After the long long decision process and with a little help from my RS friends and LFS... a special thanks to my buddy AWD (he still ascared to post on here) who helped me lug everything home and in the house...
The 75 is almost ready to go.
Heres what I have so far....
AGA 75 gallon RR with mega overflow and AGA Oak stand
Current Outer Orbit Lighting 150 HQI MH x 2, T5 x4, Moonlights x 18
Eheim 1262 return pump
Tunze 6025 x 3
ASM G-3 Skimmer
Phosban Reactor (might get a second one)
40 gallon breeder for DIY sump
Im almost ready to go. I bought a 40 gallon breeder tank to use for my sump. The breeder is deeper than the stand by 1/2" and over hangs the bottom edge by 1" but the way the AGA stand is made with no middle supports I just cut a piece of 1/2" plywood the size of the tank for it to sit on. Sealed the wood today. It probably wouldve been ok but I didnt want to chance it. The only thing I dont like is that it takes up the ENTIRE bottom of the stand with maybe 4.5" on either end but it will hold a working volume of about 30 gallons. I think that should be ok. I figured in a power failure I will get about 4 gallons of spill back... I hope! I will build some shallow shelves to at least hold food, nets etc. Im having glass cut at a local shop here to make baffles and the refugium divider. They will be ready tomorrow. Skimmer/intake area will be 11" x 17.5", return area will be 10.5" x 17.5" and will fit my return pump and one or two phosban reactors, refugium will be 12" x 17.5" and will be fed off a t from the main pump to a locline spray bar. Will be 3 baffles. First and third will be 11" high. I will see how the skimmer works at that water level. If is a problem I will have room to raise the skimmer an inch or 2 but from what Ive read it should be ok. I also picked up all the plumbing to do the gate valve mod on it. Wonder if I should run it first without....
I have a box full of pvc for the plumbing but Im sure Ive forgotten something...
I have a can of black acrylic latex paint waiting for the back.
I went with the 150 MH's because I got a great deal on em and the 250's woulda cost much more. For what I will be keeping they should be fine and anything that needs light can be moved up on the rock.
My tunze 6025's will handle the flow in the tank. I found out to late that tunze doesnt recommend they be used on a wave maker unless you do 15 min intervals....but they sure look cool! not sure how much a wavemaker matters...
My BIG DILEMA now is the BioCube. Do I take everything from the Cube and plop it in the 75 or do I leave it be and just take a few pieces out when the 75 is cycled with all new rock... My original plan was to put the Cube critters in the 75 and use the cube to cycle new batches of rock until the 75 was full and then start from scratch with the cube. Of course the Cube is also right in the spot in the livingroom that I want to put the 75. I would like to paint the room and clean the carpet before the new tank goes in.... I really didnt want to move the Cube critters TWICE! Ugh its making my head spin thinking about the best way to go about this.....
I will do some progress photos when i stop being lazy.
