Brand New Tank and many questions on what products to buy...

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Zoso

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
3
Location
Fitchburg, MA
I just got a GREAT deal on a 75 gallon fish tank that came with a wooden stand, hood, a bunch of chemicals/test kits, crushed coral substrate, some small bits of coral, and a single 48" light..... all for $50!

I've had a 55g freshwater tank for years now and with the addition of this tank, I want to venture into the world of saltwater aquariums.

First, I'm trying to find out what kind of filtration to buy. At this point, I'm not going to venture into Live Rock and I don't have the lighting anyways. I also want to replace the crushed coral substrate with some fine sand and get a lot of structure in the tank in the formal of coral formations to make the tank look interesting and safe for the fish.

My questions are:

1) What type of filter should I get? From my reading it looks like I should get a wet/dry canister. Can someone suggest a quality brand name filter?

2) What type of protein skimmer should I get? Again, what brand?

(Both types of filters - wet dry amd protein need pumps to operate, correct? Suggestions on what kind?)

3) Can someone suggest a great online store with good prices and a large selection of fitlers, heaters, decoration, and other equipment? I'm not happy with what I see in my LFS.


Any suggestions and comments are welcome.
 
LR doesn't needed must of lightning, or in fact they don't need any special lightning at all, just regular light come off from your hood is great.

1. A wet/dry filter is good, can't give you a name as I know most people in here built their own :) It sound like the wet/dry filter is nothing but a container fill up with your tank water and pump back in, so probably the most difficult one is the overflow :)

2. Skimmer is good, get either a Bakpak 2/Dual bakpak or Aqua C?

3. Three online I do shop from.. http://www.bigalsonline.com http://www.drsfostersmith.com and http://www.petsolutions.com
And lots of AquariumAdvice.com sponsors give great deal too.
Good luck
 
You are making a great choice by changing to a sand bed. It can be a very effective filter if it is 3-4 inches deep. I would highly suggest going with live rock.... you won't regret it. I double the aqua c remora skimmer. If you dont want to spend to much on rock you can get base rock from hirocks.com and it will become live rather quickly. "Live" just means it is colonized by the bacteria that filter the water. If you add some live rock from an established tank it will "seed" the dry rock and eventually the critters, corraline algae, and such will spread to the base rock and you wont be able to tell a difference.


HTH

rosstifer
 
remember on a 75g the filter & decor will cost as much or more as lr if you are creative buying the lr...so why not get 90lb ($110) dry base rock & say 40lb lr ($146 liverocks.com) to seed it? but a wet/dry would work well also, for a fish only (they generate nitrates that would not be good for many inverts, anenemes, etc...). good luck with it
 
thanks for the advice everyone. Good thing I got a good deal on the tank because all of the other supplies will also be expensive :)

I see the benefits of LR. I thought I needed a hood with a special full spectrum light and high output for the live rock? I may go with the base rock and introduce some live rock to seed the base rock. Will base rock become "live" even if a part of live rock isn't introduced?

Back to the filtration questions... do most people only use a protein skimmer and live rock for filtration? Do many people use marineland's biowheels? In my freshwater tank all I use are two emperor 400 power filters that hang off the back of the tank. For this tank, I'm still confused as to what I really need. I have seen Eheim wet/dry filters on several websites and they look nice. Sorry to be repetitive, but any suggestions on brand of wet/dry filters I should be looking at?

BTW, I only plan on having fish at this point.
 
ahh, lets see if I can answer most of these for you...

1) you don't need special lighting until you become concerned with corals / anenomes, pc or mh lighting would ecourage coralline algae growth on the rock, however - so you can get the lighting later

2) actually the dry base rock would become live even if you put no lr in the tank (bacteria would settle there just like it would on your biowheel), lr will just provide a greater variety of beneficial life that can reproduce and spread to the base rock, so its good to put at least a small (say 10-20%) of good quality lr in there.

3) I also run a emporer 400 & skimmer in my 45 sw, along with 55lb lr. I have removed the biowheels and just use it a few hours a day for gac filtering (the media pack or you pack the grates yourself). I have it on a timer to run opposite of the lights so I don't have to hear it run all day. I would say you could start out with an emporer then just remove the biowheels as your tank gets established and bacteria is colonizing the base rock. BTW, you should have at least one timer on the tank to cycle the lights on for around 12 hrs a day, for around $5 it saves you from hitting the switch everyday or forgetting here & there, plus gives fish regularity of the day cycle they are used to.


BTW, I only plan on having fish at this point.

We all say this initially! But reality is, we later want shrimp, hermits, snails, starfish to clean up, then maybe an anenome or some corals....they should and some need to have lr to survive, not to mention most won't tolorate the NO3 levels generated by a wet/dry. You could buy one and use it initially until you get enough lr in there and take the bioballs out and use it as a sump for your skimmer & heater as well as maybe some macroalgae (helps reduce nitrates & algae). As for brands, not sure...
 
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