# Kooka's 12 Days of Christmas 75 Gallon Reef-O-Rama



## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Well, after many months of planning, careful researching and obvious procrastinating  , I finally flooded my newly refurbished ex-planted 75 gallon tank.










After learning the ropes in the saltwater side of the hobby by way of my 20 gallon long nano reef, I decided it was time to shut down my 75 gallon planted and convert it into a reef as well. My planted tank was extremely successful during its almost 2 years of existence, but the smaller reef tank stole the show as soon as it had corals in it. So after saving up some money (actually a lot of money  ) and working out the various logistics involved in starting a larger reef tank, I began to plan out it's design:

-*Display: 75 gallon ex-planted tank 
-Lighting: 4 bulb T5HO AquaticLife with ATI bulbs
-Sump: 30 gallons
-Plumbing: originally planned a single 1" overflow, but then changed to the "Herbie" design with 1.5" overflow which can be found on Reefcentral.com*

Starting in the summer, I began to gather all the various components I'd need to set this thing up. Luckily, I was able to find an excellent DAS BX-1 skimmer and Eheim 1262 pump through the classifieds for very "conducive" prices.

Probably my biggest expense was aquiring a new, sturdy stand for my tank, as the craptastic stingray stand would be woefully inadequate (not to mention unsafe) for a reef tank. I also needed a stand with room to place a large sump underneath it, which was a must in my original plans. Initially I wanted to custom build one, but my experience with carpentry was limited to one semester in Grade 9 shop class. After searching for a good wooden stand all over the GTA, I ended up getting a Miracles brand stand ordered which, while nice looking with plenty of space underneath it for a sump; was incredibly flimsily built upon closer inspection. Despite it being touted as a "wooden stand", I'd say more than 60% of it was built with particle board. Needless to say, I was somewhat pee'd off considering the about of money I paid for it 

Anyways, I proceeded to re-enforce the stand with some strong oak boards I found at work, braced all 4 sides and added a plywood bottom layer for easier levelling.

Next I built my sump. My original plans called for a 3 compartment design, with skimmer/water inflow first, then a refugium area and the pump area last. I used 8" glass baffles spaced out 1.5" from each other.










Here it is in the stand with the skimmer and pump:










As this build was my first plumbed aquarium build in my almost 15 years of maintaining aquariums, I took great care to carefully research and plan out the system that would work for me best. My MAIN concern was the noise level that would be potentially emitted by rushing water gurgling down through pipes. The dreaded "toilet flushing" sound was a common complaint I read about while perusing through numerous reef tank build threads. Since my 75 gallon tank has a tempered glass bottom, I was limited to a side drilled or HOB overflow. While the HOB overflow seemed very enticing due to its low price and easy installation, I really wanted a fail-safe system in which the possibilty of flooding would be negligable. Therefore two systems caught my eye immediately: The Herbie and BeanAnimal overflows.

For those of you looking to build a system that is DEAD QUIET, the Herbie (or if you have the room) BeanAnimal is the way to go. Due to my limited amount of space behind the tank, I ended up going with the Herbie modified dual pipe overflow. One pipe would take the main flow through a siphon (yeah, a full siphon with no need for dursos, air pipes, etc...) and the other pipe would act as an emergency overflow in case the main overflow got clogged by an adventurous snail, fish, etc...

I will post a more detailed description of my plumbing setup later on today...


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Looks like it will be nice !

Congrats on the Flood !


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

LoL, first response! Thanks for the kind words. All I can say is your pipes and bulkheads came in very handy!


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

looks like a good build! I hope to learn a lot since I have a freshwater 75G tank that i am debating on converting!


SUBSCRIBED!


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

This is awesome!!! I got super excited as i was reading and then realized...it was not yet complete 

**Subscribed and waiting for further add on**


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Welcome to the Salt side!


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Yet another member quits fresh water for the salty side.
Build looks really awesome! keep us updated!!!


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Just in time for boxing day sales... Get cycling! Lol.

Overflow box looks good in there. 

Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

*At Pacman: * I hope that whatever I contribute will come in handy for you; I'm always mooching off of other threads so hopefully I can give something back LOL.

*At Manhtu: * Yes, it is a work in progress, I'll try to update regularly!

*At THMH: * Thanks, but I've been on this side since last year!

*At Type Zero: * My bro maintains the freshwater tank with shrimp in it, but ya, I'm fully salty now. I guess it's an inevitable evolution in an aquarists career.

*At J_T: * Big thanks go to you for the overflow box. It works perfectly. I guess I timed my build perfectly then, just in time for Christmas and Boxing Day!


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

*PLUMBING:*

Well, this part of the setup gave me the most headaches, as I've never really done any plumbing before in my life, (other than helping my dad solder some copper piping and connecting some faucets). The setup I originally planned for proved to be a woefully insufficient design for my needs. I instead opted for the Herbie System, which involves 2 bulkheads with one serving as a main siphon overflow, and the other as an emergency backup. In order to accomodate the two new holes, I needed a larger overflow box. Thanks to J_T ( insert free plug for his acrylic cutting service ) I had one!










But before any piping was to be fitted together I had to get my tank drilled  Of course, this in itself presented a whole new problem to me as I anticipated that a simple stop by the local aquarium store and a couple of dollars later I'd have a perfectly drilled tank. WRONG. Without going into the details, that never ended up happening, so instead I drove over to one of my favorite stores, Princess Auto, and got me a brand new glass hole drilling kit 










If anyone is looking into drilling aquariums for overflows, YouTube provides a wealth of information on the subject. At this point I have to give major props to my brother who helped me through the whole operation. We had 4 holes to drill in all, two 2 inch holes and two 3/4 return holes. A great tip we learned was to first drill a pilot hole through a thin peice of wood, then attach that with a C-clamp to where you want to drill the hole in order to help guide the drill bit into the aquarium. You also have to make sure you place a peice underneath the pane of glass you're drilling to eliminate any chipping. To make a long story short, the drilling went better than I expected, with minimal chipping and clean cuts for all 4 holes.










With all 4 holes cut, we painted the back with black Krylon spraypaint and once dried, attached the bulkheads and overflow box. For the actual piping, I ordered almost everything from Bulk Reef Supply. Even though it was a bit more expensive than buying everything from Lowes (Home Depot sucks for plumbing supplies BTW), it ended up being more convenient for me. An added bonus was that the 1.5" piping and fittings sold on BRS are all Schedule 80, which are thicker than the standard Schedule 40 PVC pipe sold in hardware stores. I believe this has helped to muffle out any trickling and gurgling noises that would otherwise be heard through the Schedule 40 PVC.

At this point it was time to start putting the PVC jigsaw puzzle together... More on that to come later.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Well, we know who to call for hole saws 

To prevent the chipping, masking tape on th opposite side helps. It keeps the water from spilling out as quickly.


Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

J_T said:


> Well, we know who to call for hole saws
> 
> To prevent the chipping, masking tape on th opposite side helps. It keeps the water from spilling out as quickly.
> 
> Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


Yup, masking tape works as well. We used a piece of particle board wood which did the job too.


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

I have been waiting to see this build since I last picked up some frags from you 

Looking very good and way over due


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

LoL, yeah I've been taking my time with this one.

Here's Part #2 of the Plumbing section I did earlier:

Forgot to mention that I had to find 3/4 inch gaskets for the return bulkheads, as they only came with one each. I searched in all the usual locations but noone had any in the size I needed. I even tried a gasket store here in Mississauga (which shall go unnamed), and believe it or not, they wanted $70 for 2 rubber gaskets. Again, I was left to rely on my own ingenuity, and I found the perfect stuff for the job: garage door rubber insulator lining. To my great surprise, the material was perfectly suited for making rubber gaskets

I modelled my overflow system on one I found in the reefcentral forums. Using 1.5 inch PVC 80 pipe, we made 2 drains going into the skimmer chamber of the sump. I used unions to make disassembly easier in case of an emergency or if I ever need to clean out an obstruction. In order for the main valve siphon to be adjusted properly, a gate valve is a MUST. A ball valve will not be precise enough to finely tune the siphon and overflow box water level. With the gate valve, it took me literally 3 turns to get the flow right.










For my returns I used 3/4 inch black vinyl tubing (I chose black so that stray light would not encourage algal growth within the pipes themselves). The vinyl tubing worked very well and is flexible enough to easily work around corners. Just for additional insurance I installed a quality check valve on the return line (I was debating on adding this but I decided it wouldn't hurt in the end if I did).

We left everything to cure for a week and then this weekend the moment of truth was upon us, would everything work according to plan? Or would the whole thing just start leaking like a sieve?

First we filled the sump to the water level I'd like to keep it at:










With the additional weight, we used cedar shims to level the tank. According to my spirit level, it's right on the money  we doubled check each side and with some slight adjustment it seems the tank is perfectly level. This is the first time I've used shims to level a tank and let me tell you it is the way to go. I filled the tank up and again checked if everything was level and if no surprise leaks/cracks appeared.










I turned the pump on and immediately observed the flow of water in the overflow box. Initially the water level rose above the emergency overflow valve, and the sucking, gurgling sound reminiscent of a flushing toilet filled the room. With some slight adjustment to the gate valve, the water level in the overflow box lowered, and after about 2 minutes of slurping and glurping the siphon line took ALL the flow. So after a successful flooding I owed everyone a celebratory drink:



















Except for the slight hum of the Eheim pump, the system has ZERO NOISE. Even the drain pipes in the sump are almost totally silent since they end about .5-1 inch below the water surface. There was a slight vibration heard with the return pipe from the pump rubbing up agains the stand. I placed some foam underneath it and that helped to remove the vibration noise.










That's all the updates I have for now. The rockwork and substrate will be going in this week


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Since this is the photgraphy section, I thought I'd share some pics of my 1 year old 20 gallon long reef:










My manicurist friend:










My AA clownfish (anemones anonymous)










Some corals:


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## nsousa (Apr 23, 2011)

looks really nice. 
might get rid of the red sea max and follow your path. Maybe not as big


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## AquaticPulse (Jun 19, 2011)

How much was the drill? or better yet, are you willing to drill my tank for me? ><


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## Taipan (Feb 12, 2012)

I seriously need to take better pictures. Very nice!


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Looks mint man.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Hey, thanks all. The 20 gallon will be converted into a frag tank when the 75 display is fully up and running.

Thinkshane, a diamond hole saw costs $13 in Princess Auto. To drill a single hole at a certain store on the Mississauga fish strip apparently costs $30 per hole. I would take the risk and drill the holes myself, unless you are completely DIY incapable.

It's time for a little update...

*THE CYCLE HAS BEGUN!*

Last week I finally added the aragonite substrate and the live rock. I placed all the rock back up against the back glass so as to have the maximum amount of swimming room up in the front. I didn't do this in my 20 gallon which I quickly realized was a mistake.

Here are some pics of the rockwork and the finished tank as it is today:










Some closeups of the two "islands"



















And Taipan, your skimmer collection cup after 24 hours of skimming an empty tank:










Forgot to mention the liverock is actually "dead", but I seeded the tank with some actual liverock from my 20 gallon tank. For good measure I also threw in a couple of smaller pieces of liverock into the refugium along with some cheato/caulerpa mix.

Now it's time to sit back and play the waiting game...


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

time for an update good sir


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Update coming soon, thanks for reminding me Kamal  Lots of new additions to report, and currently fighting an invasion of the macroalgae from HELL : dictyota.


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Looking really good very nice and clean work you done so far, 75g tank is great size tank no too deep not too small, tagging along to see progress


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## duckhams (Oct 13, 2009)

I like your sump design, I have something similar on its way for my new 75 gallon. Im glad to see its work well for you.  
I would be tempted to angle the left rock structure to point into the front left corner to give that 'deep' feeling. But I like what you have done a lot.


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

where is your update kind sir


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

I know this is an old thread but I been thinking about drilling my tank. is both the holes on the overflow aligned? or is the emergency hole higher then the siphon hole? since you have the siphon elbow pointed down and the emergency pointed up, did you have any issues with the siphon elbow not starting after power outage? I'm thinking about drilling two holes for herbie on a back top corner but the holes won't be aligned one or be higher then the other or maybe this makes no difference when herbie drain is used? I'm just using a herbie HOB u tube overflow box for now.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Ha ha, thanks for bringing my thread back from the dead  Yes, both holes are aligned with each other. The emergency drain kicks in whenever the pump is restarted, and it takes on average 5-10 min for the siphon to kick in. The setup is working flawlessly a year on now, I haven't had any issues and some others on the forum that have seen it in person will attest to the same. 

And I guess this is a good time as any to make a picture update of my tank (taken today)


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Awesome tank in person 

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