Barb's 72 gallon bowfront

[BarbH]

After having kept freshwater tanks I decided to start a saltwater tank. Back in October I started really doing my research and started planning out a 29 gallon fowlr. Plans got put on hold after moving and with space limitations there really wasn't room to add another tank. A couple of months ago I started thinking about taking my 50 gallon fw and converting it into a sw, so the planning began again. While visiting a local reefing site I came across a tank and stand that I could get for less than I was going to have to pay for the stand that I needed to get for the 50 along with rock and sand which would help to lower my setup cost. So the plans have changed some more and I am now working with a tank that is 40 some gallons more than originally planned.

The tank is a 72 gallon bowfront which is not drilled. I will not be running a sump on this tank. My protein skimmer is a bubble magus nac5 hob which I got from another local reefer. I also have about 90 lbs of rock which is dried right now and 80 lbs of sand. I was also able to find a great deal on a typhoon rodi unit.

For equipment that I still need to purchase I am planning on two korilia 1050's for my powerheads. For lighting I am thinking leds, still have a lot of research to do on what is available. Until than I am thinking of using some T8 fixtures that I have around to provide light for viewing since I will be starting this tank as a fowlr and later down the road might start exploring corals. Would rather hold off on spending money on lighting to replace the fixture again down the road. I am also planning on getting a couple of brute containers one for storing my rodi water in and the other for mixing and storing my saltwater.

As with anything in life I have had a few hiccups that I have already ran into with this build. The first problem that I had was that when I got my skimmer home and went to hang it off of the back of the tank, I found out that the inner lip of the rim was about an eighth of an inch too wide to allow the skimmer to sit on the back of the tank properly. So a trip to Home Depot to see what type of tools where available to grind down some of that rim. My collection of tools in my tool box are minimal I ended up getting a metal file set for much less than what a dremmel would cost me, which was what had been suggested on a local site. About 10 minutes later with the file and my skimmer now sits on the tank like it should.

Of course one trip to Home Depot in a week is just not enough Later that week my rodi unit came in, when I got home from work that night I opened the box and unpacked everything. Came across my second problem. The elbow fitting that the hose connects into for the water supply was ****tered. Sent an email to air water and ice explaining the situation. I had bought the unit from someone else who had not used it at all, and their warranty only covers the original purchaser. Got a reply back the next morning and after sending a picture of the piece that was broken was told by Marissa the part that I needed. So back to Home Depot with the broken fitting. Shortly after was back home and the process of hooking up the unit began. After hooking everything up and checking connections the leak test began. Of course had some leaks pushed the tubing in to the fittings more, those leaks fixed, of course new ones appeared. Fixed those and everything seemed to be good. Now all I have left is to arrange all my lines so that things look a little neater. With being in an apartment I am not able to do a hard install, and the hoses under the sink look old that I don't want to try messing with them.

I also have a friend who will be installing a gfci for me when I am ready. That will be my next planned trip to Home Depot along with hopefully picking up at least one of my brute containers