JIve's Custom 75g Build

[JIvePhotography]

Oh here's my my first tank that I've had for about 15 months. Its a 29 gallon with a hang on Aqua C Remora skimmer and a Current Sunpod. It's currently in my office.

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/001.jpg">

It was a good starter tank but now I want to go bigger. I initially was going to do a 40g tank similar to my friend Jayson's but I decided to go larger up to 75g (dims 48"x18"x21"). I found a sweep corner overflow reef ready tank from Marineland (<a href="http://marineland.com/sites/Marineland/products/productdetail.aspx?id=2054&cid=2052&mid=3228" target="_blank">LINK</a>). My favorite store, Barrier Reef Aquariums, was able to order one for me in addition to a MP40 (<a href="http://ecotechmarine.com/products/vortech-mp40w/" target="_blank">LINK</a>), a Vertex IN100 skimmer and I picked up a Water General RO/DI maker so I could stop driving so far to get water. For lights I wanted to order a 48" Current Outer Orbit 250W with the T5's, HQI's, and LEDs but none of thier vendors had them in stock and plus they were really expensive, apparently Current is discontinuing its halide lights for LESs (rumor??). I was able to find a sweet deal online for the light with shipping for under that was like 35% cheaper than going through the LFS. Now that I had the tank, I just really needed to build a stand and sump and then I'd be off to a good start.

My friend Jayson was found a thread here from Bobby at Nautilus Aquariums who was trying to offload a stand because he didn't have the room. I was able to snatch it up. It was made for a 120g, same dims as my 75g but just deeper, but for the price I couldn't pass it up.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38022

The only sad part is that I can't use the hood because I don't have room with my light I plan on using.

Ok here are some photos of the setup so far.



<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/002.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/003.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/0013.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/0014.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/004.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/005.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/0012.jpg">

 

[JIvePhotography]

The holes that were in the stand didn't line up with my pre-drilled holes so I had to cut a space out for them. I also had to cut off the ends of the stand because when I'm ready to move this into my house, they were preventing me from going through my door!

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/006.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/007.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/008.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/009.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/011.jpg">

Here's the overflow and return that came with the tank:

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/010.jpg">

I was thinking of buying a tank from the petstore and making my own sump but I was talking to Bobby from Nautilus Aquariums and I decided to have him build me a sum out of half inch acrylic. Its a 2 chamber sump, one for the drain section where the skimmer will sit, then a bubble trap and then the return line to the tank.

Here it is under the stand:

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/016.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/015.jpg">

During my time gathering all these parts, Jayson decided to get out of reefing and sold off his tank. I was able to pick up some gear from him. I got his Eheim 1260 return pump and his Neptune Systems Aquacontroller Jr. w/ DC8 and temp probe. I also picked up a DJ power strip from Guitar Center in Seattle.

Now I needed to build the plumbing under my tank. Here's what I did:

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/017.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/018.jpg">

I also wanted to do a way with that black film I have on my current tank to make the background black. So I masked up the 75g and painted it black.

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/019.jpg">

 

[JIvePhotography]

Now that all of the plumbing had dried for 48 hours I needed to do a water test to look for leaks and make sure it all worked. Everything is fine except for a drop or two where I didn't push my pipes into the bulkheads hard enough, easily fixed.

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/021.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/022.jpg">
<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/020.jpg">

Video of water:

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For this tank I'm going to use CaribSea's Indo Pacific Black sand, just like what's in the Neo Nano at Barrier Reef.

<img src="http://www.JIvePhotography.com/newreef/023.jpg">.

 

[JIvePhotography]

Right now I'm emptying the water out of my tank to get it ready to move up into my office in the next week or two.

 

[dailydriven911]

About time! Jarod this turned out to be one awesome and well thought out build! Thanks for all the pics now I know why you wanted to wait before you started a thread. Now I just need to come by and see it! :lol:

 

[willandcorina]

great looking setup can't wait for more

 

[dailydriven911]

Love the end of that video...:lol: Your tank is super quiet to def a big plus well at least until you get the vortech running 100% short pulse...

 

[JIvePhotography]

About time! Jarod this turned out to be one awesome and well thought out build! Thanks for all the pics now I know why you wanted to wait before you started a thread. Now I just need to come by and see it! :lol:

I didn't want to be one of those post that is just a paragraph and has no pics, that's why I built this one up, but now that its started, I'll update all the time.

 

[JIvePhotography]

Love the end of that video...:lol: Your tank is super quiet to def a big plus well at least until you get the vortech running 100% short pulse...

Yeah, Bauer likes to get into everything. Yes, I want the Vortech up all the way, its dialed down to about 10% in my 29g right now on random reef mode.

 

[Myteemouse]

Looks really nice..
Good job on everthing so far.

not trying to be rude or anything
But I think you might want to switch the ballvalve and the true unions..
You can turn the pump and overflow off but you can't change anything undr the tank without draining??
but wait you got those stand pipes..
Oh nevermind..
Looks great...

 

[roscoe]

Looks good!

 

[dailydriven911]

Updates?

 

[JIvePhotography]

Not yet, I'm moving the tank from the garage to my office tomorrow and then going to be setting up everything. I have about 70 gal of RO made now, I need just over 100, so that should be done by Sunday when I plan on putting it all in. I'll update this weekend sometime.

 

[JIvePhotography]

Oh, I did get a blue spot jawfish from Barrier Reef when they got 9 of them recently. The guy was fine after I acclimated him but didn't make it through the night. I really want a bsj but I haven't had good luck. The first one I got was dead in the bag by the time I got home and the second one died quick (not because of my water). Maybe I'll try again, we'll see.

 

[JIvePhotography]

So I just fed my fish some mysis shrimp and saw the craziest thing, my clown fish, the dominate one that has hosted to my green bubble, took a shrimp in its mouth and put in in a feeding tentacle of the bubble. I thought it was a mistake but then it happened again! I've never seen that happen. Anyone else seen anything like this before?

 

[JIvePhotography]

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[slim_jim989]

awsome tank and i have seen my clown when i used to have them feed my nem it was nice to finally see it in person lol

 

[JIvePhotography]

Just incase anyone was wondering, which I was too, the sump on my new tank is 22.75"L X 17"W X 15.5" H. This is roughly 30 gallons.

 

[JIvePhotography]

So today I had some help move the stand and the tank from my garage into my office. I also drained my old tank so that I could move it and put the new one in its place. Here's a side by side of the new and old.

<img src="http://www.jivephotography.com/newreef/024.jpg"><br><br>

After I put everything back in my old tank, I noticed this guy on the glass. He also had 2 friends just like him. I think they're brittle stars and are not harmless but wanted to ask you all to see.

<img src="http://www.jivephotography.com/newreef/025.jpg"><br><br>

Working on putting in all the electronics now and organizing them, I plan on having everything setup this week. I'll post more photos of my progress every day.

 

[Myteemouse]

harmless good cleaners