72G Bowfront...My 1st build

Hello 3reef! I must admit this is definately an extremely resourceful site. Great to have the priviledge of joining.

As the title reads, I am starting my very first salt water aquarium. I have had my 72G tank for about 2 1/2yrs now with freshwater tropical fish until a month and a half ago when we took a trip to LFS and my wife and I were oooing and awwing about all the marine stuff they carry. Needless to say, my wife convinced me into starting an aquarium. So for the past month and change I have been obsessing (sp) and doing tons of research becuase I HAD NO IDEA what I was getting into. But I must admit, i certainly have enjoyed every minute. I will post some pics of my progress soon. In the meantime this is what has been done so far.

I took my tank to a local glass company and had them drill the back to accomodate 3 1" bulkhead fittings. Two for drain and one for return. I have since done the plumbing and my megaflow sump/filter rebuild/transformation into a refugium sump is now drying. I have acquired a BEAST of a skimmer ( Can a skimmer be too big for a tank?) I mean, the foot print of this reef octo is huge! But from my understanding it really boils down to the pump used on the skimmer.....

Well, please advise me on anything that you might think would help. I certainly am open to advice and suggestions. My next researched purchase is going to be lighting. But, since I havent started cyling my tank yet, I have some time. Thank you all for sharing and please help me.... ;D

 

Sounds like an excellent start.

Tell us what corals you wish to keep and we can suggest a light fixture for you. Decide the corals you want before getting a light.

 

Will do. Thanks for the advice.

 

Pics of tank

Well after much research and an overload of information, I have set up my tank. The Megaflow sump was a failure. I repositioned the baffles to accommodate my HUGE skimmer and a fuge which ended in failure. Once I ran the water and it started circulating, the baffles caved in. I was left with a mess in my sump.
Any hoot, I dusted myself off and tredged forward! Yesterday I was able to allocate a 29G long sump with all glass baffels and got a skimmer from the same person. Thank you Alex M! I got home extremely happy and commenced swapping sumps... Not knowing what I got myself into. The new sump did not fit in my stand with the center brace in! :-[ P-poor planning on my part. So, I drained about 1/2 the tank and set up a temporary brace to finagel my sump/fuge in. I got it in (had to notch the bow front stand to accomodate the sump. Got it all done and running. Here are some pics(sorry for the quality, I used my phone)..... Let me know what you think. I am new to this so any advice will be greatly appreciated!
BTW, it took me the better part of 8HRS to do the work. I also had to redo some plumbing.

-I am going to purchase about 20 more lbs of rock to finish my aquascaping. I am also trying to find a place that sells internal flow boxes as mine are poorly constructed "but they work" ...LOL
Thanks for looking.

 

Following your build as I have the same tank. What return pump you going to be using? I love the mag 7. I have a big octopus nw 150 in my system.

 

by internal flow boxes, if you mean overflow boxes, I would go with glass-holes.com(don't need the hyphen). I love the box I put in my 72.

 

I too have the same tank but RR....looks good so far,cant wait to see the scape all finished..

 

Looking good so far. keep us posted on the updates.

 

Here is what I have done with the 72:

 

I am currently using the ECO 1056. It is working great, I had to throttle it back some with a ball valve.
-That is a beautiful set up too! Thank you for the pic. :thumb_up: