Ghurlag’s 75 gallon

[ghurlag]

Here are the humble beginnings of my newest reef project.  Since the Nuvo Fusion 10g is stabilized and scratching the itch for the most part, I can start slow and build to a crescendo of activity on this setup I purchased recently.

75g RR corner overflow
Somatic 90s skimmer

My next purchase was a well-priced Eshopps R-200 gen 3.  BRS has them for about $100 off on clearance to make room for the gen 4.  It arrived today and looks perfect for what I need.  I went bigger to allow for the skimmer, larger refugium and overall water capacity. 

Next purchase will be a return pump and heater in a few weeks/month.  From there I can start obtaining sand and rock to start curing.

I’ll plan on lighting this setup with a couple Ocean Revives, having been impressed by what I’ve seen with other members’ setups, including Heinbaughb’s and Lazylivin’s.

This thread will probably move slow at first but I plan on documenting the build here.

Happy reefing!

[lazylivin]

Looking forward to watching the build.

[ghurlag]

I took advantage of the warm weather to clean out the tank today, and ordered some plumbing supplies from BRS.  I’m down to buying a return pump before I can hypothetically add water, but will need sand and rock first.

Rock will probably come from Aquarium Artisans in a month or so.  Sand I haven’t determined yet.  I’d like to get a pistol shrimp/goby pair again so I have to keep that in mind.  Any sand suggestions?

[dbjonesjr]

I used CaribSea Life Rock in my current tank and really like it so far. No funky things leaching and looks pretty good from the start without pests. I will say that I would use a larger grain sand than Fiji Pink as it blows all over the place (and I’d like more flow).
Caribsea Life Rock, 40-Pound https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IK5TJU4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_NIZnEbK83VF8K

[ghurlag]

That looks like a fine selection for rock and could potentially shorten any ugly phase I go through.  As far as sand, I bought Caribsea Ocean Direct https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q2UN18/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bc0nEbVJPDDFY  for the 10 gallon and it seems a good balance.  I’ve had Fiji Pink in the past and know exactly what you’re talking about with the sand blowing around.

The rock I got for the 10 gallon was this MarcoRocks Key Largo Dry Rock 10... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014FVJ8FM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share and although it’s dry rock what I got was pretty nice and looks great now that the 10 gallon is a year old and stable. 

So I have a little bit to think about...

[dbjonesjr]

I’ve used Marco in the past and like it as well, but obviously there is a longer time frame for it to look good. The Caribsea is a good deal through Amazon. I don’t think the Caribsea gets past the ugly stage faster, but it does a lot better job at hiding it!

[ghurlag]

Maybe I’ll try a bit of both and see how it works out!

[ghurlag]

Tonight we brought the tank inside and set it up where it’s going to go.  Still a lot to do, but progress!

[JSellars]

Are those lamps good for coral growth?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ghurlag]

Are those lamps good for coral growth?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lol - we’ll see!

[SweetReefOH]

Ya, I don’t know about the PAR rating on those but they sure look fancy : )

[ghurlag]

The house decor on the whole is up for a revamp.  We have to figure out where else to put the lamps with a cat tree in a corner and an end table with a 10gallon reef.  Oh, and that painting is obviously moving elsewhere too.

We’ll probably end up having to install can lights in the ceiling to light the room separately from the reef glow

Maybe this summer I’ll be in a position to host a club meeting...  maybe

[ghurlag]

I'm trying to put together a fish list.  This is the biggest reef tank for me so far, with my last tank before the 10 gallon being a 40 breeder.  At these dimensions it opens up a few more possibilities, but I still have to be mindful of the fishes' needs.  Basing my decisions off information I can find on LiveAquaria, here's the preliminary stocking list:

1 - Kole Tang
6 - Chalk Bass
1 - Carpenter's Wrasse
1 - Neon goby
1 - Court Jester Goby
1 - Green mandarin
3 - Banggai/Kaudern's Cardinalfish
1 - Pistol shrimp/goby pair
1 - Skunk cleaner shrimp

I think once I get the tank cycled I'll start with some small chalk bass and cardinalfish (and maybe skunk cleaner shrimp) and let the tank stew there for a few months again, letting the rock mature (probably adding a few corals in the meantime) and then progress onto the pistol shrimp/goby pair, wait a few more months to let the rock continue to mature, hopefully get a solid pod population going, then add the wrasse and gobies when there's "stuff" for them to eat on the rocks.  Finally, I'll add the mandarin and the kole tang, once I'm sure the tank is mature and able to provide at least some food from the live rock.

To get the live rock going after the initial cycle, I'll be adding Live Rock Enhance, since I had such a good experience with it in my 10 gallon - it really turned things around after a particularly bad ugly phase last summer.

In the meantime, there's still a lot of equipment to buy:

Needed to get the tank wet:
Sand
Rock
Return pump
Heater(s) and heater controller - planning on a couple Finnex titanium 150W plugged into an Inkbird controller for redundancy/failsafe)

Needed for coral:
2 - Ocean Revive T-247b
1 - VorTech MP-40 (want to add a second down the road, I think)
1 - AI Prime Fuge

And just for inspiration, an image from Creative Commons

"Colorful Reefs" by Kadu Pinheiro is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

[dbowman]

you have provided me with some food for thought. my fish list is a lot smaller for my 75, maybe i will reconsider

[ghurlag]

you have provided me with some food for thought. my fish list is a lot smaller for my 75, maybe i will reconsider

I may be getting overzealous with the footprint I have, but I don't think I'm overstocking it based on what I've picked out.  It all depend on what you want and how big the specimens will grow to, I think.  I plan on having a thriving refugium and frequent water changes to handle any overfeeding I may end up guilty of. I want fish and corals to thrive, so we'll see where I actually end up...

[Warhawk937]

my 75 has about 7 fish in right now 2 of witch are tangs and one giant melanarus wrasse.  i still have issues after 3 years with nutrient bottoming out.   the truth of the matter is  with efficient nutrient export and  if you have the right flow, rockscape, and fish species you really can stuff the tank. I will be adding 5 more fish to the system.  here in a couple weeks just to stop the nutrients from bottoming out.

[SweetReefOH]

my 75 has about 7 fish in right now 2 of witch are tangs and one giant melanarus wrasse.  i still have issues after 3 years with nutrient bottoming out.   the truth of the matter is  with efficient nutrient export and  if you have the right flow, rockscape, and fish species you really can stuff the tank. I will be adding 5 more fish to the system.  here in a couple weeks just to stop the nutrients from bottoming out.

Brandon,
Reef Roids for PO4, Aminos for Nitrate....
That’s just my preferred method for maintanence. I will dose the chemical equivelant if I am bottomed out, but would rather not.

[ghurlag]

my 75 has about 7 fish in right now 2 of witch are tangs and one giant melanarus wrasse.  i still have issues after 3 years with nutrient bottoming out.   the truth of the matter is  with efficient nutrient export and  if you have the right flow, rockscape, and fish species you really can stuff the tank. I will be adding 5 more fish to the system.  here in a couple weeks just to stop the nutrients from bottoming out.

That’s encouraging.  With the refugium going I hope to have good nutrient export.  If I can get to a point where I can’t really over feed I’ll be pretty happy.

[Warhawk937]

I pulled my cheato and cut back on carbon/ fro to stop the nutrients from bottoming out!

[ghurlag]

Went to Aquarium Artisans to pick out my rock today.  I had a pretty good scape in the store, plus a couple extra pieces here at home.  Spent about $140.

I also received a heater controller, one of two heaters, and the return pump.  All I need is the second heater, sand, and to finalize the plumbing and it’s time to fill it with water!

[lazylivin]

Getting closer!

[ghurlag]

So today I ran a couple new circuits to the wall outlet I’ll be running the tank off of.  Existing wasn’t grounded, so I wanted to update.  While I was planning, a friend suggested I split the outlet into 2 separate circuits in case one trips I only lose half power.  Seemed like a decent idea to me, so I added 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits, now grounded to the panel which is itself grounded. 

Next weekend I plan on getting more salt and starting to make water ahead of filling it up. I still have a few things to buy like an MP40 and the lights, but we’re actually getting there now.

I go out of town for work next week so I may hold off on filling it until I’m back, just in case something bad happens.  I don’t want to stick my wife with a headache.

[dbowman]

i wanted gfci circuits for my 75 system. i had a guy come by to look at my electrical for that and to see what my best bet to connect a generator to the house would be. no real joy for the generator; i will set it up in the garage and run a line to a power strip to run the return and power heads. on the outlets he added 2 two outlet boxes, each on its own 15 amp circuit breaker. I just plugged things into them. Now the decision i have is to sort out the appliances on each so if one trips it will have the least impact on the rest of the system.