ReefTECK's 75 Gallon Reef Thread

[ReefTECK]

Alright, my 46 bowfront aquarium center brace broke, and I've seen some definite bowing in the glass (like more than usual). So I've bought an Aqueon 75 w/megaflo. 20L for sump. Watch as I put it all together!


The New Tank^

Preparing For Tank Hop^

Circumstantially I'm a little upset, but really, really excited. Gives me a good excuse for a new tank. Convinced my fiancee anyways!

[ReefTECK]

So I want to mount this Reef Keeper 2 flush with the cabinet on my new 75. But I'm wondering how I should go about this. What's the best way to cut a clean box out for it to slide through? Also....

Do you think this is a weight bearing brace?^ Or would the middle of the board to the left be better placement?


This is a pic of the little booger on my 46's stand.^

[jgrantham7]

Drill a pilot hole, then use a saber saw.

Being that I have the same cabinet (and controller), I just mounted the controller to the front of the cabinet and drilled a single hole for the cable.

[ReefTECK]

Yeah, thats what I did with the RK2 on the 46, but I want this to look really, really awesome! I love the little attention to details!

A saber saw huh? I don't know what that is. BRB I'm going to go Google! Thanks!

What about one of those little hack saws? That would probably be cheaper, but will I be satisfied with the results? hmmmm....

[gordie72]

not unless you have a really steady hand and a lot of patience. a small electric jigsaw will do the trick nicely. I bet someone will have one you can borrow. I am wanting to set up a 75 as well, so I will be following along. good luck

[ReefTECK]

Okay so, during the last day things have cleared and I've introduced four chromis and exchanged ten gallons of water from my old tank into the new tank. The 75 only has about 45 gallons in it so far and I've got a couple of powerheads (korallia 4's) in there pushing water around.

Going to do another water exchange tonight. Should I BIOSPIRA?
I want to move things over by the end of next week. The 46 bow is looking kinda funny.

I'll get more pix up tonight when I complete the sump's configuration and partitions.

[ReefTECK]

Alright guys, I got the hole cut and the RK2 inserted into the stand tonight. This evening I also exchanged another 10 gallons between tanks, and glued some partitions into the new 20L sump. Moving right along. I also am getting the medium size CPR refugium from a buddy of mine for 50 bucks w/light! Gonna hang it on the sump.

Here's tonights progress:


A little rough around the edges but I'll put a bead of black silicone around it and it will blend right in nicely. How ya like me now!

Edit: Also, I made some tight fitting egg crate lids for the top to keep my wrasse in!

[SeaSerpant]

Lol it is so far so good

[reeformadness]

I like the idea! Maybe instead of silicone, you could "frame" the controller with some trim. Good luck with the new tank.

[ReefTECK]

Well, I picked up that CPR hand-on-tank refugium today, turns out it's a large one! I adjusted a few things and got it set up on the front side of the sump. I know this will make servicing the calcium reactor tough, but it might force me to actually take it out and end up cleaning the pumps and fittings on it, which is a good thing.



I got this kewl little swivel lamp that came on a 3 gallon picto kit that I've never done anything with. 18watts oughta be plenty for the fuge. I've got grape caulerpa available, and probably some halimeda too, but I'd really like some cheato. I'm gonna try to find it. Maybe raise a small mangrove shoot till it gets too big?



Tomorrow, I'm gonna fit the nozzles to sit in the sump the way I want them, the drain is on the right but I'm gonna run some pvc from the drain of the fuge down and elbow left to discharge right underneath the partition for the sponge, and remove a 2" portion of the sponge to let plankton from the fuge flow through.

PhosReactor is coming in Wednesday!

[ReefTECK]

Things have been moved over as the 46 developed a stress mark in the glass late Monday evening! I'll try to take some photos of the old tanks condition from a broken center brace! That glass is so thin, especially compared to this 75!

[gman0526]

Good luck!!!

[ReefTECK]

Things have been moved over as the 46 developed a stress mark in the glass late Monday evening! I'll try to take some photos of the old tanks condition from a broken center brace! That glass is so thin, especially compared to this 75!

I started at 10:30 and finally got to a stopping point around 8:30 that morning after I had been awake at 8 the morning before! I could only sleep for 3 hours before I woke up and could not fall back asleep. The tank needed some work still, skimmer had to be checked at very least. So I finally got to bed again at 10:30 that evening, got up at 10 this morning and put the finishing touches on. Of course I still have to do the UV sterilizer, the chiller, and the phosReactor. But at least all the chords are tucked away, the power strips are mounted, and the MH ballast is tucked away.



Got the refugium fixed up and decided to take a picture of the sump without the refugium attached to it:



And here it is, your moment of Zenith! It's gettin' there I think anyways. Gotta keep a sharp eye on my parameters next couple of weeks! I'm a little nervous, but so many people have reported that they have transitioned smoothly. I hope I can say the same!

[Rustylugnuts]

Thanks for showing us your boogers! Lookin good!

[ReefTECK]

So it's been a couple of days now, and I'm a little nervous about cycling. I'm not seeing any nitrites or ammonia so far, and the hope is that it will not become elevated at any point.

Let me describe the regime I followed in preparing this new 75; Thursday December 27th I got the 75 filled with 45 gallons of new salt water, and a brand new sand bed, 75lbs containing 40lbs of live sand. I didn't think it wise to use the sand from the 46, there were huge detrius deposits from improper application of water flow (that will not be a problem now). The evenings of the 28th, 29th, 30th, I performed 25% water exchanges between the 46 and the 75.

On the 31st the 46 developed a hairline fracture from the stress and I stayed home for new years eve and moved things over into the 75. 5lbs of the sand from the 46 was deposited into the CPR refugium. Also 2.5 gallons of bioballs from the wet/dry filter on the 46 was introduced to the sump on the 75, as well as all of the live rock (approx 85lbs)

I've not been running UV, I figured I would give the bacteria a month to develop before using UV again. The huge Kent Nautilus skimmer I'm using is equipped on the 75, as well as a fuge full of caulerpa, and I have two fist size clams in the 75 (clams are known to utilize nitrogen in its various forms)

Should I consider bio spira at this point? So far parameters are perfect: NH3, NO2, NO3, PO4=0ppm, pH=8.1-8.2, dKh=8 CA=440ppm. But I'm just so nervous, I have an ammo alert card on the side of the tank to keep an eye on things. I've been pulling parameters daily. Any suggestions for prevention, or am I being over paranoid?

Water changes? Zeolite? Biospira? Do nothing? whatta you think?

[gman0526]

Leave it alone, let the tank do it's thing by itself seesm like the LR is doing what is supposed to do.

[ReefTECK]

So far so good, all of my water parameters are looking great and I've even began to accumulate some nitrates. Looks like about 8-10ppm on my API test kit.

Anybody know who makes a better more precise test kit?

My girlfriend took some pictures of the tank, and I gotta say they're pretty good. This little Sony Cybershot has some pretty nice controls and it's particularly easy to use. Here's some shots of the tank inhabitants.




^I need to take these pics into Photoshop and do some color re-balancing with them.



^This is just a good shot of my Bartlett Anthia, I had two of them, the female jumped out of the old tank, she was doing quite well with the male for about two months. I'm going to get two more females into this new tank for him. The chromis will also distract him from being too aggressive with them!



^My newest addition, Acanthurus Japonicus, aka goldrim, white cheeked, or sometimes mistakenly powder brown tang/surgeon fish.

[ReefTECK]

Nearly all of the corals that I have were grown from frags, besides some of the obvious LPS pieces, and even some of them have grown quite a bit since I had first obtained them! Many of my SPS frags have grown so much!




My clam is also huge now! I just aquired a new Tridacna croecea, he has adapted quite nicely, I wanted to move him up into more light, but his bysus is firmly attached to the rock beneath him. He can be pictured in my previous post next to the Starry Blenny.


I'll shoot some new pics tonight of all my corals that got missed, and maybe even a video too!