Benjamin's 75g Garage Build (FOWLR to Reef)

[mrbee2828]

So yet another death in the family already. The clownfish that I just got this week was sucked into the overflow and died the same death as the other inside the gate valve. I'm at a loss as to how this has happened again. Since the other died I added a piece of egg create inside the downward facing pipe and I have some cross stitch screen going across the entire inside of the overflow. I must have some insane suction going on for this to keep happening. I either need to spend more on bigger fish or figure out how to close this thing off.

My anemone also decided it was time to travel some and floated toward the back lower rocks. I noticed the column was swelled up after dinner and thought "he's going to move" and sure enough an hour later he was dug in. We'll see where he ventures.

[Bschowa]

im sorry for the loss, do you have anything over the top of the overflow? what if you put egg crate on top so they cant even get into the overflow box? i feel like there will be much less suction on the overflow box than there is in the overflow box itself.

[kdpuffer]

It's possible the clown jumped into the overflow, I had this problem on my old biocube. I had to rig up a wall so they couldn't jump over. Sorry for the loss.

[mrbee2828]

That's the main issue. They are so small they are going right through the egg crate so I used the cross stich material over it. Seriously... I'm just going to have to buy fish of a certain size from here on out I guess.

[mrbee2828]

I ordered a few fish this afternoon with a local guy who buys, installs and maintains tanks here. I ordered a green mandarin which was the entire reason for this tank, another diamond watchman, 2 purple firefish and a small-medium sized perc to replace the last one. I should have everyone Thursday

Also, my anemone is on the move. He floated off the island I had and has slowly crawled from the middle bottom towards the left some. We'll see where it settles.

[NyteGTI]

Originally Posted by mrbee2828

I ordered a few fish this afternoon with a local guy who buys, installs and maintains tanks here. I ordered a green mandarin which was the entire reason for this tank, another diamond watchman, 2 purple firefish and a small-medium sized perc to replace the last one. I should have everyone Thursday

Also, my anemone is on the move. He floated off the island I had and has slowly crawled from the middle bottom towards the left some. We'll see where it settles.

GL with the mandarin ben, hope you have tons of pods lol. they go through one of those pod bags from LA in a few days at most

[mrbee2828]

So a little update. All the new fish are doing great. My clown died in transite but they also sent a black clown that wasn't quite dark enough for another customer so I grab that. The 2 don't even care about each other, no fighting this past week so that's good. I also got my RBTA out and cut it yesterday. "Both" of the new ones are doing well and crawling around in their container. I'll try to post some pictures.

[mrbee2828]

I still can't get a decent picture of the mandarin goby. He are some other randoms including a FTS with the new rock since I tore it up to get the RBTA out and it's split.

[mrbee2828]

Oh yeah, I ordered a chiller through a friend today for a good price. Should have it next week to take on the summer.

[Fishkeeper92]

Everything looks fantastic!

[Bige]

Looks great. Well documented. I wish all build threads were this informative. The rbta have a great color. Why did you cut it? Just wanted 2?

[kdpuffer]

Originally Posted by Bige

Looks great. Well documented. I wish all build threads were this informative. The rbta have a great color. Why did you cut it? Just wanted 2?

Second that, why and how?

[mrbee2828]

Almost forgot, I took this shot for the May POTM contest on our local reef forum before the big split.

[mrbee2828]

The RBTA was bigger than a softball and very stretched out as if it was trying to tear itself this past month. The tips were no longer bubbled either, just stretched out as far as possible. The thought was to buy 2 baby clowns I got locally, split the RBTA and force host again. Then sell the trio this summer. Unfortunately I have already lost 1 of the 2 because it wasn't eating. The other one is doing great right now. For splitting, you do it right down the middle with a long blade in 1 clean slice, no sawing. Here is a great video: Coral propagation -- Episode 1: Propagating the rose bubble tip anemone RBTA - YouTube

[kdpuffer]

That is pretty neat, I like the time lapse of them closing back up. I always like BRS tv very informative.

[shady3210]

Love this build thread since I am in the process of doing the exact same thing(even using a 75 gal)!

Couple questions.

How did that insulation on the garage door work out? I am looking for options to insulate mine.

Having any trouble with humidity or temps in the heat?

How was the cold in winter?

[mrbee2828]

Originally Posted by shady3210

Love this build thread since I am in the process of doing the exact same thing(even using a 75 gal)!

Couple questions.

How did that insulation on the garage door work out? I am looking for options to insulate mine.

Having any trouble with humidity or temps?

Whats your plan for winter?

The insulation worked pretty good. I set this up in winter (Dec) so the plan is the same. While it was mild and I don't know what a real cold winter will be like, the lowest it got when it was 35°-40° outside was about 55° in the garage. The tank went down to 76° that night. I have 3 200w heaters going. 2 in the tank and 1 in the sump. Now that's it's warmer I removed 1 of the heaters. If it gets worse I'll just add another heater. Summer is another story hence the chiller order

I'm not having any issues with humidity. It's a large garage so it can't be any worse than having this in a small family room or something inside. If it were to get real humid, all I have to do is open the 2 doors and turn on a fan for a few minutes and the whole garage will have circulated momentarily.

[shady3210]

Originally Posted by mrbee2828

The insulation worked pretty good. I set this up in winter (Dec) so the plan is the same. While it was mild and I don't know what a real cold winter will be like, the lowest it got when it was 35°-40° outside was about 55° in the garage. The tank went down to 76° that night. I have 3 200w heaters going. 2 in the tank and 1 in the sump. Now that's it's warmer I removed 1 of the heaters. If it gets worse I'll just add another heater. Summer is another story hence the chiller order

I'm not having any issues with humidity. It's a large garage so it can't be any worse than having this in a small family room or something inside. If it were to get real humid, all I have to do is open the 2 doors and turn on a fan for a few minutes and the whole garage will have circulated momentarily.

Thanks for the info so 3 200w heaters in winter huh.

I actually just added a window air conditioning unit to mine keeps the garage at a steady 76-77 degrees could be an option for you if you have a window. My garage is turning into a den/man cave so I need to be comfortable in there too not just the fish!

Have you thought about putting a thick plastic covering in front of the door? Would help keep cold air in and drafts out.

I need to start a build thread soon.....

[mrbee2828]

There used to be a window but the previous owner had a break in there and he bricked it up. Same thing happened to my dad a few years back actually. He had an AC unit in the window because he works out there a lot and they just pushed the AC in around 11am and ran off with $10k in stuff... crazy. Mine is a man cave too with a bar and TV and all. Mostly for the fall and football season. The insulation has a plastic/vinyl backing so I don't think it's going to need anything else. No drafts to speak of right now. We had the house wrapped about 2 years ago and that included replacing the rubber strips around the door openings so that's all newish still.

[mrbee2828]

So I finally got the biggest key to my tank's life in the garage... a chiller! I got a great deal on this through a friend who owns a LFS. I didn't really have a choice on the brand as it's what he could get from his supplier. I went with a larger 1/4hp with the thought of upgrades and the frag tank being done down the road.

I instantly noticed a drop in flow rate having to push the water through it. I don't think it's a terrible amount less but it was noticeable. I may be adding another pump onto the system this summer. We'll see how it goes. The noise level sounds like a small dorm refrigerator. It's not bad but I don't think this would work in a living room. Some creative plumbing would be needed to relocate it somehow. It also puts off a lot of heat.