mray's 75g tank

[mray]

Today, I finally finished my tank after working on it for about an hour a week.

I bought kewlfish's 75g tank back in April because he was moving to Cali. He was kind enough to help me move the tank to my place.

I bought his tank with the stand minus the canopy (pic at his place):

Here is how it looks today:

I went with a white/black theme because I wanted something fresh. I also decided not to paint the back of the tank because I liked the blue color that bounced off the white walls behind it and back into the tank.

The stand was completely reworked. Every piece was taken apart and cut down and placed back together for a perfect fit.

The canopy was custom made. I took the cooling concept of an ATI powermodule and incorporated it into a canopy. I don't have any pictures of how it was built but it works really nicely cooling a 6 bulb retrofit kit.

For flow, I have a eheim 1260 return pump, and 2 vortech mp40ws.

For filtration, I am running an ATB 840 v 1.5 special edition (special one made for mojo~ @reefcentral who used it for 2 weeks before selling it to me). The collection cup arrived crazed but it didn't leak. Mojo~ bought me a new cup which I have decided not to use yet.

I am also running an AP7900 which controls all of my electronics (It basically only does timing down to the second. I had a reefkeeper elite which I sold before I even finished my tank because the AP7900 and a ranco was all I needed).

For fish, I have a balteatus wrasse, laboute wrasse, whip-fin wrasse, borbonious anthias, and a pair of clown which I keep in my sump until the other fish have settled in.

I have about 50lbs of marco rocks and about 40lbs of oldcastle sand which I bought for $3/40lbs.

I never started a tank thread for my previous tanks so I decided to create one now to log how my tank progresses.

I'll post some pictures of my corals when my light turns on tomorrow.

 

[NYreefNoob]

looks good so far, you plan to do corals ? wanted to paint my stand and canopy white but wife said no. mojo is a excellent person to deal with, he has some awesome skimmer thread's on RC

 

[mray]

I decided to do white over black because every stand I have seen has been painted black. Although there is nothing wrong with black, my old tank setup was black, white turned out to be really nice.

Also, yeah, Mojo~ is a great guy.

I have about 11-15 SPS corals in the tank. You can see some of them if you look closely. I didn't want any frag plugs in this tank so all corals are mounted directly onto the rock.

This is mainly an SPS tank although I do have some zoos; most notably purple hornets, lol.

 

[mray]

Here are some pictures I took:

Balteatus flashing:

 

[sjsoto]

cool looking wrasse..
what that fish in the first pic all the way to the left?

 

[mray]

That's a borbonius anthias and he loves to sleep upside down in his cave.

 

[sjsoto]

any pics of the anthias?

 

[mray]

Yeah, my lights just turned on so I'm snapping pictures every couple of minutes. Also, all pictures are with flash and only two blue plus bulbs on so there may be some distortion.

Juvenile whip-fin wrasse starting to develop it's colors:

Borbonius anthias:

Pair of clowns:

Nightmares:

 

[sjsoto]

nice fish collection you have there...

 

[jackson6745]

Great setup! I like the white stand and canopy. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[mray]

Thank you Saul and Rich.

For this setup I've only been using kalk instead of 2 part and my SPS growth is phenomenal. I'm getting about 1/4" of growth a week. I also like the fact that residual heavy metals in the kalk precipitate and settle on the bottom.

 

[lazibonez]

Love the white stand and canopy. Nice fish collection you have. Good job Ray.

 

[mray]

Thanks Alan,

I'm gonna go over to your place to stock up my tank soon. I said I was going to go Mid-July but this build took longer than expected. I'll send you a PM sometime in October.

 

[lazibonez]

Np Ray. Whenever u are ready.

 

[geldof]

Nice stand and aquarium. I too decided to go with the white stand on my 75 for a nice clean look. Also, ordered a kalk stirrer to stabilize PH. I've often noticed a positive affect when dosing kalk with sps. Given your growth rate, it seems like you're benefiting from using it. You're probably going to have to start dosing additional two part once your coral fill out though.

 

[mray]

Thanks geldof,

I think by the winter time I might need to start using 2 part again. During the summer, I have a fan blowing over my sump so I am able to add 2-3 gallons of kalk a day. In the winter, I might add vinegar to my kalk to allow more kalk to dissolve. I really don't like using 2 part because the measurement for the recipes are very rough and calcium chloride has too many impurities for my liking.

 

[Awibrandy]

I love the white stand & canopy! Had my decor not been center around black, white or antique blue would have been my choice of colors also.
Love the fishie collection. Nice pics as well...

 

[dubs]

mray ur setup is looking nice!!!! thank for the stuff i got from u

 

[mray]

Awilda, I think I love your collection of encrusting SPS more than you love my collection of fish.

Warren, thank you for not flaking on me. I hope everything does well in your tank.

 

[mray]

I finished a custom cabinet for my electronics a couple of days ago.

Outside:

Inside:

UPS battery, APC AP7900, power supply, and DJ switch