My First Reef Tank! 75 gal Build

[Scrappy RN]

Thank you all! Good information!

Big thanks to a friend who donated a little live rock today. Very excited to bump up the cycling process. I was going to go the ammonia route. Would it hurt the live rock at all to still do this if there were hitchhikers in the rock?

 

[Brew12]

Thank you all! Good information!

Big thanks to a friend who donated a little live rock today. Very excited to bump up the cycling process. I was going to go the ammonia route. Would it hurt the live rock at all to still do this if there were hitchhikers in the rock?

It depends on what kind of hitchhikers you have. Most would tolerate 2ppm ammonia for a short period of time very well. A few, not so well. If you are concerned, only dose up to 1ppm ammonia to watch your cycle.

 

[Scrappy RN]

Updates! (And a question )

The tank is progressing nicely. My friend gave me this coral that apparently is quite hard to find unless you know someone with an old tank. His tank is close to 30 yrs old and has a clown and a hippo tang that are around 30 and 20 yrs old respectively! Very impressive! He doesn't do LED's and uses a sump with a homemade protein skimmer, a deep sand bed refugium, and no mechanical filters of any kind. He gave me a little live rock and mud/sand and a even some tiny starfish. Very neat seeing them climb the tank.

He can't remember if it's a giant zoa or a giant paly but whatever it is it's doing well. I'm LOVING feeding it by hand and watching it slurp up the offerings and almost turn inside out. Then it opens back up and looks very pleased with itself, lol.

He also gave me a rock covered in deep purple mushrooms. They are quite prolific and have been making themselves home in all kinds of places in my tank. Though I love their color I'm not sure I want them taking over the whole tank, lol!

Once the ammonia went down I put in a paired set of fancy clowns. They are adorable and I can't wait to be able to put in an anemone or a coral substitute. I've heard all about how anemones can cause problems but I REALLY want one, lol. Maybe I can set up a solitary FOWLR setup for the clowns and an anemone if I don't try it on this tank.

I've named them Meggie and Ralph after the lead characters in one of my all-time favorite books (and tv mini-series in the 80's)
The Thornbirds.

I went to Dallas last weekend to drop my daughter off at college for the first time (omg!) and we visited a few LFS's in the area. This pic is from one of the very cool stores. They did custom designed systems and their freshwater tanks like this one were just as impressive as the saltwater ones.

Oh and before she left, my daughter won a door prize at one of the LFS's annual customer appreciation sale. She gave me all the goodies saying she just signed up for me to win, ha, ha. That kid has won more prizes in her life than anyone I've ever known. I told her that once she's 21 I'm taking her to Vegas...

So my question is about lighting. I looked into a controller for the light I have and the reviews are horrible. The light itself is great. I love the daylight brightness, the blue/moonlight settings, and the fact that they are both dimmable too. But the controller and app for it are apparently very bad and hard to use and have lots of problems.

So I need some lower end lights that are controllable/dimmable/with a moonlight phase. Or I guess I could use the moonlight on this one and put it on a regular timer and get a separate light for the daylight hours?? Any recommendations on which brands are ok? I've heard horror stories of cheaper lights not being UL rated and catching houses on fire. Can't have that so I'll need something with a little quality but can't afford Kessils at this time. Maybe one day!


Here are some more pics:

The paly again. The water was cloudy that day from something I was doing. Don't remember what.

This pic is from my favorite LFS that we visited in Dallas-- Saltwater Paradise. I don't know if you can tell but there is a black clownfish nestled in the fold of a giant coral (I think? It may be an anemone but I'm not sure) that has attached to the front glass of a massive aquarium on display at the store. I have video of the fish swimming round under that hole and out through it several times, lol!

 

[Katrina71]

Your daughter sounds pretty awesome! You should be proud! BTW. I'm available for the Vegas trip

 

[Fin]

^ Looks like a Grandis Paly to me. Good luck finding the right lights.

 

[Scrappy RN]

Your daughter sounds pretty awesome! You should be proud! BTW. I'm available for the Vegas trip

Thank you and yes, I'm super proud of her! Regarding Vegas, lol, sounds like a plan!

 

[Scrappy RN]

The tank has cycled and I've put 12 hermit crabs and a yellow tang in. The guy at the lfs said the yellow tang would be fine in a 75 gal but then I've read multiple posts debating that. I do plan to get a larger tank one day so hopefully he'll be ok until then. I guess I could rehome him eventually if he looks unhappy. So far he's doing great. He loves all the little tunnels through the rock, loves eating a little algae off that black rock that the mushrooms live on and swims around quite happily. He's still a little skittish though when I come near the tank--until he sees food, lol! He's kind of cute when he does a backward swimming thing through one of the tunnels. He'll be swimming along the normal way and then sort of drift backwards through this one tunnel with the current.

I've been through the diatom phase, a short green algae phase and now purple stuff (coraline I think?) is growing. You can't really see it in the pictures below but it's a really pretty purple and is covering about 25% of each rock and even some of the sandbed. I was able to get the green algae off of the glass with a magnet cleaner but I've heard the coraline needs a razor blade to clean? Do you guys use a special tool for this?

I also saw a little bug in my tank that looks like a white flea. Anyone know what it could be?? I have a short video but I can't get it to upload. Says it's the wrong file format. I'll see if I can change it to post it.

How long do you guys suggest I wait before putting more coral in? I like gsp, toadstools and zoas from the "easy" category. Though I'll admit I'm a little afraid to start putting in expensive things because I'm afraid I'll kill them with ignorance, lol. So I'm dying to put things in but I'm also terrified to lose a lot of money killing them off, ha, ha!

 

[Jeremy Luke]

A lot of people will probably tell you to wait on the coral. With the types of corals you want, I'd say go for it. Just make certain your parameters are good. Keep up with your water changes. Now that you've added a fish to the tank you'll be dropping food in there and the fish will be creating waste. You'll most likely experience some more algae blooms now that you've put some biological load in.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Oh, a word of caution on the gsp. It can quickly over run your tank. Stuff grows like a weed. If it's a must have, try to isolate it on a lone rock island on your sand bed.

 

[Scrappy RN]

Oh, a word of caution on the gsp. It can quickly over run your tank. Stuff grows like a weed. If it's a must have, try to isolate it on a lone rock island on your sand bed.

I'd read that and was trying to decide if it were worth it. I kind of like my rock setup as it is. I'm trying to figure out if I could add a small island rock without disturbing the look of the tank, lol, because I really like the way gsp looks.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

On the fish, tangs are very susceptible to disease. It would have been a great idea to quarantine him first. I've learned this lesson the hard way myself on my most recent tank. I now have a QT tank setup and must leave my display tank fallow for another 1.5 months. Now that he's in there I wouldn't add anymore fish for a while and keep your eye on him.

 

[Scrappy RN]

A lot of people will probably tell you to wait on the coral. With the types of corals you want, I'd say go for it. Just make certain your parameters are good. Keep up with your water changes. Now that you've added a fish to the tank you'll be dropping food in there and the fish will be creating waste. You'll most likely experience some more algae blooms now that you've put some biological load in.

And thank you! I was surprised when my friend gave me the gigantic paly and some waving hands xenia from his 30+ yr tank before it was even cycled. He gave me a little live rock to get started and some things from his tank. The giant paly has thrived from day one and the xenia looked a little bad at first but has perked up fine since I put in live bacteria. I'm about 6 weeks in I guess and things are doing well!

So I hoped that some more corals would be fine as long as they weren't the really picky ones.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Raptor3084]

Nice reef!!

 

[BlueDevil]

Great looking tank, Kellie. As far as corals is concerned the ones you listed are fairly bulletproof even in a new setup like yours. Toadstools, gsp and zoas should do just fine in your tank. Like Jeremy said above definitely isolate the gsp unless you want it over all the rocks cos it WILL get there eventually if the rock it starts on has any contact with the other rocks.

As far as water parameters goes, keep an eye on them, especially nitrates, phosphates and alkalinity as you get through these initial stages. Calcium is not critical at this point since you don't have any hard corals. But to check that and dose manually as necessary.

For a coralline on the glass you can use a hard plastic object. Credit cards works best. Or you can spend the money and get a scraper from any LFS. For really tough spots, you could use a blade assuming your tank is glass. But be very careful when you use a blade. Keep it flush with the glass else you'll end up with scratches.

 

[Scrappy RN]

Nice reef!!

Thank you!!

 

[Scrappy RN]

Great looking tank, Kellie. As far as corals is concerned the ones you listed are fairly bulletproof even in a new setup like yours. Toadstools, gsp and zoas should do just fine in your tank. Like Jeremy said above definitely isolate the gsp unless you want it over all the rocks cos it WILL get there eventually if the rock it starts on has any contact with the other rocks.

As far as water parameters goes, keep an eye on them, especially nitrates, phosphates and alkalinity as you get through these initial stages. Calcium is not critical at this point since you don't have any hard corals. But to check that and dose manually as necessary.

For a coralline on the glass you can use a hard plastic object. Credit cards works best. Or you can spend the money and get a scraper from any LFS. For really tough spots, you could use a blade assuming your tank is glass. But be very careful when you use a blade. Keep it flush with the glass else you'll end up with scratches.

Thank you! Do you have a preference on the test kits? Also, my alkalinity is hovering between 7 and 8 dKH and my pH is 7.8. Is that ok or should I be trying to raise them? If so, what's the best way to raise it?

 

[BlueDevil]

Thank you! Do you have a preference on the test kits? Also, my alkalinity is hovering between 7 and 8 dKH and my pH is 7.8. Is that ok or should I be trying to raise them? If so, what's the best way to raise it?

For pH, I don't have much experience with test kits since my Apex monitors it. But I'd imagine one of API, Salifert or Red Sea should do fine. For Alk I highly recommend getting a Hanna checker. It is digital and takes the guesswork out of color comparisons. I have one and love it! For Ca and Mg (when you need them) I use Red Sea.

Regarding your current parameters, the Alk is perfect for what you're getting into. What is your pH range? As you might know it varies from day to night (as lights come on and off). You might want to test once first thing in the morning before the lights come on and then once just before they go off. That should give you the low and high points. Do that and let us know what you find out and we can make recommendations at that point.

 

[Scrappy RN]

For pH, I don't have much experience with test kits since my Apex monitors it. But I'd imagine one of API, Salifert or Red Sea should do fine. For Alk I highly recommend getting a Hanna checker. It is digital and takes the guesswork out of color comparisons. I have one and love it! For Ca and Mg (when you need them) I use Red Sea.

Regarding your current parameters, the Alk is perfect for what you're getting into. What is your pH range? As you might know it varies from day to night (as lights come on and off). You might want to test once first thing in the morning before the lights come on and then once just before they go off. That should give you the low and high points. Do that and let us know what you find out and we can make recommendations at that point.

Ok, I'll check the pH tonight and in the morning. And great for the Alk! I was worried it was too low. And I love the Apex system. An APEX guy did a demo for me at a lfs last month and I was sold. It's on my wish list for sure! One day!

 

[Scrappy RN]

Ok, the pH was around 7.6 last night and before turning the lights on this morning it was 7.8. I'm definitely going to get a digital pH meter. These colors are near impossible to match sometimes!

The alkalinity was 8 dKH.

 

[BlueDevil]

Ok, the pH was around 7.6 last night and before turning the lights on this morning it was 7.8. I'm definitely going to get a digital pH meter. These colors are near impossible to match sometimes!

The alkalinity was 8 dKH.

You sure you don't have those backwards? The pH should be higher at the end of the light cycle and lower before the lights come on. There might be some error in testing. Yeah I detest color matching tests.