My 75g DIY thread

[mp3z24]

if i were you, i would take the air inlet off the maxijet ph. you dont need that aeration, and the bubbles will lead to excessive salt creep on the top of the tank. pointing the pump discharge at the surface is sufficient for good gas exchange.

~mike

 

[zenn]

if i were you, i would take the air inlet off the maxijet ph. you dont need that aeration, and the bubbles will lead to excessive salt creep on the top of the tank. pointing the pump discharge at the surface is sufficient for good gas exchange.

~mike

that's a good point. I probably will. I just wanted to try that air tube thing out and see what it did.

 

[flipz]

Thanks for all the updates and pics zenn. Tank looks great!

congrats

 

[zenn]

SAND ARRIVED

Got the caribsea suger-sized aragmax. I ordered 4 bags of it. Why is it cheaper to have this stuff shipped to me through the mail than just buying it at an LFS?

I washed the sand first but it still made my tank cloudy for a few days when i added it to the tank. But now that the dust has settled, i can see exactly how far the sand went. And i must say it went a long ways. My calculations must have been off as i believe i have a DSB in both the fuge and display tank. Looks good for now. Now i'm waiting on money for LR.

 

[zenn]

I've added another 60lbs or base rock. Also, the doors are now on the stand and canopy. It's starting to look like a real set-up. I think I have room for 40 more lbs or liverocks.com LR to go in there Lastly, you can see just how far the sand went. I thought i was only going to have about 2" in the main. I ended up getting more like 3.5-4.

 

[JProx]

your entire setup looks great, and its always a blast to see something go from just pieces to a finished project, thank you for sharing.

any ideas what sort of fish you will be adding ?

 

[AquaJoe]

Looks great. Seems I missed out on the part where you actually made the aquarium though!

Joe

 

[zenn]

any ideas what sort of fish you will be adding ?

I'm trying not to get carried away with anything exotic. What i'm thinking is probably yellow tang, couple clowns, pair of neon gobys, and a flame angel. That'll be plenty for me to take care of. Oh, thinking about a BTA for the clowns too. My lighting is borderline sufficient for a BTA so i'll be taking a risk with that.

Looks great. Seems I missed out on the part where you actually made the aquarium though! Razz

Joe

LOL. I bought the tank from an LFS. I've only really fabbed the stand, canopy and sump.

 

[JProx]

i have kept small (about 4inch diameter) regular carpet annemoies on 2wpg before, i perched them on the higher rock cliffs of the tank, and they barely moved from that spot, and the clowns (i had tomatoes) loved their new host.

you might also want to look at the clown sweetlips, or the harliquin sweetlips, the clown sweetlips is one of my personal favorites, and has a great attitude and gets along with just about every thing. alot of people hardly ever see these in their local shops and i will maybe stumble across one every 4-6 months in my area but you can always try google and see if you like them, they do a little ugly in their older age though.

its hard to make certain from the pics but you might want to create more passage ways in the rock wall if you want to a yellow tang. if you wanted to leave the wall alone, you can always try to find a blue regal tang (the blue tang from little nemo), or one species of tangs that is just smaller and less saucer shaped.

 

[snorkel]

Looks good, I used the almost exact frame design for my tank stand, it's better than the garf design(the one we both used) since the weight is not all on the screws and glue.

Can you post a clearer shot of the doors(more light)

Snorkel

 

[zenn]

i'll get a better pic up soon.

 

[snorkel]

Thanks

It's amazing that at the LFS they charge like 400 bucks for a all-glass modern series stand. Mine is skinned with 1/4 inch oak veneer plywood that cost 18 bucks at Home Depot, I figure I have around 150 bucks in mine, and only because I used Oak. If I would have used pine it would have been half that.

Anyway your stand looks great.

Later,

Snorkel

i'll get a better pic up soon.

 

[snorkel]

They are great, good prices also, unless you live in Wisconsin like I do :-(
They are based in Rhinelander WI, so I have to pay sales tax.

I usually use Big Als because of the sales tax thing.

Doctors Foster and Smith delivered today!

 

[JProx]

i personally like thatpetplace.com prices are on the same level with bigal's, been using them since 97 for replacement filters, and economy sized fish foods.

 

[zenn]

at your request

stand

canopy

fuge with chaeto i just got

entire setup

I wonder if this thing weighs over a 1000lbs or not? hmmm.

 

[snorkel]

Looks great, your doors look similar in construction to mine.

I bet it's close to 1000 pounds, a full 75 gallon is about 750 pounds including the tank. For the gravel you have to subtract how many gallons of water it displaces, then subtract that weight from the 750.
You stand probably weighs 100 or more pounds, then the sump.
You may be over 1000

 

[Stryyf]

If you are still looking for something to cover the back of the hood you may want to look into some type of acrylic or plastic and make almost sliding doors out of it and maybe drill out lots of vent holes in the plastic. Just a thought.

Your set up looks VERY nice. I was thinking of building my own stand once i get everything planned out. I still need to buy a tank and all that good stuff. I was thinking of going to HD and looking at some of the kitchen cabinet stuff and seeing what I could come up with.

You think a solid platform to set the tank on is ok or would just setting it on the frame of the top be ok? I was just thinking it might be a way to save a few bucks on plywood material. Or maybe I should use a plastic type thing to save on water dmg to the base when the drips or spills happen.

 

[zenn]

setting it on the frame is fine. I just put some nicer finishing wood on top so it looks nicer.

 

[zenn]

LR.com delievered today despite all the unfortunate happenings they've had recently. Props to you guys for getting my rock shipped out! The rock is fabulous. I ordered 20 keys and 20 gulf. I'm very pleased thus far. I spent most of the morning just looking around at the rock and discovering new creatures moving about. I could use help identifying a few of them too

Unidentified snail/conch thingy.

newer clowns

my aquascaping job thus far. How did i do?

Can you help me ID this anemone and what appears to be a cucumber maybe?

another pic of the awesome LR form LR.com. Way better than what the LFS sells.

 

[zenn]

well, i'm pretty sure the anemone in the above pic is aptasia at this point. At first i thought maybe it wasn't cause it's dark purple in color. But it sure looks similar to aptasia. There's also anemones that came with the live rock that are 'see-through' clear. I'm thinking these are aptasia as well Peppermint shrimp time.