My inherited 75 gallon tank

[acemow]

Hi to all. My story about getting into this hobby is as follows: One of my sons decided to take over an established 75 gal reef tank from someone who was done with reefing. My son thought it would look cool in his apartment, however, he needed to move back home because of a tough college caseload, and brought the tank with him. He had no idea what he was getting into with a reef tank. I took one look at the tank and was HOOKED! I knew virtually nothing about reefing, didn't even know it was a hobby, but started dilligently researching reef tanks and found Reef Sanctuary in the process.

Contents of tank when I got it: Paired maroon clown couple, Sailfin Tang (veliferum), Percula clown, a few snails and red leg hermits, 90+ lbs LR, 1-2" SB, wet/dry sump, LTF Phos. reactor, Protein skimmer, Koralia 1 PH, in tank center overflow box. Hair algae was my first problem!

[acemow]

The clowns were stressed from obviously harrassing each other, and having so much HA in tank. Tang was a bit thin but fine. I moved very quickly in figuring out what to do and had an aquarium maintenance guy come help me. To deal with HA I added 1 seahare (great choice!), 65 blue legs, 65 snails, 1 sandsifting star, 3 pepp. shrimp, 3 skunk shrimp, 7 Mexican turbo snails. Scrubbed the HA off rock, luckily it was only on the surfaces because of the way LR was setup; did a WC, and over the course of a week or so, took out some bio-balls, replaced Phos. Ban product, cleaned everything, fixed protein skimmer and monitered params closely; had to remove the maroon clown couple, kept Percula and Tang. That was 3+ months ago, no HA since. Next up, the sick clownfish!

[acemow]

My Percula, the only clown we kept was very stressed, torn fins, rapid breathing, having trouble staying upright in bottom of tank. After finding info in forums and links, I set up an emergency hospital tank and moved him into it. Clean up and maintenance of the DT continued while Perc was in HT. Treatment was hyposalinity and higher temp as he did have some ich signs (no fish in DT), and medication for fin damage and possible bacterial infections. Carbonless filter. Diligent WC and check on levels of meds and params was tiring and stressful for me but perc was quickly responding, eating a lot and breathing so much easier! After about a month, he was strong and moved back to DT along with Tang! Yay! they both are fattened up and doing well. Passed along extras in CUC as there was no algae problem, didn't want them to starve.

[Jeremy0322]

Sounds like you are doing pretty nicely right now, have any pictures?

[yungreefer2410]

the sailfin will outgrow that tank eventually. they are very big. what kind of lighting does the tank have? also you need more flow if it is a reef tank. in a 75g i would do a koralia 3 and koralia 4 along with that koralia 1

[acemow]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I know the Tang will outgrow my tank, I know someone who will take him. The lights are 2 14k 150w metal halide, just replaced, and white leds with the actinics also. I just bought two Koralias, 3,4 from ebay to put in to increase the flow. I have a couple pics in the member gallery but haven't figured out how to post them here yet. I'm a bit computer-slow

[yungreefer2410]

most people seem to use Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket then copy/paste the img code into your post

[ReefLady]

Kudos to you for giving this your best shot (without much warning, LOL). Welcome to the world of reefing!
One thing you might want to invest in is your own test kits. The things you added (snails, hermits, etc) will "band aid" the algae issue, but you need to eliminate the source. What kind of water are you using for water changes? How much are you feeing/how often? Anything else being "added" to the tank?
What are you basic test readings (that you know)?

The wet/dry filter can contribute to elevated nitrate levels, which can fuel nuisance algae.

[acemow]

Some of the other things I've acquired after getting great suggestions in the forums: API test kits for Calc., Ammon., pH, nitrate/trite, phos., KH, to start with. I use coralife salt from LFS for changes, I have RO/DI in my home for top offs. I test regularly and take samples in to LFS also, I watch forum discussions to keep learning about safe params and signs to watch for when something may be going off.

I need to note that when tank came, the mh lights were older and sitting just over 2" off water surface and there is a cover over the cabinet! We modified the top and raised the lights to just under 9" off surface. That really helps keep temp stable and brain coral happy.

78 temp; pH 8.3, SG 1.024, nitrite 0; nitrate 20; ammon. 0; phos. 0; calcium 480; KH just over 8dkh.

[acemow]

While the perc was in HT, I fed flake made into a paste with supplement and/or garlic, Cyc-lo-pese, frozen, in small amounts. The flake paste was hand fed and that helped to keep a lot of extra food from accumulating, most of the floating flake the perc ate anyway. An hour after feeding I used turkey baster to collect the extra food and rinsed the carbonless portion of filter, not the bio-floss as it was not a completely established system, only seeded from my DT and set up with water from DT. I still feed the same way in DT but add some seaweed strip pieces which all enjoy. Still researching the other feeding methods and foods recommended.

[acemow]

I was losing a lot of snails, didn't know why until one night I noticed a large claw pulling a snail behind a rock. It was a rogue crab! It was scarfing my snails and I needed to remove it. Finally ended up taking out about 60 lbs LR until I found the crab hiding in a large piece, put rock into QT and set a pilsner glass with shrimp in it up against rock where I saw crab hiding. Next day I had an uber crab!!
Since a lot of LR was out, we rearranged and made cave areas to improve flow around tank. Fish loved it! LFS is taking crab in trade.
Right now I do WC every ten days, ten gals., with a larger change once a month.

[Clownfish518]

Crabs are evil!

[acemow]

There is a picture of the crab in the member gallery photos, but the pic won't attach here for some reason. It's a Xanthid red eye reef crab, I posted the pic in gallery a couple days ago. Yeah, creepy and definitely evil!!

[acemow]

Current rockscape

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Wow is all I have to say! MAJOR props to you for having this tank dumped on you and doing everything right! Keep us updated