A Newbie's 65g Reef Build

C

C0pe

So I finally decided to take the plunge and try my hand at keeping a reef tank. I had kept a couple of 55g FOWLR tanks back in high school, but have been out of the hobby for 15+ years. Wow, how things have changed! The bug hit me a few years ago when I was working with Vrba and he kept talking to me about his reef builds, and those of you who have had the pleasure of meating him know how much he loves to talk. [smilie=smile.gif] So after researching for a while. lots of reading, and TONS of consultation from Keith I put together a parts list and took the plunge.

Parts List:
Neo 65 Pro Rimless (36x20x21) w/ Stand
Trigger Systems Crystal 30 Sump (30x12x15)
Wavepoint 4x39 T5HO Lighting
Eshopps PSK 150 Skimmer
775 GPH Europump return
Jager 150w Heater
1x Koralia 750
1x Koralia 1050
60 lbs of oceans direct sand and 65 lbs Fiji live rock

Here are a few pics of the process. This is technically an after-the-fact build log.
 
I thought about the suction cup as well, but feel confident that i'm under there enough that I would catch it before the return pump ran dry and with the ATO not being connected to RO/DI, but instead working our of a 5 gallon jug I have enough capacity to hold another full 5 gallons without a flood. I may look into a safety float to shut off the pump to save water in the future or hard mount the float switch, but did not see enough risk to worry about it right now. Is there anything i'm missing here or should be thinking about and not?
 
for me nothing beats piece of mind...are your house clamps stainless?..they will rust if not. They make plastic ones or just use zip ties.
 
Update:

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Livestock: what the kids named them
Fish
Pair of black and white Ocellaris Clowns dubbed "Bonnie and Clyde"
Pair of Blue/Green Chromis named "Thing 1 and Thing 2"
Pair of Bangia Cardinals "Snookie and J-Wow" (I'm protesting this one.)
Female Lyretail Anthias "Cyndi Lauper"
Black long spine urchin called "Bob"
Last addition will be a purple tang to be called "Pootie"

Inverts
Ricordia Mushrooms
Several Zoa frags whose names escape me at the moment "orange, green, yellow, and purple"
Large finger leather
All corals so far courtesy of DrAdrenaline. I recommend the drive out to Granbury, this guy has amazing frag tanks.

Had a lot more green hair algae, but the snails are doing a good job of cleaning it up

Last note, after a few trips to lfs and dradrenaline's place the coral bug has finally bitten my wife and now she's wanting to buy more coral!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Update: tank has come a long way over the last month.

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Newest additions I added today:
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Pair of black and white Ocellaris Clowns dubbed "Bonnie and Clyde"

That's funny, that's the names of my turtles.
 
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