had been wanting to post a tank thread since I set up my 65 gallon, but just havn't found the time. I have a few minutes to kill, so I thought I would get it started.
Some background. About a two years ago I bought a house in Astoria. Most people I know think that they are going to go big when they own there own house, but I had to downsize. Granted I didn't downsize much, but I needed a smaller footprint, if it was going to fit in its alloted location. As such my 75 gallon, became a 65 gallon.
I already had most of the equipment that I needed, but started to buy new/or replacement equipment about six months before the move. I purchased a 65 Gallon AGA tank, a new Ice Cap fan for the hood, reflectors for my MH (no reflectors previously), as well as alot of odds and ends.
The first thing that needed to be done was to build a stand and a hood. I built the stand out of Oak Veneer 3/4 inch plywood, with solid Oak trim. I made the stand so that it stands taller than usual, as I am a tall guy and get tired bending over to look into tanks.
This is a picture of it unfinished and then after a couple of coats of stain and poly.
If you look inside the cabinet (Looking at the picture where the stand has been stained), you will see that I sealed all the joints in the cabinet so that it is watertight. This came in handy when my sump started to leak, it was able to hold a couple of gallons of water, that didn't make it onto my carpet.
Along with the stand, I needed to make a custom Hood. The hood needed to hold relflectors and lamps for 2 x 175 MH and 2 x 65 PC. I built a frame, which would support the reflectors and the lamps out of poplar, and skinned it with 1/8 inch Oak veneer plywood, then stained it to match the stand. This is a picture of the frame with a couple of reflectors so you can get an idea about how it is laid out.
The frame also allows me to remove the top or sides of the hood so that I can get inside of it to fiddle with it. This came in really handy when I was wiring up the lighting. As I was able to reach into the hood behind the reflectors, with the top of it removed.
In order to cut the hole for the fan, I used a dremmel with a router attachment. I used the fan to draw the circle for the hole, then freehanded the cut with the router.
The room where the tank went, has a dedicated 20 amp circuit for an airconditioner. I don't use an AC in that room (it is covered by other ACs), so I have the tank plugged into that outlet. Inside the stand, the line runs into two GFI outlets, and then into another four outlets running off of each GFI. Their is only one outlet that is not protected by the GFI which was for the power compact's, as I read that they have a tendency to trip the GFI. (Notice I used the past tense, after getting all this set up I deceided to use an Aquacontroler Jr. with hardwired outlets. So I don't use most of the outlets I wired into the cabinet. Everything is still plugged into a GFI, but I need to redo all the electric, that is a job for another day)
There are two "kill" switches on the right hand side of the cabinet. One is an emergency switch that turns off the return pumps and power heads, the other turns off the float switch that is connected to my auto top off.
My old 75 gallon had a DSB, and I deceided to go with a DSB in the 65. It was not an easy decision as I want to go completely SPS with alot of flow. But I also wanted to keep a shrimp/goby pair, and I am a creature of habit and was used to looking at a DSB.
Do the the burrowing nature of the shrimp/goby pair. I made a half dozen or so legs out of 2 inch pvc, ontop of which I placed egg crate coverd with nylon window screening. The purpose of this is two fold. One, support the rock work, despite the burrowing of the goby/shrimp; Two force the goby/shrimp to create the opening to its burrow in a place that was acceptable to me.
Inside my stand I orginally used the 29 gallon sump I had used with the 75 gallon. That sprung a leak, and I replaced it with a 20 gallon long. It is divided like a T, with a refugium at the top of the T and the Skimmer and Return on its sides. I have a POS red sea berlin skimmer, that I replaced the venturi on for a better one. I run it with a Mag 9.5, and the return is a Mag 12.
The blue container held my top off water. I top off with RO/DI mixed with Pickling Lime. All my wate is RO/DI made with the TYPHOON II Reefkeeper from Air Water Ice.
The refugium is reverse lit, it has a DSB, some rock ruble, and cheato. It is lit with the light recommeded by Melev.
Cooling is acomplished via a ten inch fan blowing down on the sump. The fan is connected to the Aquacontroler. When the temp reaches 79 degrees the fan comes on. At 80 degreees the skimmer shuts off, the Mag pump adds a lot of heat. At 81 degrees the MH Lights turn off. Even with the 100 degree days we had, I was able to keep the temp under 83 degrees without running the air conditioners all day. (I only ran them when I was home)
The problem with the stand is that when I replaced the 29 gallon sump with the 20 long, I ran out of room in the stand for my top off resivor. I was able to fit of slim five gallon container in there before, but with the longer sump, I cant fit it anymore. Right know it is sitting out side of the tank in a covered bucket. My wife is not happy with it. The only thing I can think of is to cover it with a small cabinet, so that it is hidden. I would love to keep it in the cabinet, I just havn't figured out how yet. :scratchch
Right now the only fish in the tank are a pair of percs and their host sebae. I have two cleaners and two peppermint shrimp. Clean up crew is a dozen or so scarlet hermits, and a couple of turbos.
This picture of the tank, was right after it was first set up. Most of my softies are gone, and I have picked up a number of SPS frags. Everything is growing well and most of them arem starting to get good color, with nice polyp extension.
I thought about upping my MH from 175w to 250w, but I think the weakest point in my system is my skimmer so I want to take care of that first. I figure the center of the tank is getting a lot more light then the outer edges as MH are said to have a two foot spread. The lights are only seperated by a foot so there is a lot over lap.
I use Ushio bulbs with a Bllueline e-ballast (dual 175w). The PC's ( 2 x 65w) are for actinic supplementation.
Some background. About a two years ago I bought a house in Astoria. Most people I know think that they are going to go big when they own there own house, but I had to downsize. Granted I didn't downsize much, but I needed a smaller footprint, if it was going to fit in its alloted location. As such my 75 gallon, became a 65 gallon.
I already had most of the equipment that I needed, but started to buy new/or replacement equipment about six months before the move. I purchased a 65 Gallon AGA tank, a new Ice Cap fan for the hood, reflectors for my MH (no reflectors previously), as well as alot of odds and ends.
The first thing that needed to be done was to build a stand and a hood. I built the stand out of Oak Veneer 3/4 inch plywood, with solid Oak trim. I made the stand so that it stands taller than usual, as I am a tall guy and get tired bending over to look into tanks.
This is a picture of it unfinished and then after a couple of coats of stain and poly.
If you look inside the cabinet (Looking at the picture where the stand has been stained), you will see that I sealed all the joints in the cabinet so that it is watertight. This came in handy when my sump started to leak, it was able to hold a couple of gallons of water, that didn't make it onto my carpet.
Along with the stand, I needed to make a custom Hood. The hood needed to hold relflectors and lamps for 2 x 175 MH and 2 x 65 PC. I built a frame, which would support the reflectors and the lamps out of poplar, and skinned it with 1/8 inch Oak veneer plywood, then stained it to match the stand. This is a picture of the frame with a couple of reflectors so you can get an idea about how it is laid out.
The frame also allows me to remove the top or sides of the hood so that I can get inside of it to fiddle with it. This came in really handy when I was wiring up the lighting. As I was able to reach into the hood behind the reflectors, with the top of it removed.
In order to cut the hole for the fan, I used a dremmel with a router attachment. I used the fan to draw the circle for the hole, then freehanded the cut with the router.
The room where the tank went, has a dedicated 20 amp circuit for an airconditioner. I don't use an AC in that room (it is covered by other ACs), so I have the tank plugged into that outlet. Inside the stand, the line runs into two GFI outlets, and then into another four outlets running off of each GFI. Their is only one outlet that is not protected by the GFI which was for the power compact's, as I read that they have a tendency to trip the GFI. (Notice I used the past tense, after getting all this set up I deceided to use an Aquacontroler Jr. with hardwired outlets. So I don't use most of the outlets I wired into the cabinet. Everything is still plugged into a GFI, but I need to redo all the electric, that is a job for another day)
There are two "kill" switches on the right hand side of the cabinet. One is an emergency switch that turns off the return pumps and power heads, the other turns off the float switch that is connected to my auto top off.
My old 75 gallon had a DSB, and I deceided to go with a DSB in the 65. It was not an easy decision as I want to go completely SPS with alot of flow. But I also wanted to keep a shrimp/goby pair, and I am a creature of habit and was used to looking at a DSB.
Do the the burrowing nature of the shrimp/goby pair. I made a half dozen or so legs out of 2 inch pvc, ontop of which I placed egg crate coverd with nylon window screening. The purpose of this is two fold. One, support the rock work, despite the burrowing of the goby/shrimp; Two force the goby/shrimp to create the opening to its burrow in a place that was acceptable to me.
Inside my stand I orginally used the 29 gallon sump I had used with the 75 gallon. That sprung a leak, and I replaced it with a 20 gallon long. It is divided like a T, with a refugium at the top of the T and the Skimmer and Return on its sides. I have a POS red sea berlin skimmer, that I replaced the venturi on for a better one. I run it with a Mag 9.5, and the return is a Mag 12.
The blue container held my top off water. I top off with RO/DI mixed with Pickling Lime. All my wate is RO/DI made with the TYPHOON II Reefkeeper from Air Water Ice.
The refugium is reverse lit, it has a DSB, some rock ruble, and cheato. It is lit with the light recommeded by Melev.
Cooling is acomplished via a ten inch fan blowing down on the sump. The fan is connected to the Aquacontroler. When the temp reaches 79 degrees the fan comes on. At 80 degreees the skimmer shuts off, the Mag pump adds a lot of heat. At 81 degrees the MH Lights turn off. Even with the 100 degree days we had, I was able to keep the temp under 83 degrees without running the air conditioners all day. (I only ran them when I was home)
The problem with the stand is that when I replaced the 29 gallon sump with the 20 long, I ran out of room in the stand for my top off resivor. I was able to fit of slim five gallon container in there before, but with the longer sump, I cant fit it anymore. Right know it is sitting out side of the tank in a covered bucket. My wife is not happy with it. The only thing I can think of is to cover it with a small cabinet, so that it is hidden. I would love to keep it in the cabinet, I just havn't figured out how yet. :scratchch
Right now the only fish in the tank are a pair of percs and their host sebae. I have two cleaners and two peppermint shrimp. Clean up crew is a dozen or so scarlet hermits, and a couple of turbos.
This picture of the tank, was right after it was first set up. Most of my softies are gone, and I have picked up a number of SPS frags. Everything is growing well and most of them arem starting to get good color, with nice polyp extension.
I thought about upping my MH from 175w to 250w, but I think the weakest point in my system is my skimmer so I want to take care of that first. I figure the center of the tank is getting a lot more light then the outer edges as MH are said to have a two foot spread. The lights are only seperated by a foot so there is a lot over lap.
I use Ushio bulbs with a Bllueline e-ballast (dual 175w). The PC's ( 2 x 65w) are for actinic supplementation.
