Planning new aquarium

cheesebagger

New member
Hello, I've been out of the hobby for about 7 years now. Untill 2004 I had 2 marine set ups (55 gal and a 56 gal tall, both fish only) for several years but had to give them up when I moved to the mid west, wasn't room in the truck and the 1200 mile drive made a second trip impossible.
Any how, I am finally able to get back in and my fiance and I are in the planning/collecting stage and since I've been out of the loop for so long I could really use some advice. So far what I've accumulated is a 75 gal tank, marineland biowheel filter (rated for 70 gal) 45 pds sand, 30 pds crushed coral, approx 80 pds base rock and 1 bucked of instant ocean.
The new setup is going to be FOWLR, but we would like to add corals in the future, which I've haven't had in the past and why I could use some good advice. I know good lighting is important and I was considering an Aqualife fluorescent 48" with dual actinic/ dual 10000k and moon led's, I found a hydrokable under gravel heating but I'm not sure that would do the job in a tank this size. To supplement the biowheel I was thinking of adding a skilter filter, I had good luck with those in the past, but would a reef setup require a dedicated skimmer? Also, how many power heads would serve? We're planning on having a few feather dusters and I believe the like water movement but I don't want overkill there.
Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
first off i would say if you want corals a sump is very much recommended. The marineland filter is not enough to handle a 75 gallon so mabe do two. you want to get a good protein skimmer on the tank so look into that. i would stay away from the crushed coral because it makes your nitrates go up in the long run. just do live sand. powerheads i would have 2 to 4 depending on what is in the tank. if you are going to have feather dusters i would have 3 or 4. good luck
 
If you haven't already check the stickies.

Crushed coral is fine if your going to vacuum it out regularly. Seeing that you also have sand makes me think your going to mix the two. The CC will end up on top and it will trap detritus.

A skimmer is the only filtration you need to run on the tank. Look at the Super Reef Octopus 1000 skimmer.
 
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