Daplatapus's 77 Gal

[daplatapus]

I got a used 80 gallon from my lfs for cheap for my sump. Here's a pic of running spa flex from upstairs down to the sump and getting my baffles set up.


Water testing the refugium side of the sump


This Version 1 of my drain plumbing.


And from the other side


To get the right height for my skimmer I cut 4 pieces of 4" ABS and drilled a bunch or 2" holes in it all. I took all my LR rubble and packed it into them once I got the system up and running. And yes, that is the remnants of my under gravel filter I used as my skimmer platform

[daplatapus]

Here's where I finally had just fresh water in it trying everything and leak testing.


I quickly learned that because the water level in my skimmer section was lower than the water level in my refugium section it won the battle with gravity and I'd estimate 95% of the water goes to the skimmer section. Turns out that was a blessing in disguise. It first plumbed it as you see in the earlier post with 2 ball valves after the T. I never was able to balance the system out. I ended up cutting in a gate valve above the T and it works great now.

[daplatapus]

Next step was getting sand and salt water mixed up and in the tank. I went and bought 120 lbs of Tonga LR and because of time constraints had to just shove it all in the DT.


It sat like that for at least 2-3 weeks. I ended up sticking 3 cocktail shrimp in there over that period. They totally disintegrated and dissolved in the tank and I never saw any ammonia, Nitrite or nitrate. To this day, I've never seen any of the 3.

Version 2 of the sump drain plumbing looked like this


and my first attempt at aquascaping which is pretty much how it looks now. Although I may have moved 1 or 2 top pieces

[daplatapus]

Within a couple weeks I had tons of weird little things growing and crawling all over the place. After 8 weeks I decided I was never going to see a cycle and got some critters. With the addition of a dozen or so snails and some hermit crabs I bought a Yellow watchman goby which I still have and a skunk cleaner shrimp.





next was a pathetic piece of GSP

[daplatapus]

Then came a peppermint shrimp and a pair of Occellaris clowns which to this day have not hosted anything


A couple nights after I got the clowns the male decided to go hardwood floor surfing



I also got a blastomussa which I didn't know how to care for and pretty much melted with my MH's

It has since rebounded and is doing quite well now.

I also added a little zoo colony and a torch





And here's a FTS after about 4 or 5 months. You'll notice a few other additions from what's been mentioned thus far.

[daplatapus]

With all that was going on in the tank I had a tough time keeping my PO4 under control, and my over feeding didn't help either. So I got a couple BRS reactors and started running GFO and carbon. I had a heck of a time with running the reactors with Maxijet's so gave up and plumbed a manifold off my main pump to run them

[daplatapus]

Fell in love with this guy at the lfs so got him

[ensquire]

Great job on the scape, lots of caves and places for coral.

[daplatapus]

Next addition was a starry blenny


A kenya tree. If you EVER think of getting one of these... STOPPP!!!! DO NOT GET ONE
They are constantly dropping arms all over and you'll never get it out

[daplatapus]

Originally Posted by ensquire

Great job on the scape, lots of caves and places for coral.

Thanks! I think when I re-do it I'm going to try for more of a two island look and more bare sand. Hard to do though with these tank dimensions. Trying to talk the wife into letting me go with a 180 but no go so far.