New 72gal reef tank...need help w/pics

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T

therich84

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 20, 2006
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new york city
Hi guys I've been keeping FW tanks for the last 11 years and I finally decided to take the leap and change my 72 bowfront from a FW to a SW reef. So far I have 60 pounds of live sand and 55 pounds of live rock that my lfs says is partially cured; which I didn't think was possible. My sg is at 1.021 and I so far I have one powerhead going and I will be getting another for the other side of the tank. I also have a eheim 2217 and 2213 with just the sponges to which I will be adding live rock rubble too tommorow. I have t5 lighting which I was told is good for coral.

I used tap water to set the tank up, but from now on will only use distilled water; should be fine right?

Now other than getting a protein skimmer eventually is there anything else I need to get. I really dont want to set up a sump or fuge.

Also when should i get a cleaner crew? Is that the first live animal that I should put in the tank once it's cycled.

Thanks in advance,

Rich

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Definately get a protein skimmer. You will probably want more live rock too. Let the tank run awhile longer and test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to see when the rock has finished cycling. When no more ammonia or nitrite is detected, you can add a clean up crew; a few snails and hermit crabs. After that, maybe add a fish or two. Also, set up a qt tank for any new fish/inverts. It WILL save you in the long run.

After several months, start to think about what corals you want. How many watts is the light? I think you will be limited to polyps and mushrooms with your current light. Looks like the tank is rather deep too.

If you add another powerhead, you should be ok with just one eheim filter running. I would use RO water instead of distilled. Distilled water will have most minerals removed, and many distilling units use copper piping. A RO unit will remove the "bad" things from your tap water. And last, add a background to your tank:)

Good luck.
 
I would also suggest getting a skimmer ASAP and get it broken in. they will need to run for a week or two before you start pulling any good skimate. The QT tank does not have to be anything fancy. google QT tanks and you will find a whole boat load of info on them and the importance behind them. I would get another 40 lbs of LR and let that cycle for about 3 weeks to make sure everything is stable. While waiting be performing water changes as you normaly would. about 10% once a week is average but there are several methods behind this. find one that keeps your water clean and works well with you.

Also find a large pale or something that you can have 10-15 gallons of fresh saltwater mixed in advance to the water change. The reason you do this is because adding water to the tank and then the salt mix is a huge shock to fish and corals and you will kill them. after mixing the saltwater in the seperate container airate with with a powerhead or airstone to keep it moving and mixed. Its recommended that you add all the buffering compound to it to get the pH and ALK right.

If you live in a home and are not renting from place to place, i would suggest getting your own RO unit. One for that size tank will be rather inexpensive and will pay itself off down the road. I would check out TheFilterGuys. I have a 6 stage from them and a kent RO unit, and the 6Stage blows the kent right off the wall lol. For you i would recommend a unit that can do about 40 gallons a day.
 
if you dont want a skimmer, but recommend that you do, then get lots of mangrove shoots. i'm currently running a 20g salt and have no skimmer and just a power filter with no media and powerhead. i absolutely have no problems at all cuz i have lots of water movement through the lr which is my basic filtration system. also, if you have any crap in your eheim, id suggest you take them out and add pieces of lr instead. trust me, in the long run, you'll have a spike of ammonia if you have stuff in the eheim.
 
i dont knowif you are, but do not use those bubblers, they can create micro bubbles in the tank, not so good in salt tanks.
 
UV sterilizer (i am horrible at spelling). This is a must for keeping some of the more delicate species who are prone to diseases. And an absolute must for Seahorses (the treatment of disease is so frustrating and hard, it is easier to just try and eliminate problems that have to deal with them when they spring up).

And yea, i thought those were bubblers aswell. Those silly "Wall Bubblers". But i recognize the setup now.
 
littleblackbird;1449061; said:
UV sterilizer (i am horrible at spelling). This is a must for keeping some of the more delicate species who are prone to diseases. And an absolute must for Seahorses (the treatment of disease is so frustrating and hard, it is easier to just try and eliminate problems that have to deal with them when they spring up).
Click to expand...

I've always read/been told UV sterilizers are not advised in SW reef tanks (basically do more bad than good). I also know of several people who breed seahorses in full reef tanks with no UV and they are thriving.

From my experience good old Skunk Cleaner shrimp, proper diet, and good water quality will typically fix and/or prevent most diseases.
 
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