New 75 Gal Project Thread

[stillcity]

I figured I'd start one of these threads to post pics and get advice. This is my first saltwater but I've been doing freshwater for years. I've posted a bunch of newbie questions over the past few days and I appreciate all of the help so far. But anyways I'll start with how far I've gotten.

I've actually started this project a few years ago by acquiring pieces of the stand and the tank from a buddy who didn't have room for his stuff. I've slowly acquired other parts over the past few years and now I had just about everything. Recently a friend had to move out of town on short notice and needed to get rid of his livestock on top of that my boy is at the age where he now loves "fishies" and watched nemo for the first time, we have a 29 set up for him with tetras and mollies. I've had ciclids over the past 10 years but this is my first step into saltwater.

Anyways here is the equipment I'm starting with:
-75 gal tank drilled with 1inch drains. I've installed PVC for the drains with ball valves to control the flow rate. I've tested each drain to make sure the others can handle the flow if one fails and clogs.
-2 pumps. One old iwaki and a mag 7.
- a light fixture with 2 150W MHs I'm going to use 14k bulbs and 2 aquablue t5s. One of the ballasts is busted on the t5 and I will order a new one shortly. So will go with 1 t5 for now.
-Some sort of skimmer i got along with the original tank, i've plumbed it with the mag 7 and it seems to create a good amount of bubbles.


This is what I'm going to get from my friend when he moves in the next week:
-50 lbs of live rock, i will probably add some base rock and not add any fish for a while.
- a couple of small corals, they are some HO bulbs
- 2 clowns
- 2 striped damsels
- 1 blue devil damsel
- a couple of hermit crabs

Based on my friend leaving shortly I've hurried up and assembled everything and filled the tank up with water on Friday. I've added a power filter from the other tank along with extra activated charcoal to try to get a cycle going with a little fish food. I was thinking of sticking one of the mollies in there. This was done on a whim. Since we are transferring an established tank I'm not sure how important that is. I would like some advice on it but be nice if I made mistakes introducing some freshwater bacteria. If it were up to you guys what would be the earliest you would move the fish? I may *have* to do i tomorrow since my friend is moving.

The power head is temporary I was planning on running without a filter and just the skimmer, any ideas on this? Previous owner uses filter but no skimmer.

Anyways here are some pics of the tank running. Water temp is around 80 degrees, salinity is around 1.022.

Sump is a 29 gallon tank. No fuge in there didn't have time.

The old iwaki.

 

[zma21]

Raise the salinity, good luck!

 

[stillcity]

The tank they are currently in is at 1.022. Why is it a good idea to raise it?

 

[McCrary]

Carbon is going to be counter productive to your cycling, it is going to remove the ammonia before it can become nitrate. Get the sand and live rock in the tank and start testing your ammonia and nitrate levels (the live rock and sand will harbor your bacteria). When you no longer have detectable ammonia readings and you are showing nitrates your cycle should be completed. Add a fish and see how it turns out, nitrates only affect fish in very high concentrations so I wouldn't worry about them. If the fish lasts a week then do a small water change to remove the nitrate. Check your ammonia levels and let the tank adjust to the water change. If your ammonia levels stay in check then you should be fine to continue adding fish.

Damsels grow large quickly and as they gain size they become more aggressive, they also lose their bright coloring and usually become grey, brown, black or some dull combination of those colors. When grown I would only suggest keeping them with more aggressive fish like puffers, large angels, triggers and the like. Just thought I would warn you.

A good salinity is 1.025, its fairly standard and most fish are kept in water close to this.

 

[Nano Chris]

What i would be concerned about is this picture right here:

I would replace the sump (shouldn't cost much, unless you want a potential flood on your floor) if that brace gives way.

IMO you are coming along quite nicely.

 

[stillcity]

Thanks for the advice. I put the carbon in there because I had to start out with tap water and wanted to remove whatever I can be in there. I typically haven't had too much trouble getting a freshwater to cycle with the carbon in the tank. I'm starting to show some trace ammonia. I have an RO unit but I needed to order a few parts to hook it up that haven't arrived yet. I'll do all water changes to get RO water in there. The tank i'm getting my livestock from uses tap.

As far as the sump goes, that tank has been that way for 10 years. I'm not too concerned about it. Knock on wood it continues to work out. I plan on setting up real sump at some point soon with a fuge etc.

 

[stillcity]

Unfortunately I have to take all 5 fish at the same time and can't let the rock go through a cycle. Fortunately I only have to move the stuff out of the current tank about 20 minutes. Should I use daily water changes? or try something like ammo chips if ammonia shoots up too high?

 

[stillcity]

Have a question as far as mounting a place to collect the skim. Should I just put a plastic milk jug inside the sump and add the line to it or should i line it out? I am leaning towards putting in the sump. Any ideas on this?

 

[McCrary]

I would just let the fish go through the cycle and use carbon to remove ammonia only when it rises above .25. I would plug the collection cup so you don't need the jug, it helps to ensure that you are regularly cleaning the collection cup rather than just emptying the jug.

 

[stillcity]

I appreciate the advice so far.
This is so much more nerve racking than dealing with freshwater. In that realm I mostly learned by doing. Here there is way too much money, time, sweat, and more money on the line not to do some research and ask questions.

 

[stillcity]

Today was livestock day. We quickly pulled apart my friend's tank and put everything in bins. I made sure the sand and rocks were submerged in water the entire trip. Time between break down and my place was about 40 minutes. Put the sand, rocks, coral, and fish in the tank and have that big sand cloud. It's starting to clear up after an hour. I'll be adding pics here shortly. We'll see how the fish handle the cycle.

 

[stillcity]

Here is the tank about an hour after installing sand, rock and fish.

Here are the two maroon clowns. I'd like to find an anenome for them. The damsels can be a little rough at times according to the old owner.

One of the clowns appears to be a little roughed up not sure if he was like this pre-move.

 

[stillcity]

Here is one of the blue devil damsel. The two striped damsels have been camping in the rocks so i don't have any pics of them yet.

 

[blkdrgn]

i would setup a QT tank and put the fish in there with the power filter you already have. some consider it in-humane to have fish in the tank while it is cycling especially with a trace of ammonia.

is your pump touching the wall of the stand? does it vibrate?

the water level in your skimmer looks low. usually the bubble are right at the bottom of the neck.

 

[stillcity]

If I kill the fish you could have a point. But as far as pain and suffering I'm not going to go there... they're fish. But how much could that cycle really be if I made all the precautions to prevent as little die off as possible?

 

[blkdrgn]

what are your tests reading? im assuming you have fully cured LR from the old setup. now you are reading some ammonia probably from a little die off on the LR. just watch it carefully as ammonia will kill your fish pretty quickly. i think you will be fine but just get ready to do a water change if the reading get too high.

 

[stillcity]

The ammonia is showing just slightly above 0 but not near .25. The fish seem to be doing pretty well at this point.

 

[stillcity]

Here is the hermit crab checking out new homes. He's lugging around a shell way too big for him

 

[stillcity]

The tank appears to be in the cycle.
Ammonia <.25ppm, nitrite at .05ppm and nitrate <.25ppm and the salinity around 1.024.

The fish seem to be doing ok and ate well.

Here is the first pic I've been able to get of one of the striped damsels they like to swim around and hide in the rocks.

 

[stillcity]

Need help IDing coral

Need help IDing coral

I was given two corals I have no idea what they are, one is large and one is tiny. The old tank had a couple of NO bulbs. Hopefully they'll do well under my relatively stronger lights.

The first one seems to only be sprouting out of only one of the tops. It wasn't really sprouting when it was picked out of the old tank. This one is about 4 inches or so from top to bottom.

Here is the other one. This one is less than an inch high.