Smittyburger's 75G Reef

[Smittyburger]

This is my first post. I have been lurking here on Canreef for the past ½ year without posting and in parallel have also been busy putting together my 75 gallon reef tank.

I am a new comer to salt water but had dabbled in fresh water tanks well over 20 years ago! So this is a true adventure … an expensive one at that!

I purchased this 75G tank and stand last June (2011). The tank stand woodwork happened to match our living room furniture exactly, so there was not too much opposition from my better half. In fact we are now full partners into this venture which makes it a nice family hobby!

The tank size worked out well with our placement in the main floor living area not too big ... not too small.

Before the build, I did a bit of research here on the forums and on other sites and ended up designing and constructing the plumbing and sump tank with no outside help (very stressful!!!).

After successfully hydrotesting the display tank, sump tank and the plumbing in the garage, we drained it all and moved the set up into the living room for the real test … No leaks!

Installed some nicely cured liverock and had a quick cycle time of a few weeks before introducing the first livestock.

After 6 months:

Tank:

- 75 Gallon 36L X 22W X 24H (was originally a fresh water tank so had it drilled out and right hand side corner overflow installed.

- Painted the back glass flat back
- Installed Herby style quite overflow

Stand:

36X 22 X 24 square tube steel frame. Woodwork is dark cherry finish; matching balance of furniture in living room.

Sump:

30 Gallon, DIY - Skimmer - Return - Refugium, bubble catcher baffles,

The two outer compartments receive water from the display tank and pour into the central compartment to be pumped back up into the display tank.

Refugium:

- Cheato
- Liverock Rubble
- Xenon lighting on timer opposite of display tank

Lighting:

36" Aqua Life - 6 X 39W T5HO fixture
Bulbs: First 6 months original stock Aqua life bulbs - 3 X 10K and 3 X 420/460nm bulbs

Upgraded to:

Front:
ATI Blue Special
ATI Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Actinic
ATI Blue Special
ATI Blue +

Equipment:

Eheim Universal 1260 Water Pump
Bubble Magus NAC6 Skimmer
1 Phosban 150 reactor(Rowaphos)
2 X Hydor Koralia Evolution Powerheads (750 GPH)
Digital Aquatics Controller Reef Keeper Lite
Jager 300 Watt Aquarium Heater (Eheim)

Stock:
70 + Lbs of Fiji Live rock

Fish:

Turbo Snails, Common Snails
Yellow Tang
Red Tip Hermit Crabs
Damsels
False Percula, Clowns
Regal Blue Tang
Long Hose Hawkfish
6 Line Horned Cow Fish (Pajama) Wrasse
Blue Throat (Jaw) Trigger
Piccaso Trigger
Multiple Hitchhiker Crabs (Too many to count!!!)
2 Giant Clams

Corals:

Torch Coral
Plate Coral
Bubble Coral
Toad Stool
Coco Worm
Colt
Pulsating Xenia
Green Brain
Small Red Flower (Protopalythoa Coral ??)
2 X Dendrophyllia arbuscula
Pink Brain
Blue Mushrooms
3 X Feather Dusters
Cynaria (Button Coral)
Green Star Burst
Protopalythoa Coral (Button Polyps)
Bird's Nest
Acanthastrea
Elegance Coral

Hydrotest in Garage:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55302429/2011%20Aquarium/_LND5983_0911A.jpg

DIY sump:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55302429/2011%20Aquarium/_LND5987_0914A.jpg

Initial Live rock installed June 2011:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55302429/2011%20Aquarium/_LND6029_0890A.jpg

Cheers

[fishytime]

Well it's about time:razz:..... That's a pretty sweet lookin tank and stand Sandy

[Skimmerking]

wow love the woos grain all looks pretty clean, and its going to get dirty and then the fun starts

nice start on your tank

[Smittyburger]

Thanks for looking guys.

The tank has been up and running for about 6 months now. Had a few ups and downs with both fish and corals but generally things have been pretty successful.

The live rock was certainly Live! It's full of all kinds of hitchhikers. As of now I have banished 7 crabs of various sizes and species to the sump (kind of cool to have a separate "crab tank" to watch as well as the main display). I've got lots more still to catch. Not likely to get them all as there are plenty!

Here is the tank at just over a month old:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55302429/2011%20Aquarium/_LND6149_0827A.jpg

Unfortunately, I lost that nice big leather on the right hand side of the tank just about a week ago. She went real fast. Tried to perform surgery to remove the dark "rotting" portions but it kept on going like some kind of flesh eating disease ...

Cheers