75 gallon tank build

that left side is just asking for some frags.the right side maybe something branching like a torch or hammer.i dont know.looks like you got lotsaplaces for a wrasse to fly through.as far as hermits and snails i just add as you need em but i wouldnt be suprised if you needed like 15-25. maybe more but all in good time,after an algae bloom.i will have to work on colecting some goodness for yout tank.

good call- and the left side is what you will see walking into the room so thats perfect. The right side you'll only see if you slide between the tank and the wall/closet... so a front view of a nice big torch or two on the right could be perfect

gimme goodness :-D I will repay you however I can. I want this tank to have some real good mix of life in it (aside from the bad mixes like in my other tanks )

Man, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold out until I get a salt water setup. This is looking really good!

I'm with Higher Thinking. I wonder if I should get a bunch of live rock and begin curing it now so that I can jump in whenever I'm not able to control the urge any longer.

do it!

I've got a couple rocks that would get you started, they come with corals! one with about 15 heads of fuzzy mushrooms, one with about 8 of cabbage corals.

I used to have a small fresh tank, but salt is way more fun and interesting and satisfying. I love pretty much everything about it...except I think I've put off and RO/DI for too long...

not to be a wet blanket but do alot of research before you get going..remember its a lot of time and money to invest along with much learning.

yep- starting a tank takes some thought and a good teacher... but you can do a simple setup with just a few creatures to get the hang of it. There are a lot of important basics to learn first though, that's for sure

so today I added a bunch of tigger pods to my tank. I had no idea how much they were until after I bought them... but, i guess i am glad i found out afterwards because i really wanted to add them to my tank. So.. they are in there now and I added 1 mexican turbo, 1 cerith and 2 astrea snails along with about 3 or 4 hermit crabs.

I also got a yellow eye tang today :-D He's suuuuper shy and in quarantine. Fresh from the ocean so I will keep a close eye on him. Here's some video of him. I looove this fish- special ordered it. I dont have any light on him because he is so scared right now but in this shot he was swimming around a bit:

https://youtu.be/fZ0AxVgqAqM

badx is right, its all about patience in setting up a tank and often after...

so I have done a few things in the past couple of days. I got my aqua c remora skimmer up and running and after spending an hour trying to figure out the pre-skimmer i thought, this thing must be drilled backwards... and after a call to marine depot and aqua c and some pictures i sent them, they confirmed that they drilled the pre skimmer backwards and they sent me a new one (that I just got today). I was so freakin' confused... backwards... that's my luck with stuff, but aaaanyway.

If any of you have this skimmer, I have had it running for 3 days now and I still cant put the cup on it because it just pulls out tons and tons of water fast. How long is the breakin on these?

Aside from that, I added fish and a banded shrimp. I put the purple firefish and the fire goby in there along with the pearly jawfish (I LOVE this jawfish. He looks like a little alien).

I need to get some coraline algae in there and get that stuff growing. I am sure I will have the imminent new tank algae bloom in a couple of weeks. I am trying to do things slowly. If anyone has any advice on where to go from here i'm all ears. I have all my other fish in QT waiting to go in- many small but one big yellow eye tang.

Here are some random videos if you want to see different aspects of the setup. I need to figure out the blue lighting, sorry about that

tank shot https://youtu.be/llk1SRyeJmo

jawfish https://youtu.be/LHwWyzXXAsY

some more of the tank... not too excitig but you'll get the idea of what i'm working with so far https://youtu.be/qkMKbKEmwwU

and i dont remember if i have posted this but these guys are going in the tank next, whenever next is https://youtu.be/19vFIMNaL1w

Happy to donate some coraline scrapings if you wanna come get some, let me know.

Skimmer. I have it. Easy solution. Move the oring that maintains the cup level underneath the overflow drain for the skimmer cup, ie put it on from the bottom not the top. This will give you an extra 3/4" ish. Other things are more complex like extending the neck (people have put mag 7 pumps on them)

That help?

man that tank is going to look so good.i have to come by and see it in person before you start adding coral.the jawfish looks pretty sweet and i dont remember you having that banded shrimp.he looks happy as well.

that tank is really coming along...

Thanks everyone I have been out of town for a week so I haven't been able to hop on for a reply... sorry about that.

As for the coraline- i might be up for that. My only tank with good coraline on the glass has flatworms and theres not a chance in hell i will risk getting flatworms into my new tank. If you have a pest free tank I am totally down thanks!

MVP- i tried that on the skimmer when it was still pretty new and it didnt seem to make a difference, but I have had it running for a week and a half now just flowing right back into the tank so the bubble output is slightly lower now. I'll give it a shot ... <OK I just ran out and tried again and now it is working perfectly like that Thanks! I attached a drain tube into a 5 gallon bucket just in case it decides to go crazy later>

I checked my water after being gone for 6 days and not doing a big water change before I left (all parameters were great when I left). Today I found everything is good except my PH and nitrates. Nitrates were at about 10-15ppm which I figure is because I have been skimming right back into the tank. With that fixed and a 10 gallon water change tomorrow I hope the nitrate problem will be resolved. Any other advice or thoughts? As for PH, I have lids on the tank because of the fire fish and yellow wrasse and jawfish (yeah all 4 in there so far are jumpers), and my pumps are not aimed at the surface for surface turbulence. I thought my bubly skimmer flowing into the tank would create good oxygen exchange but I guess thats not the case. My PH was really low- like 7.8. Do you think this is because I have lids and not enough oxygen exchange or do you think there are other factors at play?

I have my halides on for 5 hours a day... 4 fish, zero coral, all inert rock and sand plus a bit of live sand from a couple tanks and some tiger pods.

Oh and bert, i'd love for you to come check it out. The jawfish picked out a sweet home right on the left side of the tank so he isnt very visible from the frint (unfortunately) but he is in perfect position to get food without me turkey basting it to him and he will have a safe corner from big fish. BTW, with my yellow eye dying ( ) I am thinking of putting the sailfin in there as my last fish.. but he will be SO BIG compared to all of my other fish I am thinking that might not be a good idea... something to discuss...

sorry for all the info! Hope it wasnt an overload bc i would love some feedback Next week, after I study for this dang test (was away on business for a certification on some boring software i really dont wanna have to learn) I am going to put up my lights so they arent just sitting on 2x4's over the glass And I need to start thinking about what I am going to purchase for pumps. And I want a 2 bulb T5HO for 1 10k and 1 actinic for morning and evening lighting and that actinic boost in color...

whats a good day for a peek at the tank.i have yet to see the new setup and i would love to in person.i can bring the brine shrimp too.and how big is your sail fin tang again.i remember him being a few inches maybe more? and another case of the low ph .if you think its co2 then you can just take a samlpe of your water and do the airation for a few hours then test it method.at least this will rule that out if it changes.if not you may have to open the top up some more...lets talk about a sump yeah?

this is my badd ass sailfin. he is such an awesome fish and totally tame.



I want to give him more room and all those fish work well together in the tank- the clarkiis are big and bullies... the pseudochromis is totally docile with these fish around... the goby is a bad ass himself and takes shit from noone... so it is a good mix in there of peaceful aggression. The 75 has super shy fish in it. The jawfish is suuuper shy. The gobies, very shy. And to my great surprise, that yellow wrasse I got from AH was so active and unafraid in my 10 gal but once i moved him to the 75 now he hides in the sand all day and I only see him if I sneak up to the tank after dawn before the lights come on... thats when I have to slowly and carefully feed the tank so he can eat.

oh- any time monday if you wanna roll on up I am here all day. I can pick you up or drop you off if that'll make it easier. You can check out these crazy algae situations ive got going on

ya know... that's gonna be my POTM submission. I LOVE that shot. He is in full strut right there. He's a strong fish. Someday I'll have a 180 for him (and he'll need it)

that is a pretty sweet picture. yeah i am down to cruise by....it will have to be after noon so we should touch bases before that.i can get you your frag too.

sweet gimme a call tomorrow- any time after noon works for me

allriiiiight. today was a good day, my friends... a little aquatherapy for the totally stressed out (that's me). I got some goodies for the 75 and am really psyched. I was gonna get either some fish or some brains... and I got both, and then some :-D I got a pretty good deal for it all combined. I dont remember the names of all the coral I got :-/ But I got two sweet open brains, one awesome purple plate coral, and two types that have colonies popping out of plates... you'll see them and recognize them... trisomethings...
I also got a BEAUTIFUL bonded pair of dartfish (again cant remember the names but you'll see... they are in QT right now along with a suuuper cool hectors goby, not pictured- video here of the dartfish https://youtu.be/1mSgZSglz-M).

So... I dipped all the coral. One of the coral had eggs on it (see other post about that)... I think they MAY be snails eggs but to be safe I dipped that last and took off the eggs and put that coral in with the zoas in QT for the zoanthid eating nudubranchs. I took some pics of it though. I also kept those eggs,put them in a plastic bag and am floating them in the QT tank... think they will hatch without flow? I wanna see what they are...

OK, here's a buncha pics :-D









In QT

today I FIIINALLY hung my halides :-D Looks sweeeeet! I screwed a nice board that my dad cut and sanded into the studs for support (bc the brackets would have just fallen out of the drywall)... then I screwed the brackets into the board. I got some chain link and S hooks which is a kinda temporary but prolly long term (with the way I get around to things) solution for hanging the lights. Would like to get them on pulleys or something eventually but I am psyched. THe next step will be the get a 4 foot 2 bulb T5HO fixture to place in the front with a 10k bulb and an actinic bulb so I can use that for 12 hours a day and the halides for approximately 5. Here are the before, during and after pics! WOOT!

Before...









Aaaaaannnnnnd... after...

HELL YEAH!!! now were talking.that light mount came out pretty sweet. and the tank is looking so good it makes me want to start another one.i have been wanting an open brain for some time and you seem to have an excess. i need to be on the prowl for some of that goodness.but really the fish look bomb too.that potters angel and the darts,hell the jawfish and the tang are cool too.your tank is so stocked and loaded and its been up what...a month or two? remember when i said you were going to get this all down....well it looks like you certainly got it.

thanks man! That means a lot coming from the master I am really psyched with how it looks. So much nicer...