Am I missing anything?

[punkieg0]

Hi All,
Complete noob here, new to fish, new to saltwater and now new to R2R
I started my 75gal in January but did not add my first fish until April so I have been just 2 months with fish. I have made some newbie errors based on following one of a hundred bad bits of information that I would find here and there so I am pressing pause and re-evaluating where I am at.

Current tank has 7 fish with various crabs and snails. I did add 2 corals last week as well.
I use a Fluval FX4 filter and maintain my tank with water changes. So far things have been going well until the day I added the corals. Since then I lost a few fish and I have been soul searching since. I added the coal based on my LFS of just acclimate them for a bit and that is all you need to do. Lesson learned here and I now have a QT tank for any incoming anything. I can't say that adding the coral was the single point in whatever happened but it set off a chain of events that had me very upset about my tank.

I tested last night and everything seems to be in line with water perimeters and only Nitrates showing about 20ppm at the moment, but my salinity is out of whack so I am working on that at the moment. It dropped down to 1.017 so I am bringing it back up.

I was advised to get a HOB protein skimmer to assist me while I learn and maneuver through my beginning stages. I do not have a sump, nor do I have the knowhow or skills to have one at the moment. I am hoping for something down the road because it looks like it is much easier to manage. But I am trying to do my best with where I am at.

I am looking at the Reef Octopus classic 100 for my tank. Would this be sufficient with my setup?
I absolutely love my tank and I don't want to lose any of my inhabitants because I am not informed or making a good home for them. Which is why I am here. I have spent most of my day reading through the forums and trying to learn as much as I can.
Also I have found myself struggling with water movement and where to place power heads. So, I am considering pulling all of them out and putting in an IceCap 3K Gyre. Overkill or good investment? I just can't spend the additional funds on both protein skimmer and gyre.

Thank you for any wise words

Tank:
Water in tank January 2019
80-100lbs of live rock
live sand
7 fish: 3 clownfish, 1 diamond goby, 1 bi-colored blenny, 2 pajama cardinals
CUC: crabs and snails

 

[Oscaror]

Hi All,
Complete noob here, new to fish, new to saltwater and now new to R2R
I started my 75gal in January but did not add my first fish until April so I have been just 2 months with fish. I have made some newbie errors based on following one of a hundred bad bits of information that I would find here and there so I am pressing pause and re-evaluating where I am at.

Current tank has 7 fish with various crabs and snails. I did add 2 corals last week as well.
I use a Fluval FX4 filter and maintain my tank with water changes. So far things have been going well until the day I added the corals. Since then I lost a few fish and I have been soul searching since. I added the coal based on my LFS of just acclimate them for a bit and that is all you need to do. Lesson learned here and I now have a QT tank for any incoming anything. I can't say that adding the coral was the single point in whatever happened but it set off a chain of events that had me very upset about my tank.

I tested last night and everything seems to be in line with water perimeters and only Nitrates showing about 20ppm at the moment, but my salinity is out of whack so I am working on that at the moment. It dropped down to 1.017 so I am bringing it back up.

I was advised to get a HOB protein skimmer to assist me while I learn and maneuver through my beginning stages. I do not have a sump, nor do I have the knowhow or skills to have one at the moment. I am hoping for something down the road because it looks like it is much easier to manage. But I am trying to do my best with where I am at.

I am looking at the Reef Octopus classic 100 for my tank. Would this be sufficient with my setup?
I absolutely love my tank and I don't want to lose any of my inhabitants because I am not informed or making a good home for them. Which is why I am here. I have spent most of my day reading through the forums and trying to learn as much as I can.
Also I have found myself struggling with water movement and where to place power heads. So, I am considering pulling all of them out and putting in an IceCap 3K Gyre. Overkill or good investment? I just can't spend the additional funds on both protein skimmer and gyre.

Thank you for any wise words

Tank:
Water in tank January 2019
80-100lbs of live rock
live sand
7 fish: 3 clownfish, 1 diamond goby, 1 bi-colored blenny, 2 pajama cardinals
CUC: crabs and snails

#Welcome aboard I think the RO100 should be fine for your system. 7 fish is not a lot of fish for a 75 gallon and you seem to have a ton of live rock.

 

[BadFish619]

Welcome! It seems like you're going slow and doing the best you can which is awesome. It all takes time. Slow and steady wins the race in this game!

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Welcome, glad you are here doing research.

 

[Style185]

I've had multiple instant ocean hob from petco 70 bucks on a 75gallon and thrived as well as my 40 breeder. Gotta tweak it every so often (once a week) but works good for price point. You might be able to score a gyre and this skimmer at your price point.

 

[skywelker]

As far as the protein skimmer goes, I have the Reef Octopus 90 for my sumpless 75 and it works great. Tooks a few weeks to break in but it now I love it. A friend of mine bought the 100 and had problems with it leaking/overflowing, but I think RO sent him some replacement parts so maybe he got a dud.

Do you know how your salinity got so low? Do you buy your water from the LFS?

 

[punkieg0]

As far as the protein skimmer goes, I have the Reef Octopus 90 for my sumpless 75 and it works great. Tooks a few weeks to break in but it now I love it. A friend of mine bought the 100 and had problems with it leaking/overflowing, but I think RO sent him some replacement parts so maybe he got a dud.

Do you know how your salinity got so low? Do you buy your water from the LFS?

I mistakenly did a water change that was not all saltwater so it dropped. I didn’t have a good system with all my gallon container. So I think it was that and adding the corals with any dips or anything that caused the issues and loss.

 

[punkieg0]

I mistakenly did a water change that was not all saltwater so it dropped. I didn’t have a good system with all my gallon container. So I think it was that and adding the corals with any dips or anything that caused the issues and loss.

And I do get the water from a local store. I don’t have a way to hook up a RODI filter.

 

[skywelker]

I mistakenly did a water change that was not all saltwater so it dropped. I didn’t have a good system with all my gallon container. So I think it was that and adding the corals with any dips or anything that caused the issues and loss.

Ahh gotcha. I know fish can survive low salinity like that but I don't think most corals can. I'm guessing maybe the sudden drop was the issue? It sucks but you are in the right place for help!

 

[RJinPV]

Hi All,
Complete noob here, new to fish, new to saltwater and now new to R2R
I started my 75gal in January but did not add my first fish until April so I have been just 2 months with fish. I have made some newbie errors based on following one of a hundred bad bits of information that I would find here and there so I am pressing pause and re-evaluating where I am at.

Current tank has 7 fish with various crabs and snails. I did add 2 corals last week as well.
I use a Fluval FX4 filter and maintain my tank with water changes. So far things have been going well until the day I added the corals. Since then I lost a few fish and I have been soul searching since. I added the coal based on my LFS of just acclimate them for a bit and that is all you need to do. Lesson learned here and I now have a QT tank for any incoming anything. I can't say that adding the coral was the single point in whatever happened but it set off a chain of events that had me very upset about my tank.

I tested last night and everything seems to be in line with water perimeters and only Nitrates showing about 20ppm at the moment, but my salinity is out of whack so I am working on that at the moment. It dropped down to 1.017 so I am bringing it back up.

I was advised to get a HOB protein skimmer to assist me while I learn and maneuver through my beginning stages. I do not have a sump, nor do I have the knowhow or skills to have one at the moment. I am hoping for something down the road because it looks like it is much easier to manage. But I am trying to do my best with where I am at.

I am looking at the Reef Octopus classic 100 for my tank. Would this be sufficient with my setup?
I absolutely love my tank and I don't want to lose any of my inhabitants because I am not informed or making a good home for them. Which is why I am here. I have spent most of my day reading through the forums and trying to learn as much as I can.
Also I have found myself struggling with water movement and where to place power heads. So, I am considering pulling all of them out and putting in an IceCap 3K Gyre. Overkill or good investment? I just can't spend the additional funds on both protein skimmer and gyre.

Thank you for any wise words

Tank:
Water in tank January 2019
80-100lbs of live rock
live sand
7 fish: 3 clownfish, 1 diamond goby, 1 bi-colored blenny, 2 pajama cardinals
CUC: crabs and snails

Welcome to R2R!!

Regarding your powerhead question I think you need to have more than one so pulling all the heads you have for one Gyre is not a good way to go. Typical places to put powerheads is either 1) one on each end facing each other or 2) one on each back wall at the end pointed toward the middle front glass. Both of these allow the two stream of flow to meet each other and create turbulence. The powerheads you have my be just fine depending on the flow they put out. For a 75 gallon you'll want 40x to 50x 75 gph, or about about 3500 gph of total flow from the 2 or more powerheads.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Welcome! My only advise is that I'd look at rehoming one of the Clownfish at some point as they do better as a pair of 2. Awesome thread by the way, great idea to ask for advise rather than make all of the mistakes most of us have already made!

 

[Mjrenz]

Welcome to the forum!
Make sure you're bringing the salinity back up slowly, fish can tolerate a rapid drop fine but it's harder on them bringing it back up. The icecap 3k will move a lot of water, I have one and only have it at 20% in a 55 gallon tank. Good luck!

 

[punkieg0]

Welcome! My only advise is that I'd look at rehoming one of the Clownfish at some point as they do better as a pair of 2. Awesome thread by the way, great idea to ask for advise rather than make all of the mistakes most of us have already made!

They are doing good as a pack of 3 currently but we will be adding a 4th to try and keep the 2 pairs. We have a clownfish breeder in town that I asked for help right away from. I love those guys!!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I believe 4 would be worse than 3, they will be fine while they're small but when one turns female it will pick one mate and bully the other 2 (female clowns can be very aggressive). But I'm not the most knowledgeable on this so be sure to do some research and good luck!