My 72G Bowfront

[-=James=-]

I guess ill finally make a thread about my 1st saltwater tank. I was going to wait until it was done but I want to keep a journal for myself. There are nothing but rocks so nothing interesting....yet!

To date:

Equipment:
72G Bowfront
30G sump
Euro-reef RS135 protein skimmer
Sedra 700 return pump
4x54W T5
2xKoralia 3

Livestock:
100lbs LR
50lbs LS
Hitchhiker crabs, brittle stars, worms, feather dusters...
Astrea, nassarius, turbo snails.

[-=James=-]

I've had freshwater for a couple years but cichlids got boring after a while.

Here's was my 72G bowfront freshwater

[-=James=-]

In mid October, I found a used saltwater tank that came with everything I needed to start up. Guess what? I bought it.





After I set it up:




Took me about 2 weeks to fill the tank with water. I used RO water that is tapped into my sink for drinking. Shoulda got an RO/DI system...o well.

[-=James=-]

Next was the sand. I bought 50lbs of aragonite sand.



and then some live rock:



then some more live rock:



Just spent a couple hours trying to put the rocks together. It seems really cramped so I threw a couple pieces of rock in the sump along with the gorilla crab I found. Not exactly happy with this but it will do for now.
I am not using any rods or anything to keep the rocks together. I have aquarium epoxy...should I use that? Any creative thoughts on how to aqua scape this?


I left the liverock in the tank for about 3 weeks and, since the rocks were already cured, I dont think I got a cycle. All the organisms and inverts from the rock have been living ever since and my ammonia & nitrite = 0. My temperature is around 81-82 when the lights are on and drops to about 78-79 when lights are off. Is this okay? I am in the process of installing more fans.

[-=James=-]

Some pics of hitchhikers I found:



This guy is huge




Just got rid of these bad boys



Heres a crab I found. Reef safe?


Heres another crab. He has long antennas and 2 little fans that collects stuff from the water column then eats it. Reef safe?





GSP


Worm?

[Leah]

Wow! Nice tank

As far as aquascaping you just have to play around with it till your happy.
You can look at what others have done to maybe get some ideas.