Floggin

Well this is my first saltwater build. I have a few friends in the hobby and just loved looking at there tanks and finally decided to switch my 55 gallon freshwater tank to a 75 Gallon saltwater tank.

So first I bought a 75 Gallon tank and stand for only $100 from the owner of my LFS. I ordered a 700gph overflow box kit from glass-holes and originally was going to install it on my 55 gallon, but in the process the tank cracked on the last hole to drill. So I opted to go bigger and got a great deal!


Its an oceanic 75 gallon tank. I had to cut out the old silicone and reseal it with new silicone.



So after failing on the first tank, I was afraid to drill this second tank. I added a piece of wood behind the glass this time which really helped.



All went great and the two returns and the overflow was drilled. Also decided to paint the trim, and paint the back of the tank as well. Next plumbing.



Here is what I did for plumbing. If anyone has any suggestions for the plumbing please speak up. This is my first tank, and others in my Reef club seem to think that this isn't a bad way to have it plumbed.



Here is just a simple picture of the tank on the stand. I painted it black to match the tank soon after this.



I had a 20 gal. tank that I had sitting around that originally house a Garter snake haha. I bought a sheet of 1/4" acrylic and cut them to size. Had a lot of trouble with the Teeth in the first wall, but it's flowing through just fine. I plan to reduce the intake into a filter sock holder soon as well. I also don't have a return pump just yet so a friend had a maxijet 1200 that I hooked up just to see if it would run it at all... surprisingly it did! haha. This is only temporary. I have a Quiet One 4000 on order and should be here by the end of the week.

For a skimmer I'm looking to buy an SWC 160 Cone from a reef club member.



Here is the picture of the tank and stand painted in the room.



I bought 60lbs worth of CarribSea Aragonite sand. I also bought a 50lb box of BRS dry rock. I'm pretty happy with my aquascape



Here is my tank with the lighting. I have a 48" quad t5 odyssea fixture. Any thoughts on this fixture? I've heard it does well especially for the price.



Here comes the RO water. I don't have an RO-DI unit yet, but a buddy of mine does so we took a few trips back and forth getting enough to fill the tank and sump. Also added Red Sea salt.



I managed to score an 11" LED light for little to nothing and set it up on a piece of acrylic to light my refugium. It sure seems like plenty of light to grow some goodies.

I also bought two VERY inexpensive powerheads off eBay that are rated at 800gph each. They are made by SunSun. I'm not expecting these to last long, and will be getting an mp40 or two in the future...is two too much for this tank size?



Here is a panoramic picture my phone camera was able to take.

I plan to keep SPS and LPS corals, might need another fixture or switch to MH in the future. For livestock I plan to have some Black and White Ocellaris clown fish, either a tailspot or bicolor blenny, also I would love to have a Purple tang (please don't shoot me tang police >.< ). Of course I will want to start out with a good clean up crew.

That is all for my first blog. Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please don't be too harsh as this is my first build.