Greg's 75g Rebuild

[gregzz4]

After my first build I found aspects of it to be lacking/not to my liking and always wished I could start over;
-remove some starter corals I didn't like
-rework the rock 'scape
-sump layout didn't work for me
-electrical was too exposed
-stock Aqueon overflow didn't work for me
-drain plumbing of 1" was undersized to run all the way to the sump. With so many elbows and nearly 6" of run, plus the fact that it only dropped a few inches from the tank bottom to the top of the sump, I had to dial back an Eheim 1262. Otherwise it would always run through the emerg and I wasn't comfortable with that.

Last fall I was seriously thinking about redoing the 'scape. I bought some LR before X-mas and started curing it. After some water testing it looked like I would be in for the long haul, and I started getting other brave ideas ...

In February I commited myself to replacing the sump.
I bought a used 90g from my good buddy David (thanks for the hand packing it home ). I stripped it down, had the glass height cut down by 5-1/4" (if memory serves), then re-assembled it.
Now it's a 4' 60g. I added baffles etc and tested it. All is good to go. And the LR is coming along very nicely, so I looked at the plumbing under the DT. I planned on replacing the 1" drain plumbing with 1-1/2" so I could run the return pump full out.
While I was under the DT checking clearances for the new plumbing, I found a leak, and it turned out to be the DT - a pinhole in a bottom corner about 1/8" above the trim.

Murphy just made all my dreams come true, or be careful what you wish for, or whatever ...

Tank was emptied and stuff transferred to a temp holding tank.
Over the first couple days, and then the next couple months, I lost 99% of the corals - some nearly 4 years with me - but thankfully the fish survived.

Anyway, after the tank leaked back in March, I decided to redo 'everything' I didn't like.
I bought a stock 75g from J&L, and drilled it for an Elite Aquatics overflow, which I bought from Reef Supplies. Thanks to member IanWR for the heads up on the box
I bought the 3-DRAIN ELITE OVERFLOW SYSTEM. Although I only want to run a Herbie, I figured the 3-drain unit would be a good purchase for future upgrades or resale value.







Drains





I fabbed a cover to keep the emerg from splashing everywhere





New sump



I'm now running a single 7" sock, and built a heater hanger. The hanger also has holes for my dosing hoses.







I isolated the return plumbing this time to remove any pump vibrations







And I split the returns as 1 outlet per side was blowing sand away from the glass, no matter where I pointed them. Now all is good

[gregzz4]

Reactors were re-positioned. They still hang over the sump enough to leak into it, although the pic doesn't give the perspective.



Sump cooling fans got an upgrade; When I run out of 80mm fans in my pile, I will build a new bracket for whatever cheapest/most popular ones are on the market - 120mm, 140mm, whatever



Siliconed the contacts this time as the last set corroded





New mounting bracket



New location, and besides removable, it's also able to slide out of the way



Dosers got a partial upgraded location





As mentioned, this is where the tubes will drip into the sump, just before the last baffle to the return section. They may be hard to make out on smaller screens, but there are 3 holes for 1/4" airline tubing. Squint !!



The electrical panel received a total makeover;
I moved it to the other wall, giving the plumbing some more space through the wall.
I built a complete new panel, with all the duplex outlets now flush, and used nearly 20' of panduit.
Now all my Reefkeeper Bus cables are completely isolated from any 12v/120v lines.
After 4 weeks of running ... no bus errors





And a cover

[gregzz4]

Back on July 11th, after adding salt and sand, I added a raw Jumbo prawn in a bag to the DT. After a few days of not getting any NH3 I added 5 more. Then, by the next day, I had readings.
The next day I had to remove the prawns from the DT as we couldn't take the smell anymore The smell went away within an hour of my canopy fan running. The stench of the rotting shrimp was being blown all over the living room by said fan. Unfortunately for me in my office, I had to clean the skimmer cup a couple times to get rid of the last of the putridness. That's a new word I just made up ...

My mini cycle, due to a small amount of NH3, only lasted a total of 17 days.
Yesterday I added a bunch of hermies to feed on the diatoms. I gave them some pellets last night, and some nori today - I'm weak. Must feed the critters.
Anyway, as long as I keep the cycle active, and don't see any issues over the next 4-5 days, I'll start adding our fish from the holding tank.
Poor bastards have been in a 36g for 4 months

Hope they appreciate their new home without the STUPID aqueon overflow box in the tank

Low light pics to start with

I'm liking the low lying/minimal 'scape. Plenty of room for colonies to grow big, fish to spaz out, me to clean things, whatever ...
It's what I wanted last year after my corals grew so big I couldn't even clean the glass or sand.









Notice how the overflow box is quite unobtrusive, and I saved over $1000 by not buying a custom built tank
Oh yeah, thanks to my wife for helping, no, designing the 'scape, and putting up with 4 months of crap all over the house while the system was re-built

[WarDog]

Welcome back buds, glad you're still with us! Looks like you did a lot of hard work there. If you want some clippings of high end stuff just let me know.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Welcome back buds, glad you're still with us! Looks like you did a lot of hard work there. If you want some clippings of high end stuff just let me know.

Oh you know I want ...

Originally Posted by Myka

Nice restart! I've done two successful retrofits on undrilled and running tanks with those Elite overflow boxes. They are awesome! I think they look 100 times better than typical built-in internal overflows.

I love the new real estate it gives me. Not as quiet as the megaflow, but maybe that will get better as it gets some biofilm

[Myka]

Nice restart! I've done two successful retrofits on undrilled and running tanks with those Elite overflow boxes. They are awesome! I think they look 100 times better than typical built-in internal overflows.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

I love the new real estate it gives me. Not as quiet as the megaflow, but maybe that will get better as it gets some biofilm

Where is the noise coming from?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Myka

Where is the noise coming from?

It's the water falling from the weir teeth down to the through bulkhead level. I'm working with the manufacturer to sort it out. Currently running the back box height 1" from overflowing and still hear trickling/falling water. I'm not willing to run the back box height any higher as it won't give the emerg standpipe enough height to handle full flow.

It's not super loud, just annoying when the house is quiet. Keeps making me think something is leaking

[tang daddy]

Nice restart buddy, my box is super quiet maybe the stand pipes need to be raised or need more flow from return pump!

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

Nice restart buddy, my box is super quiet maybe the stand pipes need to be raised or need more flow from return pump!

I tried max return flow to start with. That's when it was the noisiest.