FireUnderwater
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2025
- Messages
- 131
- Reaction score
- 84
- Location
- Bardstown
- What state or country do you live in
- Kentucky
My two year old and I finally convinced my wife to let me upgrade our 32G BioCube that’s been running for about 6-7 months to a 75G! Now, I just have quite a few questions.
Tank will be a full reef with the following (hopefully) stocking depending on sourcing/personalities.
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
One Spot Fox Face
*******Regal Tang/Hippo Tang (Read Questions portion)
Flame Angel or Coral Beauty Angel
Melanarus Wrasse
2 Snowflake or other Occellaris
Diamond Goby
Royal Gramma or Spingeri Dottyback (If I could do both, someone let me know)
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Orange Back Fairy Wrasse
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
Also various shrimps, some hermits, a tuxedo urchin or two, and snail galore
Tank is going to be a 75G (48x18x21) Marineland from PetCo. I’m planning on drilling and plumbing it for a 20G Long with a and going for a Herbie/Bean style Eshopps overflow (Still undecided, tank loudness is a major factor since it will be going in my living room). Planning on doing the sump with the Fiji Cube Baffle kit.
Filtration: Current plans are either running an AF-1 or ReefMat 500 filter roller. I’ve found out I can get a bit lazy with changing filter floss every 3 days, or I just simply forget sometimes in the 32G. Curve 5 Elite for a skimmer, and a small Refugium down the road as well to help with a copepod population.
Powerheads/Pumps: Planning on doing two Jebao SLW-30s, and a Jebao MDP-5000.
Lighting- Noopsyche K7 Pro III with tank mount (x2)
Heater- Dual Eheim Jager 250W with INKBIRD
Tank Stand- I’ll be following Rocket Engineers BP for the frame, Pine sheathing around, with some doors. Overall pretty basic. Just gotta make sure it blends in with the rest of the furniture in our living room. If I did the math right dimensions of the stand should be around 54x22x40.
My current questions now are:
Has anyone used both the RF-1 and ReefMat, and if so what’s your thoughts on them compared? Additionally, it seems either one could fit into a 20G Long, but I’ve seen very conflicting responses.
Hard or soft plumbing?
Would this filtration be too overkill?
Do I need to have the protein skimmer hooked up while the tank is cycling? Or would I be fine to set everything up, and add it whenever I feel I need the additional “oomph”.
How does the potential stocking list look? I’m aware of angels/fox faces occasionally getting a taste for coral, but I have a backup plan if I ever need to remove a fish.
For the Regal Tang/Hippo Tang, my local LFS has a 600G that they will gladly accept trade-ins for fish that have outgrown your aquarium, and will provide credit enough to get a new smaller one. Would it be realistic to get one, and then swap whenever the Tang gets to 4-5 inches? Or would it simply be not worth the hassle.
Are there any pieces of the tank that could be extra loud? Tempted to sound proof the sump to help reduce noise as well.
Unsure of what to use for return back into the tank from the sump. I was looking at the “1/2 Inch Siphon Stopper” kit on CustomAquariums but I don’t see a review section so I’m on the fence.
Final question I guess would be in relation to setup. Currently I’m thinking of purchasing/building the tank, stand, sump, pump/wave makers, sand, rock, etc and starting the initial cycle since it will sit empty for a month or more. Then purchase the lights, filter roller, skimmer, whenever the cycle slowly seems to be getting to that “Ready for fish” point. Primary thoughts behind it for me were “Why purchase something if it’s going to sit for several weeks unused.” Any thoughts on this and the reasoning behind them?
Tank will be a full reef with the following (hopefully) stocking depending on sourcing/personalities.
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
One Spot Fox Face
*******Regal Tang/Hippo Tang (Read Questions portion)
Flame Angel or Coral Beauty Angel
Melanarus Wrasse
2 Snowflake or other Occellaris
Diamond Goby
Royal Gramma or Spingeri Dottyback (If I could do both, someone let me know)
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Orange Back Fairy Wrasse
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
Also various shrimps, some hermits, a tuxedo urchin or two, and snail galore
Tank is going to be a 75G (48x18x21) Marineland from PetCo. I’m planning on drilling and plumbing it for a 20G Long with a and going for a Herbie/Bean style Eshopps overflow (Still undecided, tank loudness is a major factor since it will be going in my living room). Planning on doing the sump with the Fiji Cube Baffle kit.
Filtration: Current plans are either running an AF-1 or ReefMat 500 filter roller. I’ve found out I can get a bit lazy with changing filter floss every 3 days, or I just simply forget sometimes in the 32G. Curve 5 Elite for a skimmer, and a small Refugium down the road as well to help with a copepod population.
Powerheads/Pumps: Planning on doing two Jebao SLW-30s, and a Jebao MDP-5000.
Lighting- Noopsyche K7 Pro III with tank mount (x2)
Heater- Dual Eheim Jager 250W with INKBIRD
Tank Stand- I’ll be following Rocket Engineers BP for the frame, Pine sheathing around, with some doors. Overall pretty basic. Just gotta make sure it blends in with the rest of the furniture in our living room. If I did the math right dimensions of the stand should be around 54x22x40.
My current questions now are:
Has anyone used both the RF-1 and ReefMat, and if so what’s your thoughts on them compared? Additionally, it seems either one could fit into a 20G Long, but I’ve seen very conflicting responses.
Hard or soft plumbing?
Would this filtration be too overkill?
Do I need to have the protein skimmer hooked up while the tank is cycling? Or would I be fine to set everything up, and add it whenever I feel I need the additional “oomph”.
How does the potential stocking list look? I’m aware of angels/fox faces occasionally getting a taste for coral, but I have a backup plan if I ever need to remove a fish.
For the Regal Tang/Hippo Tang, my local LFS has a 600G that they will gladly accept trade-ins for fish that have outgrown your aquarium, and will provide credit enough to get a new smaller one. Would it be realistic to get one, and then swap whenever the Tang gets to 4-5 inches? Or would it simply be not worth the hassle.
Are there any pieces of the tank that could be extra loud? Tempted to sound proof the sump to help reduce noise as well.
Unsure of what to use for return back into the tank from the sump. I was looking at the “1/2 Inch Siphon Stopper” kit on CustomAquariums but I don’t see a review section so I’m on the fence.
Final question I guess would be in relation to setup. Currently I’m thinking of purchasing/building the tank, stand, sump, pump/wave makers, sand, rock, etc and starting the initial cycle since it will sit empty for a month or more. Then purchase the lights, filter roller, skimmer, whenever the cycle slowly seems to be getting to that “Ready for fish” point. Primary thoughts behind it for me were “Why purchase something if it’s going to sit for several weeks unused.” Any thoughts on this and the reasoning behind them?
