Dixiedog's 75 ... almost there!

75g DT, 33g sump/fuge, 8X54 T5 TEK light (only running 4 bulbs for now, two 10000K's and two actinics), Rio 2500 return, Eshopps overflow, Aqua C EV-120 skimmer with Mag 5, two Koralia 400's, and a 15w 6500K flourescent flood to light the fuge. Water supply is an AWI Typhoon III.

I have 30lbs base rock on hand, and tomorrow I'm getting 80lbs cured Fiji and 40lbs cured Timora rock from Premium Aquatics.

Today I need to buy some sand and a test kit.

I'm almost there! What am I forgetting??

 

Congrats on your entry into this wonderful hobby. I think you might be overdoing it on the rock assuming you're going towards a reef tank. Remember, that many corals you purchase are going to come on a piece of LR.

 

Go slow! Please. I wish i had slowed down, now i have a cyanobacteria bloom and a hair aglae bloom. Please go slow! please please please please please!

 

I would seriously consider not doing the overflow box and just getting it drilled before putting anything in there. It's your last chance!
Some people say they do fine with overflows but there are SO many horror stories of those things failing, siphons breaking, or not restarting after power outages etc.

I also agree that it sounds like you have a LOT of rock coming, probably more than you'll need, depending on how dense it is and how much of it is actually water-weight.

Also, how about Salt? I can't see if that bucket in the pic is salt or not, or if it's full.

Heaters?

I think that's about all you need to get the tank cycling anyway. There are lots of other incidentals, too many to mention imo, mag floats/glass scrapers, CA/Alk supplements further down the road if it's going to be a reef, auto-topoff, controller, super glue/epoxy/putty for frags or aquascaping rock, some sort of black/blue background (I don't accept anything other than those two colors as acceptable ;D ) etc etc.

 

Well dang, where were you guys last week when I ordered all that rock?? ;D Seriously though, everything I read said 1.5-2lbs per gallon. Not so? But also, I'm building my girlfriend a 10g nano, so I was actually hoping there would be some extra rock for that project as well. (Valentine's day present)8)


I've got one 300W heater in the sump.

I'm using Oceanic salt for now, SG stands at about 1.0214 or thereabouts.

There is an ATO in the return I forgot to mention. I bought the one from AWI when I got the RODI.

Back of the DT is painted black. ;D

Got a stick of Marineland "Hold Fast" epoxy in hand.

Bought 40lbs of Aragonite today and RIIIIINSED the daylights out of it. Also bought a Hagen master test kit.

 

Congrats... And don't worry about the rock.. You wont use all of it, but the variety will be amazing... I ordered 50lbs for my 40gallon and i had the hardest time designing the rock work, not enough variety! Im in your shoes, i just revamped my 40 gallon and started my cycle a week ago. Best of luck...
Borntoreef is right, go slow!
AND DO NOT CUT CORNERS! lol

 

Sounds like you're on track!

The SG is a little on the low side if it's going to be a reef but plenty of time to address that if that's the case.

With dry base rock 30 lbs is a lot more volume than 30 lbs of wet/live rock so you might run out of room. Not that it's a bad thing to have more rock than you need, you'll be able to pick the best pieces or the ones that fit best in your tank, it's actually probably better, just costs a bit extra and it sounds like you might have a headstart on the nano.

One thing about heaters, I like going with 2 smaller heaters for redundancy, if one gets stuck on (which they commonly do) it will take longer to cook the tank and if one dies all together you still have one to help keep the temp from dropping as fast. I know you already have one but something to consider for the future.

 

Man, I feel like I just gave birth. In a covered wagon. But I got 'er done!

Cloudy as all get-out of course, but I had to post a pic.;D






Think I'll pour myself a drink now. Cheers everyone!!

 

Looks awesome.. your off to a great start...

 

So how much of the LR did you get in there!! Looks good