CaravanShaka
Membership Expired
I originally had about a 200g in-wall tank planned for the new house. As you know, plans change. My wife mentioned that she would like to go back to school for her PhD, which would mean we lose her income for a few years. That meant no $7-$10k to spend on the in-wall plus the additional cost for it's maintenance and coral stocking. Instead, I decided a good size would be 75 or 90 gallons and started looking for tanks.
I found a Planet Aquarium built 75 gallon rimless with starphire front panel with stand for a reasonable price from a forum member and jumped on it. It was gently used for a couple weeks, and only had a few scratches on it on one of the side panes, and maybe 1 or 2 barely noticeable scratches on the front pane. Other than that, it was a great deal at under $600 with the stand and light hanger.
Once I got the tank home and into my new house, I completely sanded the stand and re-stained it a much darker color. The inside got a few coats of Kilz primer, and I knocked out one of the support braces and moved it to the back since my sump was 1/8" too big for where it originally was. [smilie=whew.gif] The tank got cleaned up and I setup the top side of the plumbing with the drain and return while I was waiting for the stand to be dry and ready to bring in the house.
Once in the house, I got the aquascaping done and started filling it will saltwater. My biggest container for mixing was only 20 gallons, so it took me a couple days to fill. While I was waiting for salt to mix, I got everything plumbed up and ready to go. I won't go into too many details here, I'll pretty much just list the specifics and let the pics do the talking:
Equipment:
Planet Aquarium 75gl rimless, 48x18x21, back left overflow and starphire front pane
Apex Lite controller with Ph Probe
Custom 4 bulb T5 plus 34 LED fixture (Cree & Luxeon mix)
Custom 13 LED frag light fixture (Cree & Luxeon mix)
Vortech MP40 for flow in DT (may add an MP10 in the near future)
Koralia Nano for flow in frag section of sump
Trigger Systems Ruby 36s sump
Vertex IN-100 skimmer
BRS Bio-pellet reactor with BRS pellets (ran off return)
BRS Deluxe single reactor, will be used for carbon or GFO depending on current needs (ran off return)
DIY ATO with Aqualifter and a 5 gallon jug
Dual dosing system for Calcium and Alkalinity, BRS thin 1 gallon jugs fit perfectly with the ATO jug next to the sump
redundant hydor theo heaters
Quiet One Pro 4000 return pump
Basic Livestock 3 weeks in:
40 lbs of Tropic Eden Reef-flakes Live sand
~80 lbs of marco dry rock
live rock and corals from my 3g pico
2 black clowns from Lance
CUC from reefs2go
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That pretty much brings us up to speed for now
will add pics from my phone, didn't want to type this on there but that is where all the pics are, lol.
I found a Planet Aquarium built 75 gallon rimless with starphire front panel with stand for a reasonable price from a forum member and jumped on it. It was gently used for a couple weeks, and only had a few scratches on it on one of the side panes, and maybe 1 or 2 barely noticeable scratches on the front pane. Other than that, it was a great deal at under $600 with the stand and light hanger.
Once I got the tank home and into my new house, I completely sanded the stand and re-stained it a much darker color. The inside got a few coats of Kilz primer, and I knocked out one of the support braces and moved it to the back since my sump was 1/8" too big for where it originally was. [smilie=whew.gif] The tank got cleaned up and I setup the top side of the plumbing with the drain and return while I was waiting for the stand to be dry and ready to bring in the house.
Once in the house, I got the aquascaping done and started filling it will saltwater. My biggest container for mixing was only 20 gallons, so it took me a couple days to fill. While I was waiting for salt to mix, I got everything plumbed up and ready to go. I won't go into too many details here, I'll pretty much just list the specifics and let the pics do the talking:
Equipment:
Planet Aquarium 75gl rimless, 48x18x21, back left overflow and starphire front pane
Apex Lite controller with Ph Probe
Custom 4 bulb T5 plus 34 LED fixture (Cree & Luxeon mix)
Custom 13 LED frag light fixture (Cree & Luxeon mix)
Vortech MP40 for flow in DT (may add an MP10 in the near future)
Koralia Nano for flow in frag section of sump
Trigger Systems Ruby 36s sump
Vertex IN-100 skimmer
BRS Bio-pellet reactor with BRS pellets (ran off return)
BRS Deluxe single reactor, will be used for carbon or GFO depending on current needs (ran off return)
DIY ATO with Aqualifter and a 5 gallon jug
Dual dosing system for Calcium and Alkalinity, BRS thin 1 gallon jugs fit perfectly with the ATO jug next to the sump
redundant hydor theo heaters
Quiet One Pro 4000 return pump
Basic Livestock 3 weeks in:
40 lbs of Tropic Eden Reef-flakes Live sand
~80 lbs of marco dry rock
live rock and corals from my 3g pico
2 black clowns from Lance
CUC from reefs2go
That pretty much brings us up to speed for now
will add pics from my phone, didn't want to type this on there but that is where all the pics are, lol.
