# New to Saltwater With 75 Gal tank



## E30ChrisM (Feb 27, 2010)

Ok hello everyone Iv'e been reading on the forum for a little while now and i have a 55 gal freshwater tank. Id like to start a saltwater aquarium and i have a 75 gallon and another 55 gal along with i think a 35 gallon and about 10 10 gallons. I Picked the 75 gallon because from reading it sounds like with bigger tank it would be easier to keep the water levels where they should be. I Am just looking for any advice on what kind of supplies i should use. I plan on getting corals also in the future and actually I am more interested in the corals than the fish. Im trying to keep the costs down but obviously I know I am going to end up spending quite a bit. Thanks for your time and I look forward to spending more time on this site.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

I think you have made a good decision with a 75 gallon tank. The first question to be decided is to use a sump or not use a sump. After doing research, have you made a decision on this yet?


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## outpost (Mar 30, 2010)

If you are just going to be doing corals you won't need to have that much filtration. Compared to fish, coral produces way less of a bio load. With my reef I have decided to go the simple way. I have a 29gal AGA reef. I have 4 species of SPS and all are growing and doing fabulous. One LPS candy cane and a lot of different softies. I also have five fish. Percula clown, Fuzzy Dwarf Lion, Royal Gramma, Blue Devil Damsel, and a Black and White Cromis. My only means of filtration besides the live rock is a tetra Whisper 30 gallon HOB. I also do a 3 gallon weekly water change. If you have a coral/invert only tank you def. won't need a protein skimmer. I myself am more of a coral guy. You could get away with a HOB skimmer and water changes just fine if you had some fish in there.


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## fishesfriend (Dec 8, 2009)

that is not true, yes they produce less waste, but they require better water quality. Stay with the skimmer.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

outpost said:


> If you are just going to be doing corals you won't need to have that much filtration. Compared to fish, coral produces way less of a bio load. With my reef I have decided to go the simple way. I have a 29gal AGA reef. I have 4 species of SPS and all are growing and doing fabulous. One LPS candy cane and a lot of different softies. I also have five fish. Percula clown, Fuzzy Dwarf Lion, Royal Gramma, Blue Devil Damsel, and a Black and White Cromis. My only means of filtration besides the live rock is a tetra Whisper 30 gallon HOB. I also do a 3 gallon weekly water change. If you have a coral/invert only tank you def. won't need a protein skimmer. I myself am more of a coral guy. You could get away with a HOB skimmer and water changes just fine if you had some fish in there.





fishesfriend said:


> that is not true, yes they produce less waste, but they require better water quality. Stay with the skimmer.


Lets not so quickly dismiss the success of a fellow hobbyist! There are different ways to approach this hobby. I have met a number of successful hobbyists with smaller sized reef systems that did not use a protein skimmer, but relied on water changes and even carbon filtration.

I do agree, however, that it would be much easier to duplicate a successful system with the use of a skimmer. Over the short term you would probably not notice much difference, but after several years issues with phosphate, pH, calcium, and alkalinity very frequently occur on systems that use hang on type filtration, as opposed to skimmers. 

Given that the cost of a skimmer is not really a factor in the hobby today, with the online retailers offering incredible prices, I see no reason not to go mainstream and use a skimmer.

Now, this tank in question is a 75 gallon tank. There is no doubt that you will want a skimmer and you will want a good skimmer. So again, the question is, are you going to use a sump?


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## E30ChrisM (Feb 27, 2010)

Okay Ive been pretty busy and have not done anything yet. I was even thinking about just making a second freshwater tank out of this but i really want to go saltwater. 

If i go saltwater I would definitely plan on using a sump. It looks like its the best way to go. As for the protein skimmer any advice on what would be the best for my money? Also how long could the tank go without a protein skimmer with just the live rock and sand in the tank. Im trying to spread the costs out as much as possible so im not spending my paycheck on just stuff for the aquarium. I was looking at the key largo rock i think its called to be seeded with live rock. So my question is if i have the tank with the water in it and the live rock and live sand does there need to be water movement and how long before i would need a protein skimmer. I was reading about the diatom bloom but dont really fully understand so if someone could help out that would be great. 
Thanks


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## E30ChrisM (Feb 27, 2010)

lso im looking at purchasig the 40 lb dry rock and 40 lb sand from marco rocks. I know I will need more but will that be enough to get everything started. also how much live rock would be needed to seed the 40lb of dry rock.


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## wcn84 (Nov 7, 2009)

Check out my 75 gallon that I just set up which currently has 80 lbs of key largo from Marco rocks. I am adding another 20-25 of liverock and then will figure out if I need more from there.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...cn84s-75-gallon-fowlr-build-40129/#post366331


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