I am in the beginning stages of upgrading my 40g reef tank to a 75g reef with 15 or 20g sump/refugium.  I got the tank a couple weeks back off bananaboat.  The display will be viewable from 3 sides with an overflow on the 4th side.  took while to get the thick layer of coraline algae off the back panel haha.  Must have been a few mm in spots.  Nothing vinegar cant handle.  I also got 2 canopies from bananaboat.  I will be combining the 2 and opening the top of the cannopy.  I will hang my light over the open canopy top.

I just got my skimmer from a friend.  He bought a used reef concepts aerofoamer 624.  It got damaged during shipping.  He sent pics to the seller who refunded his money but never asked for it back.  So he gave me the skimmer for free.  The damage is in the collection cup top and would not effect performance if not fixed.  But it is definitly fixable.  nice! thanks jake.  

I have my new lumenarc mini de 250watt metal halide over my 40g now.  Acclimating my corals to the increase in light.  I was previously running t5s.  I am running the pendant with a 400 watt dimmable lumatek ballast, set to 250watts.  It will make a upgrade to a 400 watt lamp cheap.  All i need to do is buy the bulb.  Im running a pheonix 14k.

Ill post again when it progresses a little more.  Any questions...insight...advice would be appriciated.  Thanks for lookin.

Boy that take looks awfully fimialar(winkwinkBananaboats my cousin) Im glad to see that the tank went to a good home. It was for sale for awhile. Best of luck with the upgrade

Lookin good! What made you go from T5 to halides?

several reasons. 1. light penetration metal halide light penetrates deeper then t5 2.quiet 3.with this set up all it takes is buying a 400 watt bulb and changing the setting on my ballast from 250 watts to 400 watts if i want to upgrade my light output.

looking good and yeah that coriline was thick lol glad it worked out for you

i might have to buff it a little on that side but looks pretty clean.  hows ur new tank comin?

here are some beginning blueprints of my sump and and plumbing.

the side that had all the algea?

new tank is running good most of the coral is in there and 1 clown fish will be moving a few tangs in there today as well and one of the mh

cool. ya the side with the algae.  but it could be risidual crap left on the glass from the vinegar bath.  So i found out that the glass studio on BGSU campus has a glass drill press.  It will even run water onto the bit as it grinds away.  All with the pull of a lever.  Cant wait to use it on my tank and sump.

Hey its been a while since ive been able to complete anything substantial.  However this past week I have gotten most of the plumbing done.  Here are some pics of what i have so far.

custum overflow box

3 drain system

the return line

Looking Good Andrew, I love to see photo's on these DIY projects. After all a pic is worth a thousand words. By the way, your overflow system looks a bit like Bean's from RC, am I correct on that?

So Ive got my new tank up and running.  Its been cycling for about a week now.  I took the rock from my old tank and some new and used hydrolic cement to bond them into a stable formation.  My goal for the rock structure was to allow a lot of space for fish to swim in and and around and above my structure.  Yet i still wanted to have a lot of area up top for sps.  I dont have all my rock in yet as i still need to keep some in my old as im moving things over.  The other side of the tank will have a island rock pile. And last but certainly not least of all the skimmer is a beast! Running the aerofoamer with a mag18.  Enjoy the vid!

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab345/andrewz85/?action=view&current=DSCN0147.mp4

Boy will that be one sweet set up after you are done.  Looking real nice.  Keep up the good work.

Is the return plumbing going over the lip to the bottom of your tank? It looks like it in the drawings of your plans. If so, make sure you drill lots of syphon breaks. In the event of a power failure, you'll drain your entire tank.

na the return is not setup like the drawing showed.  i changed my plans a lot from the pics i drew.

Nice Pipe work.  I like how you have it all layed out.

Thanks! i really had to squeeze it all in there. the skimmer takes up half of my stand.  I should have my lighting set up installed before the weekend.  I will have my lumenarc 250w pendant supplemented with 2 true blue par38 high powered leds.  Right now im working on the problem of getting my sand out of my old tank and into my new one.  Prob gonna finish that up tonight.

As far as the plumbing is concerned... WOW!!

This weekend i got my par38s in and installed my light fixture rack.  I have yet to hang my halide but heres a look at the par38s by themselves.  Love the color pics do them justice.  Today i transfered most of my livestock over.  I still have my midas blenny and my anemone in the old tank.  Ive posted another vid for everyone to check out.

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab345/andrewz85/?action=view&current=DSCN0005.mp4

This has to be the BEST looking set up I have seen to date on here!!  

I really like the custom canopy too, so much depth, did you do it yourself or buy it from that guy that makes stands on here?