75 Gallon Indo Pacific Reef - My First Build - PICS

slimbolen99 · #1 10/15/2007, 06:57 AM

This is my first reef tank, so I'm going to document my progress, step by step, and ask for input along the way...

THE VERY BEGINNING

09/30/2007 -

AQUARIUM:
I started out with a new 75 gallon AGA (48" L x 18" W x 20" T). The stand is not fancy, just 2x6s glued and screwed together.

FILTRATION:
I purchased two Emperor 400 BIO-Wheel Power Filters
I also purchased a 9 watt Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizer (haven't installed this yet)

Also using two 440 Penguin Powerheads for some circulation.

HEATER:
I'm using a brand new Aqueon Submersible heater rated at 300 Watts

LIGHTING:
I've ordered, but not received, a 48" Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights (4x54 watt). I will also be purchasing a Coralife Aqualight Double Compact Fluorescent Strip Light (2x65 watt) once I get some anemones and/or corals.

09/31/2007 - My first step was to fill the tank with mixed saltwater. I used Oceanic Natural Seawater Mix, to the tune of just under 1 cup per gallon. The pH was a little low (8.1), but salinity and specific gravity were in check after filling.

10/10/2007 - Purchased 22 lbs. of live rock from my LFS. Not the best looking stuff, in my opinion, but it will do. (pic below)

10/12/2007 - The LFS got new rock in today and I purchased another 14 lbs. It looks a ton better (more color, less macro algae). (pic below)

10/12/2007 - went online and purchased a 45 lb. box of DFS Select Fiji Premium Rock for a total of $162.54, which included shipping. Not a bad buy. It should be here on Thursday.

So, here's my tank as it stands now:

I think that after a few weeks, I may add a few snails and/or maybe, depending on the water quality, a few cardinal fish.

cartouche · #2 10/15/2007, 07:48 AM

Its a good start .... keep us posted

95accord · #3 10/15/2007, 08:06 AM

good start! cant wait to see the finished product. definatly keep us posted.

slimbolen99 · #4 10/15/2007, 06:52 PM

Does anyone have any suggestions on the following:

1. I've heard that you should add all of your live rock at once before adding any inverts / fish. I've also heard to add a little live rock, then some fish / inverts, then add more live rock, then more fish / inverts, etc.

2. Does my live rock need to have the fancy lighting? My lights aren't coming in until Thursday, but I've had my live rock for a couple of weeks. I've just been using some basic old aquarium hood lights to look at the rock.

3. When my live rock is completed cycling, should I add a cleaner crew or a few cardinal fish to complete the cycling of the tank?

rkelman · #5 10/15/2007, 07:31 PM

Looking good so far. You can build a cover to go around the stand later if you want. Yes add all the live rock now or you risk having anothe cycle every time you put more rock in. No worries yet about lighting. Many LFS don't have any lights on their live rock tanks. What are you lighting plans? When your cycle is over add the cleanup crew. Don't add fish to cycle a tank its cruel and not required. That is an old way of doing it that is generally frowned upon. I can't tell are your powerheads attached with suction cups? If they are you need to come up with something else. They WILL fail and the powerhead will fall into the sand and cause a big mess.

MR PALM BEACH · #6 10/15/2007, 07:48 PM

Nice start I would deffinetly do a little upgradeing on the power heads IMO, just to get a little more GPH and circulation.

Piscator · #7 10/15/2007, 07:56 PM

Looking good.

If you have a glass top on the tank, you may want to remove it once your other lights come. It really inhibits good gas exchange and you will find your temp may get too high

Are you considering a protein skimmer? You can get one to hang on the back, and would probably be more important than the biowheels.

You should add most of your live rock first. It's okay to add some later, but if it is in large quantities it may cause a cycle problem. You can buy LR online too, and may be better price than your LFS. I would aim at getting close to 100 lbs total.

I can't tell from the pic, but are your 2x6's held up by anything but screws and glue? You may want to consider some 2x4 supports underneath.

Best wishes,

slimbolen99 · #8 10/15/2007, 08:02 PM

My plan is to have a very limited bioload on the tank.

My stocking plans are as follows:

INVERTS
(6) Peppermint Shrimp - Lysmata wurdemanni
(4) Anemone Crab - Neopetrolishtes ohshimai
(12) Nassarius Snail - Nassarius sp.

FISH
(4) Fairy Wrasse (1 male, 3 female) - Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis
(4) Firefish Goby (1 male, 3 female) - Nemateleotris magnifica
(2) Tomato Clown (1 male, 1 female) - Amphiprion frenatus

ANEMONES
(1) Sebae Anemone - Heteractis crispa
(1) Bubbletip Anemone - Entacmaea quadricolor

CORALS
Plate Coral (Long Tentacle) - Heliofungia actiniformis
Bubble (Pearl) Coral - Physogyra sp.
Bubble (Green) Coral - Physogyra sp.
Moonstone (Green / Favia Brain) - Favia sp.
Multi Color Mushrrom - Zoanthus sp.

LIGHTING
As far as lighting, I've ordered a 48" Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights (4x54 watt). I will also be purchasing a Coralife Aqualight Double Compact Fluorescent Strip Light (2x65 watt).

PROTEIN SKIMMER
I haven't decided on a protein skimmer, and will probably wait until I have a few major lifeforms in the tank before I make a decision.

UV STERILIZER
I also purchased a 9 watt Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizer (haven't installed this yet).

slimbolen99 · #9 10/15/2007, 08:05 PM

Thanks Piscator. As far as the stand goes, I've used this stand design for years on my larger freshwater tanks, some of them weighing upwards of 1,000 pounds. Never had a bit of sag or trouble. Remember - your house is built with 2x6's, and even less. Your house weighs more than a tank (if you calculate by square inch). On my tanks with more than 200 lbs of rock (Lake Malawi setups), I have used some 2x4s just for comfort, but don't think it's necessary.

slimbolen99 · #10 10/15/2007, 08:07 PM

I have experienced trouble with my powerheads falling off from the suction cups. Why is that? Because of the salt? Anyway, I am using a heavy duty clip to hold the powerheads in their depth position by clipping the power cord to the back of the tank. Seems to work, but makes getting the direction of the flow of water a bit difficult.

slimbolen99 · #11 10/15/2007, 08:28 PM

Here's a shot of my 75 Gallon South American Stream Biotope Aquarium (Freshwater), and my new 75 Gallon Indo-Pacific Reef Aquarium (in the works). My wife is just "thrilled" to have two big aquariums in the living room...I think she's filing for divorce!

j/k.

Furthermore, my wife wants to start a family, which means that I have to move my 38 gallon and 55 gallon tanks from the "baby room" to the living room. UGH! Talk about a bunch of work. Oh well, as long as she's happy with a baby, I'm happy with 4 tanks in the living room!

jgiannini · #12 10/15/2007, 08:46 PM

Looking good so far. I'm still learning, but....Here are some things that I've found. The web site www.liveaquaria.com (affilliated with www.drsfostersmith.com) has a deal on live rock right now. $100 for a 45 lbs. box....with shipping it works out to about $3.50/lbs. I just picked up a box and it looks good. Also, if those powerheads become too difficult to keep stuck, try some Koralia 4's....good flow and they use magnets to hold them....much better than the suction cups. Also consider a protein skimmer...it will make water quality much better. Hope that helps!

Jason

slimbolen99 · #13 10/15/2007, 08:50 PM

That's the 45 lb. box I purchased last week! Great deal, IMO. I hope it comes in looking better than my LFS's live rock. In any case, if it's alive, it's worth it. The rock should come in Thursday, in which time I will have much more aquascaping to be doing. I'm hoping to leave plenty of open swimming space and still get some nooks and crannies going for my little Firefish Gobys. Those guys are awesome!

Is there any protein skimmer on the market that you would suggest? If you can't tell, I'm not willing to spend a ton of money on this tank - I've got $900.00 in setup already, and really want to keep my costs down as much as I can.

jgiannini · #14 10/15/2007, 09:36 PM

Yeah...It's a great deal. I'm considering ordering another one. The skimmer depends on a lot of things. A lot of the hang-on-back skimmers are ok, but most people prefer the kind that goes in the sump. I can't use a sump with my current stand and tank, so I'm using a Coralife Super Skimmer for my tank, which can do either in sump or hang on. It's ok, but it's got some issues. It seems to be very sensitive. Here's a link to some of the mods.

http://www.tylermerrick.com/content/css_notes.php

The price can't be beat, though for it. When I upgrade to my 90 gallon with the proper overflows and sump, I'll probably look at a AquaC EV series or a Precision Marine Bullet series skimmer.

Jason

hugodboss · #15 10/15/2007, 11:46 PM

wow that link helped because i was about to trash my skimmer already.

awestruck · #16 10/16/2007, 07:45 AM

Looks great so far and here are a few ideas: 1) No anemones right now, wait about a year because they are a bit difficult and won't thrive in a newer tank. 2) You can place your heater horizontally, near the bottom of the tank, so that it's one less thing to hide. 3) You probably want to get more powerheads, I would add at least 2 more. I have a 58g. tank and am running 5 powerheads, the protein skimmer, and a canister filter for strong surface agitation. Also, after a while the powerheads will fall and create havoc--buy the things that hold powerheads. Better yet, get the pwerheads that have a strong magnet that is on the outside of the tank and holds the powerhead in place. They're awesome. 4) Try to get all of your rock in there so that your tank can cycle and get through that. 5) When you begin adding fish, only add 1 or 2 at a time so that your filtration has a chance to catch up and filter the fish waste. 6) Do you have testing kits? They are a must!!

Jan Helge · #17 10/16/2007, 08:53 AM

Nice start!!

Good looking freshwater also

jgiannini · #18 10/16/2007, 09:08 AM

One other thing that I didn't see listed is an RODI unit. This is a must for saltwater.

WarrenAmy&Maddy · #19 10/16/2007, 10:24 AM

getting new into saltwater
encourage you to get familiar w/ buying used!

places like craigslist.com backpage.com newspaper fellow reefers (join local club - see RC for one near you) etc etc i havent used it here on RC but they also have people selling stuff on this site too

you will save a ton of money and will end up w/ a professional set up in no time for pennies on the dollar - there are people selling entire 100-150 gal set ups in this area for $1000-1500 (or less) complete - easily thousands of dollars worth of equipment!

lastly you will here people say this over and over again but the importance of quarantine!

- if you get started right from the beginning you can try to prevent problems down the road... why quarantining such a big deal??? = learn about the PESTS that we deal w/ in this hobby and then you will see why... and QT everything from LR to macro fish etc

regards

slimbolen99 · #20 10/17/2007, 07:02 PM

I got in my "special" lights - as my wife would say.

It's a Coralife 48 Inch Deluxe Lunar Series Fixture. Pictures below show the features.

I'm fairly confident I got a good deal. I spent $275.00 at my LFS - he had to special order them, and they were back ordered twice - so I think there's a high demand for them.

I'm really going to enjoy the lunar lights, and will submit pictures of the light settings here shortly.

slimbolen99 · #21 10/17/2007, 07:11 PM

Ok, I'll obviously have three settings of the lights once I get some livestock in the tank. Until then, I'll keep the lights off except for a few hours in the evening to observe the rock my crafty handywork.

SCHEDULE OF LIGHTS
12:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.:
4 x 3/4 Watt Lunar Blue Moon Glow LED Lamps

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.:
2 x 65 Watt True Actinic 03 Compact Fluorescents

1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.:
2 x 65 Watt 10,000K Daylight Compact Fluorescents

9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.:
4 x 3/4 Watt Lunar Blue Moon Glow LED Lamps

Once I get some livestock in the tank, I'm sure I'll have to adjust the times, but since I work 8-5, this is, I believe the schedule I would like to start with.

Any suggestions? Oh, by the way, I am ordering another set of lights, except it's the 2 bulb setup instead of the 4 bulb system.

slimbolen99 · #22 10/17/2007, 08:04 PM

OK, here's a couple of pics of my new lighting.

By viewing my previous posts, do you think what I have, plus a second unit that only has two 65 watt bulbs, will be sufficient for keeping corals and anemones?

First setting is with both the Actinic and 10,000K Daylight lamps on:

Second setting is just with the Actinic lamps on:

slimbolen99 · #23 10/17/2007, 08:06 PM

I'm getting in my additional 45 lbs of live rock from liveaquaria.com tomorrow (10-18-07). I'll be adding that and redoing my arrangement of the rock...will submit pictures after all that work is done!

Then, it's on to the waiting game, I'd say two weeks before adding a small cleanup crew, and another two weeks before the tank should be fully cycled.

MR PALM BEACH · #24 10/17/2007, 08:14 PM

IMO the Actinic and daylight seem a litttle long to be on.

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.:
2 x 65 Watt True Actinic 03 Compact Fluorescents

1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.:
2 x 65 Watt 10,000K Daylight Compact Fluorescents

Im just afraid your going to be fighting alot of algae with that amount of lighting running. Just my 2cents.

slimbolen99 · #25 10/17/2007, 08:37 PM

MR PALM BEACH:

What type of timeline of lighting would you suggest?