My El Cheapo 75g Tank

ZsWithTheFishes · Mar 26, 2019

This is a 75-gallon I have in my fish room. No sump, no sand, HOB reef Octo skimmer. It's safe to say that it will never see any coral other than a softy or three (right now it is housing a little ricordea, some mushrooms, and pink Kenya trees).

A lot of the components of the tank came from a dsb tank - sans sand, of course - that was being thrown out with little notice, so most of the gear is what I had laying around. It's not something I would normally post on a reefing forum since I've broken a lot of the rules and it's a pretty unassuming set up. But because I've broken a lot of the rules it requires a lot of time and maintenance (and advice seeking from fellow hobbyists).

Corey Shelk · Mar 26, 2019

It looks good to me! I basically did the same thing with my 20 gallon. I have a HOB filter and that’s it for filtration other than live rock and live sand. I started with a few mushrooms that came on the live rock and now I have a fair amount of softies and a BTA haha. I also got a wave maker and a better light but other than that it’s basically just a glass box of water with no special equipment (I rarely ever do water changes too, just top off with RODI.) Some might say I’m doing it wrong too but I’ve had a lot of success with it and I passed the 6 month mark a while back. I’m excited to see how yours turns out!

count krunk · Mar 26, 2019

what "rules" are you breaking?

Corey Shelk · Mar 26, 2019

count krunk said:
what "rules" are you breaking?

No sump, no refugium, almost no water changes, no water testing either, no dosing/additives, no ATO. I also used to not have a wave maker and only had the HOB output as the flow but I needed more surface agitation. To be honest there are probably a few more “rules” but those are the main ones.

ZsWithTheFishes · Mar 26, 2019

count krunk said:
what "rules" are you breaking?

Take my definition of rules with a grain of salt, this is mainly just stocking quickly adding things before recommend and not treating the live rock, dry rock, etc like I should have due to the rush. I added the BTA at the 1 month mark. I also don't have a light with any sort of PAR output that anyone would think an anemone would live under. I made the decision due to factors that I assessed at the time: it was a third-generation split in a tank, I knew the type of food that it liked in the old tank, etc. There are other things like that - things I tell newcomers to the hobby never to do because I know how often that will end up in them not staying in the hobby.

Then of course there are "strong recommendations"... for example, I started the tank with city tap water (I was in between upgrading my ro/di setup).

As a result of things like that I've had to do a lot more initial maintenance. I assume that's why the recommendations start getting into "rule" territory; diverting increases the chance and severity of consequences. The tank is on a strict water change schedule, and as found recently it's the only tank that I would not be comfortable leaving on a vacation.

I don't consider not having gear (sump, good light, etc) a rule - 10 years ago I would not have any of the equipment I have on there now. And I would not be doing any less work to keep things in balance. An ATO system would be really nice though

Corey Shelk · Mar 26, 2019

ZsWithTheFishes said:
Take my definition of rules with a grain of salt, this is mainly just stocking quickly adding things before recommend and not treating the live rock, dry rock, etc like I should have due to the rush. I added the BTA at the 1 month mark. I also don't have a light with any sort of PAR output that anyone would think an anemone would live under. I made the decision due to factors that I assessed at the time: it was a third-generation split in a tank, I knew the type of food that it liked in the old tank, etc. There are other things like that - things I tell newcomers to the hobby never to do because I know how often that will end up in them not staying in the hobby.

Then of course there are "strong recommendations"... for example, I started the tank with city tap water (I was in between upgrading my ro/di setup).

As a result of things like that I've had to do a lot more initial maintenance. I assume that's why the recommendations start getting into "rule" territory; diverting increases the chance and severity of consequences. The tank is on a strict water change schedule, and as found recently it's the only tank that I would not be comfortable leaving on a vacation.

I don't consider not having gear (sump, good light, etc) a rule - 10 years ago I would not have any of the equipment I have on there now. And I would not be doing any less work to keep things in balance. An ATO system would be really nice though

Oh yeah in your case I did those rules too haha. I didn’t treated any live rock and I just rinsed my dry rock off with RODI water. Luckily I started with RODI and not tap so I didn’t have any of those issues but I also added my Stocking very soon after the water with no problem

count krunk · Mar 26, 2019

those are not really rules. If there are any at all.

Sumps, ATOs, dosing, can just lead to a better chance of success. You can still fail with a sump, ATO, and doser

ZsWithTheFishes · Mar 26, 2019

count krunk said:
those are not really rules. If there are any at all.

Sumps, ATOs, dosing, can just lead to a better chance of success. You can still fail with a sump, ATO, and doser

Like I said, take rules with a grain of salt. The hobby police haven't manifested into a physical institution (yet anyway), but there are certain things that get a "you're wrong, give up, try to get your money back" across venues. Reef enthusiasts have a particular reputation for "rules" among water box keepers.

APrince62 · Mar 26, 2019

LOL I sure hope those aren't steadfast rules because the tank im working so hard on is exactly like yours....75 gallons.....no sump no refugium...just a HOB protein skimmer and wave maker....I am using RODI water though...also going back and forth on water changes.....if everything tests good ...do I really need them

count krunk · Mar 26, 2019

you can go without water changes with dosing

ZsWithTheFishes · Mar 27, 2019

APrince62 said:
LOL I sure hope those aren't steadfast rules because the tank im working so hard on is exactly like yours....75 gallons.....no sump no refugium...just a HOB protein skimmer and wave maker....I am using RODI water though...also going back and forth on water changes.....if everything tests good ...do I really need them

I've always considered water changes just a suggestion. Personally I change mine because the stocking up did throw off my parameters (they have since stabilized for the most part). I also have 14 fish tanks and my house is plumbed for efficient water changes, so not water changing this relatively small setup isn't really saving me anything.