Started My 75G Build.... Finally...

[Will Milberger]

I think you misunderstood how I did this.

The tank already being drilled actually helps you. If you have a custom weir box made it will not be drilled for the bulkheads. As such you can line it up to be flush with the top of the tank like how mine is so the weir slots are inline with the trim. Just be sure to measure the height from the underside of the trim to the bottom of the current weir box you have. The new weir box needs to be 2.5" deep so the bulkheads will fit in it.

Sent Modular Marine a message. Hope to hear from them soon. I just hate spending money that could be on some else now.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Sounds good. He usually responds within a day. I know the feeling on the spending money thing. My build has been riddled with delays, push backs, screw ups (on my part) that have ended up costing me more time and money than I want to think about...

I love my reef tank...
I love my reef tank...
I love my reef tank...

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Sounds good. He usually responds within a day. I know the feeling on the spending money thing. My build has been riddled with delays, push backs, screw ups (on my part) that have ended up costing me more time and money than I want to think about...

I love my reef tank...
I love my reef tank...
I love my reef tank...

When I was getting ready to start my 75 build a good friend of mine told me to plan on spending double what you are expecting lol

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Your friend was right. The only thing he could have also mentioned is have plenty of beer on hand for when you have screwed something up and had to re-do it for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time..... :oops:

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Your friend was right. The only thing he could have also mentioned is have plenty of beer on hand for when you have screwed something up and had to re-do it for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time..... :oops:

Oh there's always plenty of beer on hand [emoji16] beer and DIY go hand in hand lol

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Tank update, It's holding water!!!

Got it leak tested over the weekend after having to rebuild both return lines from the (now installed) outer valves to the bulkheads due to leaks. I ran the system for 24 hours and not a single drip from any joint. I had to buy another pump because the brand new Jeabo DCT-8000 I have made a god awful whine and never settled down. So I replaced it with a Current EFlux 6010. Amazing little pump for its size. I was surprised that it was smaller than the Jebao and fit perfectly in my sump and I was able to leave the rubber mounting feet on it. I will have to reach out to Jeabo on the DCT-8000 for warranty replacement. Hopefully they will replace it and if so I'll keep it around as a emergency backup if the EFlux should fail. I also got the overflow and return lines dialed in fairly close - took about an hour of making very small adjustments to get it right, but I am pleased with the tank and sump water levels. Overall noise is silent aside from a gentle trickle coming from the weir when the RFG nozzles change the direction of flow towards it.

And on to the show.

Waterline comes up to 3/4 from the trim and is 1/2 way up the weir slots, exactly where I wanted it to be. Rather shocked that I nailed this one right on.

Overflow box water level when I had dialed it in. Totally silent with no gurgling sound.

Sump water level when running. Primary drain is just about 1/4" below the water level rendering it silent. This also put it right in the middle of the range for my skimmer.

Next step over this week is to move some furniture (massive solid oak book case) and move this sucker in and start my aquascape. Hopefully (fingers crossed) if all goes well, I'll have it in, aquascaped and filled to begin cycling by the end of this weekend.

#supportingmembers

 

[Porpoise Hork]

* Big tank update *

Well it was a very productive weekend. Got the power wall installed and basic mounting for power strips, and such installed. I also finally got the tank moved inside as well.

I mounted a 1/4 plywood sheet with a piano hinge to the back wall. This will allow me to mount/hide the bulk of the power adapters, cords as well as keep my various pump controllers and timers well organized.

I also installed a 110v 120mm vent fan. My intention is to have this on the same timer as the skimmer. That way the sump area will be well vented when the skimmer is in operation. It moved a fair bit of air and is extremely quiet.

Everything in the sump, and still need to work on mounting the pump controllers and cable management of course.

A little aquascaping work...

All done, and ready for water!

All filled up and started cycling with Dr. Tim's One and Only! I'll be removing that temp sticker soon.

This is the tank after filling. I used the leveling mat stuff that you can get from Marine Depot. Amazing stuff that, and it also works great for under the sump as a means to reduce sound from the pump.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Tank update.

It's been a few weeks and things are progressing, albeit slowly, but they are progressing. The tank is hanging on the nitrites phase for some reason and just wont progress on. Nitrates are climbing exponentially yet nitrites are staying at 4-5.0.. Seeing as I tend to run heavy stocked tanks, I added a 1" Brightwell Aquatics slab to the sump and a 2 qt. box of the spheres to the bubble trap, fuge, and skimmer chamber. Want to be sure the tank has plenty of biological filtration to handle what ever load I end up with. I also got the cable management done for the most part. I still have to move the second powehead over and wire in the battery backup for the pumps, bu other than that it's coming along very well.

#synergyreef #shawdowoverflow #reef2reef #reefingfamily

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Nice job. I also just recently finished my first 75G build. Also using the eshopps overflow.

I'm using a dct6000 for my return.

Are you using the rest of the eflux equipment?

I'm running the ic pro lights (dual 48") and two of the 1050 gph wave pumps on the loop system

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Thanks!

I was originally planning on using the Jebao DCT8000 but it was defective right out of the box. So I decided to go with the Current eFlux 6010 instead. At the moment it is the only pump by them I have, but may swap out the Jebao PP series wavemakers for the Current versions to tie them into the Loop system. I tried setting up the their bluetooth LOOP controller module, but could not get it to work with the 6010. The app showed the pump as being connected but no matter what I did the 6010 would not start up when linked to the LOOP. As soon as I unplugged the usb cable the pump would start up. I think that I messed with it for something like 2 hours disconnecting and reconnecting the pump in various orders and no love. So no feed mode for me on that one.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Thanks!

I was originally planning on using the Jebao DCT8000 but it was defective right out of the box. So I decided to go with the Current eFlux 6010 instead. At the moment it is the only pump by them I have, but may swap out the Jebao PP series wavemakers for the Current versions to tie them into the Loop system. I tried setting up the their bluetooth LOOP controller module, but could not get it to work with the 6010. The app showed the pump as being connected but no matter what I did the 6010 would not start up when linked to the LOOP. As soon as I unplugged the usb cable the pump would start up. I think that I messed with it for something like 2 hours disconnecting and reconnecting the pump in various orders and no love. So no feed mode for me on that one.

That's a bummer. I would contact current maybe its defective. I had a defective loop controller the first time I ordered. I do like the wave pumps. They put out a lot of flow and are silent. I like the varied flow running them in the surge/gyre mode

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I thought about it, but since it would only be monitoring the temp and allowing me to control the main pump, had it worked it seemed to be a tad overkill anyway. Now I may revisit this later on once I have the corals in and see if the RFG's and Jebaos are able to provide enough flow for them or not. If not I was considering going with the Current wave pumps and with either their standard controller or the Bluetooth controller again.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

* Tank update *

She's finally cycled and my first batch of fish have gone through QT and are in with inverts and corals!!!

I tell you tt was the longest cycle I have ever had to endure. 8 weeks in total from filled to being ready. The first week using Dr. Tim's, the Ammonia never came down. So I dosed Bio-Spira and waited. 24 hours later no ammonia and just starting to see nitrites. YEA!!! but then I waited, and tested, and waited, and tested. 1 week goes by, nitrites continue to rise from .5 to 2.0 to 5.0 and finally goes off the scale. 2 weeks since bio-spira and nitrites are still off the chart, but now nitrates start showing up with a reading of 20. Cool! I get to move to stage 3... NOPE.. 3 weeks go by, nitrites are still off the scale. Nitrates are now at 60... So I dose with Fritz 9.. and wait, and test, and wait... 5 weeks in nitrites and nitrates are both still off the chart... So I start asking around and some say to keep waiting, others said to dose nopox and skim like crazy... Finally a recommendation came from my local coral vendor to do a big water change and start dosing SeaChem Stability. So I looked into it and found that SeaChem recommends dosing Prime along with Stability every two days. I decided to do that. 40 gallon water change, dosed Stability and Prime. 24 hours later nitrites were at 2.0 and nitrates were at 60. 48 hours after starting the Stability method, nitrites are now only showing a trace and nitrates have fallen to 20... I couldn't believe it, so I tested it 4 times just to be sure. By the 4th day on the Stability method, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 1... yes 1... A brand new tank, only a single water change so far and the nitrates came down from 160+ to near zero... I have tested every other day (something I do for the first 2 months of a new tank) and nitrates are near undetectable and phosphates are at a measly .25... So I moved my inverts in and started moving my corals in starting with the softies. Then in came the Lps and the three sps frags I have followed by the fish.

And here she is..

Not the best pic, but it'll do for now.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Mine had stalled out with nitrites as well. A wc ane bottle of bio spira did the trick for me. All in was savior 2.5 months. I've had great results with stability in my freshwater days.

You are off to a really nice start with all that coral.

 

[mattgsa]

You have a really nice tank, thanks for sharing.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Mine had stalled out with nitrites as well. A wc ane bottle of bio spira did the trick for me. All in was savior 2.5 months. I've had great results with stability in my freshwater days.

You are off to a really nice start with all that coral.

It was rather agitating, testing every day or every other day seeing no change... But in the end I think it will work out much better. When I decided to upgrade to a larger tank I started buying more corals, stuffing my 40g to the breaking point. I wanted to have plenty to fill in the 75 and not have it look empty.

You have a really nice tank, thanks for sharing.

Thank you kindly.

 

[Magee324]

Looking good. Just recently completed my first build with a 75. Also using the eclipse L

Would you mind sharing pictures? Specifically the external box plumbing

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Would you mind sharing pictures? Specifically the external box plumbing

Sure thing.

 

[Magee324]

Sure thing.

How loud is it? I have the Eclipse L also and it's quite loud the way it comes. I tried using slip 90s to create U pipes but it was loud and BARELY fit in there with the emergency pipe in the middle. I know the Bean Animal is supposed to be quiet, but I haven't figured that part out yet. Thanks!

 

[Magee324]

Sure thing.

...And where did you get your Unions from? My Eclipse L has my pipes so close to the glass I cannot fit the Unions I have until the pipe is down past the tank and stand.