Brand New at salt water, NEED lots of advice!!!

[sparry67]

I just got a 75 gallon bow front tank I added live rock and salt water, Good question to start off with is It came with the Rena xp3 filter and I got all the stuff for it and it's up and running, Is this a good enough filter sytem to run this tank? Does not seem like enough air bubble flow? How do I get more current flowing and Do I need a protein skimmer? Thanks!

 

[mr. limpid]

I'm not a lover of canister filters, because they are design to be mechanical filtration which does not remove ammonia well. The biological part of it design is the filter floss or sponge that gets clogged fast and needs to be clean often which removes a lot of the bacteria. With all that said yours is rated for 175gal tank but I would still add live rock. The skimmer is needed for a reef tank, good to have for mature fish only tank. Make sure you clean your pre filter every two weeks and change out carbon once a month.

 

[beaslbob]

sorry I can't give you lotsa advice. Just one thing.
Balance out your tank with plant life like macro algae or an algae truf scrubber right from the start. Then do the rest.
just my little itty bitty idea.
Worth at most.
.02

 

[snakeblitz33]

I would never use a canister filter on any of my tanks unless it was for chemical filtration only.
Since you have a 75g and you want to go totally HOB, I have used Emperor 400 filters with much success. You don't immediately need a protein skimmer but you can get one, and when you do - I would get an Octopus 75 HOB skimmer. Great quality, easy to set up and worth the money.
You will also need powerheads in your tank for water flow. For a 75g, I recommend either two Koralia 750s OR a Vortech MP40. Do not get sticker shock and turn it down before you research all of the features and watch a few YouTube videos before making a decision.
I also agree with Bob. He's been in the hobby over 30 years and I trust his advice. Macroalgaes are very common in saltwater aquariums. By adding some decorative macroalgae to your display tank - it will grow with nutrients from the fish and then when you harvest the algae, it removes those undesired nitrates and phosphates from your system.
Consider running a sump in the future - You can hide all of your equipment and filtration underneath the tank instead of letting it be all visible in the display.
Also, to make a clean appearance to the tank, consider adding a background. (most experienced reefers like black or blue backgrounds and not the gaudy reef picture backgrounds... And if you already have one, I'm sorry. )

 

[fallensynner]

My advice would be do a reef tank and don't use any anemones because mine was sucked into the filter and killed all my fish and I haunt figured any device to prevent that and fish when fully stocked isn't cheap. Reef tanks are interesting and amazing it's worth the money and do research after that do more research and add a little more research good luck

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sparry67 http:///t/392138/brand-new-at-salt-water-need-lots-of-advice#post_3480443
I just got a 75 gallon bow front tank I added live rock and salt water, Good question to start off with is It came with the Rena xp3 filter and I got all the stuff for it and it's up and running, Is this a good enough filter sytem to run this tank? Does not seem like enough air bubble flow? How do I get more current flowing and Do I need a protein skimmer? Thanks!
Saltwater aquariums require a lot of waterflow. A single filter isn't going to provide what you need. An inline waterpump or a couple/few powerheads can supply the needed waterflow.
There should be no air bubbles. They just cause a mess from salt spashing everywhere when the bubbles pop. Although during a power outage a coule battery operated airstones can keep everything alive, just not for everyday normal use.
Be careful with macroalgae in the display tank. There are benefits but if you have corals the algae can kill the corals very fast if not kept in check and harvested often.

 

[flower]

Bang guy...my daughter is at home my house..I'm in the hospital please help her get my tank back up online...the lifter pump has failed....I am not very goold at explaining things