125 Gal+ Reef Tank Blueprints

[GAB99]

well, instead of 90 gallons its gonna be 125-200 gallons

so now i had to redo my stocking since my dad now wants something "big" and my mom got attracted to an achilles tang (yeah, i know)

well here is the new stocking, all comments will be greatfully accepted

flame angel
mandarin goby
a pair of bengaii cardianl fish (found the difference between the sexes)
fire fish pair
pair of clown goby
pair of jester goby
2-3 chalk basslet
tail spot blenny
long fin fairy wrasse
2 blue gudgeon dart fish
yellow head jawfish pair ?
long-nose hawkfish
dispar anthias
bellus angelfish pair
pacific redstripe hogfish
sankey's dotyback
pair of soldier fish (type of squrriel fish)
achilles tang
school of 5 black and white chromis
my mom would also like some copper band butterflies but i think i'm gonna have a hard enough time keeping coral alive with the flame angel, jester gobies, hawk fish and soldier fish, whats the verdict?

also what size sump for a 125, 150, or 200 gallon tank? im thinking 75, and 100

lighting?



i hope its as similar as the 90, much easier if it is.

 

[ColdwaterJosh]

Is it suitable to keep two different types of Goby in the same tank?
I may be wrong, but I don't want you to go spending out and lose money, and also the fish to die

 

[-Nemo-]

I agree with you. You have quite a few fish that might go after your corals/inverts so if you want to keep a reef tank, you're going to have to decide and/or explain to your parents about the fish that will eat them.

@Josh: His tank is going to be large, and the gobies he's picking will mostly be in different areas of the tank because of their natural behavior. He could, of course, still run into problems, but I think that it would be OK.

As for a sump, a good general rule is to try to aim for about half the tank size, if possible. So if a 75G or 100G sump is possible, go for it. Even just a 30G sump would be nothing but beneficial. But of course, the more water volume the better.


Lighting, I would personally just head for the MH.


EDIT: with the bangaiis don't sex them by their jaws or dorsal fins. It's VERY inaccurate, trust me. You want to sex them by the venting method. I'll get you the pictures! I just have to remember

 

[ColdwaterJosh]

I agree with you. You have quite a few fish that might go after your corals/inverts so if you want to keep a reef tank, you're going to have to decide and/or explain to your parents about the fish that will eat them.

@Josh: His tank is going to be large, and the gobies he's picking will mostly be in different areas of the tank because of their natural behavior. He could, of course, still run into problems, but I think that it would be OK.

As for a sump, a good general rule is to try to aim for about half the tank size, if possible. So if a 75G or 100G sump is possible, go for it. Even just a 30G sump would be nothing but beneficial. But of course, the more water volume the better.


Lighting, I would personally just head for the MH.

Oh okay, thank you for clarifying Nemo! Best of luck with the tank though mate!

 

[GAB99]

I agree with you. You have quite a few fish that might go after your corals/inverts so if you want to keep a reef tank, you're going to have to decide and/or explain to your parents about the fish that will eat them.

@Josh: His tank is going to be large, and the gobies he's picking will mostly be in different areas of the tank because of their natural behavior. He could, of course, still run into problems, but I think that it would be OK.

As for a sump, a good general rule is to try to aim for about half the tank size, if possible. So if a 75G or 100G sump is possible, go for it. Even just a 30G sump would be nothing but beneficial. But of course, the more water volume the better.


Lighting, I would personally just head for the MH.


EDIT: with the bangaiis don't sex them by their jaws or dorsal fins. It's VERY inaccurate, trust me. You want to sex them by the venting method. I'll get you the pictures! I just have to remember

so besides the gobies no compatibility issues? i made sure that no fish i added was aggresive and i think i only have 1 or 3 semi aggresive fish, i just want a double check
my mom said that it would be fun to add the butterflys but if i cant then dont stress about it, most of the fish that might be munchers ill add last (except for the jester gobies), ill see how everything goes and i might add them if things are good and theres substantial growth to all the corals.

idk if 75 gallon would be possible, but definatley a 55.

thanks for the hint nemo, that was exactly what i was gonna do! this tanks starting when we move at the end of the school year and everythings settled, so theres plenty of time to send me the pictures


heres my order of adding the fish (corals gonna stay the same, maybe different colors of the same coral and maybe another sps)


pair of clown goby
pair of jester goby
2-3 chalk basslet
fire fish pair
tail spot blenny
2 blue gudgeon dart fish
yellow head jawfish pair
a pair of bengaii cardianl fish (found the difference between the sexes)
school of 5 black and white chromis
long fin fairy wrasse
long-nose hawkfish
dispar anthias
bellus angelfish pair
pacific redstripe hogfish
sankey's dotyback
flame angel
pair of soldier fish (type of squrriel fish)
mandarin goby
achilles tang
maybe a pair of copper band butterflies

im putting the achilles last because its very $$$, hopefully with the 150+gallons of water and at least 55 gallon refugium the mandarin will be ok, i plan on raisng pods both in the display and in the fug.


also for metalhalides is there a good brand or certain kind i need to get? or is it just general fit the top of the tank buisness?

also a quick side note i just got back and there is a TON of that red stuff all over again, should i do a 50% or 75% water change?

 

[GAB99]

bump

 

[seffieuk]

hey, Mojo - we dont do 'bumps' in the marine section no need, we will answer

Right first the cyano question:

You need to increase flow to the area
what is your phosphate stat?
maybe decrease lighting time
how old are the tubes?
maybe decrease amount being fed to the tank

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Seffie has covered the Cyano issue. Cyano in most cases comes from high phosphate levels and/or poor water circulation. The poor water circulation I believe actually causes phosphate issues and cyano also doesn't like to grow in high flow areas.

Basically kill the phosphate and it will eventually go away.

Court jester goby: I have been told be more than one person that these are extremely difficult to keep in captivity. Its a combination of them being fairly fragile and not being able to fully provide the right diet for them.

Mandarin Goby: I really, really hate fish shops that label dragonets and gobys or blennys, they are dragonets and completely different. Mandarins, like all dragonets, are VERY fussy eaters only eating 'pods. In the size of tank you have planned and assuming you are using appropriate amounts of live rock it would get on fine. Just be aware of it though and don't add them until the tank is mature and you have a good amount of pod life in there.

Cant advise on a lot of the fish on your list as I have no direct experience with them. As mentions the cardinals are difficult to sex and with them and your firefish the only really reliable way to get a pair is to get a proven pair. Nemo however would know better about this and she has a lot more experience and knowledge in this area then probably anyone else on this board.

Edit: With the Chromis get a bigger group than 5 ideally. Personally I would go for closer to 10 to get the most out of them and stop them picking off the smaller members of the school. Even though they are one of the more peaceful damselfish species they can still be aggressive amongst themselves so a bigger group helps spread the "in house" aggression amongst them.

 

[GAB99]

hey, Mojo - we dont do 'bumps' in the marine section no need, we will answer

Right first the cyano question:

You need to increase flow to the area
what is your phosphate stat?
maybe decrease lighting time
how old are the tubes?
maybe decrease amount being fed to the tank

Seffie x

oops my bad, i wont say the b word any more
my test kit does not test for phosphates, so ill assume not good
lighting is form 6am-10pm or 12am
tubes are brand new
clownies getting fed about 3 minutes worth every 3 days

Seffie has covered the Cyano issue. Cyano in most cases comes from high phosphate levels and/or poor water circulation. The poor water circulation I believe actually causes phosphate issues and cyano also doesn't like to grow in high flow areas.

Basically kill the phosphate and it will eventually go away.

Court jester goby: I have been told be more than one person that these are extremely difficult to keep in captivity. Its a combination of them being fairly fragile and not being able to fully provide the right diet for them.

Mandarin Goby: I really, really hate fish shops that label dragonets and gobys or blennys, they are dragonets and completely different. Mandarins, like all dragonets, are VERY fussy eaters only eating 'pods. In the size of tank you have planned and assuming you are using appropriate amounts of live rock it would get on fine. Just be aware of it though and don't add them until the tank is mature and you have a good amount of pod life in there.

Cant advise on a lot of the fish on your list as I have no direct experience with them. As mentions the cardinals are difficult to sex and with them and your firefish the only really reliable way to get a pair is to get a proven pair. Nemo however would know better about this and she has a lot more experience and knowledge in this area then probably anyone else on this board.

Edit: With the Chromis get a bigger group than 5 ideally. Personally I would go for closer to 10 to get the most out of them and stop them picking off the smaller members of the school. Even though they are one of the more peaceful damselfish species they can still be aggressive amongst themselves so a bigger group helps spread the "in house" aggression amongst them.

any more info on the court jester goby would be fantastic, all web stuff i find is really spread out and random.

i know about the dragonets, thats why he'll be added second to last (achilles is the show fish and very very fragile so he goes last)by any chance would i be abe to get 2 mandarins my new adopted lfs in georgia feeds them (i watched) pods every other day and there are 3 in the tank that seem to get along well. its a 90 gallon coral tank and they are the only fish in it.

thanks for the damselfish info, they seem to be like female bettas imo hehe

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Regarding the Rainford's Goby/Court Jester. Unfortunately I don't have any specific reference sources and most of what you find online is fairly basic. I was looking to get one of these soon after I got into marines and a lot of people I spoke to that had kept them said they where difficult to keep and often just faded away over 6-12 months. Mainly from the people I spoke to its believed that there is just a nutritional deficiency in their diet. This was a few years ago though so things may have moved on.

SkiFletch from this forum was one of the guys I talked to about them and he probably knows more then I do. Don't think he has been round for awhile though.

I think if you do give them a try you need to have a mature tank with lots of pods (like a mandarin) and some algae growth supplemented with algae sheets and a good vitamin enriched diet.

Regarding the Mandarins. I cant talk from personal experience as I only have 1. I think the females are ok to keep together but males will be highly aggressive to each other. I think that mixed male/female groups are ok (as long as there is only 1 male) but please get confirmation from other sources. There are a couple of people on this board I believe that have a group of mandarins in a tank (Tina for one, aka TigerIssey) who will be better able to advise.

 

[seffieuk]

I cuurently keep one very fat mandy in my five footer and would add a male if I could find a really nice one - I wouldn't keep several females with one male apart from anything else you would need a massive amount of live rock and pods - a pair would be lovely in your tank after a year

As Barney said, you can only keep one male as they will fight

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks Seffie, I had overlooked that in my reply. I think a mixed group (with 1 male) would be fine in terms of aggression but having enough food for them could definitely be an issue (as Seffie correctly pointed out).

If you can get them to eat pellet food and set up a system so that they can eat it without the other fish getting to it first then it would be easier to keep more than one.Without that (and dedication to feeding them twice a day, normally by putting your hands in the tank with a jar with pellet food in) I would worry about there being enough pods to keep more then 1 or 2 dragonets alive.

I have seen someone who has 3 or 4 mandarins in a 100g ish system but they where extremely dedicated to them and he "target" fed them with pellets every day. Wish I could remember where I saw it because he had some really good information on keeping mandarins.

 

[seffieuk]

Wish I could remember where I saw it because he had some really good information on keeping mandarins.

Is this the site you are talking about Barney?

Mandarin Diner

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah that's the one, thought his tank was smaller though I think he has more info on mandarins on there somewhere but I could be mistaken.

 

[GAB99]

thanks for the wealth of info, do you think that it would be beneficial to call (im getting the court jesters from liveaquaria as i cannot find them anywhere else and my new lfs said they were too hard to keep at the store)
drs. foster and smith and find out what they feed them and how long have they had them? would it also help to add them before the mandarin?

also, is there any non-$$$ solution to the phosphates?

and the difference between male and female mandarins is that males have a sort of flag like a firefish right?