New Tank

hi myself and my partner are setting up a new tank and would appriciate some advice,
1. is it possible to run a reef tank with fish as most of what i have read seems to state coral or fish only,
2. our tank is roughly 31 gallons which ive read is fairly low if we set up a sump tank to increase water volume will it a. make running easier and b. speed up or slow down the cycle process,
3. is our aquamedic 1000 classic protein skimmer too big for the volume of water were running,
4. when can we add snails or crabs i read this can help speed up the process,
any help would be great we have as i said a 31 gallon tank, fluval 104 filter, protein skimmer, 4kgs live rock, 5 kgs plain rock, sand bed 2 inches thick,
right now we have the salinity right but havnt recieved the test kit yet ( waiting for it to arrive ebay sale), temp 26 degrees, it has been running the cycle for 8 days and has crystal clear water,
i realise due to size there will only be a few fish and id like some anenomies, and i need some more live rock.
thanks for your time,
denise and neil.

1. Yes you can have fish, although it is reccomended to have a smaller bioload in the tank than you would have if it was FOWLR.

2. Yes a sump should help make running smoother, shouldn't slow down the cycle.

3. Sorry

4. Add cleanup crew when all levels reach 0 (Ammonia, nitrite, Nitrate). Make sure there is enough diatoms for them to eat up though so they don't starve. I'd do something like this:

6 Nassarius
8 Cerith
6 Astrae
2 Turbo
2 Red leg Hermits
1 Cleaner Shrimp (Add later on)

What are you running in the fluval? You could do with beefing up your LR a little to something closer to 16KG... but it's up to you

Most people tend to keep 5 small fish max in a 30 but normally 3-4
Anemones well have to wait until the tank matures, what lighting do you have?

HTH
Dan

thanks dan,
its a great help i didnt realise the clean up crew would involve a cast of so many, lol, i dont havr the lighting rigged up properly just a standard tropical light and have been looking at a t5 with 2 white and 1 actinic blue bulb, the fish ratio was what i was expecting just a couple for the kids to see, right now they keep looking at the rock waiting for it to do something, spending most of today looking into what a sump tank envolves would really like one already set up, looks like a lot of work, as need to add asap to prevent delay, i didnt realise the anenomes took so long to be introduced, thanks again for the advice do i need to add the lamps now or can i wait and use what i have until i have something in the tank,
also can anyone tell me when i need to start the water changes do i wait until i get the 0 water tests or do i start now i dont want to spoil any of the cycle process?
denise

anenomes are genarally recommended to be kept under halides, and water conditons need to be excellent and stable. for this reason many say wait 12 months before adding an anenome as the stability will be much better then. are you planning to get halides, because bubble tips are the only ones which can realistically be kept under t5s, although the brighter the better.
to speed up the tank cycling you could add a dead prawn, as this will kick start the nitrate cycle by giving the tank an ammonia spike. although im not sure on this (better wait for someone else to tell you the answer) doing water changes is by far the best way to bring down the nitrates and i shouldnt see why doing it when the tank is cycling is a problem.
in my opinion its better to get everything right at this stage rather than making costly mistakes by trying to rush things too quickly. have u thought of what corals your going to add (softies, hard corals) since the lighting will also affect which ones you can keep.

hope this helps
simon

hi simon thanks for your input, i was looking at t5's but havnt comitted yet, due to cost am trying to do all gradually , i read that about the prawn are we literally taking a frozen supermarket type or is it something i should be buying from a pet shop, i am at present finding the water temperature really high currently 82 degrees will this effect the tank as is, its in our front room in the corner and is out of sunlight, i didnt really want to buy a special fan or chiller as it is rare for our house to get this hot, but we do have a standard home fan if it will help, i hadnt though of the type of corals yet to be honest i dont even know which fish id like, probably a nemo knowing my 2 lol, are there any type of halides you recomend as i said i havnt commited to the t5's yet so could start looking for something else, im happy with the waiting as long as the end result is worth it,
again thanks for your help
denise

a pic to see what i am taking about hope pic is clear enough, quick question on the sump, what would be a good size to add to my 31 gall, and does it need to have all the partitions in it? i realise they serve the purpose of filteration but are they nessesary even with a fluval 104 and a protien skimmer?

Looks like a new tank . If I were you, here's what I'd do:

First, I'd prepare a sump. Its going to take a lot of work to do it, but that'll get the giant skimmer outa there and make the tank look a lot better. The extra water volume will make a small tank like that more stable too . That skimmer is fine to use, as a general rule of thumb, you can never have enough protein skimming from a tank health point of view. Yours is so big though and that makes it kinda tough to design around a small tank . What are the dimensions of your tank and how much space do you have under it for a sump? It would be great if you could fit like a 20gallon tank down there, but even a 10 would help. Head on over to melvsreef.com for more info on sumps than you'll need

Then, once I got the sump running, I'd concentrate on powerheads and lighting. You're gonna want about 600gph worth of flowrate in your display tank. Best accomplished by two 300gph powerheads. Seio's or Tunze's are the high-end pumps of choice, and maxijets are the low-end pump of choice. You will NEED powerheads to keep corals, as without the flowrate, the corals cant exchange gas and basically suffocate and die.

Then, consider lighting. If your tank is 12" deep or less you can totally get away with T5s and still be able to keep lots of different corals. Geting deeper than 12", if you want that anemone, you'll need metal halides. Does your tank have a center support on the top? Knowing that and the dimensions will help us tell you what lighting you should consider.

Keeping the tank cool, may require a small fan directed at the surface of the water. Even a small desk fan with a clamp would fine. Try to keep the tank no higher than 84 degrees and of course no lower than 76 in the winter

Lastly, how long has the LR been in there without livestock? Might want to add some prawn (plain grocery store stuff is fine) and test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to make sure your bacterial colonies are still alive... And if they are, you should consider choosing your first small fish to put in there to keep them going

SkiFletch said:

Looks like a new tank . That skimmer is fine to use, as a general rule of thumb, you can never have enough protein skimming from a tank health point of view. Yours is so big though and that makes it kinda tough to design around a small tank .

Lastly, how long has the LR been in there without livestock? Might want to add some prawn (plain grocery store stuff is fine) and test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to make sure your bacterial colonies are still alive... And if they are, you should consider choosing your first small fish to put in there to keep them going

Click to expand...

hi thanks for your quick response, that protien skimmer coment is hilarious and totally true,
the lr has been in there since wednesday last week with nothing else theres also another large peice hidden behin/undeneath the skimmer, i havnt tested the water as im waiting for the kit to arrive from ebay!!, the tank is a corner unit, ill get back to you on measurements, i can see action on the rock if i watch it for a while it has little clam looking things that open and close, i added some plain rock as i thought it would be along time before the tank saw any action so could cure a little before, but was reading up on how you can make plain rock live, i put some alge in will that help?
the cabinet under the tank is also corner shaped and has a partition which i dont think can be removed, i was thinking of putting the sump in the hall( just the other side of the wall, do you think that would be ok, the other thing i was wondering about was getting the water from the top to the sump do i need 2 pumps, one in one out?
when i was looking at lighting i was unsure about the way its rigged up i made need to adapt it to fit the shape, i realise the tank woudl be much easier to keep if it where standard shape but we had a problem with room!! otherwise would have gone bigger, was also thinking if i started here i could always upgrade to bigger if i got on with it ok, that protien skimmer works a treat but looks hideous in there so need to do something but i didnt like the prism skimmer so bought the aquamedic for a good price on ebay!!

thanks for your input, denise and neil.

hi i have just checked out that site and will probably be there for the rest of the night now, seems to have everything i need to know thanks, the measurements of the tank are,
height-------------------------21 inches
width across front-----------33 inches
depth of corners to front----25inches
seems a little confusing to explain but im sure it makes complete sense lol
thanks

Interesting dimensions. Do you think you could fit a 10 gallon tank underneath it? Dimensions of a standard 10g are 20x10x15 inches LxWxH.

I'd look into replacing the rocks that are there with dry baserock or home-made LR. In the end its more porous and your tank will look more natural because of it. Lots of reading to do huh?

hi well i took your advice and added more live rock, it was purchased from a private seller as i thought the lfs had pretty lame lr, the stuff i already had was quite lifeless really, so all looks well the readings are low and so should be ready for the clean up crew soon, one problem i have is that neil cleaned out the cup on the skimmer and since he put it back together the thing isnt foaming int he cup, it all looks right but purchased from ebay with no instructions so probably something not quite right, emailing the seller for advice so fingers crossed, its an aqua chem 1000 classic,
anyway thanks for the input its coming on well hope it keeps up. oh and sump tank is coming on well should be ready to start using very shortly.

It isnt foaming at all, or the foam isnt rising up enough to get into the cup?

hi, it wasnt foaming enough to get into the cup but this morning it appears to be working much better neil soaked in warm water, thanks denise