Scrilla's Sixty-Five Build - 65G

[Scrilla]

Whats Good Homies

Just wanted to share my journey and upgrades from a 12G Nanocube, to a ~30G starphire rimless, to a 65 gallon that I recently set up. I was finally able to purchase a home and go with a bigger tank.

[Scrilla]

Here are a couple of pics of the 12G from 09':

FTS:

[Scrilla]

LS:

[Scrilla]

RS:

[Scrilla]

And here's a pic of the ~30G rimless starphire in it's prime:




Sorry for the blurriness, these pics are from a few years back

[Scrilla]

Fast forward to now and with newly installed hardwoods, I found a great deal on Craigslist for a 65 gallon tank with stand and canopy.

I don't have a pic of when I first got it, but it went through a complete overhaul as it needed some TLC. The tank was manufactured by Marineland. It was not drilled, the stand was all scratched, and the silicone was all chewed up. I removed all of the clear silicone, resealed it with black RTV103, and restained it.

[Scrilla]

A lot of the equipment I'm currently using is an accumulation of my previous builds. With the help of a local reefer, we drilled the back of my tank with three 1" holes. Being tired of my previous tank overflowing, I went with an Herbie setup.

The next speed bump in the build was finding an adequate overflow box. I wanted to use the box that I had previously used on my HOB overflow, but it was way too small. The build came to a slight halt till I saw these pop up on a local forum:



I cleaned them up in a vinegar bath and went with the better of the two.

[Scrilla]

Here are the bulkheads and locline returns for the back of the tank:




And here's the rest of the drain plumbing:

[Scrilla]

With the plumbing completed, it was time to paint the back of the tank black. It took several coats with a foam roller.

[Scrilla]

I had a bunch of left over rock from my first order with Marco Rocks. So I decided to play around with it. A couple minutes in and came up with this:

[Scrilla]

Not being completely satisfied with the aquascape, I invested some more time and came up with this:



I wanted the fish to have plenty of nooks and crannies and a cave to hide if needed.

[Scrilla]

Finally it was time for everything to come together. I went with 30lbs of Caribsea aragonite dry sand. I didn't want to go with a deep sand bed, but it managed to fill to the top of the bottom of the black rim of the tank like I wanted.

[Scrilla]

I invested some more time, rearranged/added some more rock, and broke up some smaller rubble to give it depth.


Before:




After:

[Scrilla]

Here's a shot of my sump with the plumbing installed. I've got some more liverock in there for additional bacteria growth and an Ecoplus 633 return pump.

[Scrilla]

Finally WE HAVE WATER!!

[Scrilla]

Feel free to ask any questions along the way. These build threads are what helped me throughout the years. I still have plenty of pics and more info to post so bare with me.

I know these 65G aren't that common and want to help any other future 65G builder.

[Scrilla]

Here's a shot with the tank up and running. I'm using a 36" Current Nova Extreme 4x39w T5HO with Geismann bulbs. Canopy installed as well.



Only the actinic lights are on in the picture. Great view from the couch in the living room I must say.