Little Big Reef
New member
Hey, I posted in the Introduction forum and now I'm beginning my tank thread. The long and short of it is that my 75 gallon has been put together using most of the components from my 120 gallon. All of the heavy lifting is done and most of these pictures were taken from December of last year thru early January.
View attachment 8664
This is the 120 Gallon towards the end of its lifespan. For some time I had been concentrating on aquascaping in such as way as to allow me to move the aquarium when the time came. As such I ended up with two columns of rock encrusted with zoas and sps.
There were a few reasons I chose to downsize. The first was that my girlfriend and I were originally looking at a smaller considerably smaller apartment that the one we ultimately settled on. The second was that, while the old Oceanic was a workhorse, its center brace was 12"+ wide and obscured significant amount of light- thereby reducing growing space. Finally, it had dual floor to top overflows. These displaced about 15 gallons each. I wanted something smaller and more consolidated.
Now comes my learning experience/cautionary tale
Knowing that I wanted a 75 gallon I decided to go to craigslist for the stand/hood. I wanted the cherry wood combo originally put out by All-Glass (I believe). I was able to locate one and went to Indiana to pick it up. The ad didn't include an aquarium which was fine because I wanted a new tank any way. Well, I got there, had a look at it. It was in rough shape but it looked like purely cosmetic stuff. It was wedged in a garage in such a way as to obscure one end of it. Further, there was a rubber mat on the bottom and some goodies that I didn't need but I figured would sweeten the deal (who doesn't need another amiracel wet/dry, skimmer, and broken uv sterilizer?). Something should have clicked when the guy insisted on helping load the aquarium by carrying that end. I got home only to find out that the tank had been a leaker. The concealed side was rotten thru and the bottom underneath the mat was soaked and warped. Thus, I ended up with a much bigger project than I bargained for.
As a side note, if you're a scumbag that karma is gonna come back on you. I've traded and sold coral and equipment to a lot of people via craigslist and this was my first bad experience.
These picture show the work I had to do. I ended up rebuilding the side, bottom, and parts of the front and back. It sucked, but was easy work. With so much wood being replaced I realized that I would never be able to keep the cherry-colored stain that I really wanted. I settled on a white stand/canopy.
View attachment 8665
View attachment 8666
View attachment 8667
View attachment 8668
We moved in to our new place in early December and I got the tank up and running in short order. Thru December and early January I moved in first one column, then the second, bringing a few corals here and there. Near the end I brought all of my fish in one load.
View attachment 8671
View attachment 8672
View attachment 8673
View attachment 8674
View attachment 8675
And a little about the system
I use two Ecoray 60D's. This size is no longer available but I recently had both units serviced by the manufacturer. I'd recommend them and plan to purchase ecoray LED's in the future. The one knock against them is that then seem to wash some of the light yellows, creams, and browns out of zoas. My acans look pretty good, but if I were to do an acan dominated tank I'd probably roll with T-5's. Sps and Lps are good to go.
For filtration I believe in running a "dirty" sump. I've modified an All-Glass mega flow. One side is filled with rock. I use my old school CPR protein skimmer. To manage phosphates I use a two little fishies phosphate reactor filled with ferric oxide.
For dosing I have a KNOP calcium reactor. I've only recently started using it. So far so good. Previously I used the Mg, Buffer, Kalk baller method.
View attachment 8676
View attachment 8664
This is the 120 Gallon towards the end of its lifespan. For some time I had been concentrating on aquascaping in such as way as to allow me to move the aquarium when the time came. As such I ended up with two columns of rock encrusted with zoas and sps.
There were a few reasons I chose to downsize. The first was that my girlfriend and I were originally looking at a smaller considerably smaller apartment that the one we ultimately settled on. The second was that, while the old Oceanic was a workhorse, its center brace was 12"+ wide and obscured significant amount of light- thereby reducing growing space. Finally, it had dual floor to top overflows. These displaced about 15 gallons each. I wanted something smaller and more consolidated.
Now comes my learning experience/cautionary tale
Knowing that I wanted a 75 gallon I decided to go to craigslist for the stand/hood. I wanted the cherry wood combo originally put out by All-Glass (I believe). I was able to locate one and went to Indiana to pick it up. The ad didn't include an aquarium which was fine because I wanted a new tank any way. Well, I got there, had a look at it. It was in rough shape but it looked like purely cosmetic stuff. It was wedged in a garage in such a way as to obscure one end of it. Further, there was a rubber mat on the bottom and some goodies that I didn't need but I figured would sweeten the deal (who doesn't need another amiracel wet/dry, skimmer, and broken uv sterilizer?). Something should have clicked when the guy insisted on helping load the aquarium by carrying that end. I got home only to find out that the tank had been a leaker. The concealed side was rotten thru and the bottom underneath the mat was soaked and warped. Thus, I ended up with a much bigger project than I bargained for.
As a side note, if you're a scumbag that karma is gonna come back on you. I've traded and sold coral and equipment to a lot of people via craigslist and this was my first bad experience.
These picture show the work I had to do. I ended up rebuilding the side, bottom, and parts of the front and back. It sucked, but was easy work. With so much wood being replaced I realized that I would never be able to keep the cherry-colored stain that I really wanted. I settled on a white stand/canopy.
View attachment 8665
View attachment 8666
View attachment 8667
View attachment 8668
We moved in to our new place in early December and I got the tank up and running in short order. Thru December and early January I moved in first one column, then the second, bringing a few corals here and there. Near the end I brought all of my fish in one load.
View attachment 8671
View attachment 8672
View attachment 8673
View attachment 8674
View attachment 8675
And a little about the system
I use two Ecoray 60D's. This size is no longer available but I recently had both units serviced by the manufacturer. I'd recommend them and plan to purchase ecoray LED's in the future. The one knock against them is that then seem to wash some of the light yellows, creams, and browns out of zoas. My acans look pretty good, but if I were to do an acan dominated tank I'd probably roll with T-5's. Sps and Lps are good to go.
For filtration I believe in running a "dirty" sump. I've modified an All-Glass mega flow. One side is filled with rock. I use my old school CPR protein skimmer. To manage phosphates I use a two little fishies phosphate reactor filled with ferric oxide.
For dosing I have a KNOP calcium reactor. I've only recently started using it. So far so good. Previously I used the Mg, Buffer, Kalk baller method.
View attachment 8676
