Red_Beard's 75 Tank Build

[Red_Beard]

Hello all, I have truly enjoyed browsing this forum but haven't contributed much yet.... So i guess here we go! Little background, I've been keeping fish for about a decade all freshwater, currently running a heavy planted 90 with some discus. (They were in the 75 but it was begging for coral.) My venture into the salty depths began last year when I had 2 weeks paternity leave and a little time on my hands. I set up a little 30 gallon tank up in our nursery with 2 black ocellaris, 3 pajama cardinals and a cleaner shrimp with a few zoas, hammers, a dendro, and gsp. The little one loves looking at them, every morning we have to go say hi to the fishies! But, 30 gallons is no where near enough, maintenance is rough because she goes to sleep early, and the wife wants to move it to the living room so we can enjoy it more.
The tank is an aqueon el-cheapo that I re-sealed with scs-1200 and am in the process of drilling in an overflow for. I've also begun building a sump out of a 40 gallon breeder, I hope that I am able to present this in a somewhat cohesive way as my thoughts are quite disjointed most of the time.

 

[Red_Beard]

Things learned from resealing the 75:
1. Cleaning old silicon can be a PITA
2. Caulking spatulas are legit
3. Silicon tooling time is very important, and once you've run out leave it alone...or it will turn in to a mess.
4. If i were to do it again i wouldn't tape the lines, just take a bit of caution and just use the spatula. It makes a really clean line.

 

[Red_Beard]

The sump: big thanks to everyone that has contributed to the build threads and DIY threads! I swear I had it designed and "what i wanted" at least a dozen times. Then i would be just browsing and find something that would make me rethink everything. I think this will work...hopefully. The water will come in to the socket beside the filter sock holder, flow through the socks to the skimmer chamber then to the refugium where i hope to keep red ogo and sea lettuce with some pods. Then, in to the return pump.

 

[SPR1968]

Great pictures so far and thanks for sharing them with us.

 

[BoSalman]

Good start and looking forward to seeing this build progress!

Waiting for more ;Snaphappy

 

[Goodair]

Looks good! Silicon was such a battle when putting up my baffles for the bubble traps. Between 2.5" just ended up using my finger to wipe out the glob lol. Luckily its in the sump but painters tape definitely did help.

 

[HawaiianReef]

I think the aqueon 75 main with a 40 breeder is probably the best set up by far.
You'll get just over 100g total volume, 48x18 is just right size in most living rooms, imho. But the key is the 18" of depth on both the display And the sump. Sooo much room.
I cant wait to see how you plan to scape it!

David

 

[Red_Beard]

Caulking spatula is DEFINITELY the way to go. Much faster and you keep your fingers clean. It even reached in between the baffles better than a hand. Just used that one and wiped it with a paper towel, clean up is a breeze!

 

[Red_Beard]

Tonight's progress, tank is drilled!

 

[Goodair]

Peninsula tank?

 

[Red_Beard]

Peninsula tank?

Yep, I'm going to have the stand extend up and cover all the plumbing/ overflow and kinda blend in with the canopy. I'm thinking either a cabinet style door or preferably a magnet latched removable panel so i can get in there easily if ever the need arises.

 

[Goodair]

Is it gonna be one panel to remove or separate doors. I'm assuming we are talking about the canopy. If you can get a strut to hold it open, hinges would be better. Not sure how much weight magnets will hold, never used em.

 

[Red_Beard]

Just one panel covering the plumbing between the stand and canopy was going to be magnetic... if it works, otherwise it will be a hinged door. The canopy i think i am going to build with a hinged top so the whole front swings up.

 

[Red_Beard]

Next step

 

[Goodair]

You should add weirs to the overflow, that way it will stop some bigger junk from getting through.

 

[Red_Beard]

You should add weirs to the overflow, that way it will stop some bigger junk from getting through.

I thought about that but couldn't find a good way to cut it into the glass cleanly, I even got a little dremel bit and tried a practice piece but it looked not great. I kinda gave up and decided to just see how it goes. I was thinking if it got crazy i could use egg crate or that poly craft mesh and build a screen. Any other better recommendations?

 

[Goodair]

makeshift piece of plastic/acrylic weir, you can prob silicone it onto the lip of the glass.

 

[Red_Beard]

makeshift piece of plastic/acrylic weir, you can prob silicone it onto the lip of the glass.

Yeah that'd work, I've got a bunch of black cast acrylic to so all I'd have to do is cut it out and glue it down. That would black out the whole overflow too so you couldn't see in it. Thanks man!

 

[Red_Beard]

Almost done with the tank, need to finish my sock holder and the sump is done.

 

[Red_Beard]

Practice piece for the weir, I'm thinking 3/16 gaps and 1/4 teeth. That piece will be like the sketch @Goodair posted but will extend to the bottom of the overflow to black it out and hopefully make it cleaner to look at. [emoji1]