Any Advice?

[toosalty]

First time posting here and just trying to see if im on the right path for my first saltwater tank. The tank has been set up for about 7 months(45 gallon tank which I recently moved everything to my new tank).
72 Gallon Bow front tank
20 gallon Sump tank
Cyclone Protein Skimmer
Koralia 600 GPH
30 Pounds of Live Rock( I know I need more, but how much more?)
60 Pounds of Live Sand
T5 10,000k (2)28 watt floursent lights
Fish Stock
Flame Angel
Coral Beauty
Purple Fire Fish(had 2 of them, but haven't seen one in a couple of days I think hes gone to a better place.)
Diamond Goby
Chocolate Chip Starfish
(2)Cleaner Shrimps
(5)Hermit Crabbs
Im thinking about adding Coral to the tank later down the road. What would I need to upgrade to make that happen? Also how many more fish could I put in this tank before it overloaded?.........Pic was taken at night. I turn the lights on for just a minute that why there are no fish in the pic....

 

[mkzimms]

your off to a good start. you are correct about needing more LR, probably about another 30 to 50 lbs. the unofficial rule of thumb is around 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon, but this is very unofficial. do you have any in your sump? if not what are you running in you sump? you could use some snails as clean up crew since 5 hermits isn't going to really make a dent in a 75. try some nassarious and turbo snails. if your looking to do coral you'll need a hell of a lot more light than 56 watts. depending on what type of coral you like you may want to look into metal halides or some big boy T5's like a nova extreme pro or tek fixture.

 

[luke01]

I have a 72 bow. If you want a reef. You will need a minimum of 280 watt if you ar on a small budget. Thats what i have. I have 60 pounds of live rock still want more. Couple of soft corals and zoas. and reef safe fish. You choclate will eat corals so be carefull what you buy.I just added the new 2x 10 000 k led by current nice light which works great and the corrals like it but defenitly not a metal halide. If you can afford a metal halide go for it. Unfortunatly the bow front has limioted space on top so the MH 14 k would be a excellent choice since you would not need a actinic with a 14 k. MH. But you will need a chiller on a 72 and thats a little expensive for me but if you can afford it go for it. Current makes a 2 MH w/o actnics for about 530 dollars.

 

[cmaxwell39]

The T5's that you have now sound like normal output (NO) bulbs. If you want to do corals you are going to want to invest in a high output (HO) fixture. As suggested something like a Nova Extreme Pro or a TEK fixture. With T5 it is best to get a fixture that has individual reflectors.
You are going to want some more live rock. You have a good start but as was suggested doubling it or a bit more than that is in order. I have about 90-100# in my 75.
You are also going to want to get some more flow in the tank to do corals. I would add at least one more korallia 2. That would probably do all right for you, unless you want to keep SPS corals and then you would need way more even beyond that.
Finally, you are going to want to pay attention to your stock list. I see a danger already in that you have 2 angels in the tank which is a big no-no. They will most likely eventually get very territorial and fight until one dies. Also, be careful with angels. The angels that you have are about a 50/50 chance with corals, meaning that half the time they will be just fine, and the other half they will nip at corals. Just something to watch out for. You are also going to want to upgrade your cleanup crew.

 

[toosalty]

Yea i have two angel fish. They mess with each other but nothing serious most of the time they get along. All I have in my sump is the bio-balls, protein skimmer, main filter pad, a blue sponge pad, and a return pump to the main tank.
mkzimms mentioned that I should get some nassarious and turbo snails about how many would be could for my tank? I would like to do coral some day, but ill keep with fish for now because of cost. I was thinking about adding a blue tang to the tank. Would it be fine or will he get to big for the tank I have? One more thing has anyone bought live rock from this site and worked good for them or should I just go to my LFS and buy some cured life rock for 7 dollars a pound?

 

[mkzimms]

if you buy from this site (or anywhere not local for that matter) you will have to cure it yourself, you wont be able to just add it right in. best bet is to go to the LFS with some buckets of tank water after water changes and pick up some cured rock (make sure it is actually cured). as long as your getting cured and transporting it in water you will be able to throw it right in. i would however do it like 10lbs at a time over the course of a month.

 

[cmaxwell39]

I was very happy with the rock I purchased from here. As was stated already it will need to be cured once you get it, so it won't be able to go directly into the tank, but it is worth it to save almost half the cost of rock.