My 75g upgrade after just 3 months of reefing :)

[vietcu]

My 75g tank is now up and ready for the move. I am moving everything from my 40 which I will be turning into the sump into the 75. Here are some pictures so you guys can see the progress of the build
Right behind this tank is where I will be putting my 75

Lucky for me there is a big closet in the back of this wall

Hole cut and stand built

Here is the 75 on the stand. Had to use 3 decks of cards and a whole lot of small pieces of 2x4's to level that stand. My floor is uneven big time.

Here is another shot from the top, not much room for my lights. I think I might have to cut a few more inches off.

This is what I got so far. Still have to build the electrical panel for it, ran a dedicated circuit for the tank. That was a pain in the but, considering I did not have access to the ceiling in half of my basement. I was near giving up trying to run the electrical wire from one side to the other.

 

[Zagz]

Very nice progress! Keep us updated as you continue.

 

[SparKy697]

NICE!

I think a 75 will make a nice reef. Kind of my thoughts for the next one.

 

[roka64]

Can't wait till it's done!

 

[mandown123]

wow what a great setup with the wall cut out. That will be unbelievable to just chill out and observe when you get it running.

 

[melosu58]

Looks pretty good

 

[cmor1701d]

Looking great so far. Keep posting pics of the build.

 

[vietcu]

Today took down the tank to drill some holes on the center brace so I can get more lights down into the tank. Battery ran out on the drill so only got this far.

used leftover pieces of my wood floor to make the counter top for the stand. Worked out quite well all the pieces fit together exactly long enough for the tank.

Here is the bottom of one side of my stand filled my pieces of 2x4's. I think it was almost half inches off on this side.

right here is going to be my return. Everything is going to be glued all the way to the T. Had to sand down the pvc so that I could get it out of the glass hole if need to. The top part of the T would be extended a little so that air could escape up and water flow down.

Here is a little picture of my current tank. The frags that I got a month ago are all growing quite well actually, faster than I had expected. I even managed to frag the Eagle eye Zoas into 3 different frags. Unfortunately lost one frag because I had it too high in my tank where the water flow kept it from opening.

 

[pvh]

I would recommend you be careful drilling the holes in the center brace.

 

[vietcu]

Ok here is an update of my setup. Ran some electrical wiring for my lights. Funny thing was I measured out my wires too exact and not giving me any work room. Had to completely rewire the whole setup. Still have more wiring to do, taking my good old time

Drilled all the holes I need for the center brace. Almost broke it one too many times.

And what the heck is with my water? I cleaned out the sand before adding it to the tank. Added the sand Monday night, it is now Wed and still cloudy as heck. Is there anything I can do other than putting in new water, or should I just wait a few more days?

 

[mandown123]

didnt get any drywall in it did you? lol. thats pretty dang cloudy

 

[SparKy697]

Looks like the result of aragonite sand. Rinse rinse rinse. Even then it seems that you still get some of this. If you have an old hob filter with some floss you can run it for a while to help clear some of this up.

 

[fijiwigi]

The sand will settle down it just takes time. Better now than when you have livestock in it,. I rinsed my sand twice and my tank was cloudy for about a week. I did a few extra PWC that week. And even another couple weeks after that it was still easily stirred up.

 

[cmor1701d]

Are you cycling the tank now. The sand wil settle as it gets coated wth bacteria. That makes it just heavy enough to settle to the bottom. Give it time and all will be good. Mine took a week just to see the rocks again.

 

[mandown123]

wierdest thing, i was really careful putting the sand in, but i gotta say it was crystal cleaer in an hour, could have something to do with it was only 30 glalons tank and 40 pounds sand

 

[vietcu]

This is aragonite sugar fine sand, the stuff I got in my 40g tank was also aragonite but a lot coarser in size. Didn't plan on cycling this tank as I was planning on transfering the 40 over and using most of the water from the 40. But they way things look, I am not moving anything over until this clears up.

 

[cmor1701d]

The water column doesn't hold much bacteria. It's the rock and sand that host all the bacteria.

 

[vietcu]

The water column doesn't hold much bacteria. It's the rock and sand that host all the bacteria.

My Lfs told me to transfer my old water into my new tank so that I would be able to minimize the cycle if it does happen again. Whether it is true or not I don't see any harm in doing that, water from my 40 has good parameters so why not. Now if I had high anything that I don't want then I would just use new saltwater.

Today I checked the water in the 75 and I could see through it from front to back so its clearer. But as soon as I started some circulation in the tank white smoky stuff started to come up from the sandbed( really fine sand). So looks like I have to suction some of that top film out and do some water change. Hopefully that will help clear this water up and allow me to circulate the water.

 

[ellisz]

Put an old school power filter on it. I had that cloud when I set up my 180 for over a week!

What are the holes in the brace for?

Not sure how much LR you have but with the new sand and going from a 40 to a 75, you will probably have a cycle. The water is not going to prevent that.

 

[cmor1701d]

The sand storms will continue until the sand is heavy enough to settle quickly. That doesn't happen until the sand grains are coated with bacteria. That doesn't happen until after the cycle has been completed. You are going to need more rock in the new tank anyway so add some base rock and then add some of your LR from your 40.

I never suctioned my sand bed. Today I can have a power head fall and create a major sandstorm that will settle in about an hour. That can only happen AFTER the sand is cycled. You can suction the top layer over and over again. In about week of suctioning you may be able to stop if the that layer of sand has had time to get coated with bacteria. Otherwise you will end suctioning all of the sand out of your tank.

Using the water from your 40 is fine, BUT a) it won't fill your 75; b) it will not cycle your 75; c) adding it will cause another huge sand storm until the new sand is cycled.

Bottom line is that you need to cycle the 75 before you transfer the majority of your 40 over unless you don't mind living with a sandstorm for a week and hope yourfish can find food and survive it.

Take the time to do it right. You will be happy you did.