Just bought a new/old tank.

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with the light off you can see a little better

 

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Here it is with water, mineral mud and live sand. Dont have any macro in there yet, going to add this week. I used some drinking glasses I could talk the wife out of to keep the sand from washing away and blasting the mud into the entire system.. Yuk..

 

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Here is a shot of the tank's plumbind and paint job. This was a standard AGA 75 so we had to drill the back, and paint it blue.

 

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Here it waits for water.

 

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Here the tank is ready to receive the 55 we bought. The water is just right, added about 20lbs of live rock from the lfs, and 2 bags of live sand just for looks.. Dont want a deep sand bed, but dont like the bb look. The temp, ph and SG are all ready.

 

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Here is the condition of the 55 when I arrive to pick it up.

 

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Here is a top down shot with some of the water gone.

 

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Here's my big helper, couldnt have done it without him. 8O

 

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Goin home!

 

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Successful move into the 75.

 

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Here are some closeups of what I ended up with from the 55.

 

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more

 

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I have since added a torch coral as well as a sun coral. Im having a blast with it. DId my one week water test. Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate all 0 ph 8.2-8.3 color hard to tell. SG 24. Ill get some shots of the other corals as well as another whole tank shot with a little better exposure and maybe some macros. Im not that great a photographer. All of the pics taken from the build through the move were taken by my daughter with her fuji finepix 6mp point and shoot. The final tank setup was taken with A Canon digital SLR. Again Ill try to keep the pictures coming. Im saving now for the Tunze Stream 6000s. I want the 2 with the multi controller. It may be a bit overkill, but I understand you can tone them down a good bit with the contrioller, and Im sure one day this 75 will become a sump for a 210 or sumthing. The wife has already proclaimed that we NEED a bigger tank. This one about broke me.

 

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If anyone is interested, this is how my breakdown went on price-

Starting 55 gallon with hamilton 175 twin halide 110 dual VHO actenic and 120lb live rock, coral and purple tang - $500.00

Used 75 gallon tank and stand - $300

Donor 38 gallon sump.. I had it and also had the acrylic

Tank plumbing/drilling - $190

ASM Mini G skimmer - $130

Mag 7 return pump - $90

100 gallons RO/DI saltwater already mixed $100

Had the powerheads

Live sand - 3 bags - $90

MIracle Mud - $60

Oh yea, new VHO bulbs - $70, (had new bulbs not installed for Halide)

Im sure there are some things Im missing here..

Roughly Im setting @ $1550 I think there were a few odds and ends probably another couple hundred worth.

The only thing I have left is to build the hood to match the stand and hide/hang the light out of the way.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Sam