75 gal build

[reeftanker84]

ok so i found a 75 gallon setup,has a wet/dry with bio balls,filterfloss is going to filter any particals floating before hitting the bio balls hopefully keeping them cleaner,have a coralife 150 protien skimmer in the sump,have a rena smart heater,200 watt,X4 t12 with icecap 660 balast and water proof endcaps,2 1100 lph pumps for circulation,also have 2 maxijet 660s,not sure yet if ill use them or not,just now adding ro/di water and IO salt,btw i got all this for 350

 

[Smitty]

Nice deal. :)

 

[little_fish]

Nice deal. Make sure you are putting in a new filter pad every 3 or 4 days and cleaning a section of the bioballs weekly.

 

[Bifferwine]

That is a great deal! It looks nice.

 

[stringztoo]

Wow, I thought I got a good deal... I got a pre-drilled 72g bowfront with stand, wet dry, and MTC skimmer for $300. I wish there was a canopy included though, I see you got one and I'd have gladly paid the extra $50 for a canopy!

 

[reeftanker84]

ok so i am thinking on replacing the 4 110 watt t12s with 2 54 watt 5ts and adding a 4 pack of led pannels,but the pannels are a while/blue mix and 15watt per pannel,hoping this will be enough light,anyone got any comments?
900 LED AQUARIUM CORAL REEF GROW LIGHT PANEL WHITE BLUE | eBay

 

[reeftanker84]

ok im going to forget about the leds for a while,some bad reviews on the ones i was thinking about,now going to go with the t5s,will 4/54w t5s be enough light or will i need 6/54w,just want to make sure i have enough light to cover anything i put in

 

[little_fish]

I would go with a 6 bulb fixture.

This is a really good light: Aquarium Lighting for Reef Systems: Current Nova Extreme Pro Saltwater T-5 Fixtures

 

[buddy08]

ok im going to forget about the leds for a while,some bad reviews on the ones i was thinking about,now going to go with the t5s,will 4/54w t5s be enough light or will i need 6/54w,just want to make sure i have enough light to cover anything i put in

I have 4x 54w t5's in mine with reflectors. I'll be honest, its enough light for whatever i want to put in there but if i could have 6 bulbs, itd be better. Unfortunately, i didnt have room for 6 in my canopy so i went with 4; 2x aquasun (whites) and 2x 454s (blue actinics). these bulbs are high output bulbs and are very bright. If you have an icecap ballast, it even makes them brighter but yet uses less electricity which is another plus so in the future, ill be getting an icecap ballast.

if you look at my build ( https://www.livingreefs.com/and-were-live-buddys-75g-setup-t32251.html ) you can see my lighting fixtures, it was very easy to setup and use. I bought the standoffs and end caps from marinedepot.com and already had the ballasts. If you were to do something similar, make sure you get some fans on the back to ventilate the bulbs or else you'll have a hard time controlling your water temp due to the heat these lights produce. My setup cost me roughly 100$ for reflectors, 100$ for bulbs and $ 60 for the end caps and standoffs. the fans are cheap esp. from newegg.com I like building things so the DIY lights were more enjoyable for me to do but if you want something already built, the light fixture little_fish linked is a really good buy as well, it will all average about the same in cost in the end.

on a side note: i envy you for the deal you got with your setup, i paid the same for a tank and stand.... that was all! congrats!

 

[reeftanker84]

thanks lol,yea love the deal i got,guy wanted it gone,was looking at the ADV plus by odyssea where it has 4 t5s and 2 250 halides,was thinking about taking the icecap 660 and using it for the t5s instead of the stock balast,dont imagine i would have to worry about the halides yet because i wont have sps or anything like that for several months,then i could buy icecap balasts for the halides when i needed them

 

[buddy08]

i have a few sps's in mine and they're growing pretty well so you shouldnt have troubles with them under t5's as long as you have enough lighting (in your case if you go with 6x t5's, thats plennnnnty and when you use a ice cap ballast, that will even push your light intensity further.)

 

[reeftanker84]

ok so 4 t5s with a 660 ballast will probably be enough? or should i still opt for the 2/250 halides in addition to the 4 t5s?

 

[buddy08]

if you can fit 6x t5's, do it. 4 should be fine for most sps's depending on where you place them in the tank but you may limit yourself to keeping clams and anemones, not to say you cant keep them with 4x lights...just 6x would make it easier and of course would be better for them. Metal halides run hotter so it will be harder to maintain water temp, theyre also rather costly on your power bill. I like the look of the metal halides and they give a nice shimmer effect but i went with the t5's instead and my corals seem happy. In time, i will be able to judge how well my clam likes them.

 

[reeftanker84]

ok i got 75 lbs sand added,and will be adding 50 lbs dry base rock and another 20 lbs at least of live rock. everything is up and running at the moment,water perams are looking good nitrite is 0,amonnia 0 nitrate< .5, iron 0,checked iron because we have lots of iron in our well water,ph is 8.1,needs a little boost but i think the addition of live rock will stabilize the ph,phos is reading a .25,will be getting a phos ban filterpad to see if the number will drop on that,some reason i cant post my pics today so ill try later:grumble:

 

[Bifferwine]

Sounds good! You probably want to consider switching to RODI water in the future. Well water is not good for tanks -- as you know, it normally contains a lot of heavy metals which can make it difficult to keep inverts.

 

[reeftanker84]

yes i do have an RO/DI system for the well,i was just checking the iron to make sure all of it was comming out clean,dont hurt to check again since i havent changed to RO or the DI resin in a couple months

 

[reeftanker84]

ok got my rock put in after rinsing in RO water,50 lbs sure isnt much after its in the tank lol,well i guess ill be getting some live rock to put on the base rock i just put in,still at war with myself as far as what i want for lighting,really wish i could find an afordable 2/150w halides and 4 t5s,but everything with that combo is 400 and up,if anyone knows of a nice used model let me know,guess ill post again when i put some live rock in the tank,also lookin for some ulva and cheato to add to the sump soon

 

[reeftanker84]

alrighty,i got 2 lbs of heavily colored live rock,and about a pound of live sand from the lfs,ended up with 1 tiny hermi and a tiny snail,also found several polyps that are opening up already,hope they servive the cycle,put a piece of raw shrimp to get things going,i wonder if i could put some ulva or grac in to absorbe the nitrates,any comments would be nice

 

[Bifferwine]

Looks good! You could add some macro to handle the nitrates; you can also do water changes to keep them down.

 

[reeftanker84]

i would prefer to have the macro absorbe the nitrates,well amonia is rising,should i remove the raw shrimp yet?it stinks awfull bad now lol,had it in there a couple days,amonia is between .25 and .50,nitrite is not detectable yet
nitrates are zero as well,got some ulva,grac and cheato comming on the 23rd,figured that would be enough time to let the tank cycle before i put the macro in