icecool2

Haha. Nice point. Congressional Aquarium has an oxygen bottle at their bagging station and will fill with that if you ask.

Sorry you didn't get to see my setup. Once I get the 24g up to snuff I'll invite you over to come see it. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it layout wise now.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'd go nuts with no tank at also I'll definitely keep one tank. I just don't want the hassle and stress of moving the 75g. I only paid $150 for the tank and stand so not much cost there. I can easily store everything else in a few boxes.

After moving my tank twice now in 2 years I was starting to get tired of the whole process and was considering scaling back to something smaller. Now after just coming back from vacation for a week I found my 7" derasa clam dead, darwin clownfish dead, sea hare dead and now my 4" crocea clam is dead I'm considering getting rid of just about everything. I have a 24g nano cube that everything is in right now and a 5g AIO that I put together a few years ago and stopped using. I'm thinking of selling my 75g tank, stand and sump and just using the 24g. I know I'm moving again in the next year (or less) and I just don't think I want the hassle. I figure I'll hold on to my skimmer, lights, electronics, etc and just sell of the tank, stand and rock I can't use. I hate to scale back so much, but I just don't want to do this whole process again. What do you all think? (Don't start reserving equipment, nothing is for sale yet )

Gotcha. I'd skip the moonlight idea then.

If your fixture will be dimmable, you already have the capability to do this. It just depends on how low you can dim your LEDs.

Certainly some animals use the moon to time things like spawning events, but from a growth perspective I don't think there is a benefit. I have my system setup so I can use the actual phases of the moon, but all of my fish are from different areas of the world so the moon cycle isn't the same for any of them.

I use a moonlight over my tank, but unless the room is pitch black you wouldn't even realize they are on. Do I think it is necessary? No.

I actually just went through all of this with my recent move (and still am to some extent). I'm renting a condo in Gaithersburg. The building has 3 renters and mostly owners in it, so they are concerned about my fish tank being too heavy, etc. I have a 75g tank with a 29g sump. As far as fees go, my landlord asked me for an extra $100 security deposit on top of the $300 for my dog. No big deal there since I'll get it back. I also showed that the tank is on a mat that protects the floors from scratches and water. No monthly fees, I don't see why they would. I specifically asked my insurance company, State Farm, about the tank. They said any damage caused by the tank leaking or failing will be covered, but the tank and its inhabitants won't. I pay $130 a year.

I think it depends on the type of light over your tank. Mine is DIY and I don't really want to spend the time making it really nice. I have a canopy to hide it. If I had nice looking lights, no canopy.

Really nice and thorough responses, that helps dig in. Here are my impressions: 1. It doesn't sound to me like your tank is overstocked or that it is too new for the number and type of fish you have. 2. It does sound to me like you are overfeeding. Again, I stay on the conservative side, but I feed 1-2 cubes a WEEK in my 75g tank plus some pellets every now and then. I also put in a 1x3" strip of nori daily. I think this is where your problem is. I would suggest cutting your current feeding regiment into every other or every second day. Dead animals are a problem too, but your tank will take that up fairly quickly. Unless it was something very large you wouldn't still be fighting that, I wouldn't think. Fighting conchs are good for the sandbed and are welcome members of the sandstirring family.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I use a lamp style, not 4 pin, CFL bulb with a shop light type fixture on my sump. Both can be had from Home Depot.

Most people stick around 6700k. I use a cheap CFL bulb in mine and it works great. It is criminal what some of these places are charging for chaeto.

I've heard of this idea too. It's a cool idea, but I never did it because I've already got enough buckets of water to lug around without having to add a heater bucket too

Sounds like you've got it under control I'm gonna follow along and see how this tank turns out. Looks like its going to be a nice build.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but are those Marineland fixtures? If so and depending on what you plan on keeping, those are probably not going to be enough light for you to keep much other than low light corals like mushrooms and rics. Here's a link to the spec sheet for the light: http://www.marineland.com/uploadedFiles/Marineland/11078iMLLEDCharts.pdf You only get about 130 par 12" from the fixture and 64 once you get 24" away.

Nice tank. When you say you are going to use the two 48" LED lights that came with the tank, you don't mean the two little ones in the picture do you?

I've seen several DIY guides online for this. I did a quick google search and found this one... http://www.unlikelymoose.com/more/macquarium/macquarium_genesis02.html Welcome to the club by the way.

Agree with trock. Room temperature isn't typically that far from tank temp. Unless you are making really large percentage water changes, you'd be better off saving on your electric bill there.

Sea hares were hit or miss for me too. Actually all before this one were a miss. This guy is working great though. IME, chaeto doesn't help with hair algae. My chaeto typically just melts away over time and the HA is still there. You really need to get to the root of the problem. It takes time to fix and it is frustrating as heck. I know you want to be rid of the algae, TRUST ME I get that part completely, but you need to get rid of it and keep it gone. There are a lot of options out there, but anything beyond nutrient control is just going to be a constant cost and maintenance effort. If you use Tech-M and kill it all, it will be back just as bad as before. If you buy a fish to eat it, you are adding to your nutrient problem and it will come back. If you add a reactor, you will be rid of it for as long as you run the reactor. BUT if you get your nutrient import and export to be even, you will be rid of it forever. I mentioned this already, but there are 3 basic reasons for HA to flourish: 1. Overfeeding 2. Overstocking 3. Nutrient leaching from LR, ornaments, water source, etc. The first two are easy to determine and easy to address. 1. How often do you feed and how much? 2. What is in your tank (and how big is tank and how long has it been up)? The third is harder.... Where did your rock and sand come from? Live or dry? How did you prepare it? What is your water source? Have you tested your water before/during/after you prep it for a water change?

Holy guacamole! Flasher tilefish vid...

I think it is a yellow tilefish (maybe some call it golden), Hoplolatilus luteus. http://www.qualitymarine.com/Products/Fish/Wild/Gobies/Hoplolatilus-luteus/Tilefish-Chameleon-Yellow

No more eggs in his mouth as of last night. I don't see any fry, granted they have a large area to hide in. I'm not expecting any to survive at this point though.

I get the same thing. It usually dissolves away after a few hours, but I also add some vinegar to my new water and that helps dissolve things too.

Honestly, I have no idea. I've never used that method.