Set up question

[donovan06]

I am new to the WORLD of reefing. I have a 30 gallon tank set up. Which is the largest, I could go with the room size. Anyway, I want to have 2 clowns and a Tang. Eventually, I would like to move to an anomone. I have added 35 pds of LR, 3 inches of LS, Got a good light. No skimmer yet, but, I keep coming across a sump pump. Do I need this and why? The search part of this website is not working right now and I already read the NEWBIE section. It was not clear on SUMPS.

[Pandora]

donovan06


To Reef Central

I'm afraid that in a 30 gallon tank, this is just not enough room to get a tang. They are open water fish that only visit the reef in Nature, and need more swimming room to grow properly and avoid stress. You could keep it in the back of your mind for the next tank when you upgrade... this hobby is addicting, it's only a matter of time!

If you are going to go with a sandbed, you should make it deeper. A 3 inch sand bed is not enough to form anoxic zones to complete the cycle.

What kind of lighting do you have? What is your water source? Do you have test kits? What kinds of clowns are you thinking of? They all have different personalities. Are you thinking of corals, also? (See my warning about anemones below) Sorry for all the questions, but these are just some of the specifics that will determine if you have success or not.

Instead of the tang, you might think of another fish that would be proper for that size tank and get along with the clown. Goby's are interesting and don't need a lot of room. Firefish, basslets, and small wrasses (when full grown sized, I mean) may be other possible choices for your third fish. I would not go much beyond 3 or 4 fish in a small size tank like yours.

And make sure you go very, very slowly. Have you read up on cycling the tank yet? It's good to let the LR & LS, once you have the quantity you want, settle in for a good week or two at least, and then start testing your water chemistry. Some people start off the nitrogen cycle with a small piece of shrimp to let it provide ammonia as it rots, and promote the proper bacteria populations to increase in the rock & sand. You can speed up this process by adding a cup of seed sand from someone with an established tank in your area. If you don't have a neighbor or friend with a clean SW tank that can provide this, some LFS (local fish stores) will.

There is a series of articles on sumps here in Reefkeeping.com (the online magazine associated with RC):
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

You can read up on the pumps that go inside here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rn/index.php

A marine tank does not HAVE to have a sump, but they help a lot, for a number of reasons. They provide an extra body of water to work with that is separate from the tank physically but shares circulation with it; so you can adjust water chemistry factors like dosing trace elements without going directly into the main tank. They provide space away from the main tank to put equipment such as skimmers and your main pump. They can also be a place to create a refugium, a body of water that shelters macro algae and dentrivores (animals that feed on waste products from the main tank) without getting predated on... therefore lowering nutrient load in your system.

As for the anemone... HOLD OFF ON THAT THOUGHT for quite a while. Please read the sticky post on the first page of the newbie forum. These are very sensitive animals that almost inevitably die in brand new setups. They really shouldn't go in a tank that is a minimum of 6 months old to a year..... because they are very sensitive to unstable conditions, and that is what your tank will be for some time. Clowns do not need them to survive and can do fine without an anemone to host them. They also need very high and specialized lighting, sometimes higher than your average corals. If you are interested in eventually keeping one, and keeping it healthy, spend this time reading up on their care, while you are cycling your tank and eventually adding your first fish. Remember, in this hobby, only bad things happen fast, good things take a long time. Be patient and you'll be rewarded with a tank eveyrone will envy! Good luck.

[zenzence]

Well first off a 30 gallon tank is going to be way to small for a tang. A few species of smaller tangs such as a kole or maybe a yellow tang can be kept healthy in a 90 gallon but only one. The clowns would be great in a 30 and perhaps a few smaller species of fish. The rock and sand you have sounds about right. The anomone could be an option in the future say 9 months to a year after the tank cycles and some PC lighting at least. What type do you have? There are lots of articles on this web site when the search button is up and running again. Read all you can! You will learn an incredible amount, be cautious with local fish stores. This site is an excellent source of great info with lots of great people that will help whenever you need it.

Just my thoughts

GOOD LUCK