75G Build, First Timer

[Patterson333]

Hi all! As a reward for having done really well on my med school entrance exam, my father's agreed to finance my first SW build (that poor soul lol), so I've just gone out to make my first purchases!

Of course, being a noob, I do have some questions, which I've written in bold.

A LFS near me was having a great sale, in which you would get 150$ off for every 500$ you spent, so I decided to get as much of the equipment as I would need all at once. Anyways, here's what I've got so far:

• Stand
• Quad 48" T5 HO Light Fixture, with built in timer, 2 54 W 10000K daylight bulbs, 2 Actinics, and moonlight LEDs
• Dual 48" T5 HO Light Fixture, with one 10000K daylight, and one actinic
• Eshopps Refugium R-100: Will this be sufficient?
• Supreme Classic Return Pump, 950gph: Again, will this be sufficient?
• 2 Boxes of Refugium Mineral Mud
• Extra Eshopps Filter Sock
• Instant Ocean Hydrometer
• 2 Marineland Maxi-Jet 900s, they output at 230gph in powerhead mode, and 1000gph in circulation mode. What do you guys think of these?
• ViaAqua Titanium Heater, 300W. Is this too strong?
• API Reef Master Test Kit
• Mag Float

Now here's a list of things that I paid for, but have yet to pick up (they were ordered):

• 75G Tank with built in overflow (guess that one's kind of important lol)
• 100 lbs of Fiji Pink Live Sand (I've got 40, I'll be picking up the other 60 when I get the tank). Will this be enough?
• 150 lbs of Live Rock (with the promotion it was sold to me at $3.50 a lb, which seemed like a great price). Could this possibly be too much?
• 75 G Saltwater (again, probably kind of important lol)

Some things that I plan on buying, just not yet (probably in October, when there's another big sale)

• Protein Skimmer
• Refugium Light

And here's some stuff which I don't really know if I need, but am considering buying

• Ball valve to control flow from the return pump
• Another powerhead
• UV Sterilizer

So, what do you guys think? Did I miss anything big? Am I off to a good start? I'm really excited that I've finally gotten this project going! I've been considering it and researching for quite a while. I'll be posting some photos in a bit.

 

[Patterson333]

Here are some photos of all the loot I've got so far

 

[Greenturtle]

Heater is great. For me, a UV Sterilizer is a must. I'm not very good with picking out powerheads, but I would say you are fine

 

[Patterson333]

Thanks for the advice! Oh and I also had another thread about a 55G build I was thinking of, but since I ended up going with the 75G, I figured it best to create this new thread. While it's not necessary by any means, if anyone wants to see where I was coming from with that 55G Build, here's the link to my older thread:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/55g-build-first-timer-need-help-165248.html

 

[Patterson333]

Mini little update. Gonna start cleaning up my mud tomorrow. Also, they're gonna be getting the tank in.

Hopefully I can get it tomorrow, but if not it'll have to wait till the weekend.

 

[Patterson333]

Headed off to go pick up the tank now and I'm pretty excited lol

Pics to come. I'll also be setting up my QT today.

 

[coffeetwitch]

subscribed!!! cool thank you for the link sir.

 

[Patterson333]

subscribed!!! cool thank you for the link sir.

Thanks for the subscription!

I'll post a nice little update tomorrow with some pictures, but just to catch everyone up a bit:

I set up a 10G QT last Saturday, and I've got one brave little blue-green chromis in there cycling it for me. As I still don't own a saltwater test kit (I erroneously assumed the reef master test kit included the ammo & nitrite), I don't really know how the cycle is coming along. However, I've been doing PWC's of 50% every other day to control ammo and nitrite levels, so I'm hoping nothing's too bad in there..

My plan is to QT all my fish before they make their way into the (still non-existent) main tank. Of course, it's easy to say that now but it's sure gonna be tough to have that big tank full of water with no fish lol. Hopefully my willpower shall prevail!

 

[Patterson333]

Oh and since everyone loves photos, here's the QT. My brave little chromis is down in the bottom right (can't really see him though)

 

[coffeetwitch]

ok im up to date. what cha got as far as questions?

 

[carey]

QT is nice and basic, good move. You don;t want alot of clutter in there. LOL

It IS hard to qt when you have a full ready to go tank and you get your fish and they can't go in. LOL I have a tang going into week 2 of qt and I'm just dying to put him in the main tank. I've also only been qt'ing for 2 weeks. I figure most things will show themselves before then. So far I've been lucky. But it's so darn hard. So tempting....

 

[Patterson333]

QT is nice and basic, good move. You don;t want alot of clutter in there. LOL

It IS hard to qt when you have a full ready to go tank and you get your fish and they can't go in. LOL I have a tang going into week 2 of qt and I'm just dying to put him in the main tank. I've also only been qt'ing for 2 weeks. I figure most things will show themselves before then. So far I've been lucky. But it's so darn hard. So tempting....

Haha so true, I don't even have my main tank set up yet and already I'm getting antsy with that chromis in the QT lol

Oh and as far as those questions that I have, pretty much all the bold questions in my first post. There's a lot of them, but if anyone could help me with even one, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[coffeetwitch]

• Eshopps Refugium R-100: Will this be sufficient?
• Supreme Classic Return Pump, 950gph: Again, will this be sufficient?
• 2 Marineland Maxi-Jet 900s, they output at 230gph in powerhead mode, and 1000gph in circulation mode. What do you guys think of these?
• ViaAqua Titanium Heater, 300W. Is this too strong?

• 100 lbs of Fiji Pink Live Sand (I've got 40, I'll be picking up the other 60 when I get the tank). Will this be enough?
• 150 lbs of Live Rock (with the promotion it was sold to me at $3.50 a lb, which seemed like a great price). Could this possibly be too much?

So, what do you guys think? Did I miss anything big? Am I off to a good start? I'm really excited that I've finally gotten this project going! I've been considering it and researching for quite a while. I'll be posting some photos in a bit.

i think your eshopps sump will work. im only building mine because i want to.

im going to get a magdrive 9.5 that may be spec ed to the same as your choice.

ditch the maxi's get some koralia evos... ive got 2 1400's in mine and love em, some suggested the 1050's but im glad i went with what i did.

currently i have 2 fluval 200w in my dt. if i can i will get a fully submersible one maybe 300w or maybe 2 200w fully submersible to put in my sump.

i used 80lbs of araganite substrate to get a solid 2 inches in mine. page 2 or 3 in my build thread. like i said educate and ask others about a dsb being right for you.

ive got 80lbs of lr in my tank. pictures of it are all throughout my thread. i think what you have may be too much. gotta have room for your fish to swim. also try putting down some of that "egg create" stuff. then rock and then sand. makes it stable. if your aqua-scaping keep your rock wet and make sure its how you want it.

thats my 2 coppers anyway.

 

[Patterson333]

i think your eshopps sump will work. im only building mine because i want to.

im going to get a magdrive 9.5 that may be spec ed to the same as your choice.

ditch the maxi's get some koralia evos... ive got 2 1400's in mine and love em, some suggested the 1050's but im glad i went with what i did.

currently i have 2 fluval 200w in my dt. if i can i will get a fully submersible one maybe 300w or maybe 2 200w fully submersible to put in my sump.

i used 80lbs of araganite substrate to get a solid 2 inches in mine. page 2 or 3 in my build thread. like i said educate and ask others about a dsb being right for you.

ive got 80lbs of lr in my tank. pictures of it are all throughout my thread. i think what you have may be too much. gotta have room for your fish to swim. also try putting down some of that "egg create" stuff. then rock and then sand. makes it stable. if your aqua-scaping keep your rock wet and make sure its how you want it.

thats my 2 coppers anyway.

Thanks! Yea, since I haven't picked up the liverock yet, I might still be able to return some of it before picking it up, if I have too much.

Oh and I'm definitely going to be getting myself some eggcrate. As far as the aqua-scaping, I might just have someone else do it for me. I know these two Haitian brothers who set up tanks (plumbing, live rock, water fill, etc...), and they told me $120, which sounds like a fair price to me (a lot of stores I've asked do it for $230+). I've seen some of their work and they really do a good job.

In the meanwhile I intend on holding all the liverock with water inside an empty 55G I've got, with some powerheads running to maintain circulation.

I might return the maxi's, but since I got them during a promotion (spend 500, get 150 off), I worry that returning them might retroactively void that discount. I'll talk to their manager and see what I can do.

 

[coffeetwitch]

oh and dont forget to look up fish-less cycling for you dt!!!!!!! get your api marine test kit.

rodi and salt! ocean salt is not the same as reef salt. reef salt will have "more" trace elements that will be beneficial for any corals you may add down the road. if its just a fowlr ocean salt should be fine. just get a quality brand that works for you


even if your getting live rock it still needs to cycle. true story, i dont know why but you do. i tested my tank after adding lr and then periodically along the way to being cycled. didnt add fish until my ammo and trates where gone. no need for lights during your cycle. if you use lr it will happen fast. i only had to wait for 2-3 weeks? nothing compared to what unicorn is dealing with. she used nothing but dry rock and then added ammonia do start her cycle. she is about done which is still faster than what everyone goes through with fw.

 

[Patterson333]

oh and dont forget to look up fish-less cycling for you dt!!!!!!! get your api marine test kit.

rodi and salt! ocean salt is not the same as reef salt. reef salt will have "more" trace elements that will be beneficial for any corals you may add down the road. if its just a fowlr ocean salt should be fine. just get a quality brand that works for you


even if your getting live rock it still needs to cycle. true story, i dont know why but you do. i tested my tank after adding lr and then periodically along the way to being cycled. didnt add fish until my ammo and trates where gone. no need for lights during your cycle. if you use lr it will happen fast. i only had to wait for 2-3 weeks? nothing compared to what unicorn is dealing with. she used nothing but dry rock and then added ammonia do start her cycle. she is about done which is still faster than what everyone goes through with fw.

Oh yea I'm definitely going to be doing a fishless cycle, and I'll also be picking up a marine test kit. I was able to do a fish-in cycle in my QT since 10G is easy enough to manage with the very frequent water changes, but I think my back would give out if I had to do these kinds of water changes every other day on a 75G...

As far as the water goes, I actually don't have an RO/DI system yet, though it is certainly something I'm looking into. I have to buy my RO/DI and SW from this store. I've got friends with a gorgeous, thriving reef who have been buying all their water from them for years, and relative to other stores down here, it isn't too expensive (0.69 for SW and 0.30 for RO/DI). I'll run some tests on the water to make sure though. By tomorrow I should have both the regular marine test kit and the reef master test kit, so I should be able to test all relevant chemicals.

 

[coffeetwitch]

dont forget if your running mud in your fuge they recommend a 50% replacement every so often.

 

[coffeetwitch]

eh see you ask for advice and you get it. this is a very friendly site. unlike some forums ive been on for various other things.

 

[carey]

Thats why I love this site. Some out there are very elitist and pout you down for asking questions they think you should know already. But here, it open season on questions and no one really bickers which is very cool.

 

[Patterson333]

Yea this site's been awesome, for both FW and SW!

Oh and I'm definitely forgoing the mud. I did a search not too long ago on this site, and in every thread I found about refugium mud, most of the really experienced people said they wouldn't do it again.

I've got quite a few things to return tomorrow. But at least I haven't opened them!