a little. Although it did come in handy when I needed to move a rock with GSP on it that was starting to spread. Good luck with your tank!

This is more recent. The light on the side of the fuge was for an ATS experiment I tried. It didn't work
out alright so I scrapped it but left the light because it grows Chaeto great.

 

[Kershaw]

I will go with k2 because I like the sicce pump it comes with.

 

[Will Milberger]

That skimmer is cooking! No, really it's cooking! Turn the stove off!

 

[chargingxray]

That skimmer is cooking! No, really it's cooking! Turn the stove off!

That's all part of the break in process. lol

 

[chargingxray]

The first picture was from a while ago you can tell there isn't much coral in the tank, and some things have been removed or added under the stand. There was a UV behind that center support, the hose you see coming off the return fed the UV. It was too much of a hassle and always in the way so I removed it. I still have it and use it with a canister filter if I need to run the UV. It came in handy last year when my tank developed Dinos. I set it up next to the tank temporary for a month until the Dinos were gone and then broke it down and put it away.
The sump is an eshopps 20g and I'm using a Vectra S1 for the return. For filtration I have a Curve 5 skimmer, filter sock, Aquamaxx media reactor and some Chaeto in the fuge. I'm dosing ESV two part with a Jebao doser. The ATO reservoir on the right is a 7g pet food container.
I'm using an eshopps pf800 HOB overflow. In the 3 years my tank has been set up I haven't had a single issue with the overflow. They get a bad rap, but if set up correctly there should never be a problem. Out of the box the overflow is very loud. This can be corrected by making a DIY Stockman Standpipe ( look on Youtube for directions), it's super quiet once this is installed. The only sound I hear now is the faint trickle of the water going down the drain hose. The tank is right next to where I watch TV and you don't even know it's there.
Love your rock work! I didn't secure mine in case I wanted to move stuff around. Big mistake, it's nerve racking placing frags on the rocks and having the rock shift a little. Although it did come in handy when I needed to move a rock with GSP on it that was starting to spread. Good luck with your tank!



This is more recent. The light on the side of the fuge was for an ATS experiment I tried. It didn't work
out alright so I scrapped it but left the light because it grows Chaeto great.

Beautiful tank and great job!!!! Very good deal for $350 for tank and stand combo and after seeing what you've done with it makes me feel better about my tank purchase. That is all good info to have. Do you run the canister full time or just when you need to run the UV? I will defiantly look into the Stockman Standpipe because mine is near my tv also ( wife says she likes the sound of the tank but its still new wait some time that will change). Yes 1st thing I did with my HOB was make sure it was at the correct water level to where if I turned my return pump off the sump didn't over flow and fine tuned it from there.

Yes there are (+) & (-) from securing live rock, the way I did mine was 4 different rock structures that are self standing that come together to make what you see just in case I need to make some changes down the road. Thanks for the good luck this tank is still a baby but I cant wait till I can finally have this it looking like a reef ( like you have done)!