nbgen12 July 8, 2012 Share July 8, 2012 I decided to join WAMAS several months ago, so this will be my first build thread and am definitely looking forward to any and all feedback! I started a 55g tank as my first reef tank a little over 2 years ago. I would have to say it was definitely a learning experience. I didn't fully have a grasp on everything until about a year through everything. I had a few small zoa colonies, brain coral, and some easy to keep SPS coral. Unfortunately that tank crashed in the 4 day power outage, so here starts my first build thread. This tank is a standard 75g tank 48"x18"x20". Originally I was going to transfer everything from the 55g into the 75g, but I got lucky the crash happened before the transfer, because now I can start with an entirely fresh setup while not having to rush the process. I've already gotten quite a bit done, I've just been putting off getting this thread started...I've got a lot of pictures to post and have never posted pics before on the forums, so this may be a little interesting at first but bear with me. I got the stand used from another WAMAS member, and refinished it with polyurethane the week before the power outage. It's only about 28" tall which is a little too short for my taste, but for the price it was not a bad deal. Here is a list of the starting equipment I will be using on this the 75g, along with rock and sand info in the display tank and fuge: - 48" NOVA Extreme Pro 6 x 54w T-5 lights (from my 55g tank) - I'm not sure exactly how much rock I'm putting in the tank, but I know it's fine. It's somewhere between 60 - 80 pounds in the DT. I will post a picture of the dry aquascape and would like to hear some feedback! - probably going with a 1" sand bed. I bought 60lbs of dry Aragamax sand from Drs Foster and Smith. It is definitely a finer grained sand. I previously had a courser sand in the 55g which was about 3" deep which I wasn't very pleased with. I decided to throw out that sand rather than try to re-use it. New sand has been rinsed several times. Hopefully this will be enough for the DT and fuge. - CPR-CS100 overflow box since the tank is not drilled. Hopefully this thing will be nice and quiet. It is rated at 800gph. - egg crate top to eliminate my previous carpet surfing problems. Hopefully this will not block out too much light from getting in the tank. - 2 tunze 6045 powerheads. These are not the controllable pumps, but do have a nice wide flow. I previously had koralias and really prefer these. - tunze 6206 wavebox - the most important purchase I have made over the past month has been the Neptune Systems Apex Controller. I added on the PM2 module to have the conductivity probe along with the PH and temperature probes. I don't know enough about ORP to make it worthwhile for me to do that one yet. - JBJ ATO which I will have hooked up to an aqua lifter pump - 2 BRS 1.1 ml per minute perastaltic dosing pumps for ALK and CA from BRS 2 part recipes - 29g aquarium which I baffled into 3 chambers for my sump and fuge area. First chamber is where I will have the filter sock(not sure how long or if I will use it) and the skimmer. - skimmer is a Aqua C Remora Pro which I orginally used for on the 55g tank and worked pretty decently. May upgrade to another skimmer down the road depending on livestock. - In the second chamber will be the refugium section. I will get into my questions for this in the post coming up directly relating to the fuge with a picture of it's space. I plan on doing a couple inch sand bed with a couple pieces of LR and a variety of macro algaes. I'm not sure if I will have snails or crabs or what in there yet. - Third chamber will be my return which is a Mag 7 pump which I think is about 750gph. The return line is about 4ft long so it loses a little flow, but I'd like the fuge to be a little lower flow anyway. - Lighting the fuge will be a home depot clip on light with a 27w ecosmart true color compact flourescent 5500k light. Hopefully this will do OK for the macro algaes. I think this pretty much covers the first general over view of things...if I missed anything I'll just have to add it in. So far I've accomplished: - refinishing the stand with polyurethane - giving the LR from the old tank a good vinegar rinse followed by a few RO/DI rinses and left out to dry for several days. - rinsing new dry sand - got the empty aquarium and sump setup, and made sure they all passed what my buddy has coined as the witch test (making sure they hold water) - mounted all the aquacontroller pieces, dosing pumps, and situated everything within the stand (the sump/fuge is actually going to be outside the tank on the right side) - I measured out a cardboard piece with tape and got an aquascape organized with my dry rock. I'm going to make several posts with pictures of things so far....we will see how the picture posting goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco's Reefs July 8, 2012 Share July 8, 2012 sounds like you are off to a great start!! Let's see pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 8, 2012 Author Share July 8, 2012 Alright, how the heck can I upload picture on here easily? I'm having some problems uploading my images to the gallery for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas July 8, 2012 Share July 8, 2012 Photobucket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 (edited) I can't even get a single photo to upload onto photobucket. At least I got a few uploaded onto my gallery on here, but I can't figure out what on earth the deal is. Many of my photos are over 2mb...could this be the problem that they are too big of files for photo uploads? How could I shrink them down in size? Edited July 9, 2012 by nbgen12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 (edited) I cut them down in size and got them on the gallery. Photo Bucket won't upload the photos for some reason and I'm not sure how to get them to show up on this post. I've never tried to post a picture to a forum post before, so if I'm missing something hopefully someone can fill me in. I can get the photos on this thread once I can get the actual image to show up in the post. This is what I get when I try and add image from gallery: Edited July 9, 2012 by nbgen12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 July 9, 2012 Share July 9, 2012 Use the BBcode... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 You're talking to a technologically impaired human being...what does that mean? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 you would figure a 25 year old would already know these things lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 July 9, 2012 Share July 9, 2012 You're talking to a technologically impaired human being...what does that mean? lol Ok: 1- go to your gallery 2- select an image 3- copy BBcode on right side where it says "share image" 4- paste BBcode into post Be prepared to run out of space on wamas gallery at some point. I prefer flickr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 I appreciate it! I actually just set up a flickr account. Alright, finally some pictures. This is the aquarium and sump in it's spot in the basement by our bathroom on the left side. Tunze Wavebox Apex CPR Overflow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 Here are pictures of the aquascaping...feel free to critique it and comment Here is the front view Right side with shallow cave Left side with cave in rock mound with arch and pillar Top view I think this is going to be a really good aquascape and much of it is designed similar to other aquascapes I've made note of along the way. A lot of area for coral, with different zones and light levels. Also plenty of hiding spots for fish and inverts. Let me know what you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 Here is the sump area the refugium is 15"x12"x12" I have several questions regarding fuge related items before I drop in a whole bunch of sand. In the fuge area, I want to keep various macroalgaes, especially caulerpa. I also want to get various worms and sand sifting organisms for both the fuge and DT and want to know, how many inches of sand do I need to successfully do all this things? Is 1" enough or do I need to have more like 3" in the fuge? Also, will the home depot 27w 5500K ecosmart true color compact fluorescent light be sufficient for my fuge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 Here is a final picture of everything mounted within the stand. Not too far away from getting to the cycling stage!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind July 9, 2012 Share July 9, 2012 Congrats on the new tank and learning to post pictures. I like the rock work and caves. I would watch the aqualifter on the overflow. I had to velcro mine down as it walked off from the vibrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 9, 2012 Author Share July 9, 2012 I'm definitely really excited for a completely fresh start so I can do everything perfect this time! And good thing I bought some spare packages of velcro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf July 9, 2012 Share July 9, 2012 Looks great, I like the scape!! You'll want to make a small durso for your CPR overflow. Keeps it nice and quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 10, 2012 Author Share July 10, 2012 (edited) I'm actually surprised with how quiet it is in comparison to the last overflow I had, so I may just leave it as is for now. I have a cycling related question: I'm going to out of town for a weekend, and a full 7 days in addition to that during the period I want to cycle the tank. What is the most hands off way to get the cycle going so all I need to do is have the ATO functioning while i'm gone? Would the cocktail shrimp method work best or is there another good way to do this? Some info: 75g DT plus 29g sump All dry rock and sand except for a cup of established sand and one LR for seeding purposes. I would love to be able to spend a week of the cycling time out of ttown so I can avoid the obsessive anxiousness of having the new tank ready to roll lol. Edited July 10, 2012 by nbgen12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 July 10, 2012 Share July 10, 2012 You can toss a frozen shrimp or two in there to kick start it, but if your base rock was ever live you have all the nutrients you'll need in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 10, 2012 Author Share July 10, 2012 (edited) Hmmm my base rock was live about a week and a half ago, but I put it through a vinegar bath and rinsed several times with RO/DI water. You think there are still nutrients on there after all that? I just didn't want my new base rock to smell like death after the crash lol Edited July 10, 2012 by nbgen12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 July 10, 2012 Share July 10, 2012 My guess is there is still plenty on there to start a cycle for you. No harm in tossing in a shrimp too if you want. It will most likely smell quite bad when you get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 July 11, 2012 Author Share July 11, 2012 How many days should I keep the shrimp in the tank before I yank it out of there? Also, I need to get my tank seeded. Does anyone have a couple cups of well established sand with a good biodiversity of stuff they could sacrifice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecool2 July 11, 2012 Share July 11, 2012 How many days should I keep the shrimp in the tank before I yank it out of there? Honestly, I have no idea. I've never used that method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicSG July 11, 2012 Share July 11, 2012 i love your rock work. Nice work so far and very clean job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef July 15, 2012 Share July 15, 2012 I just used the head of a shrimp when I was getting ready to cook.... but if you just use a small piece say 1/3 of a medium sized shrimp then you dont have to pull it out... it will dissolve in a few days and just cause a larger ammonia spike than when people take it out... I always leave it in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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