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Unread 08/10/2008, 01:45 PM   #1
athomson101
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Dublin Ireland
Posts: 2
Getting Started

This is my first saltwater set-up but am looking for something for my new house. I used to keep tropical freshwater for years when living in America but gave up when my mother came back to Ireland with the kids. Now I've got a real job and want to get back into it.

Finally set up my old 90 gallon tank at home about two weeks ago to find that

1) it was heavy;
2) it was old; and
3) the glass actually broke due to the water pressure. Two of the sides split and it came apart. I actually attribute this to the move from the US to Ireland many years ago.

Fortunately, I did this test outside in the garden so the water going everywhere wasn't a huge problem .

Anyway, I've going back to the old drawing board and the local stores to see about prices, etc for what I can afford. I've also been doing a lot more planning on what I want in the tank in the longer term. To start with, I won't be going for corals for a while but hopefully I will get there so everything is being planned in that direction.

I'm looking for some opinions on my proposed set-up

THE TANK

Juwel 300 litre tank (79 US gallons) that comes with heater, lights and filter. I'll just be using the standard set-up to start
Red Sea Prizm protein skimmer
Fluval 305 External Canister Filter (do I need this if the tank comes with a filter?)
30kg (66 lb) of live rock
Hydor Koralia 3 pumps

Now on to the more interesting things:

THE INVERTS
· 2 x longspine black Urchins
· 1 x Red starfish
· assorted numbers of Electric Blue Hermit Crabs, dwarf blue leg hermit crabs
· assorted numbers of Blood red Fire shrimp, banded coral shrimp and peppermint shrimp.
· (I've read everywhere that I need about 20 - 30 of the crabs and shrimp but it seems a lot)


The Fish
· 2 x false clownfish (black and white)
· 2 x false clownfish (normal colouring)
· 1 x coral beauty angelfish
· 1 x Dracula Goby (with pistol shrimp)
· 1 x yellowtail damsel
· 1 x Royal Gamma
· 1 x yellow tang

I've read that all these fish should get on together quite well. I'm worried about overstocking the tank even with what I've got above. I've read that the tang is a great fish to introduce first but can get quite territorial? What order would you all suggest I add them? ?

Other fish that interest me are Foxface Rabbit fish, and some of the reef safe wrasses.

This is intended to be a long term project with everything kicking off over the next month or so. I would hope to be adding fish around about November/December and then adding fish over the next year.

Anyway, any comments or ideas would be welcome. Everything is still in the overall planning stage so there is nothing that isn't open to discussions.

Andy


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Unread 08/10/2008, 02:04 PM   #2
PVChick12
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Location: rancho palos verdes, ca and la jolla, ca when I'm in school....
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Canister filters can cause problems in the long run, eg: high nitrates. I would invest in creating yourself a sump, either drill the tank or buy a HOB overflow box. Read up on sumps, but in short they add a lot of water volume so you can have more things in your display tank. They also allow you to hide your filtration/heaters /probes whatever down below so you don't see them up above. Also if you want corals in the long run, maybe look into adding a refugium as well.

As for the stock list, I wouldn't put more than 2 clowns in the same tank. Banded coral shrimp can be little devils sometimes, I would trade those out for a cleaner shrimp. And I wouldn't say "assorted nubmers" you probably would be good with 2 maybe 3 shrimp at most. I would only get one urchin too...

That is a pretty big fish list for a tank of this size...Like I said probably go with only 2 clowns and watch out for the tang police with that tang, you are kind of border line there.

But I wouldn't think about livestock too much just yet...

I would definitely be focusing on adding a sump.

Happy reefing and welcome to reef central! =]


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Current Tank Info: 60 gal w/ 30 gal sump. Coralife SS 65, 2 150w MH. 2 clarkii clowns, coral beauty, purple firesfish, sand sifting star, cleaner shrimp. mostly LPS and softies with a few SPS frags that im not all that interested with....
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Unread 08/10/2008, 03:45 PM   #3
The0wn4g3
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Location: Auburn, AL
Posts: 1,124
As PVChick12 mentioned, a sump is probably the best "filter" hands down.
What I would recommend first it drop the Canister filter. They are really more trouble than they are worth in a marine tank. I would pool the Prism protein skimmer and Fluval canister filter money and buy a higher quality skimmer. An AquaC remora Pro or Octopus Octopus BHF300F would be nice.
Longspine urchins can cause problems, if you want an urchin a tuxedo (pin cushion) urchin would probably be best. They looked awesome, too.
I would recommend a cleaner (skunk) shrimp over a banded coral. They can be pretty mean. I prefer a snail based CUC over a crab based, as they are less aggressive. Look to see if you can find nassarius, tronchus, astraea, and turbo snails. 10 of each would be good. peppermint shrimp are a good idea, and 2-3 would be plenty.

IMO, 4 clowns in a 79 gallon will be fine. The oranges get along fine with the blacks. You may want to rethink the yellowtail damsel though, as they can be very aggressive. I would introduce the yellow tang last. You're correct that they can be very territorial. I wouldn't recommend a foxface rabbit and a yellow tang though. Probably best to choose one or the other. You can probably add 2-3 small reef safe wrasses, but I would add them second to last (before the yellow tang) to avoid overstocking.

Good luck with the tank!


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Current Tank Info: 40 gallon Rimless- 39Wx4 T5HO on Ice-Cap 660, 29gallon sump, DAS EX-2, Deltec Phosphate Reactor, Koralia 3, 50lbs LR
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Unread 08/10/2008, 04:23 PM   #4
IFbettas
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Location: Woodridge, IL
Posts: 1,953
You could just put carbon in the canister filter; if you get a sump then you would put the carbon in there. Coral banded shrimp will kill other shrimp and small fish, so I wouldn't get one.


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