[CollegeReefer]

I am on my week long spring break and I decided to take the week to get many little (well kind of big) projects done. I will post pictures of what I have done this week when I get a camera (mine no longer works ).

1. Build new sump/fuge for 40 gallon tank
2. Build overflow box for 40 gallon tank
3. Hard plumb 40 gallon tank (first time for me)
4. Hard plumb 75 gallon tank(currently just flexible tubing)
5. Rebuild sump/fuge for 75 gallon tank (wasn’t planned well my first time doing it)
6. Drill out screws on aquapod light (rusted) and replace with stainless steal screws
7. Replace lights on Aquapod.

As you can see it is a very long list and well I got the first 3 done thus far. This was the first time I ever hard plumbed with pvc so it was a learning experience. Everything went well except one part, but that was easily fixed. When I turned everything on it worked perfectly which of course made me feel really good. Actually it got me really excited.

I build a new sump/fuge for the 40 gallon using a 29 gallon tank and glass baffles. After doing much more reading and well after being in the hobby for 2+ years I was able to create a much better design. However I did originally make a mistake which meant I had to remove a baffle. But hey it didn’t take too long because the silicone was still drying.

Removing and redoing the sump/fuge for the 75 gallon took a lot longer then I thought it would which just tells me and you that you should do it right the first time. I had to remove all of the sand, rock, and macro from the set up and put it into dishes until it can be placed back into the sump the next day. The second part that was a pain was removing the glass baffles. I did however learn that easy way to do this is to just take a hammer and carefully break the glass. This made it much easier to work with. Lastly cleaning all of the silicone, algae, and other things that are growing the tank was time consuming as well. However after it is all done it will improve the efficiency of my protein skimmer.

I haven’t started re-plumbing the 75 gallon tank as of yet but I do plan on starting it after I work tonight. My goal is to have everything done so that when the 24 hour curing process for the silicone is done I can get everything up and running again.

Lastly I am picking up a used Redsea aquazone deluxe 100 mg with orp probe for the 75 gallon tank which will be hooked up to the protein skimmer. This will make my skimming more effective and also help keep the tank in great condition. I got a steal on the system from a guy in our local reef club. As I stated above I will post pictures of what I have all done when I get my hands onto a camera.