Live Rock question

[blueturtle]

I have a 75 Gallon SW tank and was curious of how much LR (lbs) wise would be a good number to put in it to have a good LR/Coral/Fish aquarium. Currently I only have 2 fish, a maroon clown and a Blue damsel. I also have 75-80 lbs of CC for the bottom of the tank. I was dissapointed to see everyone talking about sand is much better, guess I got taken on that buy. My husband and I would love to add some more fish and such, but I don't wanna do that till I got the right amount of LR etc. Already got a powerhead, filter, protein skimmer, and lights with both UV and illuminescent. I think I'm on the right track but just new to it all even after 1 1/2 years of this tank being set up. No sump tank though, I have no idea on how big and how to set one up lol. Any info on this and anything you would like to add would be highly beneficial. :happyfish

 

[jerthunter]

I have heard all sorts of numbers about the amount of live rock but I would recommend somewhere between 50-100 lbs of rock although I would buy most of that as base rock to save some money and the rest live. You may want to consider changing your crushed coral to sand before you add the rock just to make it easier. I wouldn't spend money on live sand, instead I would purchase just regular sand too save money.
What do you mean by UV light? Do you mean a UV sterlizer or you have actually UV lights like on a tanning bed?

 

[devilboy]

i would go 1 - 2 lb per gallon, depending on the type of rock you want. the more light weight rock such as marshall island, kaelini, etc you could get away with 1 - 1.5 lbs per gallon. then denser rock like tonga branch i would say 2 lbs per gallon HTH

 

[blueturtle]

I have 2 65 watt bulbs for the corals and 2 regular white bulbs, the set up is made by Coralife. Is that enough for the corals/ LR?? Oh and another quick question, I'm also having probs with a filmy or cloudy substance on the water surface, should I move the powerhead up more to "disturb" the surface??

 

[jerthunter]

Oh, the lights will be fine for live rock, and I imagine you can have soft coral under that light. Moving one power head to agitate the surface would be a good idea.

 

[blueturtle]

Okay as for a sump tank, what size and how to set one up succesfully. I wanna thank you for your inputs, I'm changing the powerhead as I'm posting this. This website is turning out to be VERY useful!

 

[bovetek]

I agree with changing the CC for sand. I had CC and it seemed to cause more problems than it's worth. Buy some argonite sand and see if the LFS will sell you a couple of cups of sand out of one of their well established tanks or refugiums. Add it to the "dead" sand and it will seed your new sand.

 

[blueturtle]

Thanks for all the inputs guys/gals. Anyone have a good idea of what size and how to setup a sump tank for this 75 gallon tank? Or am I good without one? I'll replace CC as soon as I get the $$$ lol.

 

[jerthunter]

I have a 65 gal that has been running for 1 year without a sump. I would say as long as you have enough water flow and the liverock you are planning on getting that you would not need a sump. As far as size if you do want a sump I would say the bigger the better...

 

[blueturtle]

Thanks A-lot for all the help! I'm sure I'll think of some more questions to be asking you all soon hehe.

 

[puffer24/7]

sory to but in but i love cc as u can see from my tank it is doing fine, just keep an eye on things and u should be fine with the cc here are some pics of my 140

 

[blueturtle]

I'll have to post a pic of my tank here soon so you all can see my setup

 

[blueturtle]

This is our 75 Gallon set up. Any info on what would be good in it with all that room?

 

[madman133]

you might try stacking your live rock up into sort of a mountain as in my opion it looks better and gives fish more places to hide. AS for fish ots up to you and what you like.

 

[blueturtle]

I'm unsure though of what kind of yellowish polyps or whatever I got in the tank. Seems I had an explosion of them, they are everywhere. Dunno if they are good or bad, they kinda look like an anenome but aren't to my knowledge, but then again I'm no expert.

 

[james983]

Just a suggestion, but I would add anoter powerhead.

 

[blueturtle]

Just bumping to show off pics and get more ideas from you all