Tank Build! 75gal Clarity Plus

So I have battled back and forth of weather or not to start a tank build thread on the forum, because I just think it maybe to soon. But I'm just to pumped to wait any longer. Just note that the progress may take some time. I'm just gonna start with a little history then go into what my Saturday was like today. Reader Beware! (Long post, more then likely boring as I suck at putting my thoughts to words)

History- I have been in the hobby on what is now about 5 years. (GIRS 2-3 years) It all started one snowy night in West Union, IA. This show came on called Tanked (I know what your thinking...) I fell in love with the show. I watched it regularly and was hooked. I knew that I wanted a saltwater tank in the worst way. So I started googling everything I could find. After about 6 months of this, I pulled the trigger. I went out and bought a little 20gal glass tank, HOB filter, Single chamber CPR Bak-Pak, and a little T5 light. Picked up sand, heater and a few small pieces of dry rock. Went through what back then I thought was a cycle. (Raw shrimp for two weeks followed by a water change) yeah I was wrong, but hell it worked. Went out and picked up a Nemo (OMG), Firefish, 2 crabs, and a turbo snail. Things actually went very well. Then I got my tax refund. Lol. This is were things got out of control quick fast and in a hurry. I went and picked up as many ACROs as I could find! Loaded the that little tank heavy. Almost every square inch! Then to top it all off, and your gonna shake your head here, I picked up Dory! She was so tiny. Now to be fair, back then i didn't know a single soul in the hobby, I hated blogs/forums and my level of research was looking at google images. Everything went find for about a month. (I was doing water changes every weekend 50%) Then one week I went away for about a week and a half vacation back to PHILADELPHIA where I'm from. Picked up a cheap auto feeder, set up the timer and filled it with Flake food. When I got home, I could almost smell it at the front door before I even unlocked it. You guessed it, major tank crash! I'm sure you can say I did this or that wrong, but while I was home and doing 50% water changes weekly it was working. (At least to the naked eye) while I was gone the feeder malfunctioned and just stayed open, dumping flakes tell they were gone, also I forgot to put my new timer for my lights to the timer side instead of the steady on. The lights were on 24hrs a day for 11 days straight. Needless to say I was devastated. Fast forward here...

Wife blessed off on me trying again with a better and bigger tank. This time I pick up a cantister filter and a corner tank. Things go well and I start getting into Reef2Reef, Reef Central and this time actually doing my homework, I'm so nervous at this point, that everything moves slow (slow and steady wins the race)
Tank looks good and I'm having fun. Fast forward again...

I had upgraded tanks now at this point slowly getting bigger and bigger. I join GIRS (no pay member) moved to Des Moines area and find a pretty awesome 75gal Clarity Plus tank with stand, canopy, and a DIY sump. (I know some of you should remember this tank) I don't have a return pump and I still wanted to use my canister. So I modded the canister to pump the the water from the sump back to the display. This actually worked. Did well too. But maintaining that canister began to give headaches and made me lazy on routine maintenance. During this time I also played with many different types of lighting. Current USA marine led light, T5's and even tried out metal halides. This tank was great and a lot of fun. I felt like a big boy with a big boy tank. But I wasn't happy after I started hanging out regularly with a few different club members that all had tanks over 120gal. So I got the fever.
Sold off the 75 and then to fast forward here, after a few more tanks i finished off with my dream size 220gal. (New dream is the 300DD)

Now during this time I kept learning and got more active where I could and when I could with the club. I upgraded equipment, like powerheads, sump, return pump, lights. Then Uncle Sam called on me to become a lean mean fighting machine in preparation of a deployment that ended up being cancelled. However I was gone so much that the tank suffered, my marriage began to suffer, my relationship with my kids even began to suffer. I sold almost everything off! I was done, I was out. But in my mind I knew I would be back. Held on to some of my favorite equipment in the event I returned and I often thought about how great my "little" 75gal was. So after deployment threat went away and life slowed down, I began to reach back out to the club and the many contacts I have made. Won't go into the drama that was stirred up on GIRS, but that event was the straw that broke the camels back and had me break my silence and get involved in GIRS again. Now I'm back and stronger then ever. And so began my drive to find my old 75gal Clarity Plus Acrylic tank again. I had sold it to a guy in Kansas City. Lucky for me I know a guy who knows a guy that is related to the guy that bought my tank. Even better I now had his number. So I reached out. Turns out he is upgrading to a bigger tank and won't be needing the 75 any longer. Also turns out that I'm a pretty damn good plumber and he needs help on his new tank. So we strike a deal. I drove down last weekend and spent the whole Saturday plumbing up his system. And it's a pretty extensive project. He wanted everything hard plumbed, I'm talking several reactors, UV light, an add on manifold, and his water barrels out in the garage. Shut offs and unions for every little thing. It was very time consuming, but came out flawless, not even the smallest run of primer and glue, or a single spot of slow drip water that the salt creep would seal up. Perfect absolutely perfect!

In return for my work... he paid me with my own original "big boy tank" my 75gal Clarity Plus Acrylic tank. This tank however needed to some how get back to Des Moines! (I don't own a truck)

So I head home with out the tank. But made my plans for my return to KC with the means to bring it home to Des Moines.

Now after all that reading... I'm finally gonna start the build.

So this past week I made a thread looking for advice on my stand and canopy. I also posted on Reef2Reef looking for ideas. Here's the link to my GIRS posting to catch you up on my thoughts.

Advice? - Stand and Canopy

I have finally nailed down what I'm going to do for the most part (more to come later on that.)

So this morning I hit the road

I still didn't have a truck, but I got someone to follow me down with an SUV. During this drive I was worried if I would get everything to fit. But I was determined, even if it meant tieing stuff to my roof and or sticking out my windows while forcing me to drive like an old man slow and stuffed up to my steering wheel. This tank was coming home where she belongs. Well we got the stand and canopy to fit in the SUV but the tank had to somehow fit in my car. I popped the trunk... don't fit. Open up my back door a slide the seats forward as far as I could.

It fit! (Kinda) upside down and seats forward I got it in (that's what she said hehe) but there's more. When I got there, the tank had not been cleaned out and water was still in the over flow and sump with all the plumbing still hooked up... (smelled bad) so I got it taken apart and somewhat cleaned up. But now I was gonna be in this car with my little man, heat on and a smell that makes the New York fish market smell like a yankee candle.

It sucked bad, real bad. After a long drive and a quick stop for lunch at Wendy's, we finally made it back to Johnston! But not before stopping at the new fareway for a gallon of milk to make the wife happy (it's the little things)

Pulled up to my garage where my stand and canopy had been dropped off by my life saver with the SUV. It's at this moment I remember why I love Acrylic tanks so much! I unload the tank myself and place it on it's now temporary stand. (New Stand and Canopy will be coming very very soon) Finally after all the upgrades to bigger tanks and a few more years of learning my long lost tank is home.

I chased the dragon of bigger tanks, but in the end this has always been my favorite. Supported with the knowledge I now have that I didn't back then, better equipment, and a soon to be new stand and canopy that solves everything I hated with this one, I will now finally have my true dream tank.

To finish what maybe the record for longest post on GIRS I would like to say thanks to the reefing community as a whole. The support, knowledge, and shear passion that people like you have has saved me on more then one occasion. I am truly thankful for the now years of advice I have received. This thanks goes to everyone, past and present GIRS members that have showed me the error of my ways. I hope that you will all continue to support me in this build as I will continue to help you where I can. Thanks for reading and I promise this is one thread that will not die off and expect heavy photo updates as I begin this build. Please comment and offer advice when able. Next build up date will come Monday or Tuesday with the stand/canopy build. Thanks, b_braz

 

So with my stand I'm thinking something about 48in tall. And similar to the below pic, but only 4ft long.

 

Met with my stand builder today. Looks like it's gonna be a bit before he can get started.

 

So after talking with the carpenter some more we decided to make the stand 40 inches high, 6ft long, and 3ft wide. The canopy will match the tank in all dimensions except be 30in tall. All made of oak. With any luck we should be done building the stand by next Monday. See picture above for style.

 

Any body have any ideas for the inside of stand? Meaning what about deck stain for the inside?

 

I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure how it would hold up to water.

Me too hahaha

 

Well tomorrow I get to go pick up some supplies for my stand and canopy build. Some things have changed since I posted here last. The stand will not be rebuild, just redesigned. The center brace between the doors will be removed and the doors will be brought in to meet the middle. Will be adding a steel angle square to run across the top to take on the weight load. The inside base plywood will be removed and will be replaced with a Marine Grade 3/4" plywood. Then I will be running conduit through the stand with GFI Quad boxes added for my power source. The entire inside of stand will then be painted White with an Oil Base paint so it holds up to the moisture. The stand will also now have Threaded Stem Glides to assist in leveling the tank. The stand will be stripped of its golden oak stain. The Canopy will still be replaced with a brand new Canopy built out of oak. The Canopy will be about 48" tall with a 2"- 3" over hang to hide water line. There will also be a cold air return installed on the top to allow heat to escape from the top. Computer fans will be installed on both sides to draw in and blow cool air across the T5's. The stand and canopy will be stained Mission Oak. Pictures to follow as I have them.