I am getting ready to set this thing up. Tomorrow I will start to work on the stand, and any suggestions will be welcome. It is going to be a mixed reef with 100 pounds of sealifeinc live rock, AquaC EV240 protein skimmer, 8X54 T5 fixture, and an MP40W for flow. I plan on having about 80 pounds of sand. Should I put eggcrate down before I put the rock and sand in? Here are some pics to get us started on the journey.

I too am in the process of building a 75g peninsula tank. I actually have the exact same tank.....did you have to special order yours with black silicone and corner overflow from AGA too

I'll be putting egg crate down before sand in mine because I have a big rock arch that will have some serious pressure points, figured I'd be safe.

What are you using for a return pump and what are your plans for sump/fuge?

I actually called an LFS across town to hold the last 75 with overflow that they had. When I showed up it was a megaflow... They got super bent out of shape. Today I stopped by the LFS closest to me to order one, but I saw this one hiding in the back. I had already picked up the eggcrate, I just couldnt remember the exact reason why I wanted it. The return pump is going to be a quietone 3000. It was on sale BNIB for 30 bucks, so I couldnt pass it up. If it doesnt cut it I will just get a Mag9, or maybe another MP40. Since I am going to be making the stand I plan on using a 30 breeder for my frag/sump/refugium.

That's too funny, I'll be using a Quiet One 3000 too Got my stand just about finished today and I managed to cram a 30g long in there, I'll be running an ASM G2 skimmer.....space is at a premium in my stand. What are the dimensions of a 30 breeder?

OMggg 8x54 T5 on the 75? This is gonna be DOOPPPEEE... Im jealous.

Space is going to be at a premium in mine too. That is why I am building it myself. The 30B is 18WX36LX12H. There will also be a couple of TLF reactors, and a Geo 612 with a 5lb tank. Once that is on there I will put a shelf in for a 10 ATO. I am super excited about this! The 8 lamp light was the only option for me. It would be nice to be able to afford a powermodule though.

Hell yeah.

So where in Salinas do you live? I used to live in Pacific Grove.

East Side homie.

I miss living in California... so nice.

Not Salinas haha

I run a Quietone 3000, and it does great in my 75. Im upgrading to a 4000HD, so I can T off the return to a little cube thatll sit next to the 75, and serve as a frag tank.

Sweet. Thanks for the input.

I finished framing the stand today. Tomorrow I will try and skin as much as I can. Right now I dont really know what to do about doors, so until I do I am going without. The stand is too close to the wall. It is 5 and a half feet tall to the top of the light.

Looking great... Nice stand.. gonna be a beautiful when its skinned!

God im so jealous.

It is coming together smoother than I thought it would. Most of the plywood is cut, and I picked out the stain. The stain is going to be a very dark brown, and the trim will be black. I am glad you guys like it so far. It will only get better. JDigital, I dont know how many times I looked at your build while I was plannin this out.

Last night I went and picked up the plywood that I would need. Tonight I skinned most of the stand and tomorrow I will finish skinning it and start to stain it.

Very nice! I just bought the same exact tank.. but mine came with a stand. I actually wish I had made a stand because mine is a little cramped. Mine didn't come with the kitty though, guess they ripped me off...

They did rip you off! She follows me around everywhere. I was pretty intimidated with the idea of building the stand but I am so glad that I am. So far it has cost about 200, and I expect it to end up being about 300. The super cheap pine ones go for 200 and they dont even have a back on them.

True. Mine is pretty solid, looks like some sort of MDF and it has good bracing in it. What sort of plans do you have for this tank?

Yeah, I had one of those pine stands for my 72 bowfront. It seemed solid enough, but I was really worried with this one. Probably just second guessing myself. The tank plans arent going to be anything very original. There are going to be zoas and LPS throughout the sandbed, softies at the end away from the wall, and SPS closest to the wall.

Anyone have recommendations for fish? I already have a firefish, yellow tang, and a maroon clown that will go in. Some of the things that I had in mind were pajama and bangai cardinals, 5 chromis, target mandarin, and maybe a powder brown. Give me some suggestions.

I've always thought that pajamas are a little drab. Bangais are really cool but I prefer more colour pop from my fish. I have a royal gramma that's nice. Chromis in schools are always a great idea. I also have a flame hawk and a lawnmower blenny for personality.

--M

So I finished skinning the stand today. That only puts me one day behind. I also learned a valuable lesson. Never ever ever think that just because you are halfway decent at applying a coat of paint that you can stain some oak with no worries. First coat went on pretty uneven and took forever! So far it sucks. Hopefully some steel wool and another coat or two tomorrow makes everything better.


A hawkfish would be pretty sweet... I think I would go with an arceye though.

I've heard hawkfish aren't completely reef safe. I dunno why... maybe they nip at corals? They do have a super cool personality though. I tend to like fish that perch and have cool facial expressions, if there is such a thing haha. The gf and I are going to put a pair of clowns in the tank, along with our current firefish, red scooter blenny, lawnmower blenny, and she really wants a twin spot goby which are pretty cool little guys. Chromis are always nice to add some movement.

Only because they may eat shrimp/snails/crabs and little stuff like that... otherwise they are fine, may perch on stony corals and their doo doo/pee pee is supposed to benefit the coral via waste(food for coral). Go with a flame hawkfish I say...really sweet and add a punch or color.

wish i could do something this big.

thats what she said

looks like this tank will be good. A powder brown would be neat.

Who know, we will see what happens with the fish. Last night I finished staining the stand. It could look better, but it could look worse too. I guess I will start on the trim. Hopefully this weekend I will get my hands on some rock. There is a guy I might be able to get it from local!

The stand is done for the most part. Stained, and the necessary trim at the moment. Right now it is filling with water, and tomorrow night I will have live rock. I will be so glad when it is set up. Today I did get some frags from Calvin, and they are doing great. Super huge too! Hopefully I will be motivated enough to take some pics tomorrow.

I think I beat you to the punch, having LR and sand anyway haha. But I can guarantee that your stand looks a million times better than mine

Well last night I picked up the content of a 90 gallon. ~120 pounds of fiji, tonga, and lace live rock, ~80 pounds of sand, a hippo tang, yellow tang, kole tang, false perc, huge green brittle star, some white mushies, and a random starfish. The sand will go in next week, and the only fish I am going to keep is the hippo. Anyone have an idea what this star is? I can already tell I need to upgrade my return pump, and I need to get the trim on the stand. Let me know what you think.

I had an awesome setback today... When I came home from lunch there were odd black elongated spots on my xenia. Then I had to replace a piece of the return pipe. When I did the bulkhead loosened and leaked. When I built the stand I only drilled holes out for them. So basically the bulkheads were between the stand and 700 pounds of tank. After a trip to Lowes at 5pm I emptied all of the water fixed the plumbing, put the sand in, dipped everything in iodine and flatworm exit, and rescaped with just the tonga and fiji. The lace is set aside for a friend of mine. The funniest thing is I planned on not touching the tank at all with all the crap I have going on. Well everything is going terrific now!

Your kitty looks sooo innocent! lol...

Sorry to hear about your troubles with the plumbing..

Ahh, it has been way too long. I have been stuck in NY with no internet, but I finally got a piece of it. Cant wait to see how things are going since I have been away for two week and I still have one to go. My gf has been taking care of the tank and according to her everything looks wonderful. Ill post pics next Sat.


Thanks J. It happens, but it was a super pain. In the end everything worked out great.

I just came home from vacation for a week to a destroyed tank. Apparently the AC broke today, and the water got up to 94 degrees. Almost everything died except some zoas... So far I have the tally at about 1K in coral gone.

Oh NO!!!
I'm so sorry!!!

I'm sorry to hear this

I hate even the thought of vacation now a days
I used to go away all the time for days and days...now a 3 day trip is almost too long.
I'm a slave to my tanks

Sorry to see that you lost all the coral. I had the same thing happen to me a month back. Luckly it was the AC and not something that broke on your tank.

So sorry to hear about that. I used to not worry about vacations, as we have a good housesitter, but I keep coming home to a lot of algae, even when I ask them to not feed. Weird.

So after all the damage was gone through and everything has had a week it isnt as bad as I initially thought. Most of my coral did die, but it wasnt complete annihilation. I still have a blue mille, bonsai, idaho grape, pink cap, green cap, pokerstar, and sunset. All of it was so bleached that I thought for sure it was done. The only LPS that made it was my beloved orange fungia. I was so relieved when it started to color back up. They are a dime a dozen but I have never seen one that I like as much. All the palys and zoas werent bothered except for my pd's. One firefish, all my shrimp, and my softies bit it. Oddly enough my Maxima is happy as ever. After a couple of serious WC's and some carbon changes in the reactor things seem back to normal. Everything still looks like poop, but it gets beter everyday. Hopefully I can start to restock next weekend. I will try and post pics of the new scape on Wednesday.

Everything has been coming along since the meltdown. My montis are super slow to color back up, but other than that couldnt ask for more!

That's very nice....I love my 75 Peninsula...I don't think I would ever shove a display up against the wall again....I would LOVE to do a 120 next....I mean that whole 4' X 2' X 2' thing is amazing....actually enough floor space to do some serious aquascaping....

Thanks! I cant imagine the tank flat against the wall either. In a year and a half Ill be moving, and I keep going back and forth on the idea of a 120 or 180. The 75 will be the frag tank. All of that is far in the future though...

Everything has been doing okay, other than a couple of STN issues. They have been getting better after I turned all the lights off for a day then basically reset the light cycle (half the lights on for 6 hours, and adjusting 15 mins up every other day). Other than that I had to move everything around to get a "mistake" out. Let me know what you think. My next addition is probably going to be a BTA.

Very nice setup ,wish I had the room for one like that...

You have some really nice pieces there...and I really like the aquascapr....be really sure that the rocks are completely steady around your clam, and be sure that when you go to the new tank that the rock he is attached to can be placed in the new scape at about the same position....he will be fiercely attached in no time....

Thanks mitch, he has been attached to that rock for a couple of months now. It is hard to tell, but that is one large piece that hoes all the way down to the bottom of the tank. He used to be in there horizontal. Oddly enough that clam was one of the few inverts to survive my 96 degree vacation fiasco.

I finally finished the stand...