Got my tank/stand, YAY!

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liquidreamer

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
121
Location
Louisiana
Ordered my 75g Oceanic RR tank with the hardware (minus the glass tops) and Oceanic Cherry Stand/Canopy today at the LFS! I decided not to go with the lesser priced OceanView (which looked excellent, especially for the price but I was not impressed with the glue/seamwork) In fear that I would regret it later, I went Oceanic. Total cost = 820.00 :roll:

SO, this means that this is my new home! :D Setup should be here Tuesday... and then my sand/lr I will then be ordering the lighting from Darin over at captivereefs.com as well as the 3x Maxijet 1200's and the skimmer after that.

I do have a few q's though:

1) Should I order the glass-tops... or can I get buy with not spending the 65.00 for the Oceanic glass tops and custom cut some acrylic or go topless? The only thing they are used for is stopping the fish from jumping and splash-guards, right? I will be going with the all-in-one mh/pc setups from either hamilton or coralife if that changes anything.

2) With a 75g, do I use the AquaC Urchin or Urchin Pro (with the Mag3) or is the more expensive Spray Injection AquaC's the way to go? I don't want to skimp on water quality etc but then also do not want to waste money :)

3) To help q #2, I will be purchasing or DIY a sump/refugium. I was wanting something that would fit nicely in my Oceanic 48" stand (just barely for more water if need be) and have found a few sites with schematics. Are there any ebayers or websites that have already made acrylic sumps for less than the premanafactured items that the LFS sell? Can someone point me to some? I would just like something with enough room for pods, plants, skimmer. No bio-balls needed because I am going the lr rubble way.

Thanks, and look forward to talking with you all :D
 
Sounds like you are off to a great start. As for the glass tops...I would skip everything and go topless. This promotes better gas exchange between the water and air and will allow for better light penetration into the tank. The only downside is you loose more water from evaporation so you need to top-off about every other day. Although it is actually good for the tank. Check out the Articles or DIY section for more infor on building your sump.
 
Hi Dreamer!

Glass tops... waste of money IMO. Either go topless, or go to a local hardware store and ask for scraps of plexi. Most likely for free, they can easily be cut with a jigsaw and matched to size. Other than that, I would have to agree with Lando.

How tall is your canopy? I heard a few LFS saying MH won't do well unless the canopy is 12 inches tall and fans are installed (can overheat). Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't know about the skimmer... but don't "skimp" with it. If I had the few extra bucks for a better one, I would take it in a heartbeat.

And finally...

Well, the sump/refugium depends on how much room you have under your stand. Does it have a center brace in between the two cabinet doors? Anyway you can post a pic or link to product? You could technically fit something just under 40 inches long and 16 inches deep underneath, but with the vertical supports and how they're arranged, it might be hard to fit a unit in.

Try this... take a firm piece of cardboard and start to play with some measurements. If the base is 48X18 then try cutting a cardboard rectangle that's 40X14 and see if you can get it to fit underneath WITHOUT having to tilt it over (the real thing will have water in it if you ever need to take it out, and you don't want to have to tilt a diy/store bought unit). Keep nibbling away until you get it to fit with at least an inch or two to spare (accounting for your equipment) ... and you have your max. size of sump.

If you are good with your hands, I would HIGHLY suggest you build your own sump/refugium. They can easily get up to $400 if you're not careful. My 60E is about the size of your 75 (add extra height, and maybe some depth) ... I'm going with a 20Long tank for my sump. 30X12X12... $3 at a yardsale, and $15 total for 5 pieces of 12X10inch glass cut at a local glass shop... under $20 for a sump... nice! :D Glass-on-glass insures a tight bond, but you can also easily go with glass-to-acrylic, just make sure to use a ton of 100% silicone sealer and be ready to reseal if the baffle gets knocked over. Add in an overflow box for $50-60 on ebay (or make one from 2 Lee's specimen boxes... I found an auction for 2 new overflow boxes for $20... nice :D ), some tubing from HD, a u-tube return from www.marinedepot.com (or others) and a return pump (mag 7 or 9.5, depending on how many GPH the overflow box can handle). Remember that the pump should pump LESS than the overflow box rate after accounting for head height, and how many 90 degree joints you put in to the return (1 90 degree joint adds an extra foot to head pressure, i think).

Ebay link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46311&item=4334609663&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V

Still have to buy a return pump though, so add in another $50-70. 8O And if you take out the bioballs, you're basically left with a $260++ box of acrylic that offers little options. Here are a couple examples of how to arrange the baffles, but in the end it's up to you.

[pics courtesy of sumphead]

Hope this helps! ... sorry for the novel.

~~Rob
 
LoL just got my 75gl tank/stand also from my lfs. for the low cost of 220$ i got a black pine stand, 75gl tank, and the glass tops. I think the brand is All-glass aquariums, think the site for them is www.all-glass.com. I don't want to hijack his thread but I was wondering however if i already have a sump how can i make a DIY refuge? Could i just go get a 10-20gal tank and a few pumps and use that?
 
You can always drill the sump & refuge and connect them with one or two bulkheads. No pumps needed to xfer water from the sump to the refuge, just make sure that the bulkhead diameter is larger than your siphon hose diameter so it can handle the flow rates and not clog up!

Or you could modify your existing sump (if it is long enough) to allow for a mini-fuge. Otherwise, a 10-20 gal will be perfect.

The pump would then go on the end of the chain... just add some baffles to help with microbubbles.

~Rob
 
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