High Tide Aquatics

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Jeff Rehling

Jeff Rehling

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Hello, I'm Jeff. Live in SF/Bernal Heights. About to purchase a 75g and set up a saltwater fish only tank. Any advice for the new guy? Local pet store (Happy Ocean) recommended no more than 9 fish. Would you experts agree?

Also, hints on filtration? I will not use a sump, as the tank has no holes and I don't want to drill it out. Can I use a back hanging protein skimmer, or do I even need that?

Also, recommendations on powerbeads and filtration? I've read to buy at least one model larger that the tank size...75 gallon tank, buy filtration for at least 100 gallons...

Standing by for advice!!! Can't wait!
 
Hi and welcome Jeff!

will this be a fish only tank or do you want corals too? Lots of corals or just a couple?

You dont need a lot of stuff to get a reef tank going. I have a 14 gallon cube that only has a heater, pump, and light. Ive got a bunch of corals (soft, LPS, and montiporas) growing in there and two clownfish. No sump.

I also have a more complicated but lower maintenance 40 gallon with sump, protein skimmer, dosing pump, refugium, and light.

Why do most people have a sump?
  1. Hides your equipment. Nobody wants to see skimmer tubes, wires, heaters in their tank. They want to see the environment.
  2. Allows more room for equipment = more stable tank = less maintenance = more enjoyment.
Im in san mateo, if youre driving through my area feel free to give me a call/text and check out my tank. Ill show you my set up. 443-540-85For2
 
Jeff Rehling said:
fish only now and maybe reef later after i "get my feet wet"
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That's totally doable but don't let drilling some holes keep you from using a sump if that's your only concern. It's better to do it now than later if you know you're going that direction.

With a fish only tank you can keep things pretty simple though. You'll likely want some live rock (I'd say 40 lbs minimum), sand, light (nothing fancy, they don't need it), and I'd still do a hang on back skimmer (I like the Aquamaxx hob-1, I think it's rated for up to 75 gallons).

This is a hobby not a science so everyone is going to have their own opinion. Just wade through what everyone tells you and, in the end, do whatever you feel like.
 
9 fish... well I agree to disagree :D Honestly it depends upon the type of fish. Think about how aggressive they'll be, how large they get (NOT how large they are at the store) , are they vast swimming fish. i.e. Yellow tang, blue tang, purple tang, etc... would be very bad.

You can get a hang on the back protein skimmer, I've never liked them myself because if they ever overflow or leak they can make a mess, plus they restrict how close to the wall you can actually put your tank. But if you want a skimmer then it really is your only method. There's one member here who does not run a skimmer at all, and has a very full tank, but we like to say he made a deal with the devil and that is not the norm. If you do go without a skimmer you'll have to do more frequent water changes most likely, although absolute water purity is not that necessary with a fish only system (still the fish appreciate it!).

As for the filtration in general, any hang off the back/canister filter should be fine, just note you will want to change the filter media very often or they can actually do the opposite of what they're supposed to, turning off the filter when you feed is also a good call too. I would probably go with hermit crabs or other animals as the majority of my filtration as they will take care of uneaten food and what not.

As to powerhead, something simple and cheap like the Jebao RW series should be fine, wide flow, they're adjustable as far as speed, and you can set up various pulsing modes without getting waves but getting a little random turbulence.

And you can have a sump without drilling your tank, they make hang off the back overflows, which could be an option but you do need to keep a little more close eye on them (i.e. don't get lazy and ignore them). If a sump is an option you would like to have though I would hold off on the HOB skimmer since it'll be largely irrelevant if you have a sump (and defeats some of the purpose of a sump).

That said, good luck, this hobby can get as expensive as you want it to get, but more likely it will be more expensive than you want it ;) And you're doing the right thing now going slow and thinking things out before buying a bunch of equipment then going "now what?"
 
i'm thinking a large canister filter...one rated at 150 gallons or so. I am working a great deal on the tank and stand...$150 total and there is a filter, though I haven't seen it.

How do I convert this tank to supporting a sump? drill a hole? and if so, where?
 
Welcome! I've always thought that simpler set-ups are better to gain knowledge of how it all works and better to add equipment later as needed. No need to drill if you want a sump. I've run plenty of tanks and sumps using an overflow box. A power head or two, a heater and some filter material and you're ready to start cycling. I used to just run the overflow down through a filter sock in the sump. If you do intend to keep 9 fish, a protein skimmer might be a good idea down the road but lots of people get away with out one. Just depends what you'd like to keep and how often you're willing to do water changes and such.

Also I work in Bernal Heights and live very close. Let me know if you ever want meet up at Holy Water and talk tank!
 
I've always like Hydor powerheads but theyre all pretty similar IMO. I can't recommend any canisters or HOB skimmers because I don't use them but I've had good experiences with Reef Octopus and Aquamaxx in sump skimmers. Holy Water is a bar right on Cortland in the middle of Bernal.
 
FloridaMan said:
I've always like Hydor powerheads but theyre all pretty similar IMO. I can't recommend any canisters or HOB skimmers because I don't use them but I've had good experiences with Reef Octopus and Aquamaxx in sump skimmers. Holy Water is a bar right on Cortland in the middle of Bernal.
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I'm in
 
Where would you send me to it equipment? I like the guy at Happy Ocean on balboa and their prices seemed fair. I'm picking up the tank today and want to start it cycling. Could I add the skimmer later?
 
Yes you could add a skimmer later, cycle is just a way to let the bacterial population to grow, you'll go through ammonia, nitrite, nitrate phases. Don't rush things by putting in fish early, let it cycle, but don't bother too much until you get whatever sand/rocks ready to go in as well.

As for drilling so you can have a sump, there are multiple ways to go about it, probably the easiest for that though is to use a kit ReefSavvy overflow (or cheaper alternatives on ebay) if it's glass, if it's acrylic, it's easier to drill since you don't need diamond bits, but the acrylic bracing on top can make it hard to install correctly. Personally I'd go with the flow of how you're setting things up, you can always change things later if you REALLY want to get into it.

FYI the sump idea is to hide a lot of the things from the tank, skimmers and all filtration, heaters, etc. but the complexity level does rise a bit if you're absolutely new to all of this. I started with a simple 10g glass tank, 2 clownfish and a damsel, and I was more than happy with that.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yes you could add a skimmer later, cycle is just a way to let the bacterial population to grow, you'll go through ammonia, nitrite, nitrate phases. Don't rush things by putting in fish early, let it cycle, but don't bother too much until you get whatever sand/rocks ready to go in as well.

As for drilling so you can have a sump, there are multiple ways to go about it, probably the easiest for that though is to use a kit ReefSavvy overflow (or cheaper alternatives on ebay) if it's glass, if it's acrylic, it's easier to drill since you don't need diamond bits, but the acrylic bracing on top can make it hard to install correctly. Personally I'd go with the flow of how you're setting things up, you can always change things later if you REALLY want to get into it.

FYI the sump idea is to hide a lot of the things from the tank, skimmers and all filtration, heaters, etc. but the complexity level does rise a bit if you're absolutely new to all of this. I started with a simple 10g glass tank, 2 clownfish and a damsel, and I was more than happy with that.
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Jeff - Order Dr Tims Nutrifying Bacteria ( hopefully spelled that right ) The old days of cycling are gone. This stuff works in 48 hours. I did my 300 and added fish 2 days later , but only add 1 at a time. 1 48 hours later then another 1 week later etc. Also get yourself a qt tank ( most use a 20L ) and put all fish in there before your main tank. Nothing worse than adding that last fish that is carry some disease and it wipes them all out
 
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