A Journal Of My First Marine Tank Done By A 13 Year Old.

[fish_tank0311]

Hello all,

I am a bit of a fish addict, and have 3 fish tanks, a 528 gallon outdoor pond, and now i am getting a marine tank!!!! w000000t!!!!!! Its 140 gallons or something, (measures 1200x600x600mm) and i bought it third hand (2 previous owners) and the only reason i got it was cos i found it real cheap. It comes with a protein skimmer, the tank, the stand, the sump, and all the piping required for $300 ($210 US). Then i decided it would go into the family room so now my brother (19 years old) is helping me pay and set it up (im 13 btw) and my parents are also helping by buying the light which is like 340 US dollars or something. Then i can buy 30kgs of dead rock at US $3.50 per kg (which is almighty cheap!) and my parents are also helping me on that. So tomorrow i will be cleaning it, vacuuming it, and sorting out some doors for the stand as it doesnt have any on it at the moment. So my brother is a bit of a pro with marine tanks, so all of the cycling etc he will take care of (with my help of course). So i wanted to know what my stocking plan is like. How many fish can i get. I know for sure i want a pair of black (yes thats right) clownfish. On black ones if you havent seen them before they are just black and white no orange. Then i want maybe a purple and yellow tang its just they are EXPENSIVE AZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not sure what else i want. Oh maybe a cleaner or boxer shrimp. And chromis maybe. What are your guys opinions. I will post some pictures tomorrow if i can figure out how to put them into my post, and ill do before and after the clean.

Help, questions, comments, anything, please bring them forward.

EDIT: PICS ARE NOW UP

Pics of my tank during the cleanup of the tank itself. PS: Sorry some of the pictures are sideways, just turn your head

This is just a picture of the side of the stand (you can see the sump next to it) im just illustrating how dirty it is!

Ok i have no finished cleaning up the tank, pictures may not be much different but in real life its a massive difference having clean glass.

 

[bae1994]

this would be my stocking i a 140 gallon

1x pair of maroon clownfish (theyre a maroon colour and get biger than normal clowns and can have yelow or white stripes )
1x yellow tank
1x pink cheeked watchman goby
6x chromis
1x manderin goby once 6 months mature
2x cleaner shrimp if your not having corals if not hen pepermint shrimp as cleaners are always al over corals
3x fire fish
and probably some more

then cuc but il let others tel you that

 

[Morri]

140 Gallon

Sargussum Trigger or Crosshatch or Blue throat
Kole Tang or any Bristletooth maybe a Black Tang or Purple Tang or a Gem Tang
6 Bartletts anthias + or 6 Anthias Borbonius if feeling a little flush
Top up with wrasse

small fish in 140 Gallon would be lost

 

[fish_tank0311]

Thanks for the very quick responses guys, keep them coming. Just so you know i am googling all of these fish and giving them all thought. So far the fish me and my brother have come across that we want to buy is: 2 bangaii cardinals (they are only a maybe though im not sure i like them) a flame hawk fish, green chromis (unsure of school size) Flame angel, Fridmani Pseudochromis (a purple dotty back), a yellow tang, a kole tang (AKA yellow eye tang) Algae blenny (aka lawnmower blenny etc etc etc) and finally a purple tang, *UPDATED* And lets not forget about my black clownfish, I LOVE THEM!. All of these fish were done in a 20 minute list, and are not final decisions, just drafts and ideas and plans on what we are doing. Thanks all for looking, dont forget to add to your watchlist!!

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side of TFF

What a lucky lad you have been and to have a family who will help and support you -double luck, I would say

As you are having a sump i would deffo look for a trigger or if you are not having a reef with corals maybe a Porky puffer -they are like little dogs in your tank, great fish

You could have a pair of Mandys after about 6/12 months
Maybe a pair of orchid dottybacks
some anthias - but only after the tank is mature and only if you can feed them several times a day
Agree with Bae about the Maroon clowns, have to be yellow stripe for me
A tang of some sort
A blenny
Wrasses

Tell us al ittle more about your plans, are you going to have coral?

Seffie x

 

[Harry1996]

i love tangs i would say get a kole and a yellow tang. but with tangs i think you have to add them all at the same time because they may fight. im not sure on this but i think i have read it some were. so the tank is going to be 120cm by 60cm by 60cm because it would be a big tank if it was 1200 by 600 by 600 did u mean mm? if it is 4foot by 2 foot by 2 foot then it will the same size tank that i will be upgrading to. this will be an interesting read hope every thing goes well for u and your family

 

[seffieuk]

so the tank is going to be 120cm by 60cm by 60cm because it would be a big tank if it was 1200 by 600 by 600 did u mean mm? if it is 4foot by 2 foot by 2 foot then it will the same size tank that i will be upgrading to.

Will be just a bit bigger than mine 4 x 23 x 23 approx = 430L

Mine is 5 x 18 x 18 approx 400L

But as you say Harry, sure he means mm

Seffie x

 

[fish_tank0311]

Hi all! Yes sorry Harry i did mean mm, i have changed it now anyway. Yea thanks alot seffie, my family is always very helping with things like this. Yes i definitly want corals. Corals are half of the marine reef in my opinions. Yeah i love the trigger fish, (i went to rarotonga once and stayed in a resort, and the snorkling there was AWESOME, there were lots of trigger fish there which made me familiar with them, but my brother said they eat corals?) Now im still not 100% sure on what my plans, are, its all come so fast, so im still just kinda going with the flow. Can anyone give me some inspiration for an aquascape? Thanks. Another thing was the tangs, yes a like the kole tang, its just very expensive. Seffie when you said that i had a sump so def go for a trigger, why do you say that. Hmm about maroon clowns. I do like them, i was just more interested in the black clownfish. I will post a picture down below after, but can anyone give me some info and opinions on black ones. Ok i think this is my post done. I will post some pictures of the tank in a couple hours.

Edit: I forgot to add, my parents have now decided to buy me 30kgs of coral rock (i hope its coral rock were not 100% sure), and my brother is buying me a bag of sand and im buying the other bag of sand, and my brothers GF is picking that up tonight, so theres a possibility i will also post the tank with sand in but doubtful. I believe the sand we are going for is called white aragonite, and like 2mm thick, if this is false i will of course update the thread tonight when i get the sand.

 

[fish_tank0311]

Pics Are Now Up as a part of my first post!!!

 

[GAB99]

thats a steal with how you got that stuff, im getting something alittle smaller (or bigger, dont know yet) and my dad's paying close to 2000 for it

 

[fish_tank0311]

Sure is at that. I just bought 23kgs of dead coral rock, and a lump of live rock, i guess 4-5 kilos, and a big bucket of sand for $200, ($140 approx US dollars.) Oh and do you guys know what i learnt today. Live rock smells like $H17!!!! I sniffed it and i threw up in my mouth. But its all good i got some cheap stuff. Thanks all.

 

[Harry1996]

yer dead like rock smells thats why i got cured live rock it dosnt smell of #105### but you have to pay extra for cured.
just like to add that you add the water,salt it + heat it,make sure you have a power head in the tank,24hours later if the sg is fine and the temp then you can add your rock

 

[seffieuk]

So you are curing your own live rock - hope you have a big peg ready to put on your nose

You will need to run carbon and do regular water changes to keep down the smell - have a look at the start of my sister Trod's journel, she cured her own live rock and there are some tips in there

Seffie x

 

[bae1994]

yeah my lfs have black clowns in alot its just i think the maroons look better in bigger tanks (ive got one in my 100gal)

also nice tank

 

[fish_tank0311]

Hi all. No i wont be curing my live rock, its just sitting in a bucket of saltwater with an old desk lamp llghting it and an old powerhead we found, hopefully that will keep it alive for a while. Now another thing, if you look on those pictures you can see the tank has a blue painted background, well me nor my brother like it, so we are taking it off with a blade, and going to paint it black. We did a lot of research on this, and found that having such a bright background is quite distracting, and having a darker one will give the corals and fish more colour. I will post a picture later on to show you how we are going, (ITS A MASSIVE JOB!)