Slow setup

[rtenzo02]

Well here I am attempting to setup a reef tank for the second time. Never did figure out why the first one failed, fish would only last about 3-6 days before dying.
I have a 75 gallon tank with about 40 lbs of tonga at the moment, sea salt, Coralife high watt lighting system, and a aqua clear 110 that I plan to use for macro algae. My plan is to set the tank up slowly seeing I'd like to have about another 80-100 lbs of live rock, and don't want to waist time , money and fish like before. These are the steps I plan to take and would like everyone's advice.
1. Fill the tank with ro/di water and mix in sea salt to appr. 1.023
2. Add live sand approx. 3-4 inches deep
3. Place the 40 lbs of tonga I have in the tank
4. Heat the water to about 79 degrees
5. Add about 20-30lbs of live rock every 2 weeks till I have a total of 100-150 lbs.

After these steps are complete final water testing, start the aqua clear with macro algae, fire up the skimmer and lights.

So with the steps I have explained can anyone please tell me if this should work, am I forgetting anything. I figure the tank will cycle each time I add new LR, so once I add the final peices of LR , I should see the final cycle. Then add a fish. Thanks !!

 

[rtenzo02]

And by the way I don't plan on using a sump.

 

[Don_v]

what do you mean by "sea salt"? your not talking about the stuff from the grocery store, right?

anyways, 1.023 is a little low, imo. I would raise it to 1.025-1.026

 

[rtenzo02]

Sorry, the salt was purchased at a LFS. And the salinity level can be raised, no problem ! Anything else I may need to change or add ?

 

[disc1]

Mix the water up then add it to the tank. Mixing in the tank can leave precipitate.

 

[jbachert]

Well here I am attempting to setup a reef tank for the second time. Never did figure out why the first one failed, fish would only last about 3-6 days before dying.
I have a 75 gallon tank with about 40 lbs of tonga at the moment, sea salt, Coralife high watt lighting system, and a aqua clear 110 that I plan to use for macro algae. My plan is to set the tank up slowly seeing I'd like to have about another 80-100 lbs of live rock, and don't want to waist time , money and fish like before. These are the steps I plan to take and would like everyone's advice.
1. Fill the tank with ro/di water and mix in sea salt to appr. 1.023
2. Add live sand approx. 3-4 inches deep
3. Place the 40 lbs of tonga I have in the tank
4. Heat the water to about 79 degrees
5. Add about 20-30lbs of live rock every 2 weeks till I have a total of 100-150 lbs.

After these steps are complete final water testing, start the aqua clear with macro algae, fire up the skimmer and lights.

So with the steps I have explained can anyone please tell me if this should work, am I forgetting anything. I figure the tank will cycle each time I add new LR, so once I add the final peices of LR , I should see the final cycle. Then add a fish. Thanks !!

I would probably try to add as much live rock as you can right in the beginning - every time you add more rock you may trigger another small cycle and it would be nice to get the cycle knocked out all at once.

 

[ludiNano]

What skimmer do u have?

I would seriously consider a sump/ separate refugium, I mean if you want to do it right the first time and all. It's actually very easy to drill a tank I wad scared at first but after the first hole it was like cutting butter.

Those HOB filters turned refugiums are a mess I tried it on a nano and worked ok..... but would never try it on a larger tank like yours.

Could u describe ur high watt coralife light fixture in more depth?

What do u plan to do for water top off?