Aquaman's 75g Reef - Back After 12 years away!

[aquaman3680]

After 12 years away from the hobby, I've officially started up a tank again, and it just all feels right!

I started in the hobby when I was 12 working at fish stores, I worked in different stores for 10 years and having reef tanks at home. It was always a hobby my dad and I shared and at one point we were running a business, MidWest Frags if any of you remember it, and had over 2000g worth of SPS reef and frag tanks in the house. I went off to college and the tanks had to come down and we were out of the hobby. Walking through a PetCo and my daughter was absolutely amazed with the saltwater fish and asked if we could bring one home.

Fastforward to today, and we bought an established 75 gallon reef ready tank with all the equipment, rock and sand, but no livestock at all. We've had the tank a little over a month now and couldn't be enjoying it more!

I've had all sorts of different reef setups before from large SPS tanks to zoa tanks, but one thing I've never really had is a mostly soft coral tank, and that's the plan for this one. Soft corals and anemones.

Stocking so far-
70lbs live rock and another 15 in the sump
95lbs Sand
Diamond Sifter Goby
Blue Spot Jawfish
Feather Duster
Green Bubble Tip Anemone (rescued from PetCo)
Cleaner Shrimp
A handful of snails and hermit crabs

On with the pictures-

I love documenting the journey a tank takes and wanted to share it with you all. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'm an open book!

See you all around!

Matt

 

[PokeFish]

following

 

[revhtree]

Welcome back!!!

 

[aquaman3680]

Welcome back!!!

I appreciate it! Nice to see my favorite forum is still alive and thriving!

 

[aquaman3680]

following

Thanks for following along!

 

[aquaman3680]

We have an unfinished part of our basement underneath the tank, this area will eventually be enclosed and will be the fish room where I'll plumb the tank through the floor. It will potentially support other tanks in the house too, don't tell my wife yet though .

I got the RO unit installed today, will be adding DI as well, and also got a stand built for 2 x 32 gallon Brute trash cans for RO storage and a salt mixup tank. The bulkheads are running late, so I'll get those installed and get everything plumbed when they come in. For now, at least I don't need to get top off water from the LFS anymore.

I'll definitely be updating on progress of the fish room as things get setup as well. The plan is to have the sump down there and allow for room for a refugium as well and possibly some other goodies as well . We're just getting started with this setup!

The RO lines and everything will all get prettied up, just wanted to get everything functioning for now.

The fish room will be from the right wall and will wrap around the pole and down to the doorway in the back right of the basement.

Can't wait to see this all come together!

 

[aquaman3680]

The water storage setup is all ready to go. RO storage on top and salt make up on the bottom! Here's a few pics of the setup, the painters tape on the ground is where the walls for the fish room will be.

The BTA is coloring up nicely since rescuing it from PetCo, hoping to add a RBTA soon as well.

Will be doing a water change this weekend tested all levels and everything is looking great so far! My little girl is itching to add some clownfish to the tank!

Matt

 

[region.reef]

Following as I’ve decided to also do a dominate soft coral build!

 

[aquaman3680]

Following as I’ve decided to also do a dominate soft coral build!

Thanks for following along!

 

[aquaman3680]

Added in some new fish yesterday to the system! I got a melanarus wrasse and 3 baby captive bread bangaii cardinals. All came out this morning and are eating well! Also, I had some hair algae starting up and picked up 5 Mexican turbos and some blue leg hermits and they seem to have taken care of it over night. I never knew the mexican turbos are hair algae! Still learning new things!

I also added this filter roller mat to the tank a couple of weeks ago and it has to be the greatest invention ever! This wasn't a thing when I had my previous tanks, and not having to deal with the filter socks almost daily has been incredible. If anyone is on the fence about a filter roller, it's a game changer! This one is the Bubble Magnus ARF-S, highly recommend it!

Next up I think I'll be adding some corals to the tank to start creating more movement in the tank! **What are some of the more sought after leather corals now? I know I for sure want a yellow Fiji leather, always loved those, anything else you think looks really good?

My daughter is also itching for some clownfish, but waiting to find the right pair of Picasso clowns, also need to get the QT tank setup first as I don't want to risk introducing brook into the tank. Everything so far has been relatively disease free fish, so I haven't really worried about it too much.

Hopefully you enjoyed the update!

Matt

 

[aquaman3680]

My green BTA I saved from PetCo is coloring up very nicely in a short period of time, the pictures definitely don't do it justice! It moved onto one of the main rocks a coupl of days ago, which is definitely a better spot for it.

It seems to be very confused whether it wants to have longer tentacles or typical shorter BTA tentacles. Almost split right down the middle LOL

 

[Drewe]

Nice tank. You've inspired me to start a build thread for my 75 that has been running for about a year or so now after a crash caused me to tear it down. I've also got a BTA that I rescued from Petco! I'm supremely jealous of your water storage situation as well, and that's inspired me to do something about it as well. Very cool.

 

[aquaman3680]

Nice tank. You've inspired me to start a build thread for my 75 that has been running for about a year or so now after a crash caused me to tear it down. I've also got a BTA that I rescued from Petco! I'm supremely jealous of your water storage situation as well, and that's inspired me to do something about it as well. Very cool.

So glad to hear that, can't wait to check it out! It definitely helps out to have water on hand whenever needed! Unfortunately, Petco is the only place that carries saltwater anything within an hour and a half from the house, so a lot of the fish I've gotten, except for the blue spot Jawfish have come from there as well.

 

[aquaman3680]

Pretty big update here, added 4 fish and the first couple of corals to the tank. We added a pair of Snowflake clowns two weeks ago, a Royal Gramma two weeks ago and a Foxface Rabbitfish yesterday. I know the Foxface will outgrow the tank, I've had them many times in the past, but my wife loved the fish and it got her to agree that if and when he outgrows the tank, it would give us a reason to upgrade to a 6' tank, so that's a win win! Picked up Devil's finger leather and some sort of greenish leather, not sure what it is yet as it hasn't fully opened in the tank yet and was just added yesterday. Anyway, on with the pictures!

More corals and hopefully another anemone are next! Loving the tank so far though!

Matt

 

[Honeyluv]

My green BTA I saved from PetCo is coloring up very nicely in a short period of time, the pictures definitely don't do it justice! It moved onto one of the main rocks a coupl of days ago, which is definitely a better spot for it.

It seems to be very confused whether it wants to have longer tentacles or typical shorter BTA tentacles. Almost split right down the middle LOL

It’s beautiful!

 

[aquaman3680]

It’s beautiful!

Thank you! It's definitely wild how much it's colored up in person in a short period of time.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking good!

 

[aquaman3680]

Man I'm so excited!!! After a couple of weeks in the tank, the clowns have finally found the anemone! One clown is hosting almost full time, just starting today, the other is reluctant about it. The hosting clown keeps going over to the other then darts back to the anemone trying to get it to host too. Nothing better, in my opinion, than seeing clowns hosting in anemones! I just had to share!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Following along! I love 75 gallon builds! Such a great size for an easily manageable reef, but big enough for a wider variety of livestock!