Our 75 gal build

[Dani305]

So, Santa ;Hilarious was good to me this year! Im jewish but my bf is a great Santa!


75 gallon was delivered and we got to work right away!



What I woke up to Christmas morning!

Dog model In his hanukka scarf ;Smuggrin ;Joyful


Dont mind the floor, between a real christmas tree and dogs in and out, that morning was busy!
Also, dont mind the 31 Ford Model A either ;Hilarious

We got it all set up in the spot we chose, thats in our den/ kitchen area. The bf decided that it was too short after this.

Reinforcing the bottom so we can put it on cinder blocks. We raised it about 8 inches. Looks great now, and is eye level! Going to need a stepping stool to clean though.

We went to our local saltwater fish store and decided to just buy about 90 gallons of ocean water.
The rocks were part of my gift as well

Okay! So current set up

2 viparspectra lights
1 6.3 W fan
1 smaller fan than that ^^ that came with the tank
1 PolypLab genesis rock booster
1 Aquatop multimedia reactor
1 Reef Octopus Classic 110int 4'' protein skimmer
1 green killing machine
sock filter
bio balls


Im currently waiting for algae barn to restock clean chaeto. Then Ill be getting our fuge set up!

Also we are going to buy a RODI system very soon.


Currently have the following residents:


1 Midas Blenny
1 blue tang
1 blue damsel
1 cleaner shrimp
20 hermits
10 snails
2 emerald crabs

and we have 3 corals. That I dont know the names of.

 

[Dani305]

As far as additional fish I am considering these, but not necessarily all of them...

Spot foxface
Flame Angel
Banggai / pajama cardinal
Hawkish - flame, longnose, and or falco
a clown
a mandarin

 

[Soren]

Nice new build, @Dani305 !
That is a fast start to the hobby! Hopefully all goes well with your new build.
75-gallon tanks are a nice size, small enough for a manageable start but large enough for more stable water parameters and for some nice fish types and numbers.

Your fish list looks pretty good for your considerations, but I think it is well recommended to hold off on the mandarin until the tank has been established for a while to have enough natural copepod populations for maintaining health.

Welcome to R2R and congratulations on your new build thread!

P.S. I don't mind that I noticed the Model A, as I've dreamed of having one some day as well. I missed a chance at a farm auction 5 years ago when I was not yet ready for it...

 

[Dani305]

Nice new build, @Dani305 !
That is a fast start to the hobby! Hopefully all goes well with your new build.
75-gallon tanks are a nice size, small enough for a manageable start but large enough for more stable water parameters and for some nice fish types and numbers.

Your fish list looks pretty good for your considerations, but I think it is well recommended to hold off on the mandarin until the tank has been established for a while to have enough natural copepod populations for maintaining health.

Welcome to R2R and congratulations on your new build thread!

P.S. I don't mind that I noticed the Model A, as I've dreamed of having one some day as well. I missed a chance at a farm auction 5 years ago when I was not yet ready for it...

Thanks! Yes... maybe a bit too fast ... my bf is experienced in saltwater but its been some years. I suggested to maybe wait a bit more until we put in fish, but he was happy with how the water was testing. So I just closed my eyes!

All current residents are happy and seem to be thriving. Love my blenny he is my favorite, for now!


Thanks for the advice on the manadarin. I will make sure to keep this in mind. Im going to be putting in pods soon, hopefully!

We acquired the model A at a "cant say no price". So its gotta be in here for a bit longer as we currently only have a 1 car garage.

 

[mshonk]

Great tank!!! Always excited for a build thread.

I would agree on the mandarin unless that was fully cured live rock and remained wet during transport.

 

[Dani305]

Great tank!!! Always excited for a build thread.

I would agree on the mandarin unless that was fully cured live rock and remained wet during transport.

Thank you! We really love watching it!

I almost feel bad for my freshwater tank as we dont watch it nearly enough! LOL

 

[Dani305]

If anyone is interested in the cost of it, but also just so I have this list somewhere so I can KINDA keep track.


Bf said he paid $600 for the tank, stand, sump, media reactor, pump, rock, heater, green killing machine, some pellets, and of course the lights, and some other misc **** im probably forgetting. Then he also bought me water testing kits as well.

Additional to that this is what has been spent so far:

$80 for 4 15gal water containers
$200 for water and live sand
$50 damsel fish, hermits, and snails (Im not exactly sure about this one, so Im just going to call it $50)
$80 water fan
$380- blue tang, midas blenny, 2 emerald crabs, 3 corals, filter sock and a polyplab genesis rock booster
$256 protein skimmer
$80 water fan
$55 cleaner shrimp, some more hermies, and a few gals of water
$170 refugium starter kit
$70 Sicce xstream wave pump 3.5w
$20 arcan coral
$20 green star polyp
$2 misc hermit shells
$170 Refugium kit from algae barn
$255 Reef Octopus Classic 110INT 4” Internal Protein Skimmer
$100 - 2 fire shrimp, 10 snails, 4 emerald crab, 15 gal salt water 5 gal fresh

2/24 - RODI Machine - $189 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MS9NM9N?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image


1/29-$492
10 snails
5 nassarius snails
1 clown fish- $80
1 diamond goby
1 Colorado- $270
3 filter socks
1 glue

2/21 - Live copepods
$24.99

2/21 - Chaeto - 1 cup
$39.60


3/5 - $250.77
Flame Hawkfish: $80
2 Mone corals: $40
Urchin: $25
Saltwater 15g: $9
Food and Dosing supplies: $80.95
taxes !!! - 15.82
total: $250.77

3/9 - Aquarium Lens kit for my iPhone13
$28.99


3/15 - 100 sheets of nori - That everyone is scared of LOL
$13.00


3/18 - Miracle mud for refugium 5lbs
$38.99

3/19 - $120.90

Diamond Goby $30.00
Coral $50
urchin $25
test $8
tax $7.91

3/25 - ReefWave 25 Pump with Controller (1980 GPH) - RedSea
$300.66

04/05- Dragon Wrasse - $35
04/05- Selcon- $20

04/29
2 Hydra 32 HD LED Reef Light- $784.28

05/01
Longnose Hawkfish - $60
rock flower anemone - $20
cleaner shrimp- $20
porcelain crab- $30
misc food item- $15

05/02
selcon and garlic guard - $37

05/02
SICCE Syncra Silent 3.0 Pump - $115.55

05/02
4 PK FILTER SOCKS $54

05/04
3 turbo snails
2 feather dusters
$47.00

05/06
CHEMICLEAN - $16

05/30 -LFS
$33.37 WATER AND MAYBE SOME SNAILS

06/16 - SELCON $69.17

06/18- LFS
YELLOW TANG
EMERALD CRABS
$210.00

06/22 - CORALS
HAMMER, CANDY CANE, VIOLET GORGONIAN DUNCAN
$120.00

06/23 RED SEA REEF ENERGY AB+
$36.81

06/26 HANNA PHOS REAGENTS
$20.64

06/27 $38 Lense kit for iphone 13

06/27 $22 Coral RX

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Excited to follow along!

 

[Dani305]

Look at my beautiful blenny! I love him

 

[Dani305]

These are the theee corals we got.

if anyone can identify them, thAt would be great!

 

[Rmckoy]

great build so far .
following along to catch the progress as it matures .

 

[Adrift]

Very nice build. Excited to see what’s next.

 

[Dani305]

Went to the LFS lol

Completely forgot to take a water sample with me as we were going to breakfast first.

purchased a new fan

As well as two new corals

an acan

we are going to take some rock out and rearrange some things so not in a permanent place yet.

Also got this beautiful green looking grass type, don’t know the name.

Green star polyps - thanks @Rmckoy

Also got a few shells for the hermits

Did api test and showing :

Ammonia .25 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 5. Ppm


gonna go to LFS store tomorrow with water for testing but if anyone has some insight and or recommendations of anything let me know.

 

[Rmckoy]

Grass looking thing = gsp ( green star polyps .

can be invasive and take over .
keep it on a island by itself .

some people used to attach small
Frags to their back glass

 

[Dani305]

Grass looking thing = gsp ( green star polyps .

can be invasive and take over .
keep it on a island by itself .

some people used to attach small
Frags to their back glass

Awesome thank you! At this LFS they have a show tank that has the green polyp on the back glass going on the the box, looks amazing. Might have to do that!

 

[Dani305]

Did my two API tests today so here are my results:
Kh - 7 drops- 7 dkh/ 125.3 ppm
Phosphate- 0 ppm
Calcium- 20 drops- 400 ppm
ammonia- .50 ppm
Nitrite- .25 ppm
Nitrate- looks to be between 5. Ppm - 10 ppm

After the water was collected I put 3 drops of Genesis Bacteria blend from polyplabs ( which I’m supposed to do daily but didn’t notice ! D’oh!! ) I don’t think this is a must have, but I’m really not sure if it makes any difference. If someone has experience on this, advise please.

I also put a cap full of live phytoplankton as well. Also not sure if this would change the water parameters.


All fish look to be happy still, so that’s good. I’m going to head out to my LFS in a bit and will be taking water for testing.

Video from this morning and a video of my cleaner shrimp!




Also, and not saltwater related but this is the current status of my freshwater tank if anyone is interested.

 

[mshonk]

Thank you! We really love watching it!

I almost feel bad for my freshwater tank as we dont watch it nearly enough! LOL

Hahaha I get it. After I started a reef tank I haven't done fresh except for my pond!

 

[Dani305]

Just left the fish store and I’m going to post my test results below. He did say that I should continue dosing my Genesis bacteria daily.

My ammonia is testing high and he said in a week or two, probably two I should see it balance out.

 

[Dani305]

I have been dosing, daily the Genesis bacteria.

This morning the tank looked good when I did my feeding and turned on lights.

this evening though… a different story. Looks like this may be the ugly phase?

There is a film on the lower glass like a yellow green color.

from what I have read we are to just leave it alone?

 

[Dani305]

This weekends update!

Got my clean cheato/ refugium kit from algae barn.

Also got our Reef Octopus Classic 110INT 4” Internal Protein Skimmer.

Got that all installed!

Sump pictures

Today I took a sample to the LFS and he said that everything looks great and we are looking cycled. He did mention that phosphates were high, but we have been over feeding a bit which should balance out with the skimmer now.

I purchased:

4 more emerald crabs
2 fire shrimp
10 snails

I put myself on the list for a fire hawkfish.

Current tank pics!