Up and Coming 75gal Reef

[runningrandy04]

hey guys, I'm so freaking excited right now. 2 hours ago I struck a deal for 60lbs of live rock to start my new tank with. I've been checking craigslist every day I could for 3 months looking for a deal, so you can understand my excitement. I have so many questions.

1. I will have the rock for a week before I can get the tank. How long will it last in a garbage can with no flow? If I need flow, how much?
2. I'm going to plug the overflow and just cycle the tank. What type of flow should I get going in there? I planned on a Koralia #4, #3, and a #2. Will that cause a sandstorm with oolic sand?
3. What size heaters should I get? Note, we plan on letting the temp in the apartment drop to 60-65 at night in the winter. Will 3 100w Stealth heaters work?
4. Should I go with 1in oolic, or 3 in oolic in the main tank? Note I'm gonna have an 8 inch remote dsb in the sump ranging from oolic to rubble. (Mix of 40% oolic, 30% sand, and 30% garf grunge. )

New lights will come when I get the old tank transferred. I'll have more questions later. I know I'm gonna get a ton of ideas thrown at me so thanks in advance. I'll get pics of the rock up when i get it thursday.

[RyanG]

Id throw two Maxi 1200s in the garbage can, cheap with good flow. Good deal that you found a deal, like I told you before if you are patient enough things will fall into place. Good job.

[yote]

Ryans got you covered on the rock.
On the heaters,Just pick up 2-100 watt heaters.Thats all I've got in my 75,and they keep the tank right around 78 in the winter.And we let the house stay right around 65 that time of year.

[daugherty]

i use to run a 250 watt heater in my old tank but now i keep my house at 73 year round and do not run a heater any more but get two heaters just in case one sticks one will not be big enough to heat the tank two much or let it get to cold if one stops working all together

[runningrandy04]

thanks guys, I think I'm gonna pull the rio off my skimmer and use that. Once I get the new koralias in the the mail, i'm gonna have enough extra powerheads floating around. On top of that, I'm gonna throw a bunch of the rock in my tank and my isolation tank. so there will only be like 20-30 lbs in the garbage can. As for the heaters, i'll go with 2 100w stealths.

[daugherty]

look for a heater that has multiple temp settings the one i have is maked every two degrees and then set it low and see how that goes

[runningrandy04]

yea...but most heaters are a few degrees off the setting anyway. the stealth i have now is set at 84 and my tank stays at 80

[yote]

Never seen one yet was accurate.

[runningrandy04]

Hey guys, I finally got my tank last night. After a bit of trouble with returning a broken tank and getting a new one, its been about 3 weeks of a headache. Sorry I don't have a pictures of building the stand. Its just got it far enough to hold the tank securely. I get pictures when i finish it. Here are some pics of the tank filling up from last night, and one from this afternoon. I added salt at about 10pm and made sure it mixed up well with my hands. Woke up this morning and its cloudy as hell. It's my first time mixing salt, so I was wondering if it was the salt that was making the water cloudy or a bacteria bloom. I have a Korialia #4 and #3 in there so it should be mixed just fine. Only thing is that everything is coated white. Is this normal?

[dustin_P74]

looks like the salt mixing and dissolving