Jim's 75

Although this is not my first aquarium, it is the first one which I think I did correctly - only time will tell. I started the process back in November - testing everything in the garage to make sure there were no issues when I installed it in the house. There were a number of replacements which had to be done. My LFS did the initial specs for the base equipment - tank, sump, pumps, chiller. After firing the system up the first time, it was obvious that the 1700 GPH in pumps was a bit too much. After downscaling the pumps, I decided that the 1200 GPH with both pumps running was still too much, but didn't want to go any lower. I opted to upscale the pump which feeds through the chiller to 790GPH at the 4 ft of head pressure and keep the other pump as a spare. So far this has served me well. Below is the equipment list for my aquarium:

BASE:
75 Gallon Clear for Life Acrylic 48x18x20
19 Gallon Sump/Refugium combo
AquaEuro 1/4HP Chiller
ViaAqua VA150T Titanium Heater
ASM G1 Skimmer
Stand and Canopy (Cherry stained)

LIGHTING:
Hamilton Retro - 2 x 250 MH 14K (electronic ballast)
- 2 x 39 Watt HO T5 Super Actinics
Power Compact 10K 18 Watt - (Refugium)
Neptune Systems Dimmable Lunar Simulator - 5 LED

CIRCULATION:
Ecotech Marine Vortech Pump MP40W with Battery Backup
Pan World 100PX - Pump (through chiller)
Little Giant 2-MDQX-SC (Spare)

TANK CONTROL & MONITOR:
Neptune AquaController Jr. with:
Temp Probe
PH Probe Lab Grade
DC8
Serial Port w/cable
Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 (ATO)

FILTRATION:
125 lbs Live Rock
90 lbs live sand
Coralife Turbo-Twist 3X 9 watt UV
Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactor 150

KALKWASSER:
Marine Depot AquaDoser - 1 Gallon

WATER PREP:
Purtek 100GPD RO/DI Filter System

ISOLATION TANK:
JBJ 12 Gallon Nano Cube Deluxe


Below is the first FTS with everything in:

 

Looking great, can't wait to see some more pictures with some living creatures. Great Job.

 

Ballast stand

This is the stand which I built to fit in the corner for the ballasts. Each ballast has it's own space with plenty of air flow. Serviceability was an issue - so I wanted to have easy access to each one.

 

10lbs in a 5lb bag

As hard as I tried, I could not make this any neater. :-[ I'm amazed at the number of electircal connections necessary to include all the right equipment. I had a separate 20 AMP circuit with it's own GFI installed. This way, I don't have to worry about what someone else plugs in.

 

ATO and KALKWASSER tanks

I had to build an additional stand to place them on. Issue with the ATO was requirement that it be lower than tank where it was to supply. I finally cut a 16" piece of 1/2" PVC and hung it above the sump placing the supply hose from the ATO at the top of the PVC.

Haven't dealt with kalkwasser dispersing yet - From what I have read, it should be easy :-/ to set up. Crow anyone?

 

K+ for doing it right for all us sinners.

 

Aquascape

Aquascaping with base sand on crate. Rock is set in epoxy to the grate, and each piece is set in epoxy to the surrounding pieces.

Pic is after epoxy set, but before addition of water and live sand.

 

Final aquascaping

Pics are with sand and water added. Last pic shows 1 of 2 little fishies.

 

Don't rush things, you have a great tank and it looks like you put a lot of thought into it. did you cycle it with Live rock or anything or just added the fish. If you didn't make sure the levels don't get to high in the cycle with those fish. Just my .02

 

nice job on aquascaping adicus

tank looks very good

Steve