HAWKS 75 gallon

[HAWKS12thMAN]

Heres some pics of the new AGA 75 gallon reef and a list of whats been done since I bought the tank and stand.
*20 gallon long sump/fuge
*Coralife mightymite 2x 9W compacts (for fuge)
*Rio+ 2500 pump for sump/fuge return
*Filtersock, carbon, LR and macro algae in fuge/sump
*Drilled tank w/ 1 3/4 inch bulk heads
*Painted back of tank blue then put a coat of black over the blue (looks sweet the black coat made the blue look very deep and inpenetrable).
*Plentium..... I decided to give it a try.
Some problems I bumped into while setting up tank.
I bought a 20 gallon long off of craigs list for $15. I made sure to leak test it before I bought it. I just set it up and had it running as a sump/fuge when I noticed a small crack started to form. I imediatly pumped all the water out of the sump/fuge. Just as I finished getting the water out, the entire tank cracked everywhere. Long story short the 20L has to be put in the stand before you put the 75 on top of the stand. I had to remove the support beam in the front of the stand to get the old tank out and to put the new 20L in (Ya I decided to buy a brand new 20L after this incedent to use as a sump). It was pretty scarry pulling out that support beam when theres a full 75 sitting on it. My Prizm skimmer also didnt work well in the sump. The water level when its running just wasnt high enough after a day of evap. So im running it as a HOB again.
My next investment is a new skimmer I can run in the sump and My daughters granfather and I are going to build a hood and do some serious light upgrades.
The pros and cons of a plentium that I have noticed.
* I didnt like aquascaping with the plentium. You cant bury your rocks or corals deep in the sandbed for support. Also any sand sifting fish seem like they would expose the mesh.
* I was expecting my tank to do a complete cycle after I transfered everything over..... I dont know if the plentium had anything to do with it but my tank only did a mini mini mini cycle. Let me rephrase myself all I got was a very small brown algae bloom on my sand.

OK heres the pics now that im done babbling!















Look who got a life sentence in the fuge/sump! Murdering bastard! If the next time I buy a crab and it comes up missing pinchers again my sally will be his cell mate.

[Bifferwine]

Wow Hawks, it looks FABULOUS! Like totally FABOO . I'm a dork. But anyways, your poor CB shrimp! And I tried to warn you about the Sallys! Your corals look really good. I'm jealous. Really.

[HAWKS12thMAN]

Sorry about the pics. I had to use my daughters moms camera for these pics (4.1 mega pixs). My ex got our nice camera during the "divorce".

[reeffreak]

Tank looks awesome and great aquascaping!Nice looking corals and great job on the sump.

How are those Coralife powercenters?Mine sucks and the time always gets stuck or I lose 20 or so minutes each day.

Now for some constructive criticism,Most plenums that I've seen were way deeper than that.I still think you will get some denitification though.

[RigoSharon]

wow..nice work hawks..it really looks awsome...way out of my league..good luck with it..have fun!!

[bubbasfishinco]

yeah dude it looks nice!!!!!

[LionFish]

Looks Great man how bout a Vid! or did that go with the "divorce"
as well?

[HAWKS12thMAN]

Originally Posted by reeffreak

Tank looks awesome and great aquascaping!Nice looking corals and great job on the sump.

How are those Coralife powercenters?Mine sucks and the time always gets stuck or I lose 20 or so minutes each day.

Now for some constructive criticism,Most plenums that I've seen were way deeper than that.I still think you will get some denitification though.

As for the power centers I have had no problems but im expecting some now that I have a sump and there running next to it. The plentum is an 1 1/4 deep and there is about an 1 1/2 inch snadbed on to of that..... Do you think my sandbed it to shallowfor a plentum?

[HAWKS12thMAN]

Originally Posted by LionFish

Looks Great man how bout a Vid! or did that go with the "divorce"
as well?

The vid option went with the camera....... I think my cell phone would do a better job at vid than the camera im using now. Ill work on it though.

[fishbait]

looks good hawk. did you drill the tank yourself?