Upgrade from 75 gallons sumpless to custom 110 gallons + sump

Idech · Oct 5, 2023

I must be mad… I was ready to throw in the towel just a few months ago but then corals started looking better, I added new fish, a few anemones and corals and the joy came back.

This will be my third build in three years. I started with a Fluval Evo 13.5 to see if I liked it. I did, so I transformed my 75 gallons M’buna tank into a reef saltwater tank, without a sump. Not too long ago I saw another reefer’s 120 gallons and really fell in love with it. I wanted bigger, and also experience the total reefing experience with all the convenience and flexibility of a sump.

At first I was going to buy used, but I am so anxious and paranoid, it’s just not an option for me. So I looked at my options to buy a brand new kit : waterbox, Red Sea (yeah, I know, but Gen2) or custom made. After much deliberation I decided to go with custom made, as I would have exactly what I wanted at a better price.

So here is what I decided on :

New equipment
48 x 24 x 22 high tank with Euro brace (110 gallons)
2 lids (one with a feeding hole)
Back glass painted in black
Corner protectors
White stand with cable management
Overflow with bean animal plumbing system
36 x 22 x 15 sump (51 gallons - exact design to be determined but there will be three media cups, a refugium and micro bubble management)
Vectra M2 return pump
Ecotech battery back-up
Booster for battery back-up
25 watt Aqua UV sterilizer
Seapora 10 gallon aquarium as the ATO reservoir

Equipment I already have
4 x AI Prime 16 HD
Tunze 9012 DC skimmer
Nero 3 powerhead
Nero 5 powerhead
Tunze 6015 powerhead
Koralia gen3 powerhead
2 x Eheim 200 watts heaters
Inkbird controller
Tunze osmolator 3155 ATO

It will take 4-5 weeks to build the tank. They will also test it for leaks at the store for at least 2 days. We still have to talk about the stand (also custom made) and the sump.

I received a wood sample for the stand and the color looks good and quality is awesome. Fingerprints don’t even show. I’ll see better tomorrow in daylight.

Since I have physical limitations, I will have the new tank delivered, installed and tested. They will also do the complete transfer of my 75 gallons into the new tank. All on the same day. Sand will be thoroughly rinsed and a little bit more added. Dry rock will also be added.

This is very exciting and I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s all set-up !

That’s it for now but I’ll update as things progress.

My 75 gallons :

kevgib67 · Oct 5, 2023

Following, looking forward to seeing the new build!

DarkReefer · Oct 5, 2023

Congrats on the new tank !

kevgib67 · Oct 5, 2023

You can throw in a bunch of bumblebee snails as a precaution. They cleared my tank of vermatid snails. I haven’t seen one in a year and a half.

Birdman Broham · Oct 5, 2023

I absolutely love this

00W · Oct 5, 2023

Following as well!

Gumbies R Us · Oct 6, 2023

Joining the crowd and following as well!

Idech · Nov 18, 2023

Just a quick update. I spoke to the tank builders two weeks ago and they said it would be ready around the end of this month. That’s 2 weeks later than expected but since I had a lot of demands, I understand.

The problem is I am going away for about a week during the holidays and do not want to leave a new system alone, for fear of something going wrong.

So I might have to postpone the installation and transfer until January. I’ll be calling them on Monday to know more and make a decision.

Meanwhile, my UV pump (in DT) stopped working and when I pulled the whole thing out, dirty water from the tubing went back in the tank. I had dinos for many months, so this dirty water was full of them and of course they spread in the tank. I’ve been dosing silicate and it’s getting better.

Not having the UV running also brought a bit of ich and I also had to deal with that.

Idech · Nov 19, 2023

They sent me an update. The tank is ready and has been tested in water. The sump is almost ready.

The stand was built but they are using a new supplier for the material and after they had built it, it failed their waterproof tests. Since it’s not up to their standards, they are going to build another one out of cherry wood, at no extra cost.

It’s going to delay everything more but I really appreciate their thorough quality process and would rather wait longer than end up with a faulty product.

Here is the tank without the plumbing :

Idech · Nov 20, 2023

So we spoke on the phone and I have decided to have the tank install and transfer done after the Holidays in January. It will be easier for everyone this way.

Here is the sump, almost done (media cups need to be hung). The white slides are to allow me to remove a section and have more space when I change my skimmer.

For now I will be using my Tunze 9012 DC, which requires 11 inches of water. It’s a good internal skimmer so if it works well in a sump, I’ll just leave it be.

Gumbies R Us · Nov 21, 2023

Tank is looking great! Can't wait to see it in your home!

Idech · Nov 27, 2023

Not much to write about. I’m getting more and more impatient. Still waiting on the install date.

I decided to buy 20 lbs of live rock from them (not from the ocean, but it will help) and get 40 more gallons of Red Sea blue bucket at 1.026. I had already bought 50 and I was going to make 40 gallons myself but changed my mind.

It will be easier if they bring it all. I also changed to Instant Ocean salt and I’ve never tried it yet. I know it will raise alkalinity so I feel more comfortable not using 40 gallons of it at once.

Idech · Dec 12, 2023

I can’t wait to get my new tank ! Every day of waiting feels like a month…

My internal skimmer has been acting up and not skimming much. Since it wasn’t an ideal choice in the first place (I was trying to keep the budget down) I decided to get one that would be better suited for a sump.

I did lots of research and decided to go with the Simplicity DC 240. I can’t wait to see it in action !

Idech · Jan 7, 2024

The new tank should be coming in about 10 days. To help me wait, I’m breaking in my new skimmer in a bucket with tank water and trying to tune it.

I’ve also made a reservation on 2 new fish that I had on my list, after doing lots of research for the last few months. One is a mature yellow tang and the other one is a swallow tail angelfish (Genicanthus melanospilos), probably a juvenile or young adult. I will be getting videos of them in a week.

I’m also getting rid of invasive corals in the tank : GSP, a remnant of kenya tree, pulsing xenia. I want a fresh start and don’t want to tank to be filled by those.

The wait has been very hard and stressful. I’m hoping the tank transfer and set up of the new tank will go as smoothly as possible.

tsharpe291 · Jan 7, 2024

Idech said:
The new tank should be coming in about 10 days. To help me wait, I’m breaking in my new skimmer in a bucket with tank water and trying to tune it.

I’ve also made a reservation on 2 new fish that I had on my list, after doing lots of research for the last few months. One is a mature yellow tang and the other one is a swallow tail angelfish (Genicanthus melanospilos), probably a juvenile or young adult. I will be getting videos of them in a week.

I’m also getting rid of invasive corals in the tank : GSP, a remnant of kenya tree, pulsing xenia. I want a fresh start and don’t want to tank to be filled by those.

The wait has been very hard and stressful. I’m hoping the tank transfer and set up of the new tank will go as smoothly as possible.

don't be surprised if you see GSP or Kenya re appear out of know where. tank transfers never go as planned but it'll be worth it in the end.

Idech · Jan 7, 2024

tsharpe129 said:
don't be surprised if you see GSP or Kenya re appear out of know where. tank transfers never go as planned but it'll be worth it in the end.

Yeah, I know. Kenya tree has been reappearing for two years and pulsing xenia keeps popping in weird places. Rookie mistake, I wanted something that grew fast…

Idech · Jan 18, 2024

It’s here ! What a long day it was ! I wasn’t working on the tank itself but I still had some work to do.

This morning I woke up to most of my fish swimming around as if they had been in there their whole life. It was so beautiful to see, I was ecstatic. I love this tank so much !

Fine tuning so it‘s quiet and my ATO works is a work in progress but I should get there.

Here is my old tank (75 gallons) just before the transfer :

Starting to bring the equipment inside

The tablets go in the stand, not on the sump, lol !

I was surprised how big this sump is in real life. 36 inches long x 22 wide x 15 high.

Lots of buckets to contain the water from the tank, which we kept about 80% of. I had also bought 90 gallons of Red Sea blue bucket at 1.026 ppm salinity.

The 9 fish were put into a bucket with a heater and air stone running full speed. They were in the bucket for about 5 hours total.

They used suctions cups to move the sump into the stand. You can see the bucket with the fish on the bottom right.

Starting to work on the new tank. I was going to rinse the sand and re-use it, but decided against it since it’s winter and freezing and rinsing in a sink isn’t very easy when you have 80 lbs of it.

So we used 3 x 20 lbs bag of Carib-alive sand. This gives me about 1 1/2 inches of sand throughout the tank. They did rinse one bag in the sink but after putting two scoops of it in the tank, I decided to stop because it was a greyish color compared to the new sand, and still somewhat dirty. Better to avoid an ammonia spike.

I had marked the old spot (the back) with green tape so they put the new stand in the exact same place. It’s just forward 6 more inches (24 inches wide instead of 18 inches).

The tank is now filled. I have almost always rinsed Carib-alive sand but they were confident it wasn’t necessary so we didn’t. They don’t put those annoying clarifying packets in the bags anymore. It’s still there, but incorporated in the bag.

We looked for them in the sand but couldn’t find them and found out by checking on the bags.

The next morning, the water was 100% clear.

Starting to aquascape even though we don’t see much. I don’t know how he did it.

I told him what I wanted and he did it better than I would have done if I had worked for days. He did it in less than an hour.
I am very happy with the result and won’t be changing anything.