Advice... please help

[mpdan]

have been having problems with the 75gal 2year old tank just lost 4 fish in as many days anyway got some good info from people in disease forum. just got back from lfs they recomended the marineland model 2, 18watt uv, and 35lbs live rock. so im thinking kind of expensive but if i need it i have to get it.
Opinions?

 

[mboswell1982]

how much live rock do you currently have? what kind of filtration are you running? do you have a protein skimmer? do you have any corals?

 

[mpdan]

no live rock, no coral, emperor 400, super skimmer, powerhead stage 1 flow

 

[mboswell1982]

ok, you probably need more flow for one, id suggest a couple of koralia's, prolly the koralia 2's, and at least 70lbs of live rock, if not more, the general rule of thumb is 1-1.5lbs of LR per gallon

 

[mpdan]

is the rule for fish only tanks?
yea i just picked up a koralia 1 lfs said i dont need them cause i dont have coral

 

[mboswell1982]

no, you need the water turnover, which is what the powerheads are for. and yes, thats the rule regardless, you can go with no rock, some people do, but, the nice thing about the live rock is it will help with your filtration, its basically like adding another, better, filter to your tank to help out your canister filter. and your gonna want 2 koralias, at least the 2's if not the 3's, but at least 2 koralia 2's for water movement

 

[mpdan]

cool sounds good how about the sump and uv?

 

[mboswell1982]

well, how good are you at DIY projects? cause you can take a 55g used tank, can be found on craigslist sometimes for decent prices, and turn it into a sump no problem at all, bet u a really nice skimmer, one rated for about 250g would be perfect, a nice return pump, and your golden, the uv, those im not sure about, some say they're great, some they're junk, so, bleh LOL

 

[mpdan]

i dont really have the room for 55 gal
good at diy but not with water live in apartment people live below

 

[mboswell1982]

how much room do you have under the tank? get the biggest tank you can find under your tank, silicone some baffles in place, just use cutting boards LOL they work great, and you are good to go, if you look up sumps on here, you'll find dozens of threads concerning building them outta tanks

 

[mboswell1982]

here's a 40g sump right here, im stealing this from another thread LOL

 

[mpdan]

cool thanks for the ideas

 

[rotarymagic]

liverock should be a big component of any saltwater tank, the bacteria and life it contains are very critical to many biological processes.