Hi,
I'm Ken, and I'm new around here, but i'll probably be a quite frequent visitor. I've been doing Aquariums for a couple months now and I've kept all sorts of freshwater and brackish fish. I've just purchased a 75 gallon tank off of eBay for a very good deal. And I cannot decide what to do with it. My initial thought was to do a "big" fish tank, i've got a Clown Knife that needs a home, as well as oscars and other larger fish. But this idea quickly lost appeal to me. My next thought was just a standard freshwater tank, I was thinking schools of Corydora and Tetra, but the problem is i cannot stand to see a freshwater tank without really well done plants. Doing plants in this tank would be a pain because I don't have the lights for it. So what i'm really trying to decide is wether i'll do this tank as a brackish or a saltwater tank. The guy I bought it from said that he did this tank as a full blown saltwater tank with no problems, but I'm doubtful of the water quality i'll be able to achieve with the current equipment.
Currently the tank has a TetraTec power filter, it's huge and has a built in heater, both of which are well suited for this tank. For lighting i've got a 48" hood with a 40 watt bulb. Actually i've got two of those, so I have 80 watts of lighting, but i'm not so sure i'll have 80 watts for very long.
So i'd like to find some answers to a few questions before I set this tank up.
Will I be able to support a Saltwater setup and maintain a good level of water quality with this setup?
Is the lighting enough?
Will I need a protien skimmer?
Will I need live rock?
What about substrate? I've filled it with about 70lbs of childrens playsand, which is fine for brackish, but i've read I need to get crushed coral for a salter tank.
I believe i'd like to do this as fish only tank for now, I don't think I have the cash or experience yet to do a full blown reef setup, as much as I'd like to, and I think as I gained experience, that is what this would become. Thanks for any advice!
Regards,
Ken
I'm Ken, and I'm new around here, but i'll probably be a quite frequent visitor. I've been doing Aquariums for a couple months now and I've kept all sorts of freshwater and brackish fish. I've just purchased a 75 gallon tank off of eBay for a very good deal. And I cannot decide what to do with it. My initial thought was to do a "big" fish tank, i've got a Clown Knife that needs a home, as well as oscars and other larger fish. But this idea quickly lost appeal to me. My next thought was just a standard freshwater tank, I was thinking schools of Corydora and Tetra, but the problem is i cannot stand to see a freshwater tank without really well done plants. Doing plants in this tank would be a pain because I don't have the lights for it. So what i'm really trying to decide is wether i'll do this tank as a brackish or a saltwater tank. The guy I bought it from said that he did this tank as a full blown saltwater tank with no problems, but I'm doubtful of the water quality i'll be able to achieve with the current equipment.
Currently the tank has a TetraTec power filter, it's huge and has a built in heater, both of which are well suited for this tank. For lighting i've got a 48" hood with a 40 watt bulb. Actually i've got two of those, so I have 80 watts of lighting, but i'm not so sure i'll have 80 watts for very long.
So i'd like to find some answers to a few questions before I set this tank up.
Will I be able to support a Saltwater setup and maintain a good level of water quality with this setup?
Is the lighting enough?
Will I need a protien skimmer?
Will I need live rock?
What about substrate? I've filled it with about 70lbs of childrens playsand, which is fine for brackish, but i've read I need to get crushed coral for a salter tank.
I believe i'd like to do this as fish only tank for now, I don't think I have the cash or experience yet to do a full blown reef setup, as much as I'd like to, and I think as I gained experience, that is what this would become. Thanks for any advice!
Regards,
Ken