Rainmkr07's 75 Gallon Reef Tank in Kansas Diary!

rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
Hello everyone. I wanted to start a thread from the beginning for my new tank and my new hobby. I'm brand new to the hobby, so I am sure I will make mistakes along the way, and ask many questions. I do plenty of research online (hopsreef and oregonreef are amazing!) and have bought several books to get me going. I am planning on taking it slow and not rushing anything, that's for sure.
A little about me. My name is Ryan, I am 25 years old, and I'm currently studying for the July 2007 Kansas Bar Exam. I graduated college from the University of Maine with a B.A. in History in 2004, and then graduated Hofstra University School of Law (Long Island, NY) May 2007. With any luck I will pass the bar exam in 9 days and then get a job doing Criminal Law here in Kansas. I am hoping that reef keeping becomes a hobby I can really devote time and energy too, to help ease the stress of the "real world" especially. I live with my girlfriend Jeanette, who is currently going to Vet School and will be graduating in May 2009. She is my teammate with this reef keeping project and will be helping / learning with me.
My tank specs: I have a 75 Gallon All-Glass Aquarium with Oak Trim and a matching Oak Stand. I mix the water with RO water from Wal-Mart and Instant Ocean Salt. We have a 300W Heater, 2 Maxi-Jet 1200's, 260W Coralife PC Compact w/ 2 65watt 10k's, 2 Actinic's, and 4 Blue Lunar LED's, an Emperor 400, 25lbs of Fuji Live Rock, 50lbs of Base Rock, 60lbs of CaribSea White Sand, 20lbs of Live CaribSea White Sand, and I think that's it. We are planning on adding a skimmer down the road (currently thinking the Red Sea Prizm Skimmer).
Our future stocking plan looks something like this, and we will only be adding things very slowly over time, after cycling of course. Our main objective is a list that is 100% peaceful, 100% reef safe, easy care level, and good for beginner's.
Inverts
3 Emerald Crabs
3 Porcelain Crabs
10 Hermit Crabs
10 Turbo Snails
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Cleaner Clam
1 Banded Serpent Starfish
Fish
2 Percula Clowns
3 Filament Wrasse (1male,2female)
1 Royal Gramma
1 Bicolor Blenny
1 Diamond Goby
Coral
Galaxea Coral
Frogspawn Coral
Star Green Polyp
Candy Cane Coral
Torch Coral
Various Mushrooms
Various Zoos
Various Brains
Lastly, I want to invite anyone here to offer advice / critiques on anything you see in this thread. 99.9% of you know more than we do, and we are here to learn. So if you have any advice with respect to anything, equipment, techniques, photography, stocking, maintenance, books, please PLEASE reply here and share your thoughts. I can assure you in advance, they will all be appreciated greatly. Of course compliments and nice things are always welcome too! And PS: We will most definitely be looking for people who live near Kansas and/or would have frags/corals/inverts for sale or trade from our future stocking list as well! Anyway here we go! Thanks for taking the time to read this, we appreciate it!
I've attached the first 3 photos we've taken of our tank. They were taken today, July 15, 2007, day 1 of cycling. Tomorrow I am going to drop a raw shrimp into the tank to help out the process!
~Ryan (Rainmkr07)


 
ric maniac

ric maniac

Active Member
wow those rocks are awsome! and if you are looking for a good read on sw fish keeping i suggest the cosientious (sp?) marine aquarist.
ill try to follow this diary because i always say i do but never end up doing it lol. and it looks like you are off to a good start and you know to go slowly! thats the hardest part.
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
"The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by: Robert M. Fenner. Check!
Jeanette and I are both reading this one as more than one Aquarist has recommended it. We also got 2 books by John Tullock, we are planning on reading soon as well.
The lighting is a 260W Coralife 48" Lunar Aqualight with 2 compact fluorescent 65 watt 10k's and 2 compact fluorescent 65 watt 03 Actinic's and 4 Blue Lunar LEDs. In those photos I have just the Actinics and Lunars on. (I was told leaving the Actinic's on for a week after receiving live rock would help bring the rock back to life faster after having been light deprived for 4 days in transit).
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
The tank is running warm at 84 degrees. I got a 300W heater for $30, but kind of wish I didn't, it's set at 76 degrees and has probably never turned on, and doesn't look like it ever will, plus it is ugly to look at in the back of the tank. I don't have a lot of money to spend on a chiller, is there another way to get the tank down to around 78 degrees? My house has Central A/C, which is set at 79 degrees, I am surprised that doesn't bring the 84 down some, to at least 80. Any ideas?
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
How do you accomplish that? What type/size fan? And I am not sure how to place it w/ my glass cover on the tank and not wanting it to fall into the water and what not...?

Originally Posted by seasalt dreams
blow a fan across the top of the water. Thats works for me.
 
katz

katz

Member
You need to remove the glass top from the tank. Saltwater tanks need to breathe. If you want a cover then I suggest egg crate.
I love your rock work. Enjoy your new adventure into saltwater. You will find it very rewarding.
Katz
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
I bet if you take the lid off you'll shed a degree or two right there (well it'll take a while but you know what I mean)
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
Thank you both. If I take the covers off, won't the water evaporate more, or possibly get on to the lights, or floor, etc. Or can't fish jump out (assuming I had them)? If not, I have no problem taking the top off, I bet you're absolutely right, that would cool the tank down big time, I just assumed tanks needed covers?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
yes there is some risk of fish jumping without covers but you can use eggcrate to fashion a breathable lid to allow air exchange.
yes your evaporation will increase this is how its going to help cool your tank.
ther is going to be some salt splash on the lights I have to clean mine regularly (once every 2 or 3 weeks) I wouldnt worry about on the floor your going to get 10x as much as will splash out, doing water changes and placing corals etcetera.
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
Could any of your provide a photo of an eggcrate cover please? I guess I can't picture it in my mind without thinking it might look horrible?
 
seasalt dreams

seasalt dreams

Member
Originally Posted by rainmkr07
How do you accomplish that? What type/size fan? And I am not sure how to place it w/ my glass cover on the tank and not wanting it to fall into the water and what not...?

ohh you have glass, take it off!, its bad for heat and gas exchange. I have no top, and I have just used a regular household fan and hung it on the side of my canopy blowing across under my lights.
 
ric maniac

ric maniac

Active Member
eggcrate isnt like the stuff that eggs come in dont worry! that was my first impression as well. eggcrate is actually a white plastic grid that has little square holes in it. (emagine the lines on graph paper)
 
seasalt dreams

seasalt dreams

Member
Originally Posted by ric maniac
eggcrate isnt like the stuff that eggs come in dont worry! that was my first impression as well. eggcrate is actually a white plastic grid that has little square holes in it. (emagine the lines on graph paper)
or the covers on alot of flourescent lighting.
 
am00re34

am00re34

Member
if you want to go the egg crate route just go to home depot or lowes or whatever hardware store you have in the area and go to the lighting section. They are in the same area as you would find the clear plastic ceiling tiles that cover florecent lighting in like a basement for example.
i was VERY confused when i was told to get that too. Its thin enough you can't even see it on the tank unless you are looking through the top.
 
rainmkr07

rainmkr07

Member
8/6/07 - Update.
Yesterday I got my first living fish, inverts and corals! They are 3 Green Chromis, 4 coral frags (ricordia, red mushroom, green star polyp, and some tree - i don't know name), 3 Turbo Snails, and 3 Mexican Red Leg Hermits!
Next month, we plan on adding 2 Percula Clownfish, 5 Emerald Crabs, and 1 Cleaner Shrimp. The month after that we want to add the Blue Hippo Tang.
I have attached several photos! Enjoy!




 
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