Hello from LI, NY

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Heres what I have for equipment. Aquaclear 70 is the filter that hangs over the back of the tank. The canister filter is a rena filstar, the 2 small filters on either side of the tank are, maxijet 1200s. I also have 2 aquaculture heaters but only 1 is in use right now. As far as fish go, there is a fox face, trigger, snowflake eel, and a damsel. The levels are as follows, temp is 71 degrees, Ph is 8.2, salinity is 1.022 sg, nitrite is 0.3 mg/l, the only thing thats off is nitrate, and thats 160 mg/l. Those are the only tests that I have at the moment. Today I changed 10 gallons of water out and cleaned all filters very thoroughly and still the same number for nitrate. I will be posting pictures tomorrow. Thanks for the help everyone!!!!

 

Hello fellow New Yorker...like everyone is saying, yeah you're feeding too much!! I figured that out the hard way myself, I was feeding a lot and realized my nitrates were off the charts...cut down on feeding and other things and they stay at 0 most the time!!! Another things is your temp is a little low, it should be around 78F-84F. Good luck and welcome!!!!

I just realized you're from downstate NY...lucky

 

Water temp is to low should be around 78. Nitrite should be zero as well. what type test kits are you using the strips.

 

no I don't use the test strips for testing, I use the drops with the vial

 

OK. Here comes the long post. First a few more questions.

1.) Do you have a stand for your 75g?
2.) Do you have a skimmer?
3.) How much LR do you have
4.) What is the depth of your sandbed?

BTW, you have a good size tank there. I just upgraded to a 90 from a 75, not because I did not like the 75 size but because of a leak. I really liked the dimensions of the 75. It is a perfect starter tank IMO.

Flow: Conventional flow rates in SW tanks are about 40 to 50x the gallonage. In your case, let's go conservative at 40x, you are looking at 3000GPH. What you have: 2 Maxijets1200s giving you 600 total. The Rena gives you 450 and the AC70 gives you another 300. You are around 1300GPH. What I would do: I would remove the AC70 because you already have the Rena. It is redundant. I would keep the MJ 1200s in there on the back wall. You could add 2 Koralia-4s which have 1200GPH flow each. So, 450+1200+1200+300+300=3450GPH or 46x. Perfect (IMO). If you are interested, here is a great seller on eBay that some of us 3reefers have gone through for our Koralia needs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PUMPS-Hydor-Koralia-4-Pump-Powerhead-1200g-WAVES_W0QQitemZ200259905438QQcmdZViewItem?hash=%257B%2522Page%2522%253A%2522%252Fmerchant%252Fyodaslo%253F_pgn%253D2%2522%257D&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C39%3A3%7C66%3A1%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

Skimmer: There are those who have gone without a skimmer and used canister filters in it's place. I don't recommend it. I don't like canister filters in the first place, simply because I think a skimmer will do a better job. They do have their pros (you can run carbon), but lots of waste can get caught in there and run your nitrate levels up. Don't cheap out on a skimmer. Here are a few brands that I like.

PM Bullet-1, ETSS 600XR, AquaC EV-120

These are all skimmers that really need a sump. There are HOB skimmers you can get also, but you will not be able to stock a 75g very heavily unless you spend a lot of money. The affordable good HOB skimmers IMO are the

AquaC Remora and the Octopus BH-100F.

If you want to drop a lot of cash on a solid HOB, the Deltec MCE600 is a great one.

LR and LS: Typical depth of a sandbed is 1 to 1&1/2 inches. Aragonite sand is a very good substrate. It has good buffering capacity. ITO LR, your amount is 1lb per gallon for a FOWLR and 1.5-2lb/gal for a reef tank. If you want, or need, to add more, add base rock. Base rock is LR that is dead and devoid of unwanted hitchhikers. It is also cheap. You just need to rinse it off good in RO water before putting it into your tank. No curing needed. It will become alive and color up in no time (assuming you have good water quality and acceptable Ca levels).

So that is enough for now. Peace.......John.