My First Ever 75 Gallon Reef Tank

[MichiganGuy141]

So this is week 1 of the new 75 gallon reef tank and my first saltwater tank. Im sure there will be many questions and challenges along the way so lets get it going.

Here is what I am working with so far...

75 gallon Aqueon tank
60# of Hybrid Marco Rock
60# of CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Sand
FX2 cannister Filtration
300 watt heater
1 Hydor Koralia Evolution Wave Pump
Aquamaxx HOB-1.5 Protein Skimmer
39" AI Blade Coral Grow
2-Seville Classics UltraHD Heavy Duty Height Adjustable Workbenches
A whole pile of Hannah testers

I let it run with fresh saltwater for a week. Not sure why, but thats what I did.

Today was day 1 with MicroBacter Start XLM. Thinking about getting Brightwell Aquatics Coralline Accelerator to help start the Coralline.

 

[luis angel]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, I think you came to the right place, many people here with a lot of knowledge who can help you throughout the process. Good luck

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So this is week 1 of the new 75 gallon reef tank and my first saltwater tank. Im sure there will be many questions and challenges along the way so lets get it going.

Here is what I am working with so far...

75 gallon Aqueon tank
60# of Hybrid Marco Rock
60# of CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Sand
FX2 cannister Filtration
300 watt heater
1 Hydor Koralia Evolution Wave Pump
Aquamaxx HOB-1.5 Protein Skimmer
39" AI Blade Coral Grow
2-Seville Classics UltraHD Heavy Duty Height Adjustable Workbenches
A whole pile of Hannah testers

I let it run with fresh saltwater for a week. Not sure why, but thats what I did.

Today was day 1 with MicroBacter Start XLM. Thinking about getting Brightwell Aquatics Coralline Accelerator to help start the Coralline.

Nice looking aquascape!

 

[MichiganGuy141]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, I think you came to the right place, many people here with a lot of knowledge who can help you throughout the process. Good luck

Thanks. I am already scratching my head and breaking Hannah testers (filled the tester instead of the vile).

 

[MichiganGuy141]

Nice looking aquascape!

Thanks. Its the result of many hours watching BRS TV and hoping for the best

 

[MichiganGuy141]

So I am still getting the hang of testing the tank so that probably has a lot to do with these measurements. Do these look like typical readings or am I totally messing up on this? Just got the Nitrate kit today so nothing before adding the MicroBacter

 

[SudzFD]

So this is week 1 of the new 75 gallon reef tank and my first saltwater tank. Im sure there will be many questions and challenges along the way so lets get it going.

Here is what I am working with so far...

75 gallon Aqueon tank
60# of Hybrid Marco Rock
60# of CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Sand
FX2 cannister Filtration
300 watt heater
1 Hydor Koralia Evolution Wave Pump
Aquamaxx HOB-1.5 Protein Skimmer
39" AI Blade Coral Grow
2-Seville Classics UltraHD Heavy Duty Height Adjustable Workbenches
A whole pile of Hannah testers

I let it run with fresh saltwater for a week. Not sure why, but thats what I did.

Today was day 1 with MicroBacter Start XLM. Thinking about getting Brightwell Aquatics Coralline Accelerator to help start the Coralline.

Looks great. You picked a great HOB skimmer. It will be a workhorse.

 

[MichiganGuy141]

Looks great. You picked a great HOB skimmer. It will be a workhorse.

Thanks. I put it together and found out it doesnt fit on the rimmed tank. Had to do some slight mods to it but now it fits perfect. Plugged it in and quickly overflowed. After reading a few threads here I found out it needs an air valve to tame it. Will know more after the tank cycles

 

[SudzFD]

Thanks. I put it together and found out it doesnt fit on the rimmed tank. Had to do some slight mods to it but now it fits perfect. Plugged it in and quickly overflowed. After reading a few threads here I found out it needs an air valve to tame it. Will know more after the tank cycles

Very normal for them to run a muck for the first day or two. It’s part of the break in. You shouldn’t need the air valve once it’s broken in, but will help you for now not creating a mess.

 

[Gman83]

Nice scape. If your home with it, let the skimmer run, it will help it do it's thing

 

[MichiganGuy141]

May be a bit early, but I have just added my first fish. Sold to me as a pair of Darwin Clownfish but I think they may actually be Mocha's along with 3 Green Chromis

About to do another water change to bring the Nitrate down to where it should be

 

[MichiganGuy141]

Week 3 update !!

Week 3

Fish seem happy and healthy and eating good. One of the clowns is pretty shy but the rest follow me around. Pretty cool. Rocks are not as white as they appear here, more of a tan color. Not seeing any green yet.

Testing seems to be stable for the last 2 weeks. Some slightly low or high but nothing going silly that I can see.

Calcium (ppm) 421
Alkalinity (dKH) 6.6
Phosphate (ppm) 0.170
Salinity (SG) 1.024
Temperature 78.0
Nitrate (ppm) 9.20
Ammonia (ppm) 0.07
pH 7.6

Tried everything I could think of with the HOB skimmer but cant get rid of the microbubbles. They are out of control. Tried covering the outlet with filter media but only caused an overflow, stuffed the outlet side (below the outlet), air valves, DYI bubble stopper, all heights for the bubble cup. The only 2 things I can think of is the tank is too new and bioload is too low, or the height of the skimmer body is too high due to the rimmed tank. At this point, It may just go back in the box and try later.