Tanuki's 75 Gallon Acrylic Build (Super Noob)

Unfortunately this is my first tank, so you will all be called on for help with many of my stupid questions.

So a couple of nights ago my wife found me a 75 Gallon (I was told 85, but did the math and it is 75) Acrylic Aquarium on KSL.  It came with a lot of things, but was a freshwater tank. 
Here is what the tank came with:

2-ZOO-Med Power Sweep 228 PS40
Fluval 304 Canister Filter
Tank Thermometer
Lights

At first I was thinking I would just do an awesome African Cichlid tank, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to start a Saltwater tank.  Before making the decision I looked into what the capabilities of the equipment the tank came with were vs what I would need. 

Here is what I found:

The Canister Filter (Though not Ideal) will work while I am cycling/ setting up the tank.  From what I understand, it would even work for a fish only tank, though I would like to go reef eventually.  The canister runs at 260 gal/hr, 1000 L/hr.  So I think it will work fine for now.

Each of the ZOO Meds runs 280 gal/hr, and I have found quite a few instances of them being used in Marine tanks for wave making.

From what I saw, I had enough to at least get the tank started, though there are a number of things I still needed:

Sand- 70-80lbs
Rock
Protein Skimmer
Sump (10 or 20 Gallon)
Overflow Box
Heater(s)
Salt
More Lighting

I did go to Reef Runners and talk to John about the system and what my plans were.  He confirmed my suspicion that my tank would be able to set up based on what equipment I currently had, and helped me to identify the needs of the tank (basically on par with the above list).

I purchased a couple of things from John to get started:

80lbs of non living sand
15 lbs of live rock
Salt
Cleaner Magnet

John is a really good guy and probably one of the most helpful saltwater stores I have been to.  I really recommend him/ Reef Runners.  He even offered to lend me water containers to take water for filling my tank (unfortunately I have no way to move that kind of volume in any of my vehicles).

I went home, and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed the sand, but it still came out pretty cloudy.  I don't think it is considered milky though, so I think I am good.  I got the sand and rock in the tank and hooked everything up.  I even painted the stand earlier, so I think the set up looks pretty good for now, though I will not put anything in the water till I get some water testing equipment and do more research.  I may start construction on the sump as early as tonight, though I need to learn a little more about drilling the glass etc.

Here is the tank as it sits:


If I am completely off on anything, please tell me now so i don't spend money on things I don't need to, or kill anything that doesn't deserve to die due to my lack of knowledge.  I want to do this right, though I understand doing it right, and making a perfect tank are two totally different things.

More to come.

Congrats and welcome to the obsession. My only concern is your magnet, bio balls, and lighting. Did you get one for acrylic? I had a 210 acrylic tank and my only frustration was trying to clean the tank. Be very careful of scratches. Lose the bio balls they are nitrate magnets, find out what you want to keep and get the appropriate light for that. Keep in mind that in the long run, you will want stonies ( acros) save the headaches now and buy the right lighting from the start... 

Man you should have been on here last week when I got rid of everything you would need for that tank:(
Looking good so far, as Connie said you will need to upgrade your lighting. I would also get as much live rock as possible that you will want in there it helps the cycle and see if someone has a scoop of live sand to seed your sand:) I would volunteer but as of last week I only have a small tank:(

^That would be really helpful Connie, and maybe I can check out your tank too!

Ok today I ran my first water test.  The tank has been running for 3 days now.

Here is what I pulled:

PH-7.8

Ammonia- .25

Nitrite- 0.0

Nitrate- 10

Salinity- 1.024

Temp- 79

Am I on the right track here?

^yeah my wife says it's 0 but those two are so close it's tough. I figured it's better safe than sorry.

Ok tonight was well, umm, eventful.

I started buy getting 6lbs of live rock to put into the sump, and another lb of live rock for the tank.

I got everything loaded up and hooked up, then Realized I had no idea how to get the overflow box/ sump to operate together/ correctly :(

I just really had a hard time finding that perfect balance between where the water enters the overflow box and how fast it leaves the sump.  I am thinking that the Sump is too small even though I have been told by a couple of people it is a good size. 

After a few floods (luckily nothing made it out of the bottom of the stand, though it was close), I was able to get the pump (Rio 1400) to pump out the water at the same rate that the overflow was bringing the water into the sump.  My issue is that the tank water level is maybe an inch from the top now rather than a few centimeters.  I guess this is ok because if I put more water in than the sump will overflow/ throw off the balance, and I need the sump to stay at the current level so it doesn't flood if the power goes out.

So I think that it is about where it needs to be for now.  Here is where it is at running in balance:

I also tested the water tonight:

PH- 8.0

Nitrate-20

Nitrite- 0

Ammonia- .5

I guess I wouldn't say it has really spiked yet, it seems to be going fairly smoothly, though the nitrate is going up slightly.

I also picked up a really big Skimmer, so big, it is too big.  If anyone has a good sized skimmer for a 75 gallon tank and wants to trade for a skimmer more suited for the 180+ tanks, please let me know.  If not, I will probably end up making a much larger sump and using it anyway.

Well, I bit the bullet and bought the 65lbs of Live rock I was missing.  I ended up going to Rock n Reef.  They had an excellent selection on a new order.  I went to 6 stores this week looking for rock, and none of them came close to the selection I found here.

I got:

41lbs of Florida Live Rock

4 lbs of Fiji Branch Live Rock

20 lbs of the PRIMO Fiji Live Rock

(I Think these were the names of the rocks I got, but I need to double check so I can update my journal)

Pictures? Glad you asked...

This is the Primo stuff:

And the set up...

what type of lighting were you thinking?

Ok after researching, it is Aiptasia.  Peppermint shrimp are moving in today. 

Are you talking about the MH/t5 set up over the xenia tank? if so that is a good choice. He can get those in for AMAZING prices!