New guy, new tank, ADA 75-P

[rxx2]

Since I'm new to R2R I thought I'd post a few pics of my newly setup (12-14-2009) ADA 75-P. It's replacing a 50 gallon that had been up for several years. I was having some problems with my SPS dying and was unable to figure out what was going wrong. Rather than quitting the hobby, I thought I'd try to go with a simple setup. Most of the corals were salvaged from the 50 gallon and some are from the "kid's nano".

Here's a pic of the 50 gallon.

Under the stand.

FTS.

Corals are coloring back up and full day and night polyp extension so I think it's on the right track.

Here are some specs:
Tank is an ADA 75-P, roughly 30x18x18 (42 gallons)
Overflow is a Lifereef nano.
Sump is a roughly 11 gallon Mr Aqua tank, no baffles.
Return is an Eheim 1260 through a 3/4 return
In tank flow is a Tunze stream 6000 on a single controller
Lighting is a Giesemann Infiniti 24 inch, 150 watt HQI 13K Megachrome & 4 x T5 actinic +
Skimmer is a Bubble Magus NAC6.
ATO is DIY kit from Aquahub.


Ben

 

[thomasdo87]

wow this tank is so clean and beautiful. the stand is awesome.

 

[cay85]

welcome to reef2reef! and very nice tank!

 

[mpoletti]

Welcome Ben :D

 

[obi]

very nice!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Sweet set up Ben! Welcome!

 

[rxx2]

Thanks all.
I'll have to get some new pics up. Equipment is coming together. Tank is more stable with parameters back in line. I thought I could keep up with weekly water changes but no such luck. Corals have been up and down, not sure where they're headed currently but it's been an interesting experience this time around.

 

[inactive]

Very nice!

 

[spsfreak]

Looks good. I am currently working on a new setup and have been looking on boards for lighting setups. I like the way your Giesemann is hung, did you make that, or is it store bought? I would assume a custom, but thought I would ask. Again, nice setup.

 

[MikeB]

Welcome to R2R. Beautiful setup.

 

[dbm reef]

Looks good. I am currently working on a new setup and have been looking on boards for lighting setups. I like the way your Giesemann is hung, did you make that, or is it store bought? I would assume a custom, but thought I would ask. Again, nice setup.

ive used some stuff like this at work not sure if its the same but def. close here is a link .

80/20® Inc. - The Industrial Erector Set®

 

[spsfreak]

ive used some stuff like this at work not sure if its the same but def. close here is a link .

80/20® Inc. - The Industrial Erector Set®

Kewl, thanks for the link.

 

[Troylee]

welcome aboard...great looking tank...:)

 

[rxx2]

Thanks all, nice friendly crowd you have here!

It is the 80/20 stuff that I used. I got it from their garage sale link which is on their ebay store. The hardest thing is figuring out what to buy.

Here's a little information about what I used.
I'm not an engineer so if you're using rather long pieces of tubing you may want to consult one. I don't know how rigid this stuff is but since some people use it to make stands for their tank I think it's gotta be pretty strong. It's actually pretty simple to use and put together. You can find a company website that will sell direct. You can also find companies that will help engineer it for you. I went to a company that sells some of their overstock, scraps on ebay. The hardest part was figuring out what to order. I used 15 series (1.5 inch square) 8020 T-slot aluminum framing. You can figure out what lengths you need and order them cut to size. I found them on ebay from 80/20 Inc garage sale in the length I needed. Once you figure out what size tubing you're going to use it gets easier to find stuff since fasteners, joining plates, accessories all fall under that same series of tubing. For fasteners I used the economy T-nuts and screws that I found packaged together, again on ebay. To fasten the 2 tubing pieces together I used a 4 hole inside corner gusset bracket. To attach the rack to the stand I used aluminum corner brackets. For the end of the tubing that is exposed I used an end cap, it's plastic and has a push in plastic fastener to keep it in place. To mount the gripper hanging wires for the fixture to the rack I got a screw, 5mm I think it was, and just screwed the gripper onto the screw and the head of the screw slid right into the slot.