28 Dec 2018
Equipment list:
Marineland 75g (03 Mar 2015)
Marineland stand/canopy (21 Feb 2015)
ModularMarine 1200gph low profile overflow (03 Mar 2015)
Kessil (2) A360WE Tuna Blue (9 Oct 2016)
Kessil H160 (23 Jun 2018)
AquaticLife 48" 2xBlue+, 1xABS, 1xP+ (23 Jun 2018)
Eshopps R-200 2nd Gen (21 Jan 2014)
Deltec SC1350N skimmer (26 Oct 2016)
BRS carbon reactor (9 Jun 2016)
BRS dosing pumps (14 Jul 2017)
Waveline DC6000 return pump (Mar 2015)
Vortech MP40WES w/QD wets x2 (26 Jun 2017)
Visi-therm 150w x2 (7 Dec 2016)
Reef Angel + w/relay expansion (2 Jun 2016)
Fish:
Coral beauty angel (25 Jun 2016)
Yellow tang (26 Sep 2016)
Randall's goby (17 Dec 2017)
Kaudern's cardinal (15 Sep 2016)
Tail spot blenny (19 Jun 2017)
Foxface Lo (14 Feb 2019)
Sixline wrasse (14 Feb 2019)
Inverts:
Tiger pistol shrimp (8 May 2019) Source: BRK
Tiger sand conch (19 Jun 2017)
Reefcleaners CUC for 75g (continually updated)
Corals:
Meteor shower (26 Sep 2016)
Monti cap (26 Sep 2016)
Copp's rainbow undata (28 Jun 2017)
Jason Fox Jack-O-Lantern (6 Oct 2016)
Acroporas:
- Cali tort (28 Jun 2017)
- Strawberry shortcake (17 Jun 2017)
- ReefRaft Wolverine (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 1 Pink with green growth (15 Oct 2016)
- Bonsai (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 4 Tan w/purple tips and pink? Polyps (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 5 Tan w/bright green polyps (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 6 Blue bansai with green polyps (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 7 Aqua (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 8 Bright green (25 Jun 2017)
- Wild 9 Green smooth skin (28 Jun 2017)
- Wild 10 Tan w/green polyps and blue growth (28 Jun 2017)
Wild 11 blues with yellow tips (2 Jan 2018)
Vivid's rainbow delight (2 Jan 2018)
SC Orange Passion (1 Jun 2018)
Tyree's Pink Lemonaide (1 Jun 2018)
ORA Hawkin's blue echinata (30 Sep 2018)
WWC Suicide Squad (1 Jun 2018)
Walt Disney (14 Aug 2019)
Green mushroom (2 Jun 2016)
Green toadstool (2 Sep 2016)
Green pipe organ (23 Sep 2016)
Rock/substrate:
5-6lbs Fiji live rock (2 Jun 2016)
55lbs BRS reef saver dry rock (19 Feb 2015)
100lbs Black Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand (19 Feb 2015)
Original post begins here
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After being without a tank for a couple years following a move from Japan back to the states and subsequently from the west coast to the east coast to take a job after retiring from the Marine Corps, it was time to bring some peace to my little corner of the house.
We still had the equipment from the setup in Okinawa (a 50g rimless) but I wanted to move up to something a bit bigger without breaking the bank. I found a used 75g tank, stand, and canopy in the paper and though the tank was trash, the stand and canopy was nice so we brought it home.
I cut a 3/4" piece of birch plywood to enclose the top of the stand and layed down a few coats of Red Guard to protect the wood. I repeated the process on the lower two inches of the inside surface of the stand and applied some white paint. Progress was a bit slow but we were moving forward and things were turning out fairly nice along the way. As luck would have it, the sump from the previous setup in Japan fit the new (used) stand.
With the stand finished up, I gave the canopy the same treatment (Red Guard and white paint).
While waiting for various things to arrive, I used 1/2" (O.D.) PVC to mock up some rock like structures to get a feel for what I'd do for the aqua-scaping.
Once the rock arrived I attempted to mimic the PVC layout; meh...
Now it was time to figure out how I was going to plumb the tank. I had a hang on overflow to match the sump but I really wanted to run a beananimal setup. After doing some digging I decided to try one of the "stealth" units available online and took a stab at drilling a tank for the first time. The process was relatively painless and went without incident (why did I wait almost 25 years to drill a tank when it was this easy).
Paint it black!
At this point, the build is placed on hold for a little over a year while we move into a home with a lot more square footage. After staking my claim, I started moving things around to accommodate the tank and got to work on the plumbing.
It's perfect! No, this isn't going to work...
Found a good deal on a Reef Angel + but it needed a little TLC
Yea, looking a little better.
Time to clean up a repair made by the previous owner and tidy up some other things.
While this was going on, a used skimmer was purchased along with some cheap LEDs I modified a bit to work with the controller.
Things moved along as expected but that rockwork was still bugging me so I made some minor changes to open it up and bit.
Fast forward a bit and it's time to add more critters.
Grr, that time again...
Things move along as expected and for the most part is drama free for a number of months.
After about four months, I decided to swap the cheap LEDs in favor of a pair of Kessils.
...
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