new 70g tank build

[liv]

Hi everyone,
haven't been on here in ages!!
moved 3 times over the last 1-1/2 years and for some reason could not access the site for the last 8-10months easy.. thinking my ip range is blocked.. lol

anyways... new place, new tank.. starting small for now, got other house projects to complete first.
so got a 70g 30x30x18. with an oak stand from bigals on boxing day. ( wasn't on sale.. lol ) i can't win.

then picked up a 24x24x16 for a sump.

I laminated a piece of 1/2" glass in the 70g before I drilled it to make sure it would hold the 4-1/2" hole ( crator sized lol ) I drilled on the back left corner. I then installed a 3" sched80 bulkhead and built a standpipe with intergrated return and overflow and used a cnc to convert an endcap into a strainer.

then used a mag 9.5, hooked up to a 1" check valve and a true union ball valve and installed a few baffles in the sump.

also isntalled an led strip in the sump with a tactile switch set on the door.. so door opens, trips the led on.

for lighting the tank, I used a 70w 20k bulb from IJO ( that bulb must now be like 7 years old from the date of my purchase ) but still runs strong. I added a reefbrite led strip from my buddy NjoyRid and that helped get some actinics in it.

got a few started frags ( zoos, hammer, candycane etc ) to try out and see if the mh is good enough.. so far everything seems happy.

Got a few blue/green chromis and a twospot bristletooth over the weekend.. they were eating within 2h of acclimation.

Went ahead and made another one of my famous batches of food. ( see my old threads on this ) ( spirulina, cyclopeese, zooplankton, mysiis, fresh garlic ) mixed it all together and let sit for 1h. then freeze into sticks using the ikea ice molds. then chop daily into slices to serve.

here's a few pics of the build:

[liv]

[liv]

[liv]

and the sump.. what it looked like when it was started:

[ShipWreck]

Tanks looking good, you combo overflow/return is a very interesting idea. Glad to see you back.

[cres]

Hey Liv:
Any more recent shots of your tank?
I'm looking at getting a cube going, and, if it has to be custom, I'm going to consider your style of overflow.
Any "year later" perspective?