72G Bowfront

[Lokemer]

So, i love to read the saltwater section and ive been reading it and studying up on how to own a reef for about 1 year now. I've been trying to get my parents to buy a tank, and the other day, on my birthday they finally gave in and we bought a recently broken down 72 bow front. We would have gone bigger, maybe even up to 150g but we chose not to and went with the bowfront. So anyway, here's the deal, we have 4 t5 light all running at 54watts (not powerful enough for corals right?) 2 koralia 3 powerheads, a full sump and with a Marineland Pro Series 100 skimmer and our heater which im not sure of the wattage of but it says its rated for 75 to 90 gallon tanks.

We really dont have many lfs's with marine anything, so we plan on ordering some of our live rock, and some coral and fishes when the time comes.
We ordered our refractometer an RO unit and canopy for the tank, an overflow box, (the only thing this tank was missing) and various other things.
Im super excited to be diving in to the salty side here

 

[Morri]

Welcome to the salty side

4 x T5s will be good enough for most LPS and Softies if you wanted to go to SPS then you could just add another 2 T5s you most probably will need new tubes I would recomend the ATI tubes.

The 2 Koralias should give roughly 20 times turn over if you want SPS then I would up this slightly closer to 25 - 30 times an hour.

Do you know what you plan on keeping Coral / fish wise ?

 

[Lokemer]

Well since its a family thing no not really..i have some ideas though

We want a more semi agressive/docile tank without things like triggers or anything, os maybe some clowns and my mom and i both like jawfish...but idk

and my dad is the one who is really into the corals so idk about that but i know he does want a nem so we do need higher lighting, much to their dismay. haha

 

[Lokemer]

Ok just did a day long trip to a huge fish store yesterday, and heres what i came home with for the tank, and 29 bio cube hqi lights (quarantine tank) apista x and a bucket of salt. My RO unit comes today so hopefully we can hook it up and start filling up the tank! very exciting!
As for stocking, i know we are getting 2 clows and a jaw fish and a sailfin blenny. How many more fish do you think for a 72g?
Not going to set up the 29 until later tonight when dad gets home.
thats it until later tonight

 

[Morri]

stocking is always a tough call it does depend on the fish as well as the filtration if non messy fish and a good system its roughly fully grown 1" per 2 imperial Gallons.

Messy fish all tangs and triggers are messy
clowns,wrasse and most nano fish are quite clean

 

[Lokemer]

So we are probably going to try and get 2 Whip Fin Fairy Wrasses and 2 Bangaai cardinals. We kinda want a small non agressive community

 

[Lokemer]

oh my, i have been running my RO unit since 5 this morning and i still only have about half the tank filled and its not 3 pm. i knew it was slow but wow.
Anyway we emptied the fresh water outta the tank and are obviously filling it up with ro and, not much is happening.

Anyway, my brother who likes all the inverts and stuff likes the Snapping (pistol) shrimp, but i know they can be mean. anyone have experiences with this?