Am I ready for a reef?

hello everyone,
I have a 75 gallon tank set up, the only fish i currently have is a 8 inch eel. The tank has been set up for about a year. I have about 75 lbs of live rock, a 65 gal canister filter, a 75 gal HOB filter, 150 gal backpack protein skimmer, and two heaters. the tank is in my basement in the coldest room of the house but the water temp hovers around 76 degrees. I am planning on purchasing 2 power heads and some decent lighting. Do i need anything else to get started with corals? Also, what type of lighting would you recomend, the tank is 4 ft wide and 2 ft deep. I do not want to go with metal halides, I was thinking PC's. I definately want a fixture with lunar ligthing as well. im planning on keeping soft corals, maybe some leather corals, and possibly an anenome.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance guys!

 

sounds like an ideal time for some of the soft corals to me SeaLevel

lighting - I would go T5 to be honest, a 4 lamp fixture with LEDs for moonlights would be ideal
the lamps last longer than PC lamps, and there is more choice available

the anemone - as far as tank maturity goes, you would be OK IMO
But be aware some require much more in terms of lighting so research before commiting

Steve

 

Are you getting rid of the eel?

I really dont know much about eels, but I thought most if not all were not reef safe?

Im a really big fan of T5 lighting, I had a pc light for 3 months and was really unimpressed by it. Are you thinking about a 4 light fixture? I really like my aquaticlife, it has a timer built in, and moonlights and was a really good price

 

You must have a very shallow tank. I would use T5, would be great for your purposes. I would avoid PC like the plague. They are older tech, produce more heat, the bulbs are expensive to replace and they are not very efficient compared to T5s.

Your filtration isn't ideal, but you can get by with it. You will need to make sure you clean your filters at least every two weeks to avoid high nitrates/phosphates.

 

i agree with the above posts. go with the t5. i did the same as jdameli and bought pc only to switch over to t5 a couple of months later. i am not sure about the dimensions of a 75 but would even consider a 6 bulb unit.

 

Odysea makes a good 4 bulb t5 fixture for under 100 dollars all you would have to do is replace the bulbs.;D

 

I think the eel should be alrite. He doesnt have any teeth, and is only interested in the krill i toss in the tank for him. I never see him biting at the LR or anything like that. I'll try and get some pics of him to post tmrow. I also have 2 emerald crabs and a brittle star. yay or nay on those inverts?....

Also I have heard of people using only LR to filter their tank. no sump, no type of filter, just a large amount of LR and some good power heads and frequent water changes. I was kinda shocked to hear this but the guy said that canister filters sometimes boost nitrate levels.

For water changes with a reef tank do you need to use R/O water? I cant see the sense in buying water to do water changes every week, and i definatey dont want to buy a R/O machine. currently i just use my tap water, and some water conditioner and make the salt water my self. seems a bit more practical to me but i dont know if this will endanger corals.

 

Do you seem to be having any issues with algae? Some people have tap water that is low in phosphates and never have issues. My tap water is terrible !!! Don't even give it to dog to drink :-(

As long as you keep the canister filter clean you should be okay, I keep my canister for running carbon an phosphate remover, also most people have a protein skimmer along with their live rock

 

The problem with tap is the EPA allows nitrates up to 40ppm and phosphate to 4ppm.

Corals need nitrates no higher than 20ppm for softies and 5ppm for SPS and phosphates below .03ppm.

So an RO/DI unit is a great piece of equipment to have. you will have major headaches with algae most likely otherwise.