New to the hobby, what do you think?

Range

It varies so much.

drsfostersmith.com in a mag i just received says in 24hrs LOL you can cycle your aquarium.

I think it's more like how long can you wait..

I waited 30 days, and on 31st day i added 2 fish,3 snail,and 3 crabs..

All but 2 snails are still living. as of today.

 

welcome

 

looks good and I like your choice of fish, chromis' are cool to watch...:thumbs_up

 

Ohhh man you guys are gonna die. I picked up 2 firefish a cleaner shrimp and a nice bubble coral today

I really like all your advice, im sure this hobby is like Nitro RC car racing. Everyone has a general idea of how to break a motor in, but it always has some sort of variable and there are a few different proven methods. Im sure each tank is always gonna vary due to misc... differences. My temps are good, my nitro is good, I clean the snot out of the skimer all the time. Strange that everyone says I need more flow, the LFS owner really knows his stuff and keeps a shop setup for the average fish guy, and assures me that is plenty of flow.

 

They really are pretty cool fish, alot of people overlook them. They love to eat that's for sure LOL

 

WOW man I came from racing RCS. I had the trucks though. I understand what you are saying exactly. They always said too rich, too rare, not enough air flow... Everyone has there own little way that works and when it doesnt, just ask ?'s here! lol...


P.S. I love Chromis!!!!;D

 

cool red scooter blenny. mine almost looks just like that. very cool.

 

Greetings again. And no we are not going to kill you!!!! .....but you do need to slow down on your livestock additions. I would stop for the time being and let your tank catch up. Remember, one rushed move in this hobby can equal a very bad week. So.....no more fish for the time being!!! Now that aside.

Your Sump/Fuge.

For a 75g I would consider two sizes. The 20g long and the 30g standard. The 30 is six inches longer, which is the advantage. The height difference means nothing as you will not be keeping it any more than 40 to 50% full. I have a 90 and am running a 20g long with 12" of it being devoted to a fuge. This can be achieved simply by siliconing a piece of acrylic with a piece of eggcrate on top to hold the macros in the fuge.

The acrylic and eggcrate (light diffuser) can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. To give you an example, my 20g is 12 inches tall. I used a 7" piece of acrylic with a 3 inch piece of eggcrate to do the job. The acrylic can be found in the Windows section and the eggcrate on the bottom shelf in the lighting section of the store.

Now, some people get fancy with bubble traps and partitions and whatnot. I keep it simple. I just have that one little divider and called it good. I keep microbubbles from polluting my tank by using filter socks. If you decide to do this, just change them out twice weekly. Wash in warm with a little bleach and do the two rinse cycle. Hang dry. Rinse in RO water before reuse.

In my 20g, I have pretty much filled it with hardware. I have a good sized skimmer, a heater and three powerheads (two returns and a Mag 9.5 for the skimmer). I have the 12"x12" full of macros. It has a mineral mud base (one $30 jug did the job) and I am still considering putting some live sand on top of that. LS in a situation of heightened nitrates is not recommended. But if you have controlled nitrates, I would add 1" LS to your 1" mud base. Some do not use mud. Some just LS. Some do a deep sand bed. Others don't. I don't recommend a DSB. Aquarists have had problems with aging DSBs.

Now how to get water to and from. You have to consider the how and how much. I run a CPR overflow with an aqualifter (with filter) and am very happy with it. Weekly maintanence is recommended to keep it running top notch, but I believe it to be the best out there if you do not have a drilled tank. So google that and see what you think. For your's I would consider a 600GPH model. As a return pump you could run a Rio 2100+ or a Mag 7. Both would give you good flow back up to the tank. You would be running about 10x turnover with that set up. Some people run 4 to 5x. I run 7x. If you want to run slower, either get a smaller pump (a Mag 5 or equiv.) or put a ball valve on the higher rated pump. Dialing down a little won't hurt the pump.

The major rule here is not to exceed the capacity of the overflow with your return pump. You will notice that the Mag 7 has a head pressure of around 700GPH while your overflow capacity is 600GPH. That would be a bad thing to do, EXCEPT, the head pressure at 4 or 5 feet is only about 450 to 500GPH. It goes down when pumping against gravity is introduced.

So kick that around for awhile and do your googling. Take your time.

And no more fish young man!!!! Slow, slow, slow.......

Here is a pic of what my 20g sump/fuge looks like. You can barely see the eggcrate topping off the acrylic piece. The fuge is beyond.



Sorry.....I rambled again. I do that.

 

What is that purple fish?

 

Wow. Do you remember what sort of parameters you had back then?