So after being out of the hobby for a few years (moved a couple times and got married), I am finally back!
I had told my wife that I wanted to set up a tank after the wedding, and as soon as we got back from our honeymoon we found a great deal here on njreefers and jumped on it.
So I'll let Larissa add the pics, and I'll post the specs...
The Tank
Tank is a glass RR 75g with a 20g sump using a Mag 7 return.
Sand and Rock
We have about 40 lbs of sand for a 1-1.5" SSB mixed with a bag of crushed substrate. (I'm well aware of the downside to crushed coral, but its a mixed crushed substrate, and the effect is well worth the added maintenance)
I had a lot of dried rock from my old tanks, and mixed it with about 50 lbs that were purchased with the tank. I'm guessing there's about 80-100 lbs between the display and the sump.
Equipment
Water motion is currently two Koralia 2 powerheads, plus the flow from the return. We may upgrade this to a closed loop at some point, but we'll see how it goes.
The heater is a cheap glass submersible which will be replaced with redundant Ebos shortly.
We have two skimmers, a Remora HOB and an Urchin (same skimmer but made for sump use). I'd like to trade both for a better skimmer and am leaning towards either an ASM G3 or an Aqua C 180. We're currently only running the Remora HOB during the cycle.
Lighting is a four bulb T5 fixture without individual reflectors. It will do for now, but will eventually be upgraded to MH lights.
Water
Water will be filtered through an RO/DI normally, but to fill and cycle the tank, I bypassed the RO and ran through pre-filter, carbon and DI. I tested parameters and came up negative on nutrients, so I'm not concerned.
We're currently using the AP test kits to test for the presence of nutrients, and will upgrade to Saliferts for more accurate measurement post-cycle.
Livestock
We're still cycling the tank, so its a minimal list right now. In order to keep algal blooms under control, we have a skeleton cleanup crew of about seven turbos and some hermit crabs. I'm closely monitoring for stress and testing parameters, and will do water changes if I need to.
Plans
In the very near future, we'll upgrade the heaters and the skimmer. We also plan on adding an auto top off system prior to fish or corals going in.
Once the tank is stable, I plan on dosing kalk for calcium and alkalinity balance, and have been looking at ZeoVit additives, but will cross that bridge after more research.
In the not so distant future, but not right away, I'd like to upgrade to MH lighting, and add a controller.
In the very distant future, I'd like to upgrade to a tank big enough for a couple of great whites... I may be getting ahead of myself here though, and will probably settle for a couple of tangs for now!
So there are the specs, pics should be up soon!
I had told my wife that I wanted to set up a tank after the wedding, and as soon as we got back from our honeymoon we found a great deal here on njreefers and jumped on it.
So I'll let Larissa add the pics, and I'll post the specs...
The Tank
Tank is a glass RR 75g with a 20g sump using a Mag 7 return.
Sand and Rock
We have about 40 lbs of sand for a 1-1.5" SSB mixed with a bag of crushed substrate. (I'm well aware of the downside to crushed coral, but its a mixed crushed substrate, and the effect is well worth the added maintenance)
I had a lot of dried rock from my old tanks, and mixed it with about 50 lbs that were purchased with the tank. I'm guessing there's about 80-100 lbs between the display and the sump.
Equipment
Water motion is currently two Koralia 2 powerheads, plus the flow from the return. We may upgrade this to a closed loop at some point, but we'll see how it goes.
The heater is a cheap glass submersible which will be replaced with redundant Ebos shortly.
We have two skimmers, a Remora HOB and an Urchin (same skimmer but made for sump use). I'd like to trade both for a better skimmer and am leaning towards either an ASM G3 or an Aqua C 180. We're currently only running the Remora HOB during the cycle.
Lighting is a four bulb T5 fixture without individual reflectors. It will do for now, but will eventually be upgraded to MH lights.
Water
Water will be filtered through an RO/DI normally, but to fill and cycle the tank, I bypassed the RO and ran through pre-filter, carbon and DI. I tested parameters and came up negative on nutrients, so I'm not concerned.
We're currently using the AP test kits to test for the presence of nutrients, and will upgrade to Saliferts for more accurate measurement post-cycle.
Livestock
We're still cycling the tank, so its a minimal list right now. In order to keep algal blooms under control, we have a skeleton cleanup crew of about seven turbos and some hermit crabs. I'm closely monitoring for stress and testing parameters, and will do water changes if I need to.
Plans
In the very near future, we'll upgrade the heaters and the skimmer. We also plan on adding an auto top off system prior to fish or corals going in.
Once the tank is stable, I plan on dosing kalk for calcium and alkalinity balance, and have been looking at ZeoVit additives, but will cross that bridge after more research.
In the not so distant future, but not right away, I'd like to upgrade to MH lighting, and add a controller.
In the very distant future, I'd like to upgrade to a tank big enough for a couple of great whites... I may be getting ahead of myself here though, and will probably settle for a couple of tangs for now!
So there are the specs, pics should be up soon!
