Tje`s 75gal reef build

Looking really good! Looks like you are almost ready to cycle that tank and wait impatiently in the mean time to stock it. Lol Just a thought though...the black fabric may show salt creep over time. Perhaps wash it every few weeks or so? Not criticizing by any means...it was just a thought i had. Keep the updates coming as you progress!

 

I like the color change idea. Black for a deep water reef feel and possibly bright blue for a shallow bright reef feel. I really like that idea! Your wait shouldnt be to long for a cycle...maybe 1-1/2 months depending on how you do it. I just used live rock to cycle my 120 and it took 2 months. You could speed things up by going to the grocery store and buying a shrimp prawn or 2 and putting them in a media bag and letting them rot in your tank. Or just sprinkle fish food in a couple times per day. You could also buy a couple chromis for $10. Just some thoughts on how to decrease your wait time.

 

Your welcome. Im excited to see the finished product.

 

Looks very good. Keep up the good work.

 

your initial hardscaping photo looks good. how many pounds of rock are you using? looks a little on the light side if i may make a suggestion...maybe add a few more pounds of rock...find two large base pieces and use your smaller pieces to stack on top. essentially keeping you same initial design just using a couple large pieces on the bottom and adding some height to your hard scaping. the caves and valleys and porous rock will look amazing when you have fish swimming around, through, in, and out of all of it. your sand bed looks great...nice and deep...a watchman goby or other sand sifting fish will love that...plus your beneficial bacteria will do well in it. keep up the good work...almost ready for water...

 

I think you have plenty of rock personally. leaves lots of room for swimming fish. If anything I would remove some of that sand, it is awfully deep.

remember when scaping less is often times more. you can keep more in your sump but I wouldnt clutter your display with a over abundance of it.

here is a good article on rock scaping.

http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/reefs-magazine/100520-aesthetics-aquascaping.html

 

just be careful with a deep bed like that. disturbing the sand can release bad things.

 

i agree with mthomp regarding the sand bed...thats why i mentioned a watchman goby...they work from morning to night sifting and working your sand bed which in my opinion may help prevent a build up of trapped gasses, toxins, bacteria etc. a sand sifting sea star is also an option to think about. regarding the rockwork, like mthomp stated, it may be good for upper water column fish and also allow room for some nice sps to grow and fill the area in as well. i wouldnt worry wahat your rock work craftsmanship looks like to much...just make sure it is stable...a year or two from now you will only see colorful corals and wont be able to tell where your rocks are anyway. i just mentioned the taller look to give the structure a few peaks and valleys for aesthetic appeal. but the corals will do that for you as they grow. look into tony vargas' photos he has taken of other hobbyists reefs...just google hardscaping reefs and that will also give you images to use for inspiration if you arent set in stone (no pun intended) on your hardscaping.

 

Why anyone would cycle a tank with fish is beyond me... Raw shrimp, Dr Tim's One & Only bacteria, etc are definitely more humane and appropriate than using fish! Not bashing you but just wanted to let youeveryone know that I am 100% against using live fish to cycle a tanl!

 

I agree Sponge... I was just mentioning the various ways i knew of to speed up the cycling of a tank. I cycled my tank solely using my live rock and dry rock...I figured there was enough die off on my live rock and enough dead organics in the pores of the dry rock to kick off a cycle. As far as fish go I think exposing a fish intentionally to ammonia,nitrite and nitrate spikes is about as cruel as it gets even if it is just a $5 chromis or damsel.

Tje22...looks like you had very little displacement after your sand and rock were added...did the 70 gallons include the sump volume and tank volume or just strictly tank volume? Out of curiosity once your cycle is complete what are you considering for a fish stock list? Coral, invert stock list?