Budget driven 75 gallon

[Kyle99]

Well... its been a while ish. Just a quick update. Everything is going great, the snails are doing their job skimmer is oddly working, and the tank is clearing up. I say oddly working because the only thing in the tank are snails. 

 

But its time to start thinking about stocking.

 

What should i get? 

 

I know i want 2 designer clowns (but on the cheaper end) too bad my lfs wants 200each for some storms 

 

I also would like a tang or two ik im right on that line for size. 

 

Other than those 3-4 fish idk what else to get. I saw a really cool looking guy at the lfs but i know nothing about him (pictured) 

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Kyle99 said:

I also would like a tang or two ik im right on that line for size.

You could do a kole yellow eye tang.

 

5 hours ago, Kyle99 said:

Other than those 3-4 fish idk what else to get.

Maybe a nice fairy wrasse.

[Kyle99]

@seabassnever seen one. Not the most eye catching fish but still a cool fish. 

 

Ok so i thought prety hard during class today about my tank. What i want how i want it and whats the most important out of everything. 

 

So here are the 3 key points 

1. Poping colors coral and fish. 

2. A bulk of fish with out over loading. 

3. Simply just successful. 

 

So i also thought about fish that i would like. 

 

So out of a childhood tank that my dad had (100gal) has made me want a lot of these fish. 

 

Coral beauty 

Yellow tang or a purple (more of a grow out fish) 

6 line wrasse 

2 clowns. i think snowflake 

Flame fish or fire fish but a few. I like to see the schools of them 

A goby of some kind

 

Now ik a a few of these are agressive bit its just a idea. This is a want list not a im gonna get it list.

[Kyle99]

So believe i have pods of some kind. They look like tiny white specks with small tails. 

I also have found some sort of algae i have never seen. I thought it was hair algae at first but its more of a fern looking. Its small for now but made me wonder. There are two in this picture. To the left and to the right.

[mcarroll]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:21 PM, Kyle99 said:

I also would like a tang or two ik im right on that line for size.

A small 4 foot tank like a standard 75 Gallon is definitely too small for a tang IMO.  I think it will be very bored.

 

There are 4 foot tanks that could sustain one because they make them in larger sizes with larger footprints.  

 

Only 6 ft² on your tank vs 8 ft² on a four foot 120 Gallon, for example.  There are some people out there with very nice 120s with Tangs in them — in my opinion this is considered a small but acceptable size.  Personally I don't think I would do a Tang in any smaller tank than this. 

 

I still consider my six foot 125 Gallon on the small side for Tangs and it sits on a 9 ft² footprint.  A 180 Gallon is considered ideal for the task by many and it sits on 12 ft².

 

I agree with @seabass that a Bristletooth like the Kole is the best choice if you do it.  

 

For the sake of tank management and keeping it somewhat simple I would try hard to keep the number of fish pretty small if you do add a Tang.  He is big and you will want to feed him well to keep him happy in that small of a tank.

 

But you don't want to ruin the tank's water quality in the process because you also have 5 or 10 or 15 other fish to feed as well. You get my point? 😉

 

But if you have no short term plans to go bigger on the tank, then I would suggest sticking with smaller fish.

 

I sort of look at it like this:  if you do small fish in a bigger tank you're doing the fish a favor.  They will literally be living large and you'll have it easy.

 

Whereas if you put big fish in a small tank you're essentially doing a stunt to test your husbandry skills.  But only the fish are at risk in the stunt not you. That dynamic gives me a bad vibe, personally.

 

People do the big-fish-in-small-tank thing, and it may not lead to immediate disaster, but it can...and it's certainly not a great conservative move if this is your first saltwater tank.

 

2¢

[Kyle99]

@mcarroll thank you for your input. Im glad i went to the fourms for the fish. I have read about tangs having to be in big tanks but not that big and that some find it inhumane. I was just wanting one because of the childhood/iconic reef tank look. But now that the tangs are off the list what small fish would yall recomend? I dont want damsels or chromis (i think thats what they are called) 

[seabass]

10 hours ago, Kyle99 said:

@seabassnever seen one. Not the most eye catching fish but still a cool fish.

They can be quite eye catching: https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/1378/wrasse-reef-safe?c=15+1378&r=

 

Edit: Oh... you meant the kole yellow eye tang.  I thought you were saying that fairy wrasses weren't eye-catching.

[Kyle99]

36 minutes ago, seabass said:

dit: Oh... you meant the kole yellow eye tang.  I thought you were saying that fairy wrasses weren't eye-catching

I did mean the fairy wrasses but i stand corrected. I only saw the "red head". I really like scotts fairy wrasse. and the 4 line.  

[Kyle99]

@seabass and @mcarroll any idea what type of algae this is? Its very feather like. Brown at the base and green at the top. Kinda like grass maybe 

[Kyle99]

This algae is in many places now and im kinda worried about it 

 

[Kyle99]

Nitrates are at 2ppm if your wondering. I cant test phosphates yet. 

 

[seabass]

We normally don't try to ID hair algae, unless it's bryopsis.  When you Google bryopsis, you'll often see images which aren't bryopsis.  TBH, I can't say that your algae is or isn't bryopsis.  Do some research on the topic.  I've found it extremely frustrating to get rid of.  However, again, it might not even be bryopsis.  I'm just not sure.

[Kyle99]

@seabass thats exactly what it is. Im looking into how to get rid of it now. 

[Wonderboy]

If it really is bryopsis, you still have the option of pulling out the rocks that it's growing on and replacing them with new rocks. If you want to try to fight it, I suggest biological/combo manual removal (outside tank - H2O2 scrubs) - a few sally light foot crabs and a bunch of blue leg hermits (up to 30 at a time) miiiight tackle it. There's chemical, but I often think that's unnecessary - and you usually don't want inverts in there for that... Also, you can turn off your lights to slow it down until you have something in there that's eating it.

 

Splendid is best to keep in dedicated small setups

[Kyle99]

@Wonderboy i am looking into the diffrent ways to take on this task. Unfortunately as of today every rock would have to come out. From what i have read h2o2 isnt as effective to this type as some other types of algae (dont quote me on that ive just seen a few say that) but it does work after a while. Following this from the people i have seen post they refer to reef flux which seems to be safe at any time in the tank as its a fish fungus treatment. But it was named algae buster before hand. But a lot use it for this type of algae with fast and sure fire results. Only down side is that it can cause nutrent swings. Not that important to me at the moment. Also, i could rise the mag in the tank, but i dont want to do that for cost and possibly killing the whole tank. 

[Wonderboy]

Cool - it's at least nice that this popped up at start up; I still worry about the snails and pods just a little

[seabass]

No doubt you'll see Fluconazole used as a treatment for bryopsis.

[Kyle99]

2 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Cool - it's at least nice that this popped up at start up; I still worry about the snails and pods just a little

You and me both. Now as crule as it sounds im not worried about loosing them. If thats what it takes to be successful in the long run then so be it. Now as a disclaimer i have no intentions on killing anything i dont want to kill anything and if i could get them out while i do this process then i will 100% but if there are some that hide too well then lets prey they dont die. 

 

As a update on the growth of the algae though a few spots have vanished. Im going to say my turbo waxed em. Which is good. So im going to play it safe ride it out and see what happens before i put anything into the tank. Something also to note. My diatoms are on their way out. Id say we are about 85% finished with them for now. 

 

Also i want to thank you guys @mcarroll, @seabass, and @Wonderboy. I am trying to do this the right way from the get go and with out you guys i would be strugling to keep on track. My 1st tank (my last one 20g long) almost made me quit the hobby because i never could get it to look good or have growth. With your guys help and others giving information i feel like i will be successful in this tank. So once again thank you. 

 

[Kyle99]

Bad news for me. 

 

Found out today we are bug bombing.... 

 

Heres the plan. Keep everything running but lights and skimmer.(because we are doing 2 batches 6 hrs each) and staying the night out at our land. So close to 24hrs no power to the tank is not a option. 

 

Super seal everything. Painters plastic and painters tape. 

 

Hope for the best... 

 

After do as large of a water change as posible. And run carbon for a minimum of 2 weeks with water changes. if no snails die then id assume we are a ok. 

 

[mcarroll]

hopefully algae and fish loads are fairly low going into it since that will reduce oxygen demand.

[Kyle99]

@mcarroll only thing in therinare snails maybe some baby pods and some micro algey. Everything else is just the left over diatoms. So hopefully i wont hurt too too bad. To help combat the oxygen problem though i was planning on leaving everything on. Now actually putting thought to it. Theres not much oxygen being put into the tank and will begin to run out. 

[Wonderboy]

Wow - you could run the lights if they don't cause to much heat; diatoms produce oxygen, plus previously retained - I don't see a problem with it going 8+ hrs sealed.  Good luck :]

[Kyle99]

4 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Wow - you could run the lights if they don't cause to much heat; diatoms produce oxygen, plus previously retained - I don't see a problem with it going 8+ hrs sealed.  Good luck :]

Well good i feel a little more settled about this. I also found out thatvwe are only doing the main rooms and not the bedrooms. Luckly that means no direct contact with the tank. Still going to seal it up though 

[Kyle99]

Well, things went well. Everything was. Completely sealed. Only negative thing ive seen so far is that the water became subber hazy. Im not sure what could have caused this. Wc and carbon in effect already. 

[Kyle99]

Hey guys. So its been 2 day as my water is still super foggy. Any idea whythat is? It all started after i covered up the sump. So the night before the bombing i had the sump covered and sealed off but still pumping. The next morning my water was super cloudy. I proceeded and then covered the top that morning. As my posts show that night i did a water change and added carbon this was on sunday. Now the water is still foggy. Theres not even a noticable noticeable difference. Any idea what it could be? All my snails are accounted for. No new algae blooms or anything like that. Ive seen someone say that the cloudiness can be caused by a rapid population increase of bacteria. But i have only seen it once so idk