75 Gallon Fish only Salt Water Tank Set Up (Need advise)

[surent5]

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone's doing well.

Please note I have a nano marine tank (only with fish) and I'm planning to convert my inbuilt sump freshwater aquarium tank into a fish only marine tank. Will need your advise on below.

1. Since I have an inbuilt sump tank as shown in the pictures can I not use Skimmer as I'm out of budget?
2. What's the light that I need to buy? I'm not planning to have corals. So it will be only fish and might get some Live Rocks.
3. Pictures of the tank are given below.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Regards
Suren

 

[saltyhog]

I would definitely encourage you to use live rock. As far as lights, almost any would be fine with a fish only. I would steer away from excessive white/green/red spectrum as these seem to promote algae growth.

 

[surent5]

I would definitely encourage you to use live rock. As far as lights, almost any would be fine with a fish only. I would steer away from excessive white/green/red spectrum as these seem to promote algae growth.

Thanks for the reply buddy. Can I not use a skimmer and go with the normal filtration method? (i.e. polyfilter pad, Bio Media & charcoal).

Kindly advise and is the inbuilt filter system workable for my tank?

 

[joe0813]

you can use a HOB skimmer if you wanted to. You dont NEED a skimmer though.

 

[surent5]

you can use a HOB skimmer if you wanted to. You dont NEED a skimmer though.

Thanks buddy.

Any suggestion on HOB?
I would like to keep the cost below USD 30.

And what are the other things I need to do. Would you mind just letting me know process? Sorry about multiple questions.

Thanks!

 

[joe0813]

I dont know any under $30 off the top of my head. You can go on bulkreefsupply.com and look at what they have for options and the reviews on them.

Other things you want to in regards to setting up the tank?

 

[Jaebster]

In my opinion, I wouldn't use "live" rock. If it is a salterfiah tank only, you may need to treat the tank for diseases and most medication, especially copper will end up killing the live rock anyways. Save your money and buy dry rock and use the saved money on a good protein skimmer. Be sure you cycle the tank with the dry rock so it becomes "live" before you add fish. I dont know what other filtration systems you have planned and I'm assuming you are going to use some sort of mechanical filtration (such as floss) and bioballs as additional biofiltration. To be honest, the bioballs wont be necessary. I think a protein skimmer is essential for a fish only tank to quickly pull out organics.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

If you don't want to drill your tank you could always add a CPR overflow box and add a sump and skimmer in the stand. Of course the combination will cost several hundred dollars (for a decent skimmer anyways). If that is too expensive you will want to at least some good mechanical filtration, either with a sizable hang on back filter or even an older school canister filter under the tank. Definitely a lot of dry (or live) rock to give your fishes adequate cover as well as provide adequate surface area for biological filtration. Or a combination of the two to keep the cost down.

If you use dry rock I strongly recommend you start the tank off with Fritzyme Turbo Start 900 (bottled bacteria). Don't waste your money on Dr.Tims or others. The Turbo is kept refrigerated and has a limited shelf life. Then use ammonia to slowly feed the tank (while testing, don't do this blindly) until you see the tank cycle, then you can add a few hardy fish. I would never recommend going for the "instant" tank (adding fish immediately as many will insist you can do). With live rock your cycle may be faster, but there will always be a cycle to some extent.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Welcome! Not sure where you live but you can typically find live rock or dead rock in craigslist. Due to invasive pests it's best to kill it and start over. The most effective is muriatic acid bath. Be an adult about using it though, it is serious stuff.

While a skimmer is not neccessary, it does provide two important functions. 1. It greatly increases oxygen content in the water and 2. Eliminates organics before they have time to break down into nitrates.

 

[A.C.R Tanks]

Ive seen multiple tanks that dont run skimmers so no you don't need one. Just have proper filtration, dont overfeed, and do regular water changes.

 

[surent5]

I dont know any under $30 off the top of my head. You can go on bulkreefsupply.com and look at what they have for options and the reviews on them.

Other things you want to in regards to setting up the tank?

Noted with thanks.

Do I need any other equipment apart from the existing ones that I have? Skimmer is not needed yea?

Thanks again!

 

[surent5]

If you don't want to drill your tank you could always add a CPR overflow box and add a sump and skimmer in the stand. Of course the combination will cost several hundred dollars (for a decent skimmer anyways). If that is too expensive you will want to at least some good mechanical filtration, either with a sizable hang on back filter or even an older school canister filter under the tank. Definitely a lot of dry (or live) rock to give your fishes adequate cover as well as provide adequate surface area for biological filtration. Or a combination of the two to keep the cost down.

If you use dry rock I strongly recommend you start the tank off with Fritzyme Turbo Start 900 (bottled bacteria). Don't waste your money on Dr.Tims or others. The Turbo is kept refrigerated and has a limited shelf life. Then use ammonia to slowly feed the tank (while testing, don't do this blindly) until you see the tank cycle, then you can add a few hardy fish. I would never recommend going for the "instant" tank (adding fish immediately as many will insist you can do). With live rock your cycle may be faster, but there will always be a cycle to some extent.

Thanks for the descriptive explanation. Appreciate it very much. I'm actually a bit out of budget so would like to keep the cost at minimal (i.e. below USD 80). I already have the inbuilt filter system with 3 chambers. So do I still need to go for a HOB filter?

Noted your advise on live rock and "instant tank". Will do the needful accordingly.

Thanks again!

 

[surent5]

Welcome! Not sure where you live but you can typically find live rock or dead rock in craigslist. Due to invasive pests it's best to kill it and start over. The most effective is muriatic acid bath. Be an adult about using it though, it is serious stuff.

While a skimmer is not neccessary, it does provide two important functions. 1. It greatly increases oxygen content in the water and 2. Eliminates organics before they have time to break down into nitrates.

I actually live in Sri Lanka (an island). I should be able to get some live rock.
Understand your comment on the skimmer. I have bubble magues QQ2 which is for a nano tank though. Would it be useful since I already have an inbuilt filter system in the 75 gallon (please see the pictures in my original thread).

Kindly advise, thanks!

 

[joe0813]

You will need some flow in your tank. So a decent power head will work.

I recommend watching 52 weeks of reefing on YouTube.

 

[surent5]

You will need some flow in your tank. So a decent power head will work.

I recommend watching 52 weeks of reefing on YouTube.

Thanks buddy.