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Jables
03/09/2015, 08:27 PM
I am setting up my first salt water tank and figured I would journal it here. Have been on this forum doing a lot of research but this is my first thread. Have done freshwater african cichlids for years, but finally taking on salt water.

The tank is 75g, with a 20g sump. The tank was not predrilled, but I had drilled and added a gl*******s.com overflow on my FW setup. I built the stand and canopy myself, nothing fancy.

I have a little less than 40lbs reef grade sand, makes it a shallow sand bed about an inch thick. Have 70lbs BRS reef saver rock that has been cooking in a trash can for about a month.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_153112.jpg

Lighting is two ebay chinese 165w full spectrum led units. Looking great so far. The whites and blues are controlled separately and they are dimmable. Dimmed all the way down in these pics. Also have a blue and purple led strip for moonlights. Am still tweaking that though.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_152953.jpg

The sump just has a filter sock, reef octopus skimmer, jager heater, and mag 9 return pump. Have a glass baffle. The wires are a mess, still need to clean them up.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_153037.jpg

I built a simple diy temperature controller. It monitors the water temp and if it falls below a set point it turns the heater on and over a set point cuts the heater off and the fans on in the canopy. Fans are just pc fans. Auto topoff is from autotopoff.com

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_153049.jpg

Have circulation with two hydor koralia 1150s. I am using a 75gpd ro/di unit from BRS. Plan to eventually have soft corals. I decided to seed the dry rock with some live rock. Have 20lbs of tampa bay aquacultured live rock coming hopefully tomorrow and a little live sand.

The dry rock has been cycling and is pretty much done. My last test showed almost 0 ammonia (had dosed some earlier in the day.) Have had a nitrite spike that is finally coming down and getting close to 0. Nitrates have been climbing but haven't gone too far over 20ppm. Also have a quarantine tank that has been cycling and is almost done.
Excited to get things going!

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_152940.jpg
http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150305_152844.jpg

thegrun
03/09/2015, 08:30 PM
Nice start, Best of luck!

ZeeSparrow
03/09/2015, 09:41 PM
Looks good!

I'll be starting up a 75g myself shortly. Picking up the tank later this week, then will start building the stand. Will start up my own thread once I get set up.

Jables
03/11/2015, 12:23 PM
Got my order of live rock in last night. Got a lot more rock than I was expecting, think I almost have to much rock in there now. There is a ton of life on it.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150311_140452.jpg

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150311_140529.jpg

Anyone know what this is? Looks kind of like an anemone to me but I am still new to all this.
http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150311_140502.jpg

Jables
03/11/2015, 12:36 PM
Oh I think that is aptaisa actually.. goody

Jables
03/16/2015, 06:32 PM
Well I decided there was a little too much rock in there so I took a little bit of the dry rock out. Anybody have an opinion on the scaping?

I went on an aiptaisa hunting spree and killed all of them that I could see. I think some of them were manjano possibly. Killed them with kalk paste. Hoping I don't have any more pop up but I wouldn't be suprised. I plan on having some peppermint shrimp so hopefully they will keep them in control.

The tank is cycled, might get a cuc soon. However I am still waiting on my quarantine tank to finish cycling, still have high nitrites. I'm pretty sure they will start coming down any day now.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150316_202121.jpg

pyithar
03/16/2015, 09:08 PM
looking good! good luck. are the rocks secured on the right side btw?

Jables
03/17/2015, 06:54 AM
Thanks. All the rocks are just stacked, I keep moving them around. I know it looks like that one rock is about to fall over but it's pretty secure. One of the nice things about the brs reef saver rock.

Jables
03/24/2015, 01:46 PM
Not too much to update on this. Tank is cycled and I have a small cuc in. Still waiting on the quarantine tank to finish cycling.

Thought I would share a pic of these, which I am pretty sure is hidden cup coral. Pretty cool

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee405/JacobL1/Reef%20Tank/20150324_153810.jpg

Jason S
03/24/2015, 03:39 PM
They look like Hidden Cup to me. Nice looking start to your tank bud, and I am glad to see you doing it the correct way :)

Jables
03/24/2015, 04:34 PM
Thanks!

Stevenliu9
03/24/2015, 06:24 PM
nice system, looking forward to see you fill it up!

Jables
03/25/2015, 05:16 AM
Thanks, I can't wait to fill it up. But definitely taking my time, trying to do stuff right the first time. I've done several freshwater african cichlid setups and I'm used to stocking the tank petty much all at once with a lot of fish. So this is definitely an adjustment, working on my patience.