EvilTwin's 75g tank

[EvilTwin]

I'm new here, so I just wanted to post up some pics of my 75g tank that I am now just starting to add corals to. Enjoy the pics. My camera has never been so busy since I started this hobby.

The tank:


My single hitchiker button polyp:


My latest, a Blushing Finger Leather (I think):

[EvilTwin]

My BTA:


Other critters:

[EvilTwin]

Right Side:


Left Side:

[FragOutpost]

It looks like you are off to a great start. Nice tank. I like your stand. Is the finish rosewood or cherry?
Great pic of the tang. I wish mine would stay still long enough to get a pic like that!
Are your clowns hosting in your BTA?
You are correct on the blushing leather. The species name is Cladiella. Is it getting a good amount of flow?

Nice tank. Keep us updated on the progress!

[EvilTwin]

The color of the Sedona stand from perfecto is called Red Oak. It is a very nice color and accents the tank very well. I let the wife pick the furniture, mostly as a way to deflect the fact we were spending more money and to get her involved.

I got lucky with the shot of the tang, and I wasn't using the macro lens. My camera is a Canon Powershot G5. Fully automatic, yet will do everything manually as well. A friend of mine is a photographer by trade and he has been educating me, so my pics have been getting better.

My clowns are not hosting in the bta yet. I'm a little discouraged by this as I am sure it would provide for LOTS of photo ops. I suspect they may in time, so I am waiting them out. So far they have shown no interest whatsoever in the BTA. My BTA has been doing surprisingly well, from what I can tell, though the last time I fed him he spit most of the squid chunk back out. I'm holding off on feeding for a few more days.

The leather is getting good flow from one of my powerheads. I plan on upgrading them shortly, possibly adding a third.

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by EvilTwin

The color of the Sedona stand from perfecto is called Red Oak. It is a very nice color and accents the tank very well. I let the wife pick the furniture, mostly as a way to deflect the fact we were spending more money and to get her involved.

That's great that your wife is getting involved...Now if you could only convince her to do the water changes then you would be set.

Don't be discouraged by the clowns. Tank raised clowns usually take some time to start hosting in an anemone. I would hold off on adding any corals with long flowing polyps as clowns are notorious for hosting in various corals instead of the anemones provided for them. If you anemone is not actively feeding then I would wait at least a week before trying to feed again.

Keep good flow on the leather and it should bounce back soon. You may try dosing some iodide as well.

[Peterock]

Welcome to the web and also welcome to saltwater

You have a nice starting point on your tank a few questions though..
What are you water parm?
How much LR do you have?
What type of setup (equipment do you have)


Again welcome.

[salazar]

Nice backdrop is it paper or textured, the Tang is HUGE!!! just kidding LOL

[EvilTwin]

Well, I have about 50 lbs of LR. Everything in this tank was migrated over from a 60g hex tank that I started back in September. It was too deep and not long enough for the tang. I was literally down to my armpits to reach the bottom. Might be good with a REALLY deep sand bed setup, but I'm planning on selling it. A guy at the LFS wants to do a discus tank and offered to buy mine.

Water params are in a thread in the newb section.

Right now I have a skimmer and 260w of PC lighting. I was running a canister on the old tank but stopped with the new. No sump or refugium at this time. Not sure what I want to do there. I could have bought an overflow tank, and maybe I should have but it would have run another $100 and I would have needed to do the sump then. I needed to move tanks quickly because I was worried about my tang being so stressed, so I didn't want to make things too complex this time around.

The background is a huge wall of rock that I built behind my tank to get that effect. I really didn't like seeing a wall or painting the tank so I thought this was nice...

JUST KIDDING! I bought one of those plastic backgrounds from Foster&Smith. It has a very realistic 3D effect when you look at it, tho.

[FragOutpost]

I think you made a good choice upgrading to the 75 gallon. You will find that it offers much more flexibility than the tall 60 hex. Plus it will be much better for the tang. What else do you plan on adding to the tank as far as fish and corals are concerned?

[EvilTwin]

One of the most frustrating things about the 60g hex tank was that the tank hood was so narrow that I could not even find a decent lighting fixture to give me decent lighting. The 20" aqualight was ok for a bit but that only gave me 96 watts, not even 1.5 wpg. I had considered getting a MH setup, but would likely have had to actually construct something as my wife would not allow a pendant. Given all the factors, including an increasingly stressed fish, we opted for a new tank.

I am not sure what else I want to add to the tank at this point. While it is very tempting to buy new fish and start to load up the tank, I have been reluctant to do so. There are two LFS near me, in addition to That Fish Place which is an hour away. Both have comparable SW selections but one has a much nicer setup, beautiful display tanks and a better all around selection. My damsel, bicolor and one clown came from there. The take good care of their livestock and the people there know their stuff. I've had good luck with mail order from Liveaquaria.com. The tang came from there. But in general, I don't see truely great specimens when I go looking to the stores, so I shy away. TFP has a lot of stuff but I am usually turned off by the occasional dead fish I see floating in their tanks. They had a xenia frag in their coral table that was half dead, otherwise I might have bought it. One of the two attached frags was grey and withered. Like I said, I'm really being more picky now. I hate watching things die and even more I'd having to take them back.

So what else do I want? I would like to get a xenia. Those pulsing tips look really cool and I think they would add some nice motion to my tank. I like things that move. It makes the tank seem so much more alive. Corals can be very pretty, but they don't DO much except sit there and look pretty. Right now, I need more LR, so once I have that cured and aquascaped in, I'll have more places for things to go and I can start getting more things. It gives me time. My problem is I get impulsive, so who knows what I might see in the LFS next week.

Since this is a photo thread, here's more pics of my leather that came out earlier:

[FragOutpost]

It looks like your blushing leather is beginning to come around.
Xenia, as well as most other soft corals, should do well in your tank. Just remember to take it slow and not add too much at one time. Just beware with xenia as it has the potential to take over your tank under the right conditions.

[EvilTwin]

Yes the leather appears to be doing nicely, but then again, what do I know. This is all new to me.

When I looked at it this morning, the polyps were all out and it appears that the branches are now much more spread out. If you look at the first picture of it above and the latest, there is a noticable difference in spreading of the branches. When I bought it, it was very compact. Heeding your advice that it should have a good amount of water flow, I swapped out one of my two powerheads. I had a Penguin 1140 which I was using to mix my saltwater with. It has a 300gph rating so I put that in place of the other Penguin 550 that was there. I had feared too much flow in the hex tank thinking that with the shape it would have turned it into a big swirling underwater tornado. Once I changed the powerhead, I started to see an immediate difference in the coral and my BTA appears to be much happier as well.

I'm curious, does my Blushing Leather count as something orange for the next contest?

Also, I was considering adding a serpent star to my tank. I see they are reef safe but I think I need to get the additional rock first, since I will need some more spaces for it to hide in. I also wanted to get a cleaner shrimp, but I already have a peppermint. Will they get along?

[FragOutpost]

Great. Glad to hear that adding more flow seems to have helped. You could probably drop in another powerhead or two with no problems. The blushing leather branches should continue to spread out.

I'm curious, does my Blushing Leather count as something orange for the next contest?

I'd say that it is more pink than orange, maybe you could get a shot of your clowns. But enter whatever photo you want.

Also, I was considering adding a serpent star to my tank. I see they are reef safe but I think I need to get the additional rock first, since I will need some more spaces for it to hide in. I also wanted to get a cleaner shrimp, but I already have a peppermint. Will they get along?

I think a serpent star would be a great scavenger for your tank. You currently have plenty of rock for a serpent star. Once they get settled in they usually won't move around too much, especially if you always feed it in the same spot. Peppermint shrimp are usually kept in small groups. You shouldn't have any problems adding a cleaner shrimp to your tank. From what I understand, shrimp are usually only cannibalistic when larger groups are place in an area too small. But in a 75 gallon you have plenty of space for a few shrimp.

[D12monkey]

Definately yes to the serpant star. As Frag said it's a great scavenger.

How good are you with photoshop? I'd change the color to a dashing neon orange. LOL

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by D12monkey

How good are you with photoshop? I'd change the color to a dashing neon orange. LOL

Hehe!

[EvilTwin]

Would I be better off with something like a Linkia Blue Star or serpent? From what I was reading most serpents are carnivores. I don't like the idea of using my livestock as food. I saw different species of serpents being labled as one thing, but the species says they are something else? What species of star is a good, reef safe detrivore and where should I look to get them?

[FragOutpost]

From what I understand blue linkia stars can be difficult to acclimate. I would stick to the serpent star for now as they are very hardy. I would say that serpent stars are more of a opportunistic scavenger than a carnivore. Yes they will eat meaty foods but it is unlikely that it will hunt down and prey on healthy tank mates. I just recently acquired a serpent star from FloridaPets. I posted a thread about it last week with a photo of the star. This is also usually a common item at local stores. Usually they will hide underneath a rock with only an arm or two sticking out and can be difficult to notice if you are not looking for them.

[EvilTwin]

A newer pic of my blushing finger leather. Looks like it filled out a little in the last two weeks. I also suspect it is starting to align itself to a more vertical position for lighting since my placement kinda had it on it's side.

[FragOutpost]

It appears to be doing much better, although the polyps do not yet look fully extended. Blast it with flow and try dosing some iodide and it should grow very quick.