My first saltwater aquarium 75gal

[xavi_west]

Never ran a spray bar but I think the issue with them is marine tanks is salt creep building up and blacking the hole or partially blocking them and salt spray everywhere.

Nice tank!

Yeah thought about the salt creep... i'll be carefull with it at the first sight of trouble its out!


Went to the petshop and got some cleaners;

2 emerald crabs
14 small hermit crabs
5 turbo snails
1 piece of live rock full of coraline

And at the post office I received my chaetomorpha!

so the tanks basic setup is complete!

Here some pictures

Chaetomorpha with a yellowish flourescent bulb (23watts)

I think its the female emerald crab, when I threw them in they started eating the brown algae on the rocks right away

The turbo snails and some of the hermits

The LR with coraline and some hermits on top of it

Hermits even crawling through rocks :spin2:

 

[tony53176]

looking good! with that much diatom though I might think about picking up a little CUC jmo

 

[xavi_west]

I lowered the lights to only 2 t5's ...

I got a couple of questions...

1. Can I add some hermit crabs or others in my sand bed with the chaetomorpha?

2. What others can I add to my CUC and when should I add them?
limpets, fighting conch, nassairus, nerites, peppermint shrimps, other hermits, sea stars?

 

[rogermccray]

I lowered the lights to only 2 t5's ...

I got a couple of questions...

1. Can I add some hermit crabs or others in my sand bed with the chaetomorpha?

2. What others can I add to my CUC and when should I add them?
limpets, fighting conch, nassairus, nerites, peppermint shrimps, other hermits, sea stars?

I cant comment on the sea stars, since I don't know anything about them, all the rest sound good. Make sure you don't get a tiger fighting conch as they will eat your other snails. On that note your hermit crabs will kill your snails to try out there shells.

You want to ramp up your CUC as you up your bioload by addind fish.

 

[floridascape]

nice first tank!(besides the planted tanks those were some of the nicest I have seen) Have you decide to go with a reef tank or a FOWLR? Only asking because your not running any sort of actinic spectrum? 4 6500k 1 10000k and 1 pink right? try (3) 420nm actinics (1) 460nm (1) 10000k white and the pink; a 6 bulb t5 can give your a great color spectrum for a reef tank.

 

[xavi_west]

I cant comment on the sea stars, since I don't know anything about them, all the rest sound good. Make sure you don't get a tiger fighting conch as they will eat your other snails. On that note your hermit crabs will kill your snails to try out there shells.

You want to ramp up your CUC as you up your bioload by addind fish.

Thanks for the tip on the conch! Yeah thought about that... I live close by the sea I could search for some shells and add them and maybe theyll leave the snails alone?

nice first tank!(besides the planted tanks those were some of the nicest I have seen) Have you decide to go with a reef tank or a FOWLR? Only asking because your not running any sort of actinic spectrum? 4 6500k 1 10000k and 1 pink right? try (3) 420nm actinics (1) 460nm (1) 10000k white and the pink; a 6 bulb t5 can give your a great color spectrum for a reef tank.

Hey thanks, I'm thinking going reef, still does were the lights I used when I had the planted tank... Still have to choose the lights for the reef tank :rollface: broke the piggy bank buying the skimmer, koralias and auto top off



Since I lowered the lights algae is practically reduced a lot and the white in the rocks is starting to come back , I'll add a picture tomorrow :thumbsup:

 

[xavi_west]

Well here's a picture of how the algae went down, I guess it will eventually get better

And it was a nice day and wen't to the beach to chill out heres some pictures of our corals... I need a underwater camera ...

 

[xavi_west]

This little guy liked to be in the pictures

This was laying on the sand, placed it back in the water

 

[xavi_west]

The sun lightining over the reef

The entrance

 

[QuailsHollarFrm]

oh ***! so damn lucky....LOL

Nice tank...not that you ever have to go to the fish store as it's right outside. Sad thing is, I'm from FL but we don't have corals like that here. Good luck! Kepp us posted.

 

[firebirdude]

Sorry I didn't read all the replies, so pardon if I repeat.

The algaes in your tank looks like diatoms and red slime. Don't think that's coraline yet. Perfectly normal for new tanks though. I wouldn't go all crazy trying to cure it just yet. It's normal for a cycle and will go away on its own.

Second, 12 hour light schedule is a bit much. You don't even have anything in the tank that requires much light. It's just fueling algae growth. I'd switch clear down to like 6 hours if I were you.

The tiny chamber in your sump with the 1" of sand and now the ball of cheato. I'd ditch the sand. It's not deep enough to reap the benefits of a true deep sand bed, so it's just collecting nitrates. It's such a small amount of sand, it's simply not worth chancing it bringing on problems. Just keep the cheato in there.

 

[xavi_west]

I have a 5 and a 10 gal tanks which is better for QT? I'm adding a HOB filter and a Sponge filter is that ok?

 

[xavi_west]

oh ***! so damn lucky....LOL

Nice tank...not that you ever have to go to the fish store as it's right outside. Sad thing is, I'm from FL but we don't have corals like that here. Good luck! Kepp us posted.

even though I'd love to have a small biotype from that place, that reef is protected... taking even sand from there is ilegal. Still u can allways take pictures :rollface:

Sorry I didn't read all the replies, so pardon if I repeat.

The algaes in your tank looks like diatoms and red slime. Don't think that's coraline yet. Perfectly normal for new tanks though. I wouldn't go all crazy trying to cure it just yet. It's normal for a cycle and will go away on its own.

Second, 12 hour light schedule is a bit much. You don't even have anything in the tank that requires much light. It's just fueling algae growth. I'd switch clear down to like 6 hours if I were you.

The tiny chamber in your sump with the 1" of sand and now the ball of cheato. I'd ditch the sand. It's not deep enough to reap the benefits of a true deep sand bed, so it's just collecting nitrates. It's such a small amount of sand, it's simply not worth chancing it bringing on problems. Just keep the cheato in there.

Maybe the picture doesn't show... theres 4" of sand in there, still what worries me is the superfical area covered... dont know what do you think?


Here's some pictures of the new adds and the tank...

Last night it looked closed and now I think its opened? can someone correct me with this

Here's another one...

this one is still closed...

the entire tank

 

[rogermccray]

I have a 5 and a 10 gal tanks which is better for QT? I'm adding a HOB filter and a Sponge filter is that ok?

I would go with the 10 definitely, 5 is just too small. I believe that is all you need for a filter, most people keep the sponge in their sump that way it contains some biological filtration already and then you can just throw it in your QT. With that small of a QT just keep a very close eye on your ammonia as it will climb quickly.

 

[xavi_west]

I would go with the 10 definitely, 5 is just too small. I believe that is all you need for a filter, most people keep the sponge in their sump that way it contains some biological filtration already and then you can just throw it in your QT. With that small of a QT just keep a very close eye on your ammonia as it will climb quickly.

10 it is then! :spin1:



heres a couple of pictures from the new shrooms, pictures are just putting them in

the guts looked upset but theyre in right now

 

[Bowels]

Hey Im diggin the tank, and the homestead! I hate where I live but I cant move for another few years Its looking awesome! You will be happy you went for broke on your first tank, and built a big one with a sump, I went small and recently decided to upgrade since the water changes were making me nuts lol. I was reading everyone's replies... not sure the one about the hermit crabs stealing the snails shells is something you need to worry about, I have a bunch of friends with tanks with hermits and snails living in perfect harmony, myself included. And dont get that conch the guy was talking about, but you def want a conch! especially with all that substrate on the bottom (not that its a lot) but I have a conch (not the bad kind) and he is great I named him conky and he is always going through thte substrate stirring it up and cleaning the brown sTuff off of it def an awesome little cleaner and cute! if you go reef you will def want to get a nice light, i would go t5s with metal halide its what I have and the corals are better for it keep up the good work- and by work i mean patience at this point in your setup, i cant wait to see more pictures in the future when it grows out

 

[chrispmcgill]

Very cool. I have a 75G I have been getting all the equipment for. I can't wait till I can actually starting putting saltwater. Good luck!

 

[scoobster]

Great start up, Keep it flowing.

 

[Andre87]

awesome i can't wait to start mine

 

[xavi_west]

Bowels your right patience... patience :lolspin:

thanks for the replys :wave:

Well here's an update on the shrooms they're looking freat, better than yesterday! and pictures of the critters in the tank, some pictures I hadn't had a chance to take before...

Amonnia is down to 0, still some nitrates and low nitrites... but everything is doing great, like Bowels says patience... now on there won't be anything alive added for one or two weeks, until parameters are all at 0...

Here the pictures...
one of the tube worms and a frag of star polyps that started to show itself yesterday

the other featherduster

my clown chupi wanted to be in the photo, looking great

closeup on the starpolyps

the shrooms looking awesome