Starting the Addiction! 75gal Garage Build

[shady3210]

Hey everyone finally decided to start my first saltwater tank! I will be using a 75 gallon bottom drilled marineland tank that used to be a heavily planted cichlid tank(all that is left is a very angry firemouth who now lives in a 29 gallon with a clown pleco and with his very own rock fort that no one can go near! At least in his mind...). The tank has been sitting for about 2 years but I cleaned/leak tested it recently.

I will be setting it up in my newly renovated garage/man cave/fish room/office/get away from the family room. I live in east Tennessee which isn't too terrible in either summer or winter but I still had some concerns going into this with being able to create a stable environment in a garage. I added a 8000 BTU window air conditioner, used some fiberglass insulation and plastic on the door, and added more insulation in the attic above the garage. With all that I can easily keep the room around 75 in the heat.

So on to the tank now that the climate is out of the way! I will be going FOWLR first then converting to reef once I get the hang of it.

What I have or ordered:

Drilled 75 gallon with stand and hood
Marineland tidepool 2 trickle filter that I'm going to covert to a sump.
300w jager heater(may need another for winter)
2x magnetic 1300 gph powerheads(the koralia ebay knock offs)
RO/DI unit
4x t5 55w ahsupply cf(2x 10k and 2x actinic)
50 lbs of reefrock.net dry rock
40 lbs of reefrock.net sand and 50 lbs of pool filter sand
200 gallons worth of IO salt
Test Kits

What I need to get or do:

Convert that trickle filter. It is made of plastic will silcon make a good bond with it and the baffles? If not what could and should I use glass or arylic baffles?.

Make an ATO. I ordered the float switches and relay just need to pick up a few more things.

About 15 lbs of live rock. Haven't decided if I want to go cured or uncured yet. The evil hitchhikers kinda scare me.

Skimmer still looking at options for this.

Current planned stock list:

Clarkii Clownfish
Grey Head Wrasse
Kole Tang
One Spot Foxface
Longnose Hawkfish
Dwarf Zebra Lion

I'll add pics once there is something to look at!

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Man that is alot of big fish on that stock list.... I would cut the lion and 1 of the foxface fish an get a few smaller fish instead. Thats 2 larger fish instead of two. Better list IMO

 

[shady3210]

Man that is alot of big fish on that stock list.... I would cut the lion and 1 of the foxface fish an get a few smaller fish instead. Thats 2 larger fish instead of two. Better list IMO

Meant Longnose Hawkfish sorry. The tang or foxface may be dropped before all is said and done. The lion is one of the main reasons for the tank.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Okay sorry about the confusion, i figured the lion was what you really wanted so i would keep the tougher fish of the two, the foxface. He will protect himself better then a tang and they dont get ich very easy. I like the stock

 

[NyteGTI]

in for this. i subscribe to Ben's build too so this will be interesting to see the differences.

 

[shady3210]

in for this. i subscribe to Ben's build too so this will be interesting to see the differences.

His thread is what got me thinking it might be possible!

 

[Scott F]

This should be fun to watch...go go go !

 

[shady3210]

Well on my way home from work my wife called and asked what the heck I ordered cause there are 2 boxes on the porch that she can't move! Looks like my rocks and salt arrived!!!

First a boring box of salt:

And here is my first attempt at the rock scape with my reefrock.net rock(they are awesome btw only took 3 days to get here). Couple things the shelf this is on is the exact size of the tank and I plan on adding another 15 lbs of live rock to it:

Comments suggestions on it? I was going for the cove look.

 

[Flreefer]

Great looking little cove. Nice swim-thru's too!

 

[Jlsardina]

Rockwork looks nice. The lion is coral safe but not invert safe in a reef tank. Also- depending on the type of lion- you may have too much waste to convert to reef down the road.

 

[shady3210]

Rockwork looks nice. The lion is coral safe but not invert safe in a reef tank. Also- depending on the type of lion- you may have too much waste to convert to reef down the road.

Ya was going to skip shrimp and go with mostly snails for a CUC. I may still add some shrimp early to help me get up and running. The stocking list is going to be a slow stocking. I had planed on a new fish at most once every 2-3 months and planned on converting to reef and letting the more peaceful fish grow out before the lion(which will either be a fuzzy dwarf or zebra dwarf) is introduced. I figured doing it slow and steady was the best way to go.

 

[shady3210]

Anyone have experience with engineer gobies? Saw some at my LFS and really like the eel look of them without the eel aggression. Thinking of dropping the tang and hawkfish for one.

 

[Jlsardina]

Anyone have experience with engineer gobies? Saw some at my LFS and really like the eel look of them without the eel aggression. Thinking of dropping the tang and hawkfish for one.

Lol. I'm biased but love both of mine. They can get up to about a foot long after some time

 

[shady3210]

Lol. I'm biased but love both of mine. They can get up to about a foot long after some time

How active are they? Been looking for a good bottom dweller and they seem like a good solution for my tank.

 

[Jlsardina]

How active are they? Been looking for a good bottom dweller and they seem like a good solution for my tank.

They act just like an eel popping their heads out of the rockwork and swimming thru caves. However they will make more caves ro make sure your rockwork is secure and you will never have a flat sandbed (I like the natural look).

 

[shady3210]

Got my TDS meter in today and decided to check my tap water. Tested at 161 not too terrible but glad I went ro/di!

 

[shady3210]

Decided to redo my scape tell me what you think!

Still have to pick up about 15 lbs of live rock that will be added mostly to the left side.


Got my RO/DI unit about to go and get it hooked up. Still waiting on my powerheads then I should be able to start cycling.

 

[Jlsardina]

Looks good

 

[Gboy66]

I'd lile to chime in about the engineer goby...DO IT. i bought an 8" incher yesterday for my 66 gallon, and absolutly lobe him already. Seriously, all the qualities of an eel..but not an eel! Haha do it, you will be happy you did IMO.

I like the rockwork! I'd make some smaller, low-lying caves with the next rock

 

[shady3210]

I'd lile to chime in about the engineer goby...DO IT. i bought an 8" incher yesterday for my 66 gallon, and absolutly lobe him already. Seriously, all the qualities of an eel..but not an eel! Haha do it, you will be happy you did IMO.

I like the rockwork! I'd make some smaller, low-lying caves with the next rock

Ya I am pretty much 100% going with the goby over the hawkfish and tang.

That was my idea to the left there is actually a small cave on the left and am going to extend it out.