Disney's Coral Reef 75G

[lobsterboy]

Originally Posted by DisneyCoralReef

Great, thank you for the info now mu question is this, how safe are zoa's? because I just tread the thread of one of the poor reefers on here who ended up in hospital because of inhaled or contact with some of his corals? should I even worry about it?

Zoas, among other corals and tank inhabitaints each come with there own safety and caution measures. There are so many to list, but a few are:

1. xenia- looks cool, but can be invasive and take over your reef.
2. Tangs have a sharp hook on there tail.
3. the list goes on.

Here is a great thread
Marine aquarium cautions

always helps to do your research before buying as well.

[DisneyCoralReef]

Reading through the threads as we speak. The other question I have, is have you guys painted the back of your tank? I hear it really smooths out the background, but I dont know if its something I should look into or not. If I were to go down that route, what kind of paint would be safe to use? best way to do it?

[Bloodasp]

If I had the chance to drain my tank I would, I hate looking at those wires and plumbing behind my tank. coraline growing on the back glass kind of mutes it out a bit but i can still see through it.

[Keri]

If you are afraid of a cricket I can't wait till you see what comes out of your live rock... Just kill the cricket, it's not nice to starve to death.

edit: I'm sorry if I come off as rude, I just don't like to see things suffer. Good luck with your tank.

[Delphinus]

Crickets can live for MONTHS man on seemingly nothing. When I had salamanders I was listening to a constant sound of creekeet creekeet creekeet all night long for months and months after I stopped buying crickets. My suggestion is take a kleenex (that way you don't have to see it), grab him with that and toss the whole wad outside (you can retrieve the kleenex later).

Welcome to Canreef BTW

Looks like a decent enough start to things. You have some wicked fun ahead of you, enjoy the ride!

As far as painting the tank, I have, but a couple alternatives to consider:
1) get some of that plastic cardboard (you can get it at Home Depot/Rona/etc. in the lighting baffles section - not the lighting section itself but the spot where you find the acrylic lenses for fluorescent fixtures), and paint that instead and attach it with velcro strips. This way you can remove it if need be which can be useful if you need to see in from the back for whatever reason.
2) I think Ocean City sells this kind of plastic sheeting that sticks on sort of like window tinting. This is about as permanent as paint but at least is far less messy to apply.
3) Or just say to heck with it and paint it. Get some Krylon Fusion brand spray paint (can get it at Canuck Tire), this is a known safe/inert when dry paint, tape up the tank, lay out the newspaper over everything you don't want spray paint on and go for it.
4) Or construction paper, I used black construction paper on my FW tank. 4 years in and it's holding but I suspect on a reef tank it will be less resilient in the long run.
5) Or you could get a picture based background but I think these are kinda hokey. Go with a solid colour. Blue to remind you of the ocean deep .. or black. Black brings out colour contrasts like crazy.

[Delphinus]

What part of the city are you in? I can come get the cricket out for you if we're close and if it's really a concern (we probably aren't, I live wayyyy down south).

[Rbacchiega]

best thing I can reccomend...read read read. Search through here for 75 gallon builds (I have one going right now) and check reef central for 75 gallon builds as well. You'll find everything from fairly "basic" low tech builds to builds that will blow your mind.

PS, with the bulb setup it looks like you have, you'll be able to keep pretty damn near anything

[ElGuappo]

Originally Posted by DisneyCoralReef

Reading through the threads as we speak. The other question I have, is have you guys painted the back of your tank? I hear it really smooths out the background, but I dont know if its something I should look into or not. If I were to go down that route, what kind of paint would be safe to use? best way to do it?

i paint some backs but not all.... i usually get to excited when i start a new tank and dont want to wait for the paint to dry... i used krylon fusion... i have a 72 i just started if you want a low tec thread to view...

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=63479

[ScubaSteve]

Go for a painted back. IMO Krylon is the best bet and works well. PAINT THE OUTSIDE OF THE TANK NOT THE INSIDE!!! I've seen several people do this... not good.

The paint is fairly easy to remove with a razor blade in the future.

The only other alternative I'd recommend is adhesive vinyl sheets. You can get this from most sign shops and it's pretty cheap. Sticks on well (some tricks to putting it on though. PM me if you want to got this route) and it is more resistant to scratching than the paint. It's fairly easy to remove with a little elbow grease.

[Bloodasp]

There's a thread in reefcentral about a diy background I really like but might be too much work for someone just starting.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1868825