75 gallon project

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I thought it might be fun to start a journal of my new 75 gallon tank. The largest tank I've done previously is a 55. I'm excited and a little scared. I'm sure I'll have some rueful moments as I scramble up the learning curve. Eh. Life would be boring if everything came out perfect every time. Feel free to pat me on the head and send shipments of chocolate if I seem to be getting too despondent.

First things first. A tank needs a stand. I checked out the local fish store. The tank stands available there were kind of cheap and thrown together. Even the store owner didn't think much of them. We've got a bunch of woodworking equipment inherited from some of spouse's relatives and elderly neighbors. Spouse announced a that a tank stand sounded like an interesting DIY project.

So, we (mostly spouse, to be fair) started by building a basic frame out of fir. Checking the rough frame on top of the tank to be sure the footprint matches:



Added reinforcements to the legs and some cross bracing. Checking the footprint of the tank again:



The floor of the stand will be a half inch piece of plywood we already had. The exterior will be quarter inch oak veneer plywood. The original plan was to make the front from one big sheet with door openings cut into it. Unfortunately, the stand is just a little bit wider than 48 inches, and the sheet isn't big enough. Instead we have to piece the front together:



Added some oak trim to form a lip around the bottom of the tank and to dress up the edges of the veneer plywood:



We really weren't sure what to do about doors. I suggested sliding doors, using a router to score a track into a piece of trim. Spouse wasn't thrilled with the idea. Spouse was equally unthrilled with the idea of having to build frame doors and then getting them to hang square on hinges. Local indy hardware store came to the rescue - they had wooden trim pre cut with tracks in it:




Stained the veneer with 3 parts Ipswich Pine to 1 part Golden Oak. Put the tank on and added five bags of Caribsea Instant Aquarium Tahitian Black Sand. (Side note: I think the instant aquarium idea is kind of a gimmick. I can add mulm from my other aquariums and a few tablespoons of water conditioner. However, I really really did not want to deal with rinsing substrate. It's February, and I can't do it outside. No way was I going to subject myself or my plumbing to the ordeal of rinsing 100 pounds of substrate in the bathroom sink either.) Added a bit of water and levelled the stand with shims:



Snapped the shims off when the water level was close enough for government work:

[Freshwater Tropic]

It looks wonderful! I love the stand!!! Great Work!

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The forum seems to have found the tail end of my post indigestible. Breaking it down into smaller chunks...

Added reinforcements to the legs and some cross bracing. Checking the footprint of the tank again:



The floor of the stand will be a half inch piece of plywood we already had. The exterior will be quarter inch oak veneer plywood. The original plan was to make the front from one big sheet with door openings cut into it. Unfortunately, the stand is just a little bit wider than 48 inches, and the sheet isn't big enough. Instead we have to piece the front together:

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Added some oak trim to form a lip around the bottom of the tank and to dress up the edges of the veneer plywood:



We really weren't sure what to do about doors. I suggested sliding doors, using a router to score a track into a piece of trim. Spouse wasn't thrilled with the idea. Spouse was equally unthrilled with the idea of having to build frame doors and then getting them to hang square on hinges. Local indy hardware store came to the rescue - they had wooden trim pre cut with tracks in it:

[clipclop]

Stained the veneer with 3 parts Ipswich Pine to 1 part Golden Oak. Put the tank on and added five bags of Caribsea Instant Aquarium Tahitian Black Sand. (Side note: I think the instant aquarium idea is kind of a gimmick. I can add mulm from my other aquariums and a few tablespoons of water conditioner. However, I really really did not want to deal with rinsing substrate. It's February, and I can't do it outside. No way was I going to subject myself or my plumbing to the ordeal of rinsing 100 pounds of substrate in the bathroom sink either.) Added a bit of water and levelled the stand with shims:



Snapped the shims off when the water level was close enough for government work:

[Freshwater Tropic]

How to the doors work? Slide out?

[J.B.]

Very nice work on the stand...can't wait to see the finished tank.

[ScottFish]

Great job! Looking forward to reading more.

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Added filter, light, heater, and plants.

Filter is a Fluval G3. (What can I say? Some people fall in love with sleek cars. I got the hots for a sleek filter.) It's perhaps borderline small for this size tank. We shall see.



Light is a Reefbrite Tech LED. I considered and rejected going with the higher output XHO instead. I decided, if I needed more light, I might as well just add a second strip. The cost would obviously be more, but I would have more fine tuning options.



Plants:
Echinodorus ozelot
Sagittaria subulata
Something that was sold to me as Cryptocoryne spiralis a few years ago. Not sure if it really is.
A freebie thrown in by the LFS owner, possibly Didiplis diandra
Another freebie thrown in by the LFS owner. Not really sure what it is.

I know some people recommend against adding plants when the tank is still cycling. Shrug.

I had intended to have some wood and other decorations ready to go, but I got sidetracked. Shrug.

The heater is a basic glass one of a brand I'd never heard of. I may end up replacing it. It's set at 76, and it's been keeping the tank at a steady 70 degrees for the past 24 hours. I've turned it up a hair to see if it will raise the temperature correspondingly. I can deal with a heater that's off by six degrees as long as it's a consistent six degrees. Otherwise it's gone.

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How to the doors work? Slide out?

Since they are 1/4 inch plywood, they have a bit of flex to them. We can bow them and pop them out of the track if needed.

[Crazygar]

Sweet. I'm not all that handy myself (I sign waivers to wherever I move to ensuring that I won't touch anything that will cause bodily harm to myself or to others) so I always trade a bit of humiliation for manual labor. It's a fair deal in my world.

But your project is cool, that is one heck of a sturdy stand you have there, along with getting to start up a tank, oh the joys, I'll be watching this with interest.

Kudos to your Spouse BTW, super handy!

Gary

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The tank temperature seems to be holding steady at 76 now that I've set the tank heater to 82. Sigh. Hopefully it will remain consistent going forward.

The panic and buyers remorse are setting in this morning. I was reviewing my diaries of some of my previous tanks. I realized that I have been conveniently covering up the memory of the initial bacteria and algae blooms the other tanks went through. They had some fairly ugly phases. I am soooo not looking forward to 75 gallons of green soup sitting in my den.

I also realized I hadn't considered the implications of a 24 inch deep tank. Namely, that short people face obstacles. Any kind of tank maintenance requires me to stand on a stool and stick my arm in up to the armpit. Tongs now on the shopping list. :)

[Freshwater Tropic]

How do you like the Fluval G3 Filter? I was tempted to try on on a Freshwater setup I have. That is one modern filter.

[lou zello]

really,really,nice tank and STAND great job.i have tried fluval's before and went back to marineland C series.easier to service,quieter,and cheaper,never had a problem.i run 2 c-220's on my 55gal and 40gal(both have 2) the intakes are hidden with val's and the outflows are pointed up towards the center to ripple the surface,i allso run two heaters just as a safe measure and the current from the filters goes past the heaters to move the warm water around the tank the temp NEVER changes always 76.if you would like to see some photos they are under LOU ZELLO,let me know what you think.

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How do you like the Fluval G3 Filter? I was tempted to try on on a Freshwater setup I have. That is one modern filter.

I haven't had it long enough to have formed a final opinion. The engineering itself is very elegant if you are into this kind of stuff. Each piece fits precisely so, with subtle little tabs or grooves or whatnot to show you how the alignment goes. If you are the sort of person who hates mechanical subtlety and fears assembling Ikea furniture, it will drive you crazy. I personally enjoy this kind of attention to detail. ("Wow, look at how they did that!" Yes, I'm a nerd.)

The priming system stumped me at first. The directions said to pump it two or three times. (I read directions. Yes, I'm a nerd.) That might be right if you are restarting the pump after routine maintenance, but it sure didn't work for a brand new dry filter. The filter ran with a noise like a happy little single stroke engine and no output. We initially thought the impeller was broken and opened the case up to check. Impeller was fine but bone dry. Did lots more pumping. Eventually got enough air out of the lines that the filter was able to blow the rest out by itself.

I'm finding the water temperature log helpful at this stage. It's handy to have a picture off what the trend is when I'm not around to measure. Of course, I'm sure I could also just buy a digital thermometer with a submersible probe to get the same data. Not sure how useful the rest of the data will be. Flow data? A strangled sound coming from the lines has always been a perfectly good indicator in the past that the filter has ingested a snail and needs its bottom thumped. Total dissolved solids? Seems more relevant to saltwater. Maintenance logs? I write those in my journal anyhow.