My 75 Gallon Build...

[kwest]

Well guys, as most of you know, i have been on this forum for probably about 3 months maybe more. I had been sold a "starter kit" of a 29gallon saltwater setup at petco but soonly found out it wasn't for me. It's been a long journey, and i really appreciate everyones patience and help along the way. I went from not knowing a thing, to learning something new everyday (it still continues) lol. and over the past week and a half i finally made a final decision. I am upgrading my entire setup, and exchanging out my 29gallon setup (just a nothing special eclipse setup) for a 75gallon full sump setup, t5 lighting, glass hood, protein skimmer, etc..I will be picking up the last of my stuff in an hour or so and hopefully by thursday it will be up and running with my existing livestock...Will be posting pictures along the way. thanks

[Learner]

Eagerly watching, and waiting for pic's.....good luck.
BTW I have been following your previous thread, and think all advice and opinions given were great. ;D

[kwest]

Most definetly. I wouldn't be close to where im at today if it wasn't for that. Plus the hands on help of my LFS, and the 3 big books i have bought and read. hahah  Ive pretty much got everything, except the sump and return pump which he is bringing on thursday. my protein skimmer that they were selling at the store was $210, i got it brand new online for $130 and somehow overnight shipped from california for free..??? My lights and 2nd koralia will be delivered today, hopefully soon. All in all, i have spent around 1600, give or take a few bucks. Including live sand and live rock..So not too bad, i was just a couple hundred over my originally budget. But hell, i gotta be as careful as possible im only 19years old. haha. Ill post pics shortly

[kwest]

well here is what my dining room use to look like in my apartment. haha, still not sure how i got my g/f talked into this...


Now it looks like this..



I got the reef ready version of the tank. I think it is made by all glass aqariums. So this is the built in overflow box that actually looks really nice..

Here's my 40lb white live sand, and a 20lb. mixed with mainly black live sand. Im adding these to my already 30lbs. white live sand, so it should give a nice mixture. Going for white sand with a light mixture of the thicker black sand...should look nice.


And my coralife 125 super skimmer. Seemed like the best bang for my buck. Read good reveiws, so hopefully itll be effiecient. Like i said, i picked this bad boy up for $130 brand new shipped. Ordered out of california on thursday around noon, arrived at my house in texas friday afternoon. Crazy...

300watt fully submersible heater. Cheap, easy to use, reliable...

Coralife power adapter/timer. Im pretty excited about this guy, itll make things more natural for my livestock, and i will no longer have to remember what times to turn on and turn off, itll do it automatically!! hope it works well, the LFS guys said they use it on quit a bit of aquriums they install.

Coralife digital thermometer. Figured this was a low cost must at $10, just to make sure the temps are where they need to be..

this is the glass top and the overflow box accessory kit (havent even opened so not sure whats in it!) but it all came with the tank and stand...I believe i paid $550 for the reef ready tank, black matching pine stand, glass top and the acc. kit..Doesn't seem too bad.


Well that's it for now. Awaiting arrival of my lighting and koralia 4..should be soon, but ups always takes forever. Especially on days like today when it's storming. But hope you guys like it and think i've made good choices w/everything!! Thanks

[KYLE.801]

Looks sweet man!  Im jealous you are setting up that size of a tank!  If you read in my new thread im going to set up a 40 gal which im pretty excited for but I would love to be setting up something that size.  Tell your gf she is great for letting you do that lol.  Good luck! 

[kwest]

Looks sweet man!  Im jealous you are setting up that size of a tank!  If you read in my new thread im going to set up a 40 gal which im pretty excited for but I would love to be setting up something that size.  Tell your gf she is great for letting you do that lol.  Good luck! 

haha yeah i know right? oh and good news..my lights came in!! and damn do they look nice! pics soon

[RandyFolds]

Is your apartment on the ground floor?

[kwest]

Is your apartment on the ground floor?

most definetly..haha thatd be bad

[psykokid]

dont take the glass top out of the box. you will just end up taking it off in the future anyhow. I had a glass top on my tank when i first got it. All it does is trap heat and get all crudded with salt. When it gets crudded with salt it lets less light through and creates more heat.. Before i had a hard time getting the tank temps to go below 80. now with the glass top off and fans from my canopy providing evaporative cooling its my tank gets up to about 80-81 max with the 250W metal halide on (which is still way too close to the water but thats a different story)

[kwest]

well see thats what i was worried about, but im wanting to house an eel....??

[kwest]

Look what arrived earlier today!!

and my Koralia #4

Nova Extreme T5 Lighting...


8 bulbs that are 54watts a piece. 4 actinic, 4 10,000k daylight, 4 LED lunar lights!


That is 432watts total, or 5.76watts/gallon....should be efficient. The light fixture is super nice, even has built in dual fans to help keep things cool..

[psykokid]

make a mesh or screen cover for the tank. since your tank is reef ready you dont have to worry about moving around things. could even use some black egg crate to make a cover to still let some light in yet keep things in the tank. Some use simple wider (think 1/4" openings) screen mesh over a plastic frame to keep things in yet keep the top of the tank open to air circulation.

Also, before you even think of putting a drop of water in the tank, goto the hardware store and get a small can of rustoleum matte black paint and paint the outside of the back glass of the tank. Use a little 3" mini roller and do it light in several coats allowing dry time in between coats. I didnt when i moved my tank to my house from my friends house and have kicked myself in the arse everyday since. I have one of those black plastic aquairum background film chingaderas on the back of mine. It gets all nasty and such. After a while i just said eff it and left it be because with all the stuff i have hanging on the back of the tank (returns, hob skimmer, etc..) its a big PITA to keep clean.

[kwest]

make a mesh or screen cover for the tank. since your tank is reef ready you dont have to worry about moving around things. could even use some black egg crate to make a cover to still let some light in yet keep things in the tank. Some use simple wider (think 1/4" openings) screen mesh over a plastic frame to keep things in yet keep the top of the tank open to air circulation.

Also, before you even think of putting a drop of water in the tank, goto the hardware store and get a small can of rustoleum matte black paint and paint the outside of the back glass of the tank. Use a little 3" mini roller and do it light in several coats allowing dry time in between coats. I didnt when i moved my tank to my house from my friends house and have kicked myself in the arse everyday since. I have one of those black plastic aquairum background film chingaderas on the back of mine. It gets all nasty and such. After a while i just said eff it and left it be because with all the stuff i have hanging on the back of the tank (returns, hob skimmer, etc..) its a big PITA to keep clean.

haha its funny you say that..i have a local store making a matte black background cover made exactly to the size of my aquarium for the backside of the tank. No way ill be looking at the wall, i wanted a black background to make all the colors stand out. And that mesh top is a good idea, im just trying to picture that....?? Plus how would i get it to hold? i dont wanna tape it down everynight or something, and i dont wanna ghetto it by just sitting something heavy over it.

[RandyFolds]

Honestly, housing an eel sounds really cool and interesting, but in my opinion, they are one of the worst species to stock. You are likely to never see it. They hole up and (maybe) come out for feeding times. They are also insidious. They will get into every part of the tank you don't want them, i.e. overflows, sumps, your floor... They don't like light, so keeping them in a mixed reef is sort of counter-intuitive.

They also bite. They are pretty much blind and hunt by olfaction, so nothing that moves slower than it, your hand included, is safe. Most fish are slower than them, so nothing else you stock can be considered safe.

The ones that look really sweet, like the ribbon eel, are basically doomed when they are collected. They are something you would shoot for a species tank with, and even then, they rarely fare well. They often starve to death if they don't leap from the tank to their doom first. They usually need to be trained on live food, and then fed with a jigging stick. I had a moray that would only eat off a crystal rod---not plastic, not glass, crystal. Do you know how much is sucks to keep a three foot long crystal wand from breaking?

[kwest]

yea, been doing alot of research. They definetly aren't for everyone or every setup...Im still considering. Not purchasing anything yet. The only addition ill be doing to my new tank is a blue heppo tang.