another new tank!!

[annie p]

I just got a 75g I'm going to set up for SW. It came with some crushed coral, which i have never used. Opinions? Also an instant ocean skimmer. Anyone heard of these?

[fishlover49]

I am so jealous!! Congrats on your new tank!! thumbs2:

[Deleted User]

Congratulations on the new tank. Good luck with your project.:ssmile:

[Lady Hobbs]

Yeaaaaaa. A new tank is so much fun!

[annie p]

What to put in it??? Hmmmmmm.......

[rageybug]

I just got a 75g I'm going to set up for SW. It came with some crushed coral, which i have never used. Opinions? Also an instant ocean skimmer. Anyone heard of these?


Instant Ocean is a well know SW brand name. I use their salt but have not tried their skimmers. I would imagine that it is a top quality skimmer but you want to make sure it will do the work your tank requires. Do you have any specs on the skimmer?

The chushed coral is nice but you may want to add to it. The coral is great for a few reasons including calcium levels and a great place for copepods to live and breed. I use crushed coral in my tank but only for about 20% of my substrate. For the other 80% I use silica sand. This is the same sand used i swimming pool filters. It is cheap (don't pay top $ at your LFS for sand) and you can usually get it in 50lb bags. The sand looks great and my cleaner crew really get in there and cleans it up. I put the sand in first, then the crushed coral on top. This is how I do it, you will hear lots of other opinions too.

[rageybug]

What to put in it??? Hmmmmmm.......


You probably want to put this thought on the back burner for about 4-6 months. The tank needs to be set up and stable before adding livestock. It is the hardest part of a SW tank... waiting to put in the fish but it is worth the wait. Focus first on live rock, lighting, water parameters. Start off your livestock by adding a cleaner crew (hermits, snails etc). Believe it or not, you can sit and watch a few 99 cent hermits for hours!

Maybe start with a list of things you would like down the road and build the tank to suit that list. If you want a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) tank, the lights won't need to be as good as a tank full of coral. When you are thinking about the fish you would like, remember that you will not actually be using 75g of tank. The live rock can eat up a ton of space, maybe 50% so the tank would only be about 37g at that point.

[annie p]

OK I was going to mix some of it with live sand. The skimmer only goes for about 100$ new so that's why I question it. Seems kinda cheap.

[rageybug]

Don't worry too much about the price. You can get skimmers on E-Bay for the price of a case of beer. By the way, don't get the cheap ones from E-Bay!

Worry more about what size tank it is rated for. Most people will tell you to get a skimmer that is rated for double your tank size, meaning you would want one for 150g.

[rageybug]

OK I was going to mix some of it with live sand. The skimmer only goes for about 100$ new so that's why I question it. Seems kinda cheap.


Live sand is good too but is way more expensive than silica sand. Whatever you choose will be fine. It all depends on your budget.

[annie p]

I think I will save the skimmer for the QT tank and get a bigger one. Thanks for the comment. Can't wait to go shopping!!