75 Gallon Reef Tank Build from Scratch

Finally got around to snapping some OK pics of the new fishie!!! Thought I would throw in a updated FTS also. Please disregard the shims on the tank lol. The stand is still a work in progress.
 

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HAHAHA Thanks Guys!!!! I'm trying. I still have a lot of work left to do such as adding more dry rock to the right hand side, finishing the stand, building a LED light fixture, win the lottery to pay to all of this lol.
 
Ok so this microbubble problem is really starting to P%SS me off lol. So my question is...... will there always be a few bubbles coming out of the return?
 
It depends. A few bubbles isn't a real problem unless it's obscuring your view or it's really spreading through a good portion of the tank. If anything, it's oxygenation of the tank. What if you tried changing the orientation of your return pump, so it draws in water from a different section? (if it's not externally plumbed)

Also, could there be any leaks on the intake side of the pump that would be drawing air in?

Lastly, could you reorient your return pipes so it returns and hits an aquarium wall? That could help prevent them.
 
Burch01 said:
Ok so this microbubble problem is really starting to P%SS me off lol. So my question is...... will there always be a few bubbles coming out of the return?
Click to expand...

Mine has a lot of bubble coming out when I clean the pump and start it up. I just make sure all the air is out of the pump before I attach it to the return line. I close my balancing valve, and let it push all the air out of the line.

What kind of return pump do you have? I found that Maxi-Jets will spray air bubbles they collect from the water. It happens in my reactor so I plumbed it into my return and haven't had a problem since.
 
parrotchute said:
It depends. A few bubbles isn't a real problem unless it's obscuring your view or it's really spreading through a good portion of the tank. If anything, it's oxygenation of the tank. What if you tried changing the orientation of your return pump, so it draws in water from a different section? (if it's not externally plumbed)

Also, could there be any leaks on the intake side of the pump that would be drawing air in?

Lastly, could you reorient your return pipes so it returns and hits an aquarium wall? That could help prevent them.
Click to expand...

Thank Parrot and Barry !!

You can't really see them unless you get up close and look for them lol. I am just OCD about such things and don't think that they should be there in the first place. I actually rotated the pump inlet about 180 degrees and it cut down on alot of the bubbles I also thought about a leak on the intake side but I haven't found it yet if there is one.

What kind of return pump do you have? I found that Maxi-Jets will spray air bubbles they collect from the water. It happens in my reactor so I plumbed it into my return and haven't had a problem since.
Click to expand...
The return is a Sicce Synca Silent 3. The only thing I could think of was maybe a crack in the pump intake????

On another note I have found that my 2 clowns would eat anything I threw in the tank. The Rabbitfish on the other hand is being a diva or a PITA (depending on the sex of said Rabbitfish) and is more stubborn than my Greyhound AGHHHHHHHH! I have yet to see him eat (discounting the picking he did at the rock when I first got him) . I've tried Frozen Mysis, Frozen Mixed Food, Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae with Garlic Extract........ still not eating. So I ordered him some Red Algae from 2 Little Fishies and if that doesn't work I'm going to try the Natural Life Spectrum Pellets.

Good news is that he is sorta swimming around and is still retaining his color. I had to move some rock around in the tank to make him a cave and guess where he was when I woke up this morning. Suprisingly in the cave.

I really did a good job picking out fish lol. The two clowns host the left overflow behind my rock work and the rabbitfish just huddles in one corner or the other. I need to hurry up and get that Mystery Wrasse and get some action going on!!!
 
Get some calurpa or other stringy algae from the LFS - he should go for that. Mine was a pig, but he went BONKERS over any stringy algae. You can even grow some in a refugium for an unlimited food supply.

Don't go too fast adding that mystery wrasse - slow is the key to success.

The foxface will come out in time! They are timid at first, but then become surprisingly docile and friendly. Good job on the cave; I've noticed they especially like a good hideout space to call their own when stressed.
 
Yup, just give the FF time, he'll eat when he's ready. As for the mystery wrasse, if you're looking for a fish to swim a lot out in the open I'd look at other types of wrasses. My mystery (when it would come out of the rockwork) never really strayed far from some hole he could duck into quickly.
 
I wasn't planning on adding one until much later on when I am sure my tank more mature and my care methods are more time tested. I'd hate to buy a wrasse that looks that good and have it die.

Thanks Parrot!! I will definately stop by the LFS tomorrow and see if I can find some sort of stringy algae.

Thanks Brian for the info on the Mystery Wrasse! I am going to do some research on the compatability with the Mystery with other fishies because this will be one fish I ultimately add to my tank. I will not be adding any fish in the near future so this leaves some time for some research into a more active species.
 
Well, what I can tell you for certain is that if you want any other wrasses, or ornamental inverts like shrimp then you'd have to choose which you'd want more. My mystery ate 4 cleaner shrimp before I realized what was happening to them.
 
Yeah I just saw a pic of a Mystery Wrasse with skrimp legs sticking out of his mouth. It was actually quite funny. He had that "I know nothing about eating a skrimp" look on his face.

Apart from the 3 fish I have added already, which were the 2 of the 3 species I wanted I am still up in the air as to what else I want.
 
First off I appogize for the long post I just want to document my trials and tribulations with my first SW tank lol.

I came home from work today expecting the Foxface to be his usual camo'd self. Much to my suprise he was YELLOW and swimming about the side of the tank. Not sure why he won't venture out to the otherside? I know the Percs would like it since he as run them out of their usual hole lol.

I also made a trip to the LFS and luckily they had a small amount of Caulpera that they gave me for free, came home to feed it to the FoxFace and wouldn't you know he decided to pick algae off of the rocks. I also picked up some New Life Spectrum and the Percs went nuts over it. Looked like a group of sharks feeding lol.

Now on to the next discovery. I decided to test my ammonia levels last night to see if the new fish has had an effect on the tank. I used my API master test kit and came up with an ammonia reading of around 0.25 PPM. Well this had me worried and thinking I would kill my new fishies. So today I was doing some research on the accuracy of various test kits and decided to pick up a Salifert Ammonia test kit and run a sample when I got home. I came home, followed the directions on the little sheet, waited 3 minutes for the results annnnnnnnnnnnnnd....... nothing. No trace of ammonia what so ever whew!! So I guess the lesson I learned from all this was that the API test kits are really good if you just want to make sure you are within a certain range but due to my extreme OCD nature I need to choose a testing system that will give me more defined results and I'm no good a matching various hues on a color chart. So my next purchase will be either the ELOS testing kits or the Red Sea series that utilize the titrator. Any thoughts??
 
Foxface update!!!! This morning I thought I would try and see if I could get the FF to eat a little of the spectrum food before I left for work and much to my suprise he devoured it! It made my morning! Since he had been acting a little flaky since I brought him home and decided he liked the left area of my tank I wasn't expecting much when I got home. Once again this guy is full of suprises! He was full color and swimming back and forth in the tank and even started to investigate some of the caves I made for him. Since I couldn't spot the Caulerpa that had slid down behind the rocks I assume he made a quick meal of that sometime during the day! I also stopped by the LFS to ask them what they thought and walked out with 12 hermit crabs, 3 nasarius snails and 2 turbos. As soon as their 1 hr acclimation was over I placed them in the tank and the quickly went to work investigating. One of the nasarius snails went straight for the bottom of the sand bed and it looked like i had a mole moving around in the sand lol. The FF is extremely curious about the turbo, he keeps swimming up to it and bumping it. So thats the daily tank update hope everyone enjoyed it. Cheers!!!
 

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