*** Planning a new tank ***

cornelious0_0 · 05/08/2006, 06:40 PM

First off, I just want to extend a very big thanks to every here at Reef Central. I've been "into" the hobby of marine aquaria for awhile now and previously worked at a LFS for a year and a half, spending most of my time reading and learning everything I could from books and customers about marine tanks.

Shortly after leaving that job I ended up coming across a VERY good deal on some hardware, and ended up with a 33G (non drilled) complete setup that I only ended up putting about $300 into. The tank only housed about 15lb of live rock, some base rock, 50lb of sand, and a Zebra Moray Eel and a Ghost Ribbon Eel, but it was fun. That tank was just torn down and I'm in the process of selling the parts so I can get Visa off my back and start looking at really doing things right and setting up a new tank.

For the longest time I have been completely hypnotized by the appearance, behavior and personality of many predators, including a variety of trigger, puffer and lionfish that I saw come through the LFS I was working at. As nice as a lot of "true" reef tanks are, I'm still more interested in having a tank devoted to a favorite fish or two and keeping the maintenance level down, but my satisfaction level as high as I can.

Herein lays the problem...I WANT a tank in which I can house a single predator and maybe an Eel, but I'm cautious to setup an overly large tank and also very impatient and not very eager to wait the extra months and months to save the cash I'd need to go bigger.

In terms of the tank itself (sorry for taking so long to get here) I'm somewhat undecided as to what size to go with. This will mainly depend on which fish I plan on going with. Obviously, a Volatin or Dogface would be demanding a 90G for sure, but I'm still slightly more inclined (both due to my personal preference, and my wallet) to go with a 36x12x18 33G or 48x12x24 60G tank then a 48x18x24 90G.

I know that I would be holding back my choices quite a bit with a tank smaller then a 90G when it came to my fish selection, but I'm more interested in working within a smaller space to show that "it can be done" and to take up less floor/wallet space.

The first actual question I have is...if I went with a 36x12x18 33G tank (because if possible I'd like to stick to a smaller design for my first "real" tank) what would my options be looking like for predators? More then likely I'd be limited to a dwarf lion or smaller puffer/toby, as even smaller triggers are still very active, and I want to be able to have a good 30lb (for sure) of live rock in the tank.

The dwarf fuzzy lions and "fu man chu" lions don't interest me at all...and I think the smallest lion I'd actually WANT would be the Dwarf Zebra Lionfish...which co-incidentally, is the only attractive lion (in my opinion) that's listed here and is recommend for a 30G tank. I'd be more than willing to cut the amount of live rock in my display tank to 30lb as opposed to 40lb+ to provide hiding spaces for the dwarf zebra, as the tank would be more or less devoted to it, and I'd want to do everything I could to make/keep it happy.

With that more of less settled, I'll move on to other areas of the tank.

With regards to lighting, I want to have a decent light fixture that isn't going to break the bank, and again, presentation/looks are very important to me, as the fixture will be in plain view. I was previously using Coralife's 36" 96W 50/50 PC fixture...and I was thinking of simply moving up to the Deluxe version, which is (I believe) a 192W fixture, containing separate actinic/flo bulbs on separate switches, allowing me to time them separately and also giving a much more natural/pleasing look to the tank.

In terms of filtering, I will obviously be going with a sump system and drilled tank. I have someone locally who custom builds very effective sumps and skimmers who I will be going through, for $300 I'm able to get a skimmer that performs roughly on par with many retail skimmers double the cost, so I'm set there. In the tank I'd be using a single overflow, and I'll most likely have it placed in the back/center of the tank, with two return bulkheads in order to spread out the water flow. I really don't have any questions with regards to the filtering of the system, just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that things are taken care of and being accounted for.

One other thing that I've been consistently pondering is what else to put in the tank. At this point I'm fairly set on the Zebra Lion, but I want to have more life in the tank then that, or I have a feeling I'll quickly become bored with it. Obviously, the lion will try and swallow any inverts it can fit in its mouth, so my options are VERY limited when it comes to tank cleaning, and this is mostly where I'm looking for advice. I previously had a horseshoe crab that was about 2-3" across, and I'm really tempted to go with another one, as they're very entertaining to watch when they're in the open, and would prevent the sand from settling any great deal. For algae, one thing I had recommended to me was the tuxedo urchin. I'm thinking that the lion shouldn't pose any danger to/for the urchin(s) that might end up in the tank, but if anyone can recommend any other fish/inverts to sift the sand and clean algae I'd be great full.

In terms of rock and substrate, I was planning on going with 30-40lb of Vanuatu...and about 60lb of Caribsea Aragamax Select.

I suppose the only thing that's left that I'm not overly clear on is the water itself. It's not that I'm confused, more so torn between different options. I'm working with a smaller tank to keep things cost effective, so I wasn't overly thrilled to spend another couple hundred bucks on an R/O unit. I was original planning to just buy 5G jugs of Distilled water at Wal-Mart for $3.50 a pop and use them to fill/change my tank. I know that eventually the R/O unit would pay for itself, but I need to know if the difference in the water quality would be that outstanding that I'd be "in trouble" using pre-bottled water. I'd only be spending $25 to fill the tank, and $3.50 every 2 weeks or so for water changes, so with such a low cost to use bottled water, the only possible way I'd buy an R/O unit is if I would seriously need it, or if the bottled water is not going to be good enough at all.

I do thank anyone who's trudged through this post for sticking around...I'm overall very excited to be able to begin planning/setting up my tank, and I greatly value the advise and opinions that I have seen given around RC already, so hopefully I won't be excluded.

Andrew · 05/08/2006, 07:16 PM

Wow, long post. Well sounds like you have a plan. You'll have to make a thread to show your tank set up.

cornelious0_0 · 05/08/2006, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Andrew
Wow, long post. Well sounds like you have a plan. You'll have to make a thread to show your tank set up.

Thx bro.

Yeah, I'd like to think that I've got a fairly good idea of what I wanna do. Sad part is that I'm not sure when things'll actually start happening, so I wanted to chime in here with the thread to see what people thought.

Any ideas on what other fish I could get into the 33G with 30lb of live rock and a zebra lion that'll probly end up being about 5 or 6 inches long?

Brenden · 05/08/2006, 09:11 PM

A zebra in a 33 gal is going to be a heavy bioload.

cornelious0_0 · 05/08/2006, 10:07 PM

Agreed...but I'm gonna have a sump with almost as much water space as my tank...and a really badass skimmer built for the setup, I'm confident it'll work out, 'cus i really want things the way I've got it set out in my head...I think it'd be nice.

bertoni · 05/09/2006, 12:15 AM

You could get a TDS meter and monitor the quality of the WalMart water. You'll want one if and when you get your own RO-DI unit anyway, and some people seem happy with the $30-$30 units.

cornelious0_0 · 05/09/2006, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bertoni
You could get a TDS meter and monitor the quality of the WalMart water. You'll want one if and when you get your own RO-DI unit anyway, and some people seem happy with the $30-$30 units.

I think that's a very good idea, and something that I will most likely do, thx.

05/08/2006, 06:40 PM	#1
cornelious0_0 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 45	* Planning a new tank * First off, I just want to extend a very big thanks to every here at Reef Central. I've been "into" the hobby of marine aquaria for awhile now and previously worked at a LFS for a year and a half, spending most of my time reading and learning everything I could from books and customers about marine tanks. Shortly after leaving that job I ended up coming across a VERY good deal on some hardware, and ended up with a 33G (non drilled) complete setup that I only ended up putting about $300 into. The tank only housed about 15lb of live rock, some base rock, 50lb of sand, and a Zebra Moray Eel and a Ghost Ribbon Eel, but it was fun. That tank was just torn down and I'm in the process of selling the parts so I can get Visa off my back and start looking at really doing things right and setting up a new tank. For the longest time I have been completely hypnotized by the appearance, behavior and personality of many predators, including a variety of trigger, puffer and lionfish that I saw come through the LFS I was working at. As nice as a lot of "true" reef tanks are, I'm still more interested in having a tank devoted to a favorite fish or two and keeping the maintenance level down, but my satisfaction level as high as I can. Herein lays the problem...I WANT a tank in which I can house a single predator and maybe an Eel, but I'm cautious to setup an overly large tank and also very impatient and not very eager to wait the extra months and months to save the cash I'd need to go bigger. In terms of the tank itself (sorry for taking so long to get here) I'm somewhat undecided as to what size to go with. This will mainly depend on which fish I plan on going with. Obviously, a Volatin or Dogface would be demanding a 90G for sure, but I'm still slightly more inclined (both due to my personal preference, and my wallet) to go with a 36x12x18 33G or 48x12x24 60G tank then a 48x18x24 90G. I know that I would be holding back my choices quite a bit with a tank smaller then a 90G when it came to my fish selection, but I'm more interested in working within a smaller space to show that "it can be done" and to take up less floor/wallet space. The first actual question I have is...if I went with a 36x12x18 33G tank (because if possible I'd like to stick to a smaller design for my first "real" tank) what would my options be looking like for predators? More then likely I'd be limited to a dwarf lion or smaller puffer/toby, as even smaller triggers are still very active, and I want to be able to have a good 30lb (for sure) of live rock in the tank. The dwarf fuzzy lions and "fu man chu" lions don't interest me at all...and I think the smallest lion I'd actually WANT would be the Dwarf Zebra Lionfish...which co-incidentally, is the only attractive lion (in my opinion) that's listed here and is recommend for a 30G tank. I'd be more than willing to cut the amount of live rock in my display tank to 30lb as opposed to 40lb+ to provide hiding spaces for the dwarf zebra, as the tank would be more or less devoted to it, and I'd want to do everything I could to make/keep it happy. With that more of less settled, I'll move on to other areas of the tank. With regards to lighting, I want to have a decent light fixture that isn't going to break the bank, and again, presentation/looks are very important to me, as the fixture will be in plain view. I was previously using Coralife's 36" 96W 50/50 PC fixture...and I was thinking of simply moving up to the Deluxe version, which is (I believe) a 192W fixture, containing separate actinic/flo bulbs on separate switches, allowing me to time them separately and also giving a much more natural/pleasing look to the tank. In terms of filtering, I will obviously be going with a sump system and drilled tank. I have someone locally who custom builds very effective sumps and skimmers who I will be going through, for $300 I'm able to get a skimmer that performs roughly on par with many retail skimmers double the cost, so I'm set there. In the tank I'd be using a single overflow, and I'll most likely have it placed in the back/center of the tank, with two return bulkheads in order to spread out the water flow. I really don't have any questions with regards to the filtering of the system, just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that things are taken care of and being accounted for. One other thing that I've been consistently pondering is what else to put in the tank. At this point I'm fairly set on the Zebra Lion, but I want to have more life in the tank then that, or I have a feeling I'll quickly become bored with it. Obviously, the lion will try and swallow any inverts it can fit in its mouth, so my options are VERY limited when it comes to tank cleaning, and this is mostly where I'm looking for advice. I previously had a horseshoe crab that was about 2-3" across, and I'm really tempted to go with another one, as they're very entertaining to watch when they're in the open, and would prevent the sand from settling any great deal. For algae, one thing I had recommended to me was the tuxedo urchin. I'm thinking that the lion shouldn't pose any danger to/for the urchin(s) that might end up in the tank, but if anyone can recommend any other fish/inverts to sift the sand and clean algae I'd be great full. In terms of rock and substrate, I was planning on going with 30-40lb of Vanuatu...and about 60lb of Caribsea Aragamax Select. I suppose the only thing that's left that I'm not overly clear on is the water itself. It's not that I'm confused, more so torn between different options. I'm working with a smaller tank to keep things cost effective, so I wasn't overly thrilled to spend another couple hundred bucks on an R/O unit. I was original planning to just buy 5G jugs of Distilled water at Wal-Mart for $3.50 a pop and use them to fill/change my tank. I know that eventually the R/O unit would pay for itself, but I need to know if the difference in the water quality would be that outstanding that I'd be "in trouble" using pre-bottled water. I'd only be spending $25 to fill the tank, and $3.50 every 2 weeks or so for water changes, so with such a low cost to use bottled water, the only possible way I'd buy an R/O unit is if I would seriously need it, or if the bottled water is not going to be good enough at all. I do thank anyone who's trudged through this post for sticking around...I'm overall very excited to be able to begin planning/setting up my tank, and I greatly value the advise and opinions that I have seen given around RC already, so hopefully I won't be excluded.

05/09/2006, 12:15 AM	#6
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	You could get a TDS meter and monitor the quality of the WalMart water. You'll want one if and when you get your own RO-DI unit anyway, and some people seem happy with the $30-$30 units. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

05/08/2006, 07:16 PM	#2
Andrew Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 13,640	Wow, long post. Well sounds like you have a plan. You'll have to make a thread to show your tank set up.

05/08/2006, 09:11 PM	#4
Brenden Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Piedmont, NC Posts: 224	A zebra in a 33 gal is going to be a heavy bioload.

05/08/2006, 10:07 PM	#5
cornelious0_0 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 45	Agreed...but I'm gonna have a sump with almost as much water space as my tank...and a really badass skimmer built for the setup, I'm confident it'll work out, 'cus i really want things the way I've got it set out in my head...I think it'd be nice.