New 75 gallon tank

[rdd1952]

Well, my addiction got the best of me. I just bought a new 75 gallon tank that I have to go pick up tomorrow. Tank and very attractive wood stand were only $330. I couldn't resist. I am still torn between whether I want to do freshwater or saltwater. Please give me suggestions on a good stocking scheme. Even though the tank is 75 gallons, I would still like to stay with fish that will be no more than 6" to 8" as adults. Also, any feedback from those of you with both fresh and salt water on care and maintanence, is it about the same for both. I know saltwater is more expensive at start up. My tap water is very soft, KH & GH both = 1 and the pH is about 6.9 to 7.0. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Salt Freak]

Go Salty

The water parameters are more delicate then freshwater but you can have a very successful tank if you are patient. A 75 gallon is a good size for a beginner. If you do for substrate your going to want aragonite not live sand as this is a waste of money. You will want about 75-100 pounds of rock this is going to cost the most now I don't now much about tap water as I don't use it I use RO water and would highly recommend if doing salt water and You can use a product called Osmo prep to keep the RO water more stable Ph wise you are definetly going to want to do your research. I could give tons more information but don't have enough time have to wait to Nav runs by If you can tell if you want to do a fish only aka FOWL tank or a reef tank with corals. The biggest piecE of advice I can give you is be patient and DO your research before you get into it or you will find yourself in a deep hole bye REMEMBER BE SALTY

C_F

 

[The Reefer]

Awsome! Nice buy! Wish I could find a 75 gallon tank with a stand for that price. With a 75 gallon, it really depends on what you want to do. If you want to go with a fish only, with LR you could get away with PC's. If your thinking of adding corals and such, you might want to go the more expensive route and get MH's for the lighting. You can get away with using PC's for most of the begginer corals. I have a 35 gallon with PC's with all softies in my tank and they are doing great.

You also want to think about what kind of base you are going to go with. A DSB or a bare bottem. As far as stocking, it really depends on your lights as far as corals and such. If only fish and LR, you could do an aggressive tank with PC's. As cichlid said, watch your water parameters. Salt water is a whole different story than fresh water. And if you do decide to go salt.. be patient. This is an expensive hobby, but it's well worth it.

 

[Fishy411]

Dwarf Lion fish, Harlequin Tusk, Snowflake eel, whatever else u want

 

[RamJet]

If you are going to use tap water, stay with a fresh water tank. It causes too many problems with marine. Hope that helps you decide what to do. Ram

 

[Navarre]

a good sized tank.. here is some stocking suggestions...

Pair of clowns
Royal grama or orchid dottyback
6 line wrasse or Leopard wrasse
5 Chromis or 5 Anthias (with 1 male)
Coral beauty or Flame angel (or any other type of dwarf angel)
2 cleaner shrimps
3 blood shrimps
Algae blenny

this should get you started on the road to a grat looking community marine tank, lots of movement and colour with fish of all types that will swim in different levels of hte tank.
Notice no mention of tangs, not recomended for a tank of this size but you could probably get away with 2 dwarf angels as long as shape and colour are different.

this list is by no means comprehensive and doesnt include a cleaning crew.

hope this helps.