Help build my 75g reef

[castor]

I am starting this thread hopeing that it willl help to build my 75g reef. Here's the story. I was in a bad car accident over a year ago and suffered some pretty bad injurys. I am about to get my settlement and with the extra money I want to set up a nice SPS tank. This is where you guys come in. I have a 29g LPS tank right now so I know a bit, but when it comes to SPS I'm a newbe. I want a nice tank though and I thought some of you guys could help me out.

It's going to be a 75g tank with a 20g sump. I know I want to do T5s for the lighting. Other than that, I don't know. There are so many things to ask, like what bulbs and which calcium reactor.

I'll hopefully have photos as things progress and I'll post them here.

Any help is welcome.

 

[mntl]

The best thing you can do for the tank is let it get well established prior to adding acros. Put the rock and fish you want in first (obviously after the cycle) and enjoy the tank for months as it develops pods/coraline/etc. Then when it has really matured, start experimenting with a few sps. I dont mean this to say anything negative about the way you run your tanks or the fact that you are a "newbie" to sps, it's just that acros never really seem to take off until the tank is well established. It is not that they wont live or grow, it is just that the color and over-all health is easier to maintane in an older system.

A skimmer is very important and a adequate means of controlling cal/alk/mag is necessary. There are alot of good skimmers, just buy a over-rated one from a reputable company and dont skimp, you will regret it. It seems like heavy feeding with heavy skimming works better than low feeding with low skimming for colors. Dont set-up the tank to starve the water clean, just dont let things break-down in tank.

That is broad, what specifically are you looking for?

-John-

 

[rklutt]

My old set-up for my 75g was a 75G RR, 29g sump with 3 chambers 1) EuroReef CS80-3, 2)small fuge, 3) Mag 12 as the return, 15g Auto-top off tank, 2 Seio 820's, Dual 175w 10k MH, Dual 110W Super Actinic VHO's. It worked great! had good sps growth. Always remeber to screen your drain pipe... so something like a turbo snail doesn't clog it and cause a overflow... like I had.

 

[MiddletonMark]

I very much agree with minimalist. Sadly, even with your experience, it's hard to get past that initial time it takes for the tank to make Acropora-types thrive.

Agree as well on the skimmer, it's easier to turn one down than make it perform like a more powerful skimmer.

Keep water flow in mind. When first growing out frags - you don't need to blast them across the tank. But after a year, once they start to grow dense, larger colonies, waterflow becomes a much bigger factor to pay attention to. IME, you don't need 40x flow in the first 6 months, but after 18, you might want it.

 

[castor]

Okay some questions. What would be a good skimmer? I'm not looking for top of the line like I think deltecs are and price is a little bit of a consideration because I want to have enough to get a calcium reator system.

With a calcium reator what all do I need? I know there is the reator itself, and a co2 tank and the gages with a solenoid right but then do you have to have a ph meter hooked up to it to run it? How does that work?

For lighting I was thinking of getting this hood, a 6x54w T5 HO. What bulb combination would work best for looks? Will that be enough light? It doesn't say how it sits on the tank if it has legs or not, if I get it would that be the hood and not need a canopy?

For flow I was thinking of having a closed loop using a squirt from oceanmotions. Would a magdrive 9.5 be enough if used in combination with another 9.5 for the return on the sump? I'm thinking this will give me plenty of current or would a mag 12 be better on the closed loop?

I think those are plenty of questions for now, thanks for the help!

 

[castor]

any takers

 

[castor]

I could really use some help

 

[carib]

so you want to gamble?

 

[dots]

Don't make the same mistake I did.....buy the best lighting you can afford the FIRST time. For SPS go with 250 watt Metal Halides....in the long run they will make it easier for you to grow SPS and get the picture friendly tank you want rather than a bunch of frags that are slow growing because of too little light....


Until you get a high absorbtion rate....ie lots and lots of coral, you can get a reactor later.


Buy a mongo Skimmer, and lots of light and let it mature and stabilize for a few months....

 

[dvanacker]

A 6 bulb Tek light is great for SPS in a 75g. Some people who have never tried T5's like to knock them...dont listen.

You can hold on the reactor till you start adding SPS and your calc/alk demand goes up. Also you asked about the ph monitor. The idea of a calcium reator is to add CO2 to lower the PH in the reactor. That is what you need to monitor and 6.5+/- is what people are trying to acheive.

For skimmers I recommend ASM....very good bang for the buck. Get a G3 modded with recirc and gate valve. Also feed it with your overflow. Im from the idea that you dont want alot of flow through your sump....I would use a mag 7.

www.asmskimmer.com is a good place to get the skimmer.

Also for flow get a Tunze TS21 kit....thats two 6000 and a mulitcontroller. Its expensive but you wont regret it.

IMO this system would rock......good luck.

 

[rklutt]

I think a Euro-Reef skimmer beats the ASM's hands down. You can get a Blem ER from
http://www.h2otropicals.com/

When I was in the market for a new skimmer I looked at both and was not impressed with the build quailty of the ASM's and went ER blem for the same money and never looked back. The ER is a great skimmer.