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jonnyboy90's 75 gallon journey (and headache) (1 Viewer)

J

jonnyboy90

Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
14
Location
St. Paul
Hi everybody,
If I didn't have a chance to meet any of you at DarkSky's meeting I'm Jon; not really new to the hobby, but just finally starting to get back into it after a break for several years. Didn't have too many years of saltwater under my belt, but have had freshwater setups for years. So after discussing with some of the fellow members at the meeting I was on the lookout for a few upgrades to my current setup. Well, long story short I went out to get a few items last night and went home with a 75 gallon drilled complete tank. I couldn't pass it up, but it is going to be a lot of work. It was one of those "owner had it for a while and didn't keep up on it and wanted it gone" tanks. Dealing with several issues to get this tank up and running successfully. so I would greatly appreciate any tips and suggestions. Right now main issues I'm facing:
.Lots of cyano growth in the tank. Corals looked to be choked out a bit from this overtaking the rock
.Plumbing under the tank doesn't have any quick shut offs. I'm very new to sump systems and I want this to be setup so I can maintain it, also sump is a DIY made from the baffle kits so I'm trying to get this setup right for a fuge.
.Weir system seems pretty difficult to clean. It has the dual walls and it has tons of crap in between them. Any ideas how to get in between there and clean it out?
.Skimmer was a decent bubble magus but wasn't working correctly (no fine microbubbles, appeared if pump wasn't pushing out the correct flow rate) As I was trying to figure this out; I accidentally broke the damn ceramic shaft on the impeller (Why do these skimmers all have ceramic shafts???)
.Tank came with a maxspect razor light so I'm trying to dial in the presets on it
Other than that it's just tons of cleaning and getting this tank all setup. My main concern is getting the plumbing to the sump setup well so it's not a hassle getting in there and maintaining it. Anyways, send any tips or advice my way; I appreciate the help!
-JB
 
The front of the weir just sides up and off I believe so you can clean behind it. Just don't break it because they don't offer replacements
 
Welcome back. Like everyone says Go Slow and Double check each movement. Ask lots of questions, there are a lot of people with a lot of knowlege in the club.
 
The weir is not removable on these tanks. I also don't know if there's a good way to clean it. Your best be is going to be high pressure flow to blast anything you can out. The stand is missing the middle brace on top, you'll want to replace that as it keeps the top pieces from warping and ultimately buckling.
 
Quick update tank is all setup and so far its going okay. First headache was when I went to go water test the and the bulkheads leaked. I am so glad I water checked it first! I almost didn't because I literally just saw the tank up and running when I purchased it. I removed both bulk heads and as I guessed, both gaskets were very wore out. I got new gaskets and siliconed everything up; I really don't want to take any chances with it leaking when setup. However, unless I'm wrong it looks like if it did leak down the road I would have to drain only the weir as opposed to the whole tank (it is bottom drilled, but the weir is fully sealed to the side. I leak tested by filling the tank and inside of weir stayed dry).

Second headache and ongoing headache as ironman pointed out is the stand missing the center brace. So the stand does have a center brace, BUT and a big but the only way to get the sump out was to remove it. So now sump is in and brace is back in place and everything is setup, but as I know this is going to be kind of a hassle setup as i will have to service the sump inside the stand. Really not a huge deal for the time being, but this setup definitely wasnt built around convenience.
Anyways everything looks like it made the tank swap. Didnt lose any livestock;couple frags broke off from some rocks so reglued them to plugs and put them in the QT for now.
 

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Any one got some build ideas for a blackbox light being used over my sump for a refugium? the stand is open on top so i cant really hang it in any way. i was thinking of building something out of pvc that it can sit on.
 
I would use electrical conduit hang it across and mount light to that
 
Thanks nick and btw thanks for that tip on the bsi insta-set spray. That stuff works magic for curing glue. funny thing is i thought you sprayed it on the glue first. i went to put the frag on after a quick spray and the glue was already too firm to press the frag in place! I had a Stylo that i wanted on a weird shaped rock and with that spray it held firm almost instantly. Well worth the $10
 
jonnyboy90 said:
Quick update tank is all setup and so far its going okay. First headache was when I went to go water test the and the bulkheads leaked. I am so glad I water checked it first! I almost didn't because I literally just saw the tank up and running when I purchased it. I removed both bulk heads and as I guessed, both gaskets were very wore out. I got new gaskets and siliconed everything up; I really don't want to take any chances with it leaking when setup. However, unless I'm wrong it looks like if it did leak down the road I would have to drain only the weir as opposed to the whole tank (it is bottom drilled, but the weir is fully sealed to the side. I leak tested by filling the tank and inside of weir stayed dry).

Second headache and ongoing headache as ironman pointed out is the stand missing the center brace. So the stand does have a center brace, BUT and a big but the only way to get the sump out was to remove it. So now sump is in and brace is back in place and everything is setup, but as I know this is going to be kind of a hassle setup as i will have to service the sump inside the stand. Really not a huge deal for the time being, but this setup definitely wasnt built around convenience.
Anyways everything looks like it made the tank swap. Didnt lose any livestock;couple frags broke off from some rocks so reglued them to plugs and put them in the QT for now.
Click to expand...

FYI, the vertical brace between the doors is easy to remove and isn't as integral as the top brace. This is how I swapped my sump in my last 75G set up. Make sure you replace it obviously, but it won't hurt anything to remove it short term if needed.
 
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