Adubson's 75 gallon mixed reef build

adubson

adubson

New member
I originally had this all posted over in the introduction thread, but I need to start my own Member's Reef Tank thread so I can show you guys the progress as I go!

If you wanna take a quick peak at the build process, head to the original post at http://www.chicagoreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?22657-Introduction-and-my-75-gallon-build

Here's my tank when it was finally filled and cycling.

I kept it lighter on the rock side of things with only 65 lbs of BRS reef saver rock. I wanted to have a little more of a minimalist look. The scape I had in mind was nothing like what I ended up going with, but it's not like I had much choice in the rocks I was shipped. No complaints though!

The combination of Dr. Tim's One and Only, a live rock from my buddy's established reef, and a bit of live sand seemed to cycle the dosed ammonia and fish food pretty quickly. Once everything settled out, I added a pretty light CUC and a pair of picasso clowns from Aquapros.

Man, it's difficult to take a picture of a fish.

Then, I went to the meet-up at New Fish this past Sunday and grabbed a bubble coral.


Apart from that, it sure is gonna take awhile to fill up that rock with corals!
 
Nice Setup, reminds me of my first setup, minimalist approach means more room for swimming. You should have enough bacteria in those rocks and sand to balance things out.
And before you know you won't have any room for coral on those rocks.

Any ideas on future livestock?
 
Livestock fish-wise? This is what I'm thinking so far:

-Goby-shrimp pair. Probably yellow watchman goby and a tiger pistol shrimp.
-Flame or coral beauty angel
-Yellow, blue, or yellow-eyed kole tang

That's the core of what I want for my fish, but I could easily see adding some small hardy fish. I've seen so many mixed reviews when it comes to all the 'schooling' fish like chromis that I still don't know.

As far as coral goes, no clue. Anything that will grow within reason in my tank setup that adds some impressive color.
 
I like the scape. Lots of room for vertical growth and swimming. As addicting as the hobby is it won't take long to fill
 
Anyone have any suggestions as far as CUC for sifting the sandbed? I was thinking of grabbing a sand sifting star, but I'm hearing so many mixed reviews about them as well. Would a fighting conche be a better idea?
 
Yeah I think with chromis you need a big quantity, other wise in true damsel fashion they start eliminating each other.

As for CUC, fighting conch sounds like a great idea, just watch out for aggression among the conchs so don't get too many.

Plus when you get a goby it will do some major sifting/cleaning up too.
 
adubson said:
Anyone have any suggestions as far as CUC for sifting the sandbed? I was thinking of grabbing a sand sifting star, but I'm hearing so many mixed reviews about them as well. Would a fighting conche be a better idea?
Click to expand...

I'd stay away from the sandsifting stars. they will decimate your pod population then die, usually buried in the sand. fighting conches are ok but won't do 100%. I'd load up on nassarius snails and consider getting a diamond gobie. A diamond will turn your bed over better than anything I've seen and since you have a larger grain sand it won't create a cloudy mess. However, if you want to grow zoas on your sb then it might not be the best becasue the diamond will spit sand on small corals in the sb.
 
I know it's not cuc but +1 on the diamond goby. Got one last week and my sand is so white now but make sure you have heavy sand
 
Diamond gobys do a great job of cleaning your sand bed and are super fun to watch...great choice...as long you never plan to put corals on your sand bed :banghead::banghead:

View attachment 6069


I loved mine until I realized I wanted Acans, Chalices, Blastos and such on my sand bed...and then he became "a problem" LOL

View attachment 6070
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, I picked up a custom cleaner package through reef cleaners that should be here tomorrow. Got a bunch of dwarf ceriths to keep that sand bed clean.

Now I'm just itching to add some things to look at hah. Added a green leather and an orange ricordea. Gonna be going to Aquatic Experience this weekend.

Anyone got anything that I can take off your hands to make this thing a little more interesting? :)
 
It's been awhile since I've updated, and I've done quite a bit to the tank in the meantime!

Here's how she stands now:

Sorry, my iPhone camera doesn't capture true colors on the tank with the new lights.

I swapped out my Odyssea 4 T5 fixture for two 120W Chinese LED fixtures. Eventually I would like to supplement these with two 36in T5's, just haven't found the cheapest method of doing this yet. So far, I'm really liking the change in lighting and so far the corals seem to be tolerating it.

Speaking of coral, I've added quite a few pieces. I picked up a lot of free pieces from rockhead, and some more freebies from another friend. I also grabbed a decent sized hammer from Aquapros at Aquatic Experience a couple weeks ago.







The pics are a lot bluer than they appear.

I also got a foxface and male lyretail anthia from Aquapros, and they're doing great.
 
A quick update:
My tank has bounced back very nicely from the crash over the Christmas break. I upgraded my lighting by supplementing with two 36 in T5s (ATI Blue Plus and Purple Plus). I build a mount for the T5/LED combo that fit in my canopy; you can see the pics below. So far, I'm really liking the color I'm getting from the lights, as well as the great growth.

And I think the most important changes are the addition of vinegar/kalk dosing via the ATO.

Since the last update in this thread, I've added the following corals:
-Strawberry shortcake acro
-Purple bonsai acro
-Wild Aussie blue acro colony
-Candlelight acro
-Tri-color valida
-Red planet acro
-Tyree Pink Lemonade
-Reverse Superman monti

Other additions:
-RBTA
-Handful of emerald crabs to deal with some bubble algae that popped up





 
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