Nick's 75g Tank (My First one)

nallender

nallender

New Member
Bought a 75g established aquarium. The previous owner had about 30-40lbs of live rock and about 1-2 inches of live sand for substrate.
The tank came with a Prism Protein Skimmer and a Marine Land Magnum H.O.T filter. I am not sure what kind of power output the light ballast he gave me can put out (it looks kinda crappy), two heaters, and two power heads (unkown make).
The guy that owned it neglected the tank for quite some time and it basically ran at room temperature with no filtration for a while. Amazingly, a large maroon clownfish, yellow tailed damsel, serpent star, and green polyp mushroom survived as well as ALOT of nice coraline algea.
There are some mini feather dusters growing on some of the live rock with orange "fans" sticking out of the small white tubes. (anyone know what these things might be?) As well as other little creatures. I noticed another similiar white tube which had two very fine "antennas" sticking out of it.. I've seen them retract and come back out, not sure what this is either..
I have moved the inhabitants into a friend's 30g refugium for now with the live rocks to keep them "live".
I am going to fix up the stand that came with it and set up the sand and some live rock in my 75g tank to start a cycle. I will introduce some live copepods into this environment after a few weeks and some snails for clean up duties.
I plan on buying another light ballast and putting VHO flourescents or more likely T5's in. I would like to aim for 3 110 watt bulbs at 10k or higher and supplement 1-2 actinic bulbs for an hour or so before lights out and before lights come on.
I am going to purchase a new protein skimmer hopefully in or around $200 if I can find a decent new one or used one for that price.
I am going to remove the inside materials/items from the filter and put cheato in it with a light mounted above it. (copying Matt B's set up)
Matt B's thread:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/304097/trying-a-75-again
I will post pics of the progress as it moves along. Right now, I have to hurry up and wait..
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
Here are some pics of my fish, LR, etc in a 30 gallon tank while i get my 90 gallon set up.
This is my friend's tank on the left and the 30 gallon with my stuff is on the right

Here are two pics of the 30 gallon close up (been set up month and a half under crap lighting, mainly keeping the rocks live)


Here are my fish. Damsel, Maroon Clown, and Spotted Mandarin



(sorry about the poor quality, new to this)
Here is my mushroom in my friends tank.. if you notice it "had a little baby" mushroom which is starting to sprout below and to the left of it.

And finally, here is a pic of the little feather duster type worms.. if anyone can identify them that would be great. They have the white tube and the bright orange fan that sticks out. The fan retracts when it is disturbed by the fish swimming too close
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
i will post pics of my 90 gallon and the newly repainted stand soon. I have to finish the canopy and waiting for my T5 lights to come in.. I got an overflow and 2 koralia 3's and I am going to build a sump soon.
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
I have a choice between a used Euroreef 6-2 skimmer for $300 with an extra pump, a Euro-Reef RS180 brand new for $400, or a new ASM G3 for just under $300 shipped.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.. I have a 90 gallon tank that I would like to eventually make a reef tank. The skimmer will be in the sump..
Thanks again for your advice!
 
reef noob

reef noob

Member
The euro-reef skimmers are great skimmers, the asm wont compare to them.
octopus skimmers are also good, and cheaper than euro-reef
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
I just purchased an Octopus Recirculating Protein Skimmer DNW-110 by Coralvue.. This will be an adequate skimmer for what I plan to do.. now I still have to build the sump to put it in
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
The 75 was actually a 90.. the guy I bought it off of told me he thought it was a 75 and I measured it to find out it was 90.
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
Ok.. I have just bought a 40 gallon tank for a sump.. just waiting for my Skimmer to arrive and I will start to get some more progress..
I want to have 2 Yellowhead Jawfish in my tank and they need to burrow.. I was thinking approximately 4 inches for a sandbed.. or even having it deeper in the back then the front so I could do maybe 6 inches in the back and 3 in the front.. any thoughts on this?
I would have a fine oolitic aragonite substrate with plenty of shells, coral, rubble for the Jawfish to construct with..
I have read some places that for a DSB to be effective it must be 6 inches..
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
I am back.. I now have my tank, sump etc set up and running. It has just finished cycling and I have 2 chromis in it as my first inhabitants. I sold my Maroon Clown Fish as I want to get a pair of Clarkii's or Black and white Percs instead. I still have my mandarin, he is in his temporary home still until I get my tank stocked with pods.
Here are some pics. Keep in mind I have another 30lbs or more of live rock to add still.. need some more tho.







I realize there is an aiptasia problem on some of the rocks. I will be adding Berghia Nudibranches to the tank this week to start eating them. The live rock I have in the other tank is very nice, covered in coraline algae and I will be adding it when it is time to add the mandarin.
 
mch2o

mch2o

Member
got some ?'s for you.
1. Do you turn off your sump light.
2. What does your water look like ontop ? Reason I ask it doesn't look like you have alot of flow but, I can be wrong What stage are your 2 K's you got in there ?
By the way be careful on putting nubi branches in your tank. If they die they could poison your whole tank. I wanted to d the same thing until I found that out. But I do know that the nubi lettuche ones want if they die. Which is a plus casue I want one for algae grow.
I need some CUC due to the fact not have my time on my MH and fell asleep with them on all night. There for me when I woke up
no no no no then what $%^^ did you do
. lol
But anyways looks great can't wait to see more man. and very glad to hear u having a mandren I love those little guys. They were the frist thing to want me to get into strating a SW tank.
Welcome man !
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
Originally Posted by mch2o
http:///forum/post/2785263
got some ?'s for you.
1. Do you turn off your sump light.
2. What does your water look like ontop ? Reason I ask it doesn't look like you have alot of flow but, I can be wrong What stage are your 2 K's you got in there ?
By the way be careful on putting nubi branches in your tank. If they die they could poison your whole tank. I wanted to d the same thing until I found that out. But I do know that the nubi lettuche ones want if they die. Which is a plus casue I want one for algae grow.
I need some CUC due to the fact not have my time on my MH and fell asleep with them on all night. There for me when I woke up
no no no no then what $%^^ did you do
. lol
But anyways looks great can't wait to see more man. and very glad to hear u having a mandren I love those little guys. They were the frist thing to want me to get into strating a SW tank.
Welcome man !
I have my sump light on at night.. when the tank lights go off it goes on. I have two Koralia 3's and my return pump for my sump is a mag 7. The surface of the water is well agitated by the 3's because of their proximity to the top of the tank. I want to get 2 Koralia nano's or Koralia 1's to put in the lower back corners facing forward and angled up a little bit.
So in total my tank has probably around 2000gph flow at the moment.
In regards to the nudis, the berghia nudis are not toxic and are so small that they should not affect the overall quality of the water. Keep in mind as well that I have a VERY light bioload for the size of my set up. I could also run carbon in my Phosban Reactor to help clean the water while I am utilizing the nudis. This combined with partial water changes (if needed), should be more then adequate. MOST Nudi's ARE toxic however Berghia are not.. Check out Wetwebmedia.com for some info. I recently just sent them a question in regards to Berghia to TRIPLE check and ensure that I am correct in my assumption. I did read a response by Bob Fenner which he told someone with a 120 that the Berghia die off would be diluted in that amount of water and would not be an issue.
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
Berghia Nudibranch Question – 10/08/08
Hello,
<Hi Nick.>
I have been searching the web for days trying to determine whether or not Berghia nudibranch will be toxic to my tank if/ when they die off. I have some Aiptasia which came in on some live rock I recently purchased. I'd say there is less then 100 that I can see, although some are large.
Some info on my tank to give you a better idea of what I am dealing with: My tank is 90 gallons with a 40 gallon sump. I am currently running Phosban in a Phosban reactor and COULD switch to carbon to help remove any toxins the Berghia would give off. I also have an Octopus recirculating skimmer. I only have 2 Chromis and a couple hermit crabs at the moment. The tank is a month and a half old. There are lot's of pods crawling around the rocks.
I want to take care of the Aiptasia without killing any of the other life in the rocks (sponges, worms, pods). I am just concerned that when the Berghia die off they will potentially poison the tank.
<Those nudibranchs referred to in the hobby (and older scientific literature as well) as “Berghia” (actually they are a different genus and species) are non-toxic to your tank, even if they die. They have a life expectancy of at least 6 months. Are you concerned that they might starve to death when all the Aiptasia are eliminated? That should not be a problem, when they are short of Aiptasia they become quite active at night and if you are a little bit nocturnal too you should be able to collect them and give them to other hobbyists. Remember to breed them in separate small canisters before adding them into the display tank. Skimmers, mechanical filters and filter feeders remove most of their planktonic larvae and make it hard for them to multiply in a standard marine tank. I’d buy 3 and breed at least 15 to solve your Aiptasia problem. Also see here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume...mpressions.htm and http://www.wetwebmedia.com/aiptasiaantoine.htm .>
Thanks for your help, Nick.
<Welcome. Cheers, Marco.>
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
I looked at my tank in the dark and was amazed to see all the bugs crawling everywhere when the flash light hit the rock. I have added my mandarin to the tank and he immediately started pigging out! The serpent star also has come home, along with the rest of my live rock. I have added my Berghia Nudi's and now I am going to wait a month or so before my next addition.
Does anyone know if the hundreds of miniature snails will get as large as the full size snails you buy from the LFS? That would be good, would save me some money!I have noticed some are now almost the size of a dime and they all used to be the size of a pin hole. I will get a pic of some if I can for an ID later.
 
nallender

nallender

New Member
Some more pics with the rest of my rock, mandarin, serpent, and nudis..





.. need to get some nice pieces of rock to top it off
 
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