Wrass-Lers Spur of the Moment 75gal Reef Build

[Wrass-Ler]

Hey guys! I just joined today but have been finishing up my new 75gal SPS dominant reef. I was bored one night and decided to call off work the next day and go buy a new 75gal.

I will post my pics of progress up to this point. Please feel free to give me advice/opinions on anything you see in the thread.

Enjoy!

[JayMc]

looking forward to some pics

welcome!

[Steve]

Welcome to Ohio Reef! Keep us posted.

[Wrass-Ler]

I will start from the beginning and catch you guys up on the build progress! Looking forward to some opinions, advice, and general horseplay.

[Wrass-Ler]

This is the stand in it's final resting place. Time to start roughing in the plumbing!

[Wrass-Ler]

Made a trip (One of thousands) to home depot for some foam board to line my stand. Felt it would help with vibration, leveling, and soak up any water I might spill.

[Wrass-Ler]

Used a black aquarium background and applied it with  some stuff I found at the LFS. Looking back i wish I would have spray painted the tank. Even though I spent an hour pressing out all of the bubbles in the background....once it settled they came back with a vengeance.

I've contemplated removing the background, but I'm afraid the stuff I used to attach it will make the back glass look foggy.

[Wrass-Ler]

Got the tank up on the stand and dumped 40lbs of dry Fiji Pink Aragonite in. I topped that off with 20lbs of "Live" Fiji Pink, and then seeded it with 10lbs from one of my other tanks.

[Wrass-Ler]

Once the live rock and sand was in, I started mixing water. Watching an RODI system make water is like watching grass grow!

I wanted a minimalist aqua scape with alot of negative space. I feel it will look better once my corals start growing out.

[Wrass-Ler]

Finally got the tank filled up and leak tested the plumbing. Luckily, I didn't have a single leak. 

[Wrass-Ler]

Now the fun part started......running all my wires and making room for all of the stuff was a challenge, but a little egg crate and some wire tires can make any reef tank into a masterpiece!

[Wrass-Ler]

Finally got my REEF BREEDER 48" Photon fixture. I was absolutely shocked at the intensity and spectrum this light puts out. Definitely happy with the decision to go with these. The programmable settings and multiple channels made it even more attractive.

[Wrass-Ler]

Bought a battery back up system and tied in all my critical "life support" equipment. It wont run the tank forever, but it buys me some time to get a generator if necessary.

[Wrass-Ler]

Once the tank went thru a 24 hour mini cycle I added all of my Magnesium (1390ppm) Alkalinity (12.9dkh) and Calcium (466ppm) along with some trace elements.

I figured I should get my levels where I want them in one shot instead of stressing out all of my corals trying to raise levels over a 7 day period.

I am following the Red Sea "Accelerated Growth" program. I did alot of extensive research and felt they had done their homework based on the literature published.

I ran the system on a trial basis using a 14gal Bio-Cube filled with SPS. Even with the vulnerability of a small system, I saw an extreme change in my corals encrusting and new growth in a very short amount of time.

[Wrass-Ler]

Once my test frags showed some decent polyp extension; I quickly loaded the tank with frags....I couldn't resist making a return trip to LazyLivin's to pick up 11 more pieces. 

I have the system full of frag racks right now, but have no plans of keeping them in this tank. I am working on a design for a frag system but want to finish this build first.

Of course, the morning after I loaded the tank with frags, I notice my heater had stuck in the "On" position and the tank was reading 84 degrees! Needless to say I made an emergency LFS run.

[Wrass-Ler]

Today I picked up a Bubble Magus Cyclone skimmer. I originally wanted a Vertex but the owner of Corals Galore mentioned a BM to me. I went home, did some reading, and based on all of the great reviews I decided to go with it.

I just finished installing it about 2 hours ago and it's as quiet as it could possibly be, and already has a foam head built up at the top of the cone and is currently beginning to pull some stuff out. This thing is impressive for the price.

[bbtm64]

I just put in a Bubble Magus NAC6. Its kicking ass.

[Wrass-Ler]

I'm amazed that this things performing like this. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the reviews made it sound

[lazylivin]

Very nice chronicle of your build. It looks great!