EvilTwin's 75g tank

[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