New to saltwater! 75 gallon set up. Need tips and help.

[Preston tipton]

I just got into saltwater fish. I have take. Care of freshwater for a while and I wanted to try saltwater. I got a 75 gallon with a c360 mairinland canister filter. I have a hand on the back protine skimmer. 2 wave makers from amazon. I have had 2 clowns for 2 weeks then I went and got a fire dart fish I think. Then my dad bought a flame angle. I also have 8 crabs and 2 snails. I wanna just make sure everything looks good to the experts and see what they sujest I do. I have ran salinity tests and kept it at 1.023-1.024. All my tests from the saltwater testing kit from petsmart are good. Tested consistently for about a week. My buddy told me where to place my wave makers so I moved them this morning and my tank is a little cloudy because of that. I am planning on getting a better light and starting corals in a few months. The tank has been running for about a month now. I did a little modification on the protine skimmer with the output tubes. Let me know what I should do thanks!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Welcome! Tank is looking good so far! You may eventually opt for something other than the canister filter, but it should work for now.

 

[Preston tipton]

Everything else look ok? Any suggestions on anything else to do?

 

[arturoo1977]

Hi and welcome to R2R and saltwater world!
Congrats on your new tank, look very nice.
Be patience and slow on stocking as it is fare new and need to mature a little before keep adding fish, just to be safe.
When you start to add corals you may want to change your filtration as canisters may increase nitrates and corals don't like them too much.

 

[beaslbob]

Looks like a good start.

My only comment is that I would have started the system with macro algae in a refugium. Which you can add now if you want.

But other then that looks like a good start.

my .02

 

[Preston tipton]

Would yall mind sending links to where I can find some of those things.

 

[piranhaman00]

I would take the canister apart and only but biological filtration in it such as seachem matrix. As stated above, detritus will clog up the filtration and cause nitrate to spike, matrix will be easy to wash off.

Adding a refuguium without a sump, while very possible, will take up more room and something else hanging off the tank. Probably not necessary right away imo.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r! Nice start!

 

[RocketEngineer]

Go to YouTube and watch BRStv series 5 minute reef videos. That is one of the most dense how to I've seen made by guys who know their stuff.

 

[Minnesota Mike]

Hey Preston, yeah bud I'm right with you here and trying to learn also. Brand new to the site and hoping it helps me with everything to....I also have a 75 gallon w/ a canister filter (Fluval FX4) and a 330 gyre wave maker and a 48 in. coral life seascape led light. My most frustrating thing that my tank is killing me on and I see it in yours to is the water clarity. I'm trying to achieve crystal clear water but told I'm needing to switch to a sump but I'm not running any carbon pellets in my canister yet, so I'm hoping that adding that will help me out at the next time I clean my filter

 

[Robb1414]

I have a 75 for a year now. It is fish only. I am running TWO Eheim 600 canister filters. Two wave makers and a heater. I started with one canister but after month two and not having the water clarity I wanted, I decided to get another. It made a world of difference. My numbers are always consistently good. My fish are all healthy and maintenance is easy. I change the pads in the canisters every 6-7 weeks (do one one week and the other the next). I am very happy with the set up. With that said I have ZERO desire to have corals...so....lol!

Best of luck and feel free to ask any questions.

 

[NanoDJS]

Welcome to the reef ! As said for coral tanks I would ditch the canister filter in favor of the largest HOB filter you can get , then just run bio media in it like little peices of live rock rubble ect. later you can add a little light and that could be your fuge . Dont worry about a sump or any of that stuff right now having the skimmer is huge , take your time and focus on auto water top off , and that will help majorly in keeping water stable. Good Luck with the new tank!

 

[BornHandy]

Hello, and welcome to my favorite hobby - reefing! I agree with losing the canister, and if its at all in the cards, a sump solves so many problems and opens a lot of doors! I would really consider the upgrade...

...and something I'll mention that hasn't been said yet:

Your rock is pretty close to the glass on the sides. There isn't really a "problem" with that, but when you get your first couple of corals in the tank, you'll catch the bug, and want another, then another, then another.... You get the idea.

Having more space on the sides can give you a bit more real estate to add corals there too. Something to think about.

Happy reefing!

 

[RocketEngineer]

You mentioned the tank is cloudy and I’m wondering if you may have micro bubbles. Do you have anything that’s sucking in air and spitting out bubbles? Are your pumps low enough that they aren’t creating a whirlpool at the surface? Is there bubbles exiting a skimmer? Things to check. HTH

 

[DirtMcGurt]

Welcome to R2R! You'll get a ton of information on here. I too have a 75 and it's a great starter tank in my opinion. Definitely don't overstock it too soon. It's probably the hardest thing to do when you start. Also, do some research on nutrients in the reef tank. I had to learn that the hard way and it almost ran me out of the hobby.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Take it slow and consider adding some ARC coralline algae starter and some pods from Algae Barn to help mature the tank. Bacteria and pods aren‘t sexy but go along way to help build a thriving ecosystem.

 

[BeejReef]

It looks good!
There's a million things u might consider

Coral growing lights will almost certainly have to be mounted higher than your fish lights are... something between 8 and 18" above the tank. Think about how you'll accomplish that. You might also think about a cover or a canopy to prevent jumpers.

With hang on back and canister, you're not likely to be as strong as some on your filtration potential. It's not insurmountable. Where there's a will. It could be force molded into a heavily stocked sps dominant reef. If that's a challenge that will make you happy, go for it. You call it your "first tank" though, so I'd personally run with that. Let it grow out some huge zoa rocks, a foot-tall toadstool, mushrooms to taste, some euphylia, and big fat fleshy acans!

In 2-3 years, if u want to accept the apple, you'll have nice big colonies to place in the sand and lower parts of the rock structure on your 300g system!