Ideal 75gal marine aquarium setup???

[LowKey]

What reasonably priced equiptmwent would you use to maintain a succesful (fish only) 75gal aquarium?

What would your exact asetup be?  Obviously I will setting one up shortly.  Just thought I'd ask to see if I could get other peoples point of view.  

Heres my list:

-3 tluorescent bulb setup
-Protien Skimmer
-4 Power Heads
-Live rock
-Crushed shell sand 1' base
-2 150watt heaters

Feel free to ad to the list.  As I am open to ideas.

Thanks in advance.  :wink:

[Marx]

1 pound per gallon live rock..
go for 2" crushed coral substrate
3 powerheads would be good enough maxi-jet 1200
also go 1 workhores 7 ballast and run 2 VHO bulbs. 220W of light is perfect for a fish only setup.. will keep your rock full of coraline algae.

will cost ya aa few $$$ to start up..

also you might wanna buy wave maker powerbar.. and get your powerheads to make it more natural.

[BigDaddy]

Marx:

Where do you get your Workhorse ballasts from?

[Marx]

aqauria Canada.. IJO there sells them..

also I sold mine.. and went to Icecap 660 ballast 440W VHO.

[maitre007]

I do not have a marine aquarium but ... I have seen on the Pratical Fishkeeping magazine as well as other place the new method of using a deep sand bed (10" as opposed to "2) as a filtration system.  You aren't required to have as much live rock with this method.   However it appears that you cannot use crushed coral but rather I forget the type of substrate.  I think argonite or something.

Anyways.  For me, the deep sand bed looks really cool and if I do ever follow through on my desire to have a marine tank to house some tangs ... it is probably the method that I would look up into.

[pegasus]

deep sand bed http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

[LowKey]

Should a sump be somethind to consider?  What is the benefit?

[dannypd]

Be careful with the deep sandbeds....

...one bubble of gas building up in the stagnant water can KILL FISH INSTANTLY.

[maitre007]

I believe that is why crushed coral is not to be used for deep bed and that is why you have to use very fine substrate for the deep bed so there can't be such stagnant water in the deep bed.

That is my understanding of the concept from what I have read.

[BigDaddy]

Be careful with the deep sandbeds....

...one bubble of gas building up in the stagnant water can KILL FISH INSTANTLY.

It's called an ANAEROBIC POCKET.

FYI

[dannypd]

Be careful with the deep sandbeds....

...one bubble of gas building up in the stagnant water can KILL FISH INSTANTLY.

It's called an ANAEROBIC POCKET.

FYI

:oops: thanks....

I was trying to figure it out for a bit..then gave up.

[gator]

If I were you, I'd get your tank drilled and an overflow box installed.  Even if you don't initially set up a sump system, you can run your skimmer off the overflow.  Hang-on-back skimmers run by powerheads just don't seem to work as efficiently as those whose water supply is skiimed off the surface.  I think that a lot of the stuff that protein skimmers remove floats on the surface of the water.   Down the road if you want to change to a reef tank, you'll appreciate the flexibility for adding a refugium, sump, etc.

[LowKey]

Do you think 65watt bulbs would do for the lighting?  And scratch 75gal, I bought a 90gal.

[DARKPHREAK]

65 watt PC's? you'll need 4 of those.

[LowKey]

65 watt PC's? you'll need 4 of those.

Just got them. $130.00 new in box, ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4361703387&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

[Nelson]

65 watt PC's? you'll need 4 of those.

Just got them. $130.00 new in box, ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4361703387&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Oustanding deal!!!  I've acquired almost all of my fish room "big ticket" equipment through E-bay at great prices.  I would be interested in the quality of the light once you've had a chance to examine/use it.  Could you please post or email your opinion?  If you're pleased I'll pick one up - if there's any left that is.

[LowKey]

I think I've got it.  Let me know what you think.

[DARKPHREAK]

Sweet setup. You might want to consider adding another 110 outlet. Add all you amperages together and see if it will run from the standard 15amp circuit. Lets say for some reason your lights trip the breaker, everything shuts off. Now if you divide it up, say lights and skimmer off 1 15 amp circuit and all the pumps off another circuit it will be redundant kinda. Know what I mean ?

[LowKey]

Sweet setup. You might want to consider adding another 110 outlet. Add all you amperages together and see if it will run from the standard 15amp circuit. Lets say for some reason your lights trip the breaker, everything shuts off. Now if you divide it up, say lights and skimmer off 1 15 amp circuit and all the pumps off another circuit it will be redundant kinda. Know what I mean ?

Good idea.  I actually have two outlets in close proximity to the desired tank location.  I will find a way to use them both.

[328iGuy]

Sweet setup. You might want to consider adding another 110 outlet. Add all you amperages together and see if it will run from the standard 15amp circuit. Lets say for some reason your lights trip the breaker, everything shuts off. Now if you divide it up, say lights and skimmer off 1 15 amp circuit and all the pumps off another circuit it will be redundant kinda. Know what I mean ?

Good idea.  I actually have two outlets in close proximity to the desired tank location.  I will find a way to use them both.

There is a good chance both outlets are running off the same circuit breaker though, ensure they are on seperate otherwise it defeats the purpose.

[dpatte]

i run my tanks in the basement from 3 different circuit breaker circuits (for redundancy), and all plugs are also circuit-breaking wall plugs (like people use in the bathroom) - (For safety reasons).

[gator]

Yeah, those types of plugs are GFI - ground fault interrerupt.   If you don't want to replace the outlets, you can also get GFI switches for your panel which do exactly the same thing, only if they trip you have to go down to your panel to reset them.  They're a great safety feature for water/electricity mixes.

[dannypd]

Yeah, those types of plugs are GFI - ground fault interrerupt.   If you don't want to replace the outlets, you can also get GFI switches for your panel which do exactly the same thing, only if they trip you have to go down to your panel to reset them.  They're a great safety feature for water/electricity mixes.

And especially REQUIRED when going Marine/heavy brackish.

[DARKPHREAK]

How come only for salt? Explain

[dannypd]

How come only for salt? Explain

Drop a few drops of salt water on ANYTHING electrical...NO CHANCE at resurection.

[RaceFaceR1]

That is a pretty good price!