Hey at least I figured out what FOWLR meant before asking.
I'm dropping an introduction here in hopes to absorb some feedback and guidance from all you expert marine aquarists!
I've been keeping tanks on and off for a little over 20 years. I also grew up around the hobby. The last few tanks I had were Oscar tanks with a few misc cichlids. I had pretty good luck with my fish and would often grow them to such a large size that I would just sell them back to the stores and get new babies every other year or so.. I haven’t had a tank in almost 2 years and then the TV show "Tanked" got me itching again. This time however I decided to try my hand at the illustrious Saltwater Tank. I read a few books on setting up and about 2 weeks ago laid out a plan and started buying everything.
I bought a 75 Gallon Tank to get started. I used 2 bags of super fine aragonite/oolite (which took hours to rinse) then topped it off with 2 bags of Carribsea Live Sand (10x better). I should have used nothing but Live Sand (hindsight). I de-chlorinated my tap water and used Instant Ocean for my water source. I hooked up my filter and installed a temporary heater. It took all day for the sand to settle and the water to clear up. I tested the water and the Ph was 8.1 and the Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia were all zero and my SG was .024ish and the temp was 79-80. So It looked good to go. I let it cycle another day and then went out to my local shop and picked up a few live rocks. I popped them in and there was a nice size snail hidden in one of the rocks that crawled out and surprised me. I tested my water every day for 6 days and it was the same every day. I took a water samples to two different shops just to make sure my readings were correct and they both told me I had perfect water. I began adding fish a few days ago. I started with my favorite, an Emperor Angel and grabbed a Royal Gramma Baslet as well. Then I gathered up the family and took them to the fish store and they decided they really wanted a pair of Clown fish. We found a BEAUTIFUL pair that are already about 3" in length (about the same size as the Emperor). I've added a few more Live Rocks and the tank is looking/working fantastic. The fish are doing great. They get along and everything looks to be going perfect. I've been adding little things here and there and it's real close to being finished.
Here is my current setup:
75 Gallon Tank
Glass lids with custom stainless knobs.
Fluval 406 (100 gallon) Filter
300 Watt Hydor Inline heater (installed on the return)
Marineland Double Bright LED system
IRIS LED strip
36" LED Bubble Wall
Rena air pump (on order)
AquaClear 20 power head
Digital Timers for lights.
Digital Thermometer
Livestock:
1 Emperor Angel (Juvenile)
2 Clown Fish
1 Royal Gramma Baslet
1 Large Snail
Dozen or so micro baby snails.
I don't have the LED bubble wall going yet as the air pump hasn't come in so I’m using a power head for pushing air and water flow around the tank, Both lighting systems are on digital timers so that they get 8 hours of darkness and about an hour and a half of lunar lights in the evening and morning. During the day the IRIS strip is tuned to compliment the Marineland LEDs and provide stunning colors to the fish and Live Rock. I am currently feeding them frozen brine shrimp. I'm hoping for some suggestions with expanding their diet and offering other foods.
I'm pretty pleased with the setup. Any suggestions, concerns, warnings? Can someone tell me anything about the stuff growing on my Live Rock? I spent a good bit of time picking out some of neatest rocks I could find (the most expensive part of the setup).
Also.. I'm thinking of adding a Yellow Tang and eventually a Mandarin Goby. See any issues there?
Thanks in advance!
I'm dropping an introduction here in hopes to absorb some feedback and guidance from all you expert marine aquarists!
I've been keeping tanks on and off for a little over 20 years. I also grew up around the hobby. The last few tanks I had were Oscar tanks with a few misc cichlids. I had pretty good luck with my fish and would often grow them to such a large size that I would just sell them back to the stores and get new babies every other year or so.. I haven’t had a tank in almost 2 years and then the TV show "Tanked" got me itching again. This time however I decided to try my hand at the illustrious Saltwater Tank. I read a few books on setting up and about 2 weeks ago laid out a plan and started buying everything.
I bought a 75 Gallon Tank to get started. I used 2 bags of super fine aragonite/oolite (which took hours to rinse) then topped it off with 2 bags of Carribsea Live Sand (10x better). I should have used nothing but Live Sand (hindsight). I de-chlorinated my tap water and used Instant Ocean for my water source. I hooked up my filter and installed a temporary heater. It took all day for the sand to settle and the water to clear up. I tested the water and the Ph was 8.1 and the Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia were all zero and my SG was .024ish and the temp was 79-80. So It looked good to go. I let it cycle another day and then went out to my local shop and picked up a few live rocks. I popped them in and there was a nice size snail hidden in one of the rocks that crawled out and surprised me. I tested my water every day for 6 days and it was the same every day. I took a water samples to two different shops just to make sure my readings were correct and they both told me I had perfect water. I began adding fish a few days ago. I started with my favorite, an Emperor Angel and grabbed a Royal Gramma Baslet as well. Then I gathered up the family and took them to the fish store and they decided they really wanted a pair of Clown fish. We found a BEAUTIFUL pair that are already about 3" in length (about the same size as the Emperor). I've added a few more Live Rocks and the tank is looking/working fantastic. The fish are doing great. They get along and everything looks to be going perfect. I've been adding little things here and there and it's real close to being finished.
Here is my current setup:
75 Gallon Tank
Glass lids with custom stainless knobs.
Fluval 406 (100 gallon) Filter
300 Watt Hydor Inline heater (installed on the return)
Marineland Double Bright LED system
IRIS LED strip
36" LED Bubble Wall
Rena air pump (on order)
AquaClear 20 power head
Digital Timers for lights.
Digital Thermometer
Livestock:
1 Emperor Angel (Juvenile)
2 Clown Fish
1 Royal Gramma Baslet
1 Large Snail
Dozen or so micro baby snails.
I don't have the LED bubble wall going yet as the air pump hasn't come in so I’m using a power head for pushing air and water flow around the tank, Both lighting systems are on digital timers so that they get 8 hours of darkness and about an hour and a half of lunar lights in the evening and morning. During the day the IRIS strip is tuned to compliment the Marineland LEDs and provide stunning colors to the fish and Live Rock. I am currently feeding them frozen brine shrimp. I'm hoping for some suggestions with expanding their diet and offering other foods.
I'm pretty pleased with the setup. Any suggestions, concerns, warnings? Can someone tell me anything about the stuff growing on my Live Rock? I spent a good bit of time picking out some of neatest rocks I could find (the most expensive part of the setup).
Also.. I'm thinking of adding a Yellow Tang and eventually a Mandarin Goby. See any issues there?
Thanks in advance!