72 Gallon Bowfront Build

[iadubber]

I freed up my 72 gallon bowfront for a FOWLR build. I moved all my stock and plants to a 55.

I don't have all my plans laid out yet. Probably a peaceful community. Definitely O. Clownfish for my daughter. Everything else is up in the air as of yet.

Today I painted the back glass. Four coats of Rustoleum satin black. Don't mind the sand in it yet. I need to take it outside and rinse it out yet.


Untitled by iadubber, on Flickr


Untitled by iadubber, on Flickr

Also got my 700 gph glass-holes overflow kit and a 3/4" loc-line return kit today.


Untitled by iadubber, on Flickr

Here's my alternative to eggcrate. I couldn't find eggcrate at Menards. And nobody seemed to know what I was looking for. I found this in our warehouse. Hopefully it will work fine. It's not quite as tight as eggcrate. It is a rubber product though. Will there be any issues with it?


Untitled by iadubber, on Flickr

Sump:
DIY 3 chamber 20 gallon long

Skimmer:
Unknown, I'm still looking to get one from a local reefer

Return Pump:
Unknown

Powerheads:
One Koralia 4 and One Koralia 3

Substrate:
40-50 pounds of Agronite.

Lighting:
Looking for bulb recommendations and fixtures for around $125. Preferably dual linkable units. I was thinking this.

AquaticLife 48" T5 HO 2 Lamp Fixture Marine AquaticLife 48 AquaticLife Lights AquaticLife T5 HO Light AquaticLife Light AquaticLife Lighting Dual Lamp T5 HO Aquatic Life

I'd still like to repaint my stand since there are quite a few chips in it.

[redsea]

Very cool, it looks like you did a nice painting job!


I am following!

[iadubber]

Originally Posted by redsea

Very cool, it looks like you did a nice painting job!


I am following!

My 55gallon turned out a little better, but you don't see any imprefections from the front on either tank. The glass hides alot.

[iadubber]

Finished drilling today:

Back shot:

IMG_0874 by iadubber, on Flickr

Front:

IMG_0873 by iadubber, on Flickr

3/4" return line

IMG_0872 by iadubber, on Flickr

700 gph overflow

IMG_0870 by iadubber, on Flickr

Still a bit dirty:

IMG_0869 by iadubber, on Flickr

[carey]

Nice job with the drilling! Following along for the rest of the build.....

[iadubber]

I locally picked up two powerheads, 20 gallon long for my sump, and some rock.

Also ordered 40lbs of sand and 50 pounds of rock from reefrocks.net.

Last order of the day was for a CadLights TIA-1150 2nd Generation Conic skimmer

[iadubber]

I'm looking for some sump advice.

Here's my basic drawing. I am waiting to see what the proper depth for my skimmer is yet. I can't seem to find it on the internet so I'm waiting for Cadlights sales to get back to me. For temporary sake, I used 9" for skimmer depth.

My main question I can't seem to find a solid answer on is how deep to make the return pump chamber. I read about making sure you have 24-48 hours of depth for evaporation. Is 7" too deep? Too shallow? Can I fab a top to reduce evaporation that covers the right 3/4 of the sump? At this time I don't plan to do a fuge.


sump by iadubber, on Flickr

[iadubber]

Well not good news after ordering everything to finish my SW build. lastnight our CO detectors started going off. Had the fire department over and something is wrong with our furnace. I'm thankful we invested in CO detectors, if not, who knows what would have happened. We had no other warnings.

So we are going to see how much it will be to repair or replace our hvac at 715 am. If it's a full replacement I may have to sell everything I've been buying the last two months for th fowlr. but we are glad to be alive.

[redsea]

Sorry about that, I am glad everyone is ok!

[austinsdad]

Wow. Scary. Glad to hear you all are OK. Consider yourselves thoroughly blessed.

By the way. What's the egg crate intended for? Plenum or tank cover? If above, the lighting won't look too good.

[iadubber]

Originally Posted by austinsdad

Wow. Scary. Glad to hear you all are OK. Consider yourselves thoroughly blessed.

By the way. What's the egg crate intended for? Plenum or tank cover? If above, the lighting won't look too good.

Thanks, It's a full replacement of our 1981 Whirlpool furnace and a/c. $4250 and about 6-700 back in rebates. Hopefully we'll be able to keep going on the FOWLR setup. My wife had to dip into 401k so we could pay it. All I really need to keep going on this build is some live rock once all my base rock and sand arrives from reefrocks.net.

[austinsdad]

And the black rubber screen's purpose?

[iadubber]

Originally Posted by austinsdad

And the black rubber screen's purpose?

Similar to eggcrates purpose

[iadubber]

Yesterday before the whole CO debacle I ordered two jager tru temp heaters, mag floats, and a quiet one 3000 pump.

Also 40 pounds of sand and 50 pounds of rock from reefrocks.net

[austinsdad]

Above the tank or below the sandbed? (that's a plenum)

I'm guaranteeing you won't like how the light looks if you're using it for a top. I've used polypropelene netting. Clear stuff and strong. Light friendly.

This is what I did. Jumpers? I think I got it. - Fantasyreef Forum

[iadubber]

Nice, it would be for under the sand bed.

[austinsdad]

You sure you wanna do that? Read up on the use of plenums. I haven't heard of many liking it. From what I hear, it can work really good or really bad. Is it for nitrate reduction or keeping rocks off the bottom. Also, research deep sand beds.

[iadubber]

just to protect the bottom glass, I can just nix that plan if it's a bad idea.

[austinsdad]

I would nix it. I used flatter pieces of base rock, covered them with sand, and constructed my more shapely rock on top of that. Even if you don't use the flat base rock, rock on glass isn't bad at all IMO. The potential for problems occur when folks sit rock on top of the sand, and some burrowing creature digs under it and causes the rock to drop on the glass, killing the critter maybe and breaking the glass.

Also, and more critical, I'll bet that rubber is treated with some kinda chemical that would leach into your water and cause even more problems and death.

[bamabkj]

my tank looks the same as yours 72 gallon bowfront how did you drill it mine has tempered glass stickers that say do not drill