The 75 gal money pit (according to my wife)
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Topic: The 75 gal money pit (according to my wife)
Posted By: WildBill
Subject: The 75 gal money pit (according to my wife)
Date Posted: February 19 2018 at 11:52am
I’ve been wanting to do a saltwater tank for some time, so my wife gave me a 75 gallon drilled tank for Christmas. 👍😀😁👍. I found a stand on KSL for free that had been finished with laminate flooring. Removed the laminate and headed to Lowes. Reskinned it in pine.  Applied 6 coats of urethane, figuring that should hold up to the saltwater and use.  Primed and finished the inside with a good quality, hard finish latex. I was going to use epoxy, but the cost and smell stopped that.  I used a white urethane sealant to seal all the gaps at joints and corners. Ordered my plumbing and skimmer from BRS. Skimmer here, https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/essence-s-130-internal-protein-skimmer-reef-octopus.html Lights, https://www.marinedepot.com/Current_USA_LOOP_Marine_Bundle_LED_Light_Fixtures_for_Aquariums-Current_USA-CU04300-FILTFILD-vi.html. Jeff, at the fish tank saved me some money on them, THANKS JEFF!! Plumbing installed,    Filled the tank with water to leak test and zero the water flow in the garage.  All good to go there, time to move it inside.  That’s where i’m at now. Thinking about using rock from reefcleaners.org, anybody use them before? Here’s the substrate I wanna use. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/hawaiian-black-arag-alive-live-reef-sand.html I’ve been told I would need to dose with calcium, because the black sand doesn’t have enough in it. I also know that black sand isn’t going to be good for light reflectance. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. |
Replies:
Posted By: kevin.st
Date Posted: February 19 2018 at 12:26pm
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Looking really nice! Wow. A few thoughts...black sand sticks to magnetic algae scrapers. I will never put black sand in my tank again after scratching my tank. In that tank, I switched to white sand and I thought the tank looked much, much better. Any local fish store can order you rock, even very nice stuff. However, reefcleaners is a good place to order stuff. I have always sourced good rock from other hobbyists and I like being able to pick out my pieces. I'm not sure what style overflow you're doing, but I highly suggest the herbie method overflow. Especially if the tank will be in your living room. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: February 19 2018 at 1:27pm
 It’s the mega overflow that came with the tank. It’s a little noisy, but not as bad as some others i’ve heard. It’s noisy in the Sump, but i’m Sure some rubble will make it quieter. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 09 2018 at 9:26pm
Started stacking rocks today.  Decided that the Sump was not going to move enough water, so I headed over to the Fish Tank and ordered an Eshoppes R200. It looks like it will do the job nicely  I will post more pics tomorrow after some glue dries. Made some higher areas for light demanding corals. On another note, I got to meet a very nice young lady today (WMAS member) that needed some Melafix for her fish. I hope they get better. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 17 2018 at 7:36pm
| Got the Sump plumbed. Had a few small leaks and fixed them. She’s purring like a kitten now. 1 bottle of Spira Bio and a few seed rocks and now to let it cycle. FINALLY. |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: March 18 2018 at 8:49pm
| Looking good. I like how you finished the stand. You could plumb a Herbie overflow without having to drill the tank. The two existing holes act as the main drain and overflow. Then you just reroute the return over the rim of the tank. Herbies are way more quiet. Just an option if you decided that it is making too much noise. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 18 2018 at 9:05pm
| Thanks, i’ll Keep that in mind. |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: March 19 2018 at 9:59am
| What fish are you planning on having? What type of corals do you plan to put in there? |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 20 2018 at 1:59pm
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Tentative fish stock: Midas Blenny Thinking 5 chromis 2 O clowns 2 carpenter Wrasse Green clown goby? Tahitian butterfly. As for corals, still deciding. I’ve been drooling over some over at The Fish Tank. I’m sure Jeff is getting tired of cleaning it off his tanks. 😁😀 |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 20 2018 at 7:58pm
| I do know I want some bam bam’s though. |
Posted By: twolow4law1
Date Posted: March 20 2018 at 8:54pm
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If you ever come to layton , I'll will give you some bam bams for free. ------------- 60 gal rimless , 40 gal rimless 120 gal reef HOOKED ON SALT WATER 801-682-0477 |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 20 2018 at 9:03pm
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Started the cycle Saturday night, checked parameters yesterday, zero across the board. Checked today, 0 ammonia, 35 nitrites, 7.5 nitrates. Not going to worry about the rest until she is cycled. I appreciate the offer twolow, and I will keep it in mind. I think it will be about 3-5 months until i’m Ready for corals. I don’t wanna rush things. |
Posted By: Reefer5640
Date Posted: March 20 2018 at 10:54pm
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Nice setup looking good ------------- 30 g softie, 30 g frag tank, 65 g HT/QT, 75 g mixed reef, 55 g FOWLR, 75 g live rock curing tank, & a 120 gal �consolidation� build in progress |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 4:02am
| Thanks. |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 10:20am
| I've never had luck with chromis. I always start with 4 or 5 and then end up with one. At least they are not an expensive fish. I love blennies though, they have so much personality. Bam bams are great and so are most zoas. I love it when they get to be large colonies especially under the blue leds. Patience will get you a long way in this hobby. It can be hard but it is nice to do things the right way. Is this your first saltwater tank? |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 10:33am
| Technically, no. I have a 20 gal seeder tank that I have been using to eat used to a bigger salt. That one has 3 chromis and a blue damsel in it. Also have 1 blue candy cane in it. One thru all the uglies with it along with dyno’s Started it in November. I am looking forward to this tank being setup and running for a while. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 10:39am
| Does anyone have a par meter? Once I am cycled, I want to measure the light for coral placement. |
Posted By: knowen87
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 10:39am
| That's great. You are going to love the 75 gal. It will be so much more stable and allows you to have a wider range of fish and coral. When you are adding coral I would recommend a hammer or frogspawn. I have always loved them. |
Posted By: Reefer5640
Date Posted: March 21 2018 at 12:09pm
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I have a seneye you can barrow. You have to download the app but after that it works pretty good. That’s all I use it for anymore. I live in eagle mountain and work in lehi. Don’t know if you’re close enough to make it worth it... ------------- 30 g softie, 30 g frag tank, 65 g HT/QT, 75 g mixed reef, 55 g FOWLR, 75 g live rock curing tank, & a 120 gal �consolidation� build in progress |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: April 07 2018 at 10:58am
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Finally cycled. Got the Bluetooth from Current -USA yesterday, along with the hub installed. Hit The Fish Tank for some inverts and they are going to town on the diatoms. I am actually looking for someone to come over and do the Par readings since I have no idea on what I am doing and maybe help me set the lights where they need to be. |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 7:41am
My tank as of today.  I stopped by The Fish Tank last weekend and picked up a frag tank. I will build a stand for it to match the money pit and plumb it into my existing sump this winter. Looking forward to doing that project. |
Posted By: TriggerHappy
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 11:36am
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Lookin' good! ------------- 210 gallon Mixed Reef |
Posted By: jdinchak
Date Posted: September 23 2018 at 5:40pm
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All hobbies seem to be "money" pits but the reefing hobby is just too much fun to not do it! ------------- 180G Mixed Reef Tank 170G Dart Frog Tank |
Posted By: WildBill
Date Posted: September 23 2018 at 6:38pm
I could not agree with you more on that. 
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jdinchak wrote: