Greg's 75g

[gregzz4]

Happy to finally have critters again. I see amphipods, brittle stars, at least 3 different types of crabs and a worm that sorta looks like a Baseodiscus hemprichii, except it's center red line is thicker, and the outer white is thinner, if that makes sense. It tried to have sex with the heater, until that came on. Then it curled up really fast to be blown away by the powerhead. I thought it was dead at first, but it hooked onto the edge of the rubbermaid and carried on.
The rubbermaid got a 100% WC today.
I've had no ammonia since thursday, nor nitrites, and the nitrates are well below 5ppm ( almost unreadable ). Plus no Phos.
Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to put the rock in the tank in the next couple of weeks.
Tomorrow I'll carry on re-testing the sump and put it into place. Then I'll consider plumbing the overflow, or maybe run some more wiring.
There's enough left to do that I won't run out of projects.

[gregzz4]

No luck re-testing the sump yet as it's been too cool outside.
With my wife's help, I got the backdrop finished up. It's a sheet of black nylon ($6 Fabricland) and some industrial velcro to 4 corners. I haven't decided yet whether I will be cleaning the back glass, or let coraline cover it.
I cut the eggcrate for the tops and overflow

[Nano]

Nice!

[gregzz4]

Well the sump is finally re-tested.
Pics of it and the pedestal have been updated.
The original 2 x 4 pedestal I designed was too tall as I assumed the stand would be 2" taller than it is, so now it's 1" square tubing. Plus, with the pumps now going in the sump, I didn't need a base for them.
I hope to put it in place tonight so I can start plumbing/wiring.

[gregzz4]

Definately have some kind of a shrimp in my rubbermaid rocks as I just found a molt about 1/4" in length. 2 crabs have died. One the day after I brought the rock home, and the other when I put too much RO in and hit 30ppt. Oops. but I still see 3 more. And lots of brittle stars. They may be Ophiomastix variabilis'

[gregzz4]

Got the sump in place. Had enough time, before the sick wife fell asleep in the livingroom, to level it and mount the board for all the wiring/boxes/panels/powerbars.
I did get the Jager heaters mounted.






Can't do much else tonight unless I move the wife to the bed.
She's sick, sleeping in front of the TV, and I am going to leave her alone.
Nobody ever made a wise choice poking any kind of sleeping predator .... especially when they are sick/cranky
Hope you like, use, learn from my idea of the heaters location.

[gregzz4]

I finally got some time to start plumbing the tank to the sump. I started with the return line to make sure I wouldn't have to move the tank again and think I'll be happy with it. Of course I hate the 'over-the-back' look, but we don't see the pipes from our seated area.


So I moved on to the drains.
I feel for those of you that have to do ALL of your plumbing inside the cabinet. Man, getting the lines to leave the stand just right is a chore/pain on the ol' bod, nevermind all of you having to deal with a sump in the way and such.




I'm moving along well, taking my time to get everything just the way I want it, and I run out of 90s.
I was hoping to test the overflow bulkheads tonight, and the plumbing running tomorrow. NOT
And to add for all of us who deal with shipping stuff ...
I waited 4 weeks for new Vortech motor bearings. I e-mailed the supplier today and they are re-shipping. Not a set back, but just a typical reefer's shipping woes.

[Doug]

Wow thats a nice sump. Good work. Always wondered about sump heaters only. I have one in my tank also but would prefer not to incase of return pump failure.

Hi Greg, this is amazing. I remember reading the first page and pointing out to my wife that he was able to steal the bathroom for his RODI station. She scolded me on that comment.

I don't know if you answered this or not already, but won't you have a detritius trap underneath that stand for your protein skimmer? It doesn't look like the water flows underneath that first baffle, but rather it goes over top.

[FishyWoman]

WOW! Very cool build. So neat and tidy! Some day... Some day...