First attempt at Saltwater 75 gallons

After years of thinking about it, I finally decided to switch my tank over. I have a 75 gallon all glass tank, that has housed cichlids for years. They were the closets color to saltwater fish I could find and stay in my comfort zone. I only used live plants because they challenged my and help keep my tank clean.

The tank now has 75-90 lbs of lace rock, 20 lbs of live rock to seed it, and 100 lbs of sand.

I made sure that all of my rocks were as clean as possible before I added the salt. I soaked them in hot water for an hour, then scrubbed them. It took a while but didn't even get a bump in parameters till after I added three damsels. I waited three weeks to add the damsels and left them in there for two weeks or so.

Just after setup, sun was hitting camera so it looks cloudier then it really was. Looks good but never loved the rock placement, looked too forced.


After several water test I decided to pull them out, and had to pull out all of my rock(had already expected that I would have to before add the damsels), removed the largest piece and rearranged them into a way I really like. And got my first saltwater fish I plan on keeping, a Yellow tang.

Tank as of the other day.


It has been a very fun so far, and everything is looking great. I have really liked finding stuff on my live rock; a blue sea star, a sea cucumber, blue legged hermit crab, a frag of a kenya tree coral, and different colored sponges (white/blue/red).

My plan is to keep it a fowlr tank, till I can get new lights, then get in to coral and make it a reef tank.

I just found out that we are going to be moving. We had planned on staying where we are for a while till we found a bigger/nicer apartment for the same price, so we decided to go for it. It should be in a week or so, depending on when the landlords can get it cleaned and ready. First real set back but should be fine. I am glad I only have one fish.

As things continue to grow and progress I will add more photos.

 

Great job! I like the tank. Good luck on the move, and also in making this a full blown reef in the future. i cant wait till my 75 has water in it!!!! is this tank drilled? what filtration are you running? skimmer? reactors?

 

I currently have a canister filter that gets changed almost daily, till I can decided on gph for my return pump for my sump, then I will ditch the canister (I think I started a fight when I asked for opinion on the matter,http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/sump-return-pump-gph-129575.html). I have talked to many who feel that skimmers are not necessarily till you start messing with difficult fish or hard corals, so I plan on adding one just haven't yet. The tank is not drilled, I have a diy overflow I have built.

 

FWIW, im running a mag 7 on mine. Its not running but i have it a brief test and the flow out of both my returns was just fine. not too fast, not too slow. i have a valve on it, but it was open. Dont worry about the statistical data on GPH, just get something with enough power to over come gravity, and still give you flow.

Skimmers are great. the ocean naturally skimms itself with foam on the beaches... were trying to replicate nature so i see no reason why skimmers arent needed, if you have a method thats working without. by all means do it, but i just look at the baby food color gross stuff that comes from it and i mean i dont want that in my tank....

 

That is one way of looking at it. Haha I want to get my lights updated first, then I will get one. Like most people on here money is tight and I don't want to deplete my entire saving on a tank, plus I doubt the wife would like that. She is letting me have fun with it, but I don't want to cause problems. haha
It will come together in time. This summer I should be able to do more, because I can work more due to school being out.

 

If anyone knows what your talking about, its me. My tank is almost a year old and has never had a single drop of water in it. Its takin me that long to get my equipment. I would do the lights and very shortly after skimmer. but taking your time in this hobby actually benefits you, so keep going slow your tank will thank you later.

look at my build, youll see.. lol oh and look at my skimmer. awesome for the $$$