Question about setting up a new 75 gallon reef

[sz212]

Hi,
I am relatively new to the hobby and currently have a 29 gallon reef setup. I am looking to upgrade to a bigger tank, and my LFS has an extremely good price on a 75 gallon tall, drilled with an overflow. I am planning on using the 29 gallon as a refugium underneath, and are also planning on using a vho retrofit system with 440 watts of lighting but am a little unsure of what else i would need to get the system up and going. I have been trying to read up on what is all needed but I am a little unsure of what else i would need and the best way to set it up. Any and all suggestions would be a great help.

 

[jandree22]

a good skimmer for starters, although I'm not sure what is 'good'. I have a CPR bakpak on my 75, but I openly admit it's undersized. I counter it with religious bi-weekly water changes and i have the BakPak modified for better performance.

 

[LFS42]

A skimmer (one that your comfy with)
most soft corals don't like very powerfull skimmers IMO
they like to feed off organics in the water
acro's and other stony corals like perfect water
and a good skimmer is neccesary.

after that, some form of water movment
power heads or a closed loop system

plan the substrate very carefully.
I personaly do not like dsb's, but you may
I like under 1" of sand around the front of the tank, and bare bottom
under the rock work.
I also prefer the "live sand" (that comes in the sealed bags)
over the popular southdown.
I've set-up tanks using both and prefer the LS for looks and
ease of use (no dust storm)

after that a good water purifaction system
RO/DI/ or both

salt is salt is salt IMO,nuff said, get the stuff on sale.

order live rock in bulk
cure it at your house
be patient,

you will get red slime
use chemi clean to get rid of it

you will get hair algea
use a tang to get rid of it

you will want to use an auto feeder for your tang
for when it eats all the hair algea and starts to get skinny

I'm sure I'll think of some more,
and get some people mad about the sand bed comments
or the bad spelling :roll:

 

[jandree22]

i will disagree with the sand. I'll leave the DSB argument to ppl more familiar with them, but I will say I think you should go with Southdown play sand. The 'live sand' in the sealed bag no doubt has bacteria in it, but the question comes with how much bacteria survives from the time it's bagged, sitting in a warehouse, shipped to your LFS, and then till its in your tank. IMO, Southdown seeded with the bacteria from Live Rock would be just the same if not better. Ideally at least seed the Southdown with real live sand.... the stuff you buy by the pound that actually comes from the ocean with critters in it... just a few pounds would do. (of course 100% live sand would be best, but that's an unnecessary waste of dough IMO).

As far as the dust in Southdown sand is concerned, holy crap, yeah, theres a massive cloud of sand in your water during the first week of setup, but as soon as it gets some bacteria growin on it, you wont have the problem ever again unless you do some hard-core rearranging in the tank.

I dunno... just my $.02, take or leave :wink:

 

[tazdevil]

salt is salt is salt IMO,nuff said, get the stuff on sale.

Absolutely not! Many different salt manufacturors out there, as well as much different quality among salts. Check the salt study going on with Inland Reef. I personally prefer either Kent or IO (Instant Ocean).

 

[sz212]

I currently have a cpr bakpak on my 29 that i was going to keep on the refugium and was trying to decide whether or not i should add another one any input on whether i should throw another cpr on there will help also i think i am going to go with a combination of crushed coral and live sand to vary the sand size a little around 2 inches which i currently have and am very pleased with the results i have had so far, i was also wondering what people used as a good relatively inexpensive pump that would provide a good water flow back into a 75 gallon lastly wondering where people order their liverock as the LFS i will be around is almost 9 dollars a pound for awful liverock and i know i can get less expensive and much better quality liverock elsewhere

Scott

 

[LFS42]

salt is salt is salt IMO,nuff said, get the stuff on sale.

Absolutely not! Many different salt manufacturors out there, as well as much different quality among salts. Check the salt study going on with Inland Reef. I personally prefer either Kent or IO (Instant Ocean).

I agree that far, but mostly the Kent or IO are whats on sale.

I was more talking about don't waste the money on the
Reef Crystals

BTW, I fond of the Oceanic salt also.


as far as pumps, around 500-700 gph work well for return pumps
if you're getting the AGA overflow system.