75 gal newb

[Distemper]

Well, seeing as my 60g was switched to FW because I found this 75g for cheap, I'll start a new, more appropriately titled thread for my build. This is a typical 75g, 48x18x19.5. I bought it from a teenager who kept goldfish in it. He said that his sister bought it new a few years ago and that it originally had a black frame top and bottom but she took that off. He said he kept it completely full without the frame with no problems. With that being the case, do I need to buy a new frame for it? If so, does it need to be top and bottom or just top? Right now it's level and on a soft surface so I'm thinking the bottom frame isn't completely necessary. I can also build a frame for the top without much effort out of wood. If I poly it and coat it with silicon then there shouldn't be any leaching, but I'm wondering just how much force I'll be dealing with really.

 

[Smitty]

It'll probably be a good idea to replace those frames...the tank loses some of its integrity and strength without them.

 

[Distemper]

Ok, so this is where I'm starting. The tank had no frame at all. and the stand is just 2.4's painted black and when I took it apart to bring it home they all warped on me, so when I put them back together the whole setup is twisted. The first pic is of the tank bottom right after I started making a new frame for it. Then a pic of the stand itself and a pic with the bottom frame finished. Tomorrow I'm building a new stand and working on the top frame.

 

[Bifferwine]

Cool! Nice start.

 

[Distemper]

I know I haven't updated in a while but I am making progress. I've been working on my stand when I get a chance but I work 1500-2300 so when I get off, I can't fire up the saws and during the day it's just too damn hot. So the only chance I get is from about 1900-2200 on the weekends when it's cool enough. I finally got the stand inside this week but it still needs some final trim and doors. I'm also building a hood to block the light from going out into the living room. It will be open top and screen back so that fish can't jump out but it will still be plenty open for the heat to escape. The tank is up and running with a small CUC and a lawnmower. While I have been working on the stand all of the water, substrate and live rock has been in trash cans with powerheads, so with regular water changes I was able to finish off my cycle and had no problems at all when I set it all up. I set it up with just a shop florescent light because it was cheap for now. I plan on getting an 8x54w current nova extreme setup down the road. After reading Biff's thread from start to finish over the past couple nights I'm thinking that I'll setup my sump with an algae scrubber and fuge then wait on getting a skimmer until later. That should let me add a significant amount of water to the overall system while keeping the initial cost down. Here's where I stand now. I should be able to finish up the stand and hood this weekend.

 

[Waddi]

Its looking good mate!! :D

 

[marcah]

looks great.. I would just make sure that wood frame around the bottom cant get water between the frame and tank. nice bead of silicone around would do the trick ..:D

 

[Distemper]

Already taken care of. I used silicone to glue the pieces to the tank before I nailed/screwed it all together.

 

[Dana42078]

Lookin good! Coming along nicely! Seems everyone has your questions covered so far.

 

[little_fish]

Looks great!

 

[Distemper]

I've been thinking alot about what to put in this tank and am hoping all you experts can help me out. Right now I have an algae blenny and definitely want alot of corals (primarily LPS and softies but if an SPS drops in my lap I won't throw it away) and a reasonably large cuc. Also, my wife will kill me if I don't have a pair of O. clowns, I would like an orange and a black and white.
The fish on my list are:
Yellow Tang
Yellow Eye Tang
Foxface
Coral Beauty
Kaudern's Cardinal
Firefish
Royal Gramma
And once my tank has matured some more, either a Leopard Wrasse or a Mandarin
Right now I know the Yellow Tang, Coral Beauty, Firefish, Cardinal and Royal Gramma are all available for reasonable prices at the local stores.
Not all of these of course, but if someone could let me know what would work well together.

 

[marcah]

the tank will be a bit small for either of the tangs the rest would be fine in a tank that size..rule of thumb for bioload is one small fish per 10 gallons so keep that in mind if you are wanting to add something down the road.. i have a coral beauty in my tank now with no problems but it and the foxface could hit some of your corals (softs and lps)..not sure if this helped at all, but the rest would be safe for you ...

 

[marcah]

oh and for a cuc I would look into
ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home
john is great to deal with prices are good and if you tell him about your tank will design a cuc for you ..

 

[ghostryderflhx]

looks great your on the right path

 

[Distemper]

FINALLY!! I've finished my stand and hood. Would have finished it sooner, but it's too hot here to work in the garage during the day and I work evenings so weekends is all I've had to work on it.

 

[little_fish]

That looks great!

 

[Distemper]

I actually had quite a bit of fun building this stand. I decided to go a bit overboard with different trims. Once the basic structure of the stand and top were built I started stacking layer after layer to it. I counted it today after I finished and I ended up with 82 pieces of trim.

 

[marcah]

it looks great..:D I do the same thing when I build something.. well just one more piece over here and I am done.. I say that about 50 times during the build..:grumble:

 

[buddy08]

that is a lot of trim..but its well worth it, looks great!

 

[Dana42078]

Heck yea, awsome job!