txaggies07 December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 (edited) UPDATED IMAGES POSTED BELOW ON 3/11/08 - SCROLL DOWN TO THE END I posted this picture about a month ago of my 72g fish tank. Since then I have made a few changes. I got my sump completely in place a few weeks ago. I hooked up my refugium a couple days ago. I painted the overflow black. Oh yeah...and y'all suggested I paint the back wall, but instead I moved my tank so it wasn't against a wall. I also got a new ASM G1-X skimmer. I have some pictures to show. I figured I could put updates in this thread as things progress. The tank is almost back up to normal salinity after being in hypo. Front: Side: Back: Actinic Front: Actinic Side: Refugium: Sump: Sump Connector: Sump from behind: Sump from behind with cover removed: ATO: Edited March 11, 2008 by txaggies07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discretekarma December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 Well done. It looks great so far and I look forward to updates. I really like the rock work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 thats an interesting way of placing sumps, water containers, and fuge, I like the rock work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 4, 2007 Author Share December 4, 2007 thats an interesting way of placing sumps, water containers, and fuge, I like the rock work I wanted to the most water volume that I could. My next project is to build a box around my fuge to match my stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 4, 2007 Author Share December 4, 2007 I also wanted to mention that the ball of Chaeto in the fuge was started from what I got from the fall meeting. Thanks to everyone who helped my collection. Now I have some to give away if anyone needs any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 A piece of advice - those sumps are not safe. They are prone to cracking and are not made to handle water. I had one that cracked on the bottom and I didn't figure it out until after about 20 gallons of water had slowly leaked out. When I took it down to figure out what was going on it gushed all over the place. I'd replace those ASAP, especially because you have equipment in there such as heaters and pumps which could cause damage. Other than that, it looks great the way you have it set up! I like the bowfront viewable from 3 sides (and really, it looks like the 4th side is viewable, too). I have a question for you, which skimmer does a better job? Since the ASM is second in line, I would think that it would not be able to pull much gunk out, but it looks like it is pulling more than the Euroreef which has the dirtier water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 4, 2007 Author Share December 4, 2007 A piece of advice - those sumps are not safe. They are prone to cracking and are not made to handle water. I had one that cracked on the bottom and I didn't figure it out until after about 20 gallons of water had slowly leaked out. When I took it down to figure out what was going on it gushed all over the place. I'd replace those ASAP, especially because you have equipment in there such as heaters and pumps which could cause damage. Other than that, it looks great the way you have it set up! I like the bowfront viewable from 3 sides (and really, it looks like the 4th side is viewable, too). I have a question for you, which skimmer does a better job? Since the ASM is second in line, I would think that it would not be able to pull much gunk out, but it looks like it is pulling more than the Euroreef which has the dirtier water. Thanks for the advice Dave. I put the sumps in there when it was up against the wall, which limited my options. I am planning to eventually put a 20g Long in there. I will keep a close eye on it. The tank is viewable from 4 sides, however the 4th side has the overflow, some rock, and a koralia on it so there isn't much to look at it. I really like being able to see all the sides though. Walking past and seeing the side view is awesome. I also glance back a lot when I watch TV. I moved the rock forward a bit when I moved the tank. It is fun watching the tang swim around on all sides. In my first rock arrangement, he was limited to the front. It was better with the rock arrangement shown in the 1st picture. Now, he can swim everywhere and still has plenty of hiding spaces. I am about to add a few more pieces of live rock. All that rock lost its "liveness" when I went to hypo. I have some rock stashed away in SW that I am going to use to re-seed. As for the ASM vs Euro-Reef: I need a proper pump for the euro-reef before I could make that assesment. The Euro-Reef is actually off right now. I had it dialed in pretty well a month ago. I made some adjustments to the sump and messed everything up. My Sedra pump for the Euro-Reef is dead, so I have an equivalent rated Rio on there. It did do well when I had it adjusted right, but never as good as the ASM. Also, the ASM is much bigger and has the Sedra 5000. That model Euro-Reef came with the Sedra 3000. I imagine it would work well with a new Sedra pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 i like your idea of putting a box around the sump that matches the stand.... my sump/fuge has to sit on the floor alongside the tank , so that is something I might do at some point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 Nice, Not sure the need for two skimmers with a relatively small bio load- I would just move the refuge into one of the skimmer slots- save you from having to build a side cart garage. Regards, Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 4, 2007 Author Share December 4, 2007 Nice, Not sure the need for two skimmers with a relatively small bio load- I would just move the refuge into one of the skimmer slots- save you from having to build a side cart garage. Regards, Lee The sump size isn't really for the two skimmers. It is more about water volume. Also, I am planning to pull the euro-reef out soon, I just haven't gotten around to it. I had problems fitting everything in the one bucket. I have heaters and a UV sterilizer that are in there that you can not see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 now I can see all your pictures... last night at home I couldn't due to slow connection. Looks really nice, and agree the rockwork looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaironman December 4, 2007 Share December 4, 2007 I agree with Davelin's comments on replacing those sumps. I had similar sumps from Lowes and after about two months, one morning I see just lots of water all over my basement. Upon inspection, I saw a small crack at the bottom corner of the sump. That 's all it takes a very small crack. Now, I replaced with a heavy duty 50 gallon sump also from Lowes. The good side of the mishaps is the basement is unfinished. The damage is nothing but an effort to clean up the place. KLee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrendanG December 5, 2007 Share December 5, 2007 And why do you have the Bio Wheels in Penguin HOB filter going? They become NitrAte Factories in SW Systems!! good for FW, but not SW, they hold the bacteria, and just continue to break down pollutants into less harmful NitrAtes, exctly what you want to get rid of in a SW Reef, Yes you have the refugium, but why add to the pollution, I think it would be best to simply remove the Bio Wheels, still run the filter for mechanical filtration... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 6, 2007 Author Share December 6, 2007 (edited) And why do you have the Bio Wheels in Penguin HOB filter going? They become NitrAte Factories in SW Systems!! good for FW, but not SW, they hold the bacteria, and just continue to break down pollutants into less harmful NitrAtes, exctly what you want to get rid of in a SW Reef, Yes you have the refugium, but why add to the pollution, I think it would be best to simply remove the Bio Wheels, still run the filter for mechanical filtration... I have the bio-wheels in because I was in hypo and lost the functionality of my live rock (dead rock now). I just got the tank back up to normal salinity and have placed a few pieces of live rock back in the tank to seed the rock. The bio-wheels are coming out by the weekend. That Penguin filter is mainly there for carbon purposes (well...once I pull the bio-wheels). Edited December 6, 2007 by txaggies07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 6, 2007 Author Share December 6, 2007 I agree with Davelin's comments on replacing those sumps. I had similar sumps from Lowes and after about two months, one morning I see just lots of water all over my basement. Upon inspection, I saw a small crack at the bottom corner of the sump. That 's all it takes a very small crack. Now, I replaced with a heavy duty 50 gallon sump also from Lowes. The good side of the mishaps is the basement is unfinished. The damage is nothing but an effort to clean up the place. KLee I am already looking for a replacement. Do the Heavy Duty ones from Lowes work ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak December 6, 2007 Share December 6, 2007 Hey why not just use a 30 gallon aquarium?? Also why was your tank in HYPO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 December 6, 2007 Author Share December 6, 2007 Hey why not just use a 30 gallon aquarium?? Also why was your tank in HYPO? I don't believe a 30g will fit in the stand. The tank was in hypo because my tangs didn't like the QT. Most of the fish got ich. I lost my powder brown, but everything else is fine now and has been for about a month. I just got the tank back up to regular salinity a couple days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 January 23, 2008 Author Share January 23, 2008 New pictures Tank Side Back My newly installed Sump Misc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 January 23, 2008 Author Share January 23, 2008 Changes since December post: Added 5 Green Chromis Added Flame Angel (from my 24g) Added Yellow Clown Goby (from my 24g) Added 2 Serpent Starfish Added Anemones Added Corals Removed plastic bucket sump Removed 10g Acrylic Fuge Removed 18g ATO Added 20g L sump w/ fuge Added a Reef Crystals tub as my ATO Removed 1 powerhead (too much flow) Added 20ish lbs of live rock Added a Yellow Eye Kole Tang That is all I can think of now. It has been a busy month or two. Everything is looking good though and growing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 February 6, 2008 Author Share February 6, 2008 Just added a Checkerboard Wrasse from Rsaavedra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zotzer February 6, 2008 Share February 6, 2008 The tank is looking really good, Aaron! Tracy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 March 4, 2008 Author Share March 4, 2008 I just finished plumbing in my new 40W Gamma UV Sterilizer. The thing is massive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak March 5, 2008 Share March 5, 2008 The chromis school is sweet, hopefully they don't just take each other out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 March 6, 2008 Author Share March 6, 2008 The chromis school is sweet, hopefully they don't just take each other out. I had 10 for a while. I am now down to 9. They seem to be doing very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 March 11, 2008 Author Share March 11, 2008 Full tank shot Right End of Tank Left End of Tank Sump - Notice my new carbon bomb 40W Gamma UV Sterilizer Tomato clown and his anemone Red Fromia Blue Linckia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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