75 Gallon- My first real tank project

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I started this project late last year starting from scratch on everything and thought id take the plunge into the salt water world not really knowing what kind of fish I wanted or what size tank to go with. What a learning experience setting everything up and getting it running smooth to say the least. Waited for a deal on a local tank to show up, drilled the tank, plumbing, refugium etc. Bought a clown, chromis, 2 cleaner shrimp, and some hermits as my first buys to get the tank slowly going for the first few month's after it cycled and then finally after about 4 months I decided I wanted to do a smaller fairly "peaceful" predator tank lol. So I added a 12" Snowflake Eel, Bennett's Sharpnose Puffer and Yellow Eye Kole Tang over a couple month period. All the fish seem to be doing very well together even with the cleaner shrimp. Sorry for the crappy picture as its the only decent one I have on my phone. Once I get home I will get more pictures up! :becky:

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

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Pictures of when i got the overflow box and bulkheads done after cutting the glass, seeing how the tank looked on the new stand and where i wanted it places, and all pretty much together starting the cycle.

 

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Couple pictures of the tank mates so far, its so hard to get pictures with a phone. Regret selling my Nikon D90 now ...

 

[fishroomlady]

tank looks great! love the eel

 

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Just figured I'd do a little update. Coraline has been growing okay in some places and really well on others, I especially like the grey that has been growing. I also have been having a problem with cyano in my dt and it just won't seem to go away even after heavy physical removal for the sand and buying another power head. It's getting very tiring having to remove it over the past few weeks.

Also there has always been this pure white spot on one of my rocks that seemed chalky when I blew it with a turkey baster. Took the rock out one day to investigate and I took a plastic spoon to it and it made a hole... I have no idea what happened to it but I left it out of the tank for now. Any ideas what wrong with it?

Tank parameters look good, always used RO/DI water from start up 9 monthes ago and dead reef saver rock from brs, Ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrates 10. calcium, kh, and phosphates are all within a good range. Is the tank just still to new or do you think the nitrates might be a little high still?? Here are a few pics.

 

[skinz78]

Looking good, for the cyano add more flow in the area that you are having troubles with and it should slowly start to go away.

 

[JenB]

Very nice!!

 

[G_Sanab922]

Very nice, how do you like your snowflake eel? on regards to your cyano, +1 on what skinz said and since your tank is pretty new I suggest to give it a little time. if anything, a sand-sifting star helped me out when I had a bit of cyano and either way they are pretty cool to look at. Now i'm cyano free.

 

[Insported]

Very nice, how do you like your snowflake eel? on regards to your cyano, +1 on what skinz said and since your tank is pretty new I suggest to give it a little time. if anything, a sand-sifting star helped me out when I had a bit of cyano and either way they are pretty cool to look at. Now i'm cyano free.

I really enjoy the eel, very interactive when you get his attention and feeding him is fun. One thing I wish he didn't do is stir up sand storms when he clears out his layer under his rock. I will def look into a star then because I'm getting really tired of it lol.

 

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Looking good, for the cyano add more flow in the area that you are having troubles with and it should slowly start to go away.

I originally had one hydor evo 1150 and the return pump nozzle powered by a eheim compact 2000 at max adjustment. Then I bought another hydor 1150 thinking it would be enough to fix my cyano issue but it hasn't. It's it normal to need more power heads in a 75 than what my tank currently has? Also the return pump is rated at 528gph max which means it's only turning over the water about 5 times in a hour. Is this enough?

 

[Euphyllia57]

Not sure about the pumps, I just asked similar questions for my future build but your tank is looking good!