New 75 Gallon Marine Startup

[Trelios]

Well here I go, after much grovelling to the wife I got my 75g. I got our 3 boys in on the act and she caved. Had to go it cheap so I found a decent 75 Oceanic on craigs list with stand for $150.

The tank needed some work so I have recaulked it and cleaned it up a bit. I used 100% Silicon water proof marine caulk from DEP. You can get this at ACE Hardware.

I am now starting to build a custom lid which I designed myself after doing some shopping around. I have attached my plans. since I am a techy I used microsoft visio to design saved in PDF format.

I plan to keep a journal of my progress, this being Day 1. Got to start somewhere. Poor quality pic of tank attached as well.

Thus far I have purchased these lights for $98

Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting

Still shopping for filters that give me some growth, flexibility, and uses standard media. Any suggestions without breaking the bank.

Signing off..... Trel

 

[carey]

Welcome to the forum! lots of great people here with great advice!

I think you did pretty good so far, thats a solid looking tank.

can;t wait to see what the next step is. Make sure youkeep us posted!

 

[Trelios]

thank you. I should have the top built next saturday. I will post pictures.
looking forward to the forums.

 

[Trelios]

Since the tank does not have an overflow and drilling is not recommended with the type of glass that its made of what type of filter would the experts recommend. I am considering a canister like the lifegard or ocean clear which would allow me to be flexible. On the other hand I would like a sump with wet/dry but have heard stories of syphon failures which caused flooding.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Trel

 

[carey]

You can buy an overflow for the tank and have sump. The overflow would be like this

CPR CS100 SIPHON AQUARIUM OVERFLOW BOX by CPR Aquatic - AquaCave

and hang on the back and go down to below your tank in the cabinet.

If done properly there is little chance for flooding. Trust me, I was VERY concerned with that issue and have not had one leak or flood yet.

 

[Trelios]

75g Setup continues Day 7

Ok Finally Day 7 and a lot of progress. Over the past 7 Days I have been working on the hood and other aspects of the tank. I just ended up purchasing and repairing an old hood.

In addition to the hood I have:


* Day 2 painted the back of the tank instead of using a plastic background. 6$ for a small sample can of latex paint.


* Day 3 placed some side wood molding gave it a boxed in formal look.


* Day 4 Installed Hood and setup lighting and purchased filter. ( I ended up going with the Fluval FX5 Canister filter after much deliberation. 925gph and solid construction. easy setup and maintenance. absolutely pleased with this purchase. Found filter for $250


* Day 5 prepped filter piping and cleaned up electrical wiring


* Day 6 purchased Sand, filter media, and other odds and ends.


* Day 7 mixed and prepped water. Readings of home tap was decent and much better than filtered waters from some surrounding stores. Water is a bit on the hard side but Ph is good and no phosphates. mixed water with dechlorinator and Oceanic 81050 Natural Sea Salt Mix.


Next poured in a good 3 inch mix of florida crushed coral with a top layer of finer sand total of 75 - 80lbs of sand.

placed a mix of live rock and dry rock 65-70lbs in all. will add more a bit later.


Poured water and let settle for about 1 hour before turning pump on. within 30 minutes water was nearly crystal clear.


I added a bottle of oceanic biospira and some biozyme to help with cycle. while I had not planned to put any fish in for another week my boys begged me to add some so we just picked up some chromis to help with the cycle.


Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.2
Temp. 78


As for my other readings to early to start testing. I will test every other day for 7 days.


See pics

 

[Trelios]

coming up on day 14

7 days with water and starting to see some green and brown algea. Seems about right though tank is starting to cycle and I am starting to see some Nitrate present.

Lights were getting pretty hot inside hood so I picked up two 90mm PC fans and a molex to 12v dc adapter which can power two fans if you use a molex Y adapter.

90mm set of fans for $10
12v Molex adapter for $8
90mm set of Grills for $2

drilled two 3" or 84mm holes in top of hood with hole saw.

temp of lights immediately fell and temp of water also dropped a few now at 76.5 degrees.

 

[Ibrahim]

Cool following along

 

[Trelios]

Well entering the ugly stage of a new tank, nice yucky brown algae blooms.

Ammonia = 0
nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 5 ppm

 

[Trelios]

Ok it has been a few weeks. I will post some more pictures tonight. After the brown algae disappeared I had a green hair algae outbreak. I have pictures of that to. It was all over my rock. actually looked kind of pretty but it had to go. I purchased the following and now have a clean tank.

20 - Small Scarlet Hermit Crabs
5 - Nasarius Snails (These are awesome fast moving sand sifters)
5 - Astrea Snails
1 - 1.5 to 2" foxface (he could have handled the job alone. this guys tears green algae up.)

 

[Trelios]

75g continues a month later

PH = 8.0 maybe a bit higher
Ammonia is < .25
Nitrite is nearly 0
Nitrate is nearly 0

Temp 75 Ranges from 74-76 in a 24hr period

added today Flame Angel, royal gramma, 2 orange crabs

 

[austinsdad]

You got a problem somehow. Ammonia should be at zero.

 

[Trelios]

It could be my test kit I am going to grab a different brand and test again. I thought the same thing and was a bit concerned. It could also be my adding of new fish and the tank needing time to adjust.

 

[Gti_Leo]

thats a big temp shift for a day, and i would say raise the temp to about 77, it might actually stay a little more stable at a slightly higher temp

 

[Trelios]

Found some issues with the water i was using to replace evap which was causing my ammonia readings to be off. Readings now

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate < 5

Purchased heater and temp stays fairly steady at 76

So far only have

Flame angel
Fox face
Royal gramma
3 chromis
2 red burrowing crabs
3 turbin snails
5 nasarius snails
15 red leg hermit crabs small

Total live rock = approx. 95lbs

Thanks to all for the suggestions and advice. The journey continues.