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05/14/2013, 05:58 PM
Well I think it is finally time to start my tank back up. It has been down since Christmas when the big ice storm wiped us all out for a week. Since then a lot has changed. I've got my fiancee at my house now and a two year old running around. Our company has recently gone public and it has created a whole new level of workload for me.

I want to think of some new ideas for my tank. I thought I would do my thinking out loud right here. I don't know why, but it seems like feedback might help get me going.

First of all, what are we working with. It's a 75 gallon tank with a 30 for a sump. I know I'm going to tear the sump apart and rebuild it because what I had wasn't working well and was a PITA to deal with. I have T5 lights right now, but I'm thinking about going a little brighter and getting some LEDs. But maybe not right at first. I have an old return pump I don't even remember how many GPH but it's way more than enough. And I got me a couple of korallia powerheads that get the job done, but I'm thinking about hacking into one of these new WP40's. I run a (don't laugh) heavily modified Coralife skimmer with a needle wheel pump and forced air from an airpump. I've had it since the very beginning and I've gotten pretty good at making it do its job. I'll upgrade someday, but I bet I know more about tuning up a Coralife skimmer than anyone would ever want to. I've done it enough times. The key is to go slow, make an adjustment and then wait. If I could keep the salt creep out of the airline I'd say it was perfect. But I know it's not.

And the requirements. I'm a busy man. I'm not home a lot. My tanks have to be self sufficient. The last tank ran on it's own and I know went for at least six months on one water change and no feeding at all. I had enough pods and natural algae and a light enough fish load that everything just went round in circles like it should and nothing got out of control. I have automated pumps for dosing and I see the tank enough to know when something needs to be done. I've gotten pretty good at keeping a low maintenance tank. But now my fiancee is around and I can finally have things like daily feeding, my little boy will love it.

I think I'm going to add automatic water changes if the tank is going to be fed now.

My little boy is 2 now. He really likes clownfish. I think he'd enjoy growing up with one. I really like the maroon clowns. They get big and they have a ton of personality and I just think they are beautiful. I've never kept clownfish or anemones. So it would be a nice learning experience as well to see how I can do with a BTA.

So a maroon clown and a BTA. Big mean fish. Not a lot I can put in there with him. Stocking options will be a big question. Should I get a pair and just focus on them and some inverts?

And where in the world do those come from? And what naturally lives there? I might not necessarily do a completely location specific tank, but it would be nice to know for once and at least go sort of in that direction instead of having whatever frags I can get from wherever they may be from.

I have a bunch of rock from the old tank. I should cook it, but I think I'm going to run it for a long cycle-in period and pseudo-cook it in the tank. I might let the GHA or something go wild on it for a little while until they can strip it of whatever is there. Meanwhile I can work on getting new lights.

I think I'll start a build thread once I get the old sump tore down. That will be step one. Meanwhile I'm open to any suggestions. I'm especially open to any info on the BTA-Maroon combo and how to plan around that.