75gallon SW Setup questions

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nickdog98

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2007
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New Orleans LA
Hello all you SW guys, ive been getting the SW itch for some time now and I am ready to scratch it.. I have a 75 gallon tank in my living room under my wall mount tv and think it would be perfect to go SW. The tank is currently running freshwater and is fully cycled through a 270gph canister and a 350gph biowheel. I have read that my filters can be used with SW and the beneficial bacteria will stay in tact. I know I need lighting, protien skimmer, and some powerheads for circulation. I plan to house community fish with liverock and would like to try anemone or easier corals eventually. I am not planning on running a sump, is this possible?
So far I would like to try and get a lighting system with daytime and actinic lights and lunar lights, but not go MH just yet. What will this limit me to? Thanks for all comments/Input
 
it is possible to run a tank succesfully without a sump but its going to be a bit harder. its also always risky using an old freshwater tank for saltwater exspecially because you want corals. if the tank had any copper in it, it will release it back into the water and cause major problems. the bacteria in the filters will probably die off because they live in different water. i believe it would be a shock to them. not sure though. get a protein skimmer rated for about 150 gallon. this will be good. always double the size. the canister will need to be cleaned on a very often schedual to avoid producing nitrate.

sumps are always better if you have the room and the money, i would strongly consider it. this will allow you to grow macro-algae and absorb any nutrients that may be in your water. also use RO/DI water. its a must. if you use tap water you will have a bunch of metals that you dont want. phosphate, silicate, and nitrate are the biggest cause of algae and cyanobacteria (red slime). getting rid of these will allow you to keep a nicer looking tank in the long run. get all the rock in there right away and use live sand. you can seed dead sand (argonite) and dead rock (base rock) but it takes a lot longer that way. saves big dollars though. so if your patient then seed it. id estimate about 3 months before you should consider adding fish and corals. thats just me though.

lights for corals are important. get a t-5 HO or VHO lamp. these produce little to no heat at all and give off great amounts of light. getting HO will allow you to some higher light corals, and VHO, depending on the number of bulbs, will allow you to do those very high light corals. i have heard a number of success stories about clams and VHO lamps. good luck and keep us posted.
 
Thanks for the info..
The tank housed a small FW ray so I have made sure the water is pristine and checked everything to be ray-safe, certainly without copper..
I def plan on buying a heavy duty skimmer, as everything I read tells me this is critical.
I will also be adding plenty of live rock for filtration. Cured or uncured? buy uncured and cure it myself? Most economical live rock w/shipping? ANybody?
The tank currently has Estes marine sand in the bottom, which the ray loved. Should I remove all of this sand and start over with live sand? Also, I know Ive been told that mixing the salt water in the tank is a No-No, I dont understand how it is different than mixing small amounts in 5g buckets, then pouring in, as long as the tank is empty w/o fish. Much more research to go...
 
id get cured myself. makes the tank more stable quicker but not a live saver. i would also remove the sand just to be on the safe side. i doubt it be an issue but you should never cut corners in saltwater. corners can cost you money. mixing salt in a different container allows the salt to break down and stabalize before adding to the tank. this is critical with coral because the fluctuations can cuase some major problems. if you dont have fish or anything then its okay for your initial mix to do it in the tank, otherwise wait about 24 hours. i get the tropical fish hobbiest and aquarium international magazines and a large array of books from setup to disease. always a good idea.
 
So now im considering going FOWLR to start with and get my feet "salty" wet haha before diving into the full blown reef tank, plus Im not ready to set up a sump, MH, or a chiller..

So, in my 75, im going to remove the sand today and go with live sand. When you said I could mix my water in the tank for my initial mix, should I drain the cycled freshwater and start with fresh tap, then use Prime to dechlor and all, then mix salt?? should I do this, then wait the 24 hours, then add my live sand or live rock? I want to keep it simple as possible and def do not want to cut corners. Budget is really not an issue, only time/space.
 
i like to add all the rock first and then the sand. its easier and allows for a more steady base. get the water mixed with the salt and what not first leaving 10 gallons out to allow the water level to rise with the rock and sand being added. after the rock is added plug in the canister and pack with floss only. no need for carbon or anything. after you have done this for about 48 hours with some sand sifting in between most all the debreis should be out. at this point i would do a water test and plug the skimmer in. your skimmer will need some time to break in so you will notice some tiny bubbles. these should go away in a couple of weeks.

a note on the water, if money is not an issue then i would strongly consider an RO/DI unit, instead of using tap water. tap contains so many unknowns and causes a lot of algea issues. your also going to be cleaning it alot more. nitrates should be lower then 20ppm and ammonia and nitrite should both be 0. phosphates and silicates sould idealy be 0 but with tap water thats not going to happen unless you use some type of chemical designed to absorb these.

the tank should spike, meaning the ammonia should elevate to like 10 lol, after that has fallen down (this could take anywhere from 3 days too 3 weeks) then you should do a 25-30 percent water change wait another day and test the water. while you waiting for you tank to cycle, i would go to the LFS and get a cheap 20 gallon long. this will be the QT. if you ever have to treat a fish in the display tank, the rock will absorb all the medications and making your rock useless if you ever wanted to do a reef. every new and sick fish will go into the QT tank for about 18 days. in that time you will feed daily and watch for disease. do water changes on it like normal unless your medicating, then do it more often, and replace the meds as you remove them! nothing in the tank except a HOB filter and a cave of some sort. the best way to do water changes is to use the old water from the display tank, and toss the old from the QT. this will keep your parameters in match with the display tank reducing the stress when you move the fish into there new home.
 
the money for an RO/DI unit isnt the thing, dont you need an isolated faucet and plumbing running into the RO/DI? I dont have any extra sink or faucet that I could use and was always under the impression I would have to have some plumbing done to set up RO/DI and/or constant water change etc.

What is the mother of all Protein Skimmers? I want the best, hands down!

Should I add instant ocean to my cycled water in the tank, or drain, fill with fresh, dechlor then add my salt?

As for QT, I have some 20+ tanks around my house, including 40 longs, 30 longs, and 20g longs.. So a SW QT can maintain with only a Whisper 20, or EMp 280 for instance, and a cave? Of course, this is with the already cycled salt water from my 75 water change.. interesting..

Thanks again for all the info!
 
Ro/Di can use the existing plumbing that's already there.


Picture 568.jpg
 
Nice pic.. I sure would love to see where those little lines run and where they connect haha. If I can use the plumbing thats in place will it be connected to a faucet as an eye sore, or to plumbing under the sink?

Working on stock list now, I know I want live rock, live sand, and community fish. I know I want to have inverts such as anemone after 6 mos. I would be fine without a reef if I could do some nice Condys, feather duster, cucumber, etc. Would also like to possibly add Snowflake eel at some point.. any comments/ideas?
 
to answer you questions the RO/DI units plumb right into your cold water line. you can run it right under the sink, in the basement or where ever else there is a cold water line. most of the time you will need to increase water pressure with a pump in order to make the unit efficient.

as far as the skimmer goes, your going to get a lot of mixed reviews: IMO deltec and -reef are the best. those 2 use the same basic design and style of opteration. euro-reef depending on the model will be cheaper then the deltec. either way you go with a skimmer make sure its good as a hang on.

skys the limit with the QT i'd opt to go bigger but 20long is fine. in fact thats the size i use for small fish. if your getting larger fish it will help to have a larger tank. not much of a head scratcher lol. a cave, weighted down piece of PVC pipe or even a coffee mug will work. again the larger the fish the larger the hiding place.

before you add any inverts or corals, get the RO unit working. without it your more then likely not going to have much luck with the inverts and corals. tap contains copper and copper will kill them.

did you get any books yet??
 
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