Advice Needed On Starting Small Fowlr Tank

[maidenfan]

Hi there
First of all may i introduce myself i live in the uk in small town called Biddulph in Staffordshire and have recently become a keen aquarist. I have a small cold water tank with 4 fan tail goldfish i also have a 60 litre biorb which i have set up as a tropical which is doing very well.
Last week i started a marine setup in a 130 litre aqua one 620T tank i am using the tanks own filtration system alongside a fluval 204 external cannister filter system also i have fitted inside the tank a powerhead pump to increase water movement and a 200watt heater. I have put substrate in the tank comprising of 10 kilograms of carib sea arag alive live reef sand and on top of that have placed a quantity of rock i have added water with red sea salt and left it to stabilise over the last 6 days the SG is 1.023 my plan is add approx 3 kilograms of live rock and ph buffers in the next couple of days leave for approx a month and then add first fish probably 2 common clown fish afterwards i aim to add probably only 3 or 4 more fish would love to have a powder blue tang but not sure tank is big enough

anyway my questions are am i going about my set up the right way? and could i add any small invertibrates ie cleaner shrimps, snails etc to keep the bottom of the tank clean?

 

[Navarre]

Hello and welcome to the marine forum of TFF
I see by the number of tanks you have recently setuo that you are indeed a keen aquarist!
I will try and answer a few points here and feel free to come back with more question etc.

I would not use dthe internal system filtration for the tank.. Liverock will do the work and you will only increase nitrates by the mechanical filtration churning it out faster than the liverock can deal with it. This will lead to increased water changes tokeep nitrate levels at a minimum.

You mention that you have put rock in there already? I am assuming its not liverock as you mention it late in your post? If its not liverock then i recomend removing it and simply increasing the amount of liverock to improve filtration. Most other types of rock are not porous and wont add any beneficial support to your colony of bacteria.

You mention that you have good flow in the tank? A minimum of 10x tank volume per hour in turnover. Preferably 20x volume if you can manage it.

As for cleanup crew... 1 per gallon minimum is required for a good sized cleanup crew for your tank. this equates to 1 hermit/snail per gallon.


Lastly... Keep well clear of the powder blue. Its a highly delicate fish and expert only. They require highly oxyginated water, perfect water condition with huge amounts of flow. minimum water volume is 100 gallons (450 ltres) No tang should be in less volume than this to be honest.

 

[maidenfan]

cheers mate your advice sounds good. just to clarify that the tank filter is fitted in the hood of the tank if that means anything and i will do as you say and try to maximise how much live rock i can get, i thought a powder blue would be out of the question thanks for making my mind up. you say i can have 1 clean up crew per gallon didnt realise you could have so many could i have any cleaner shrimps? and lastly what type of fish do you suggest i put in

 

[Navarre]

cleanup crew/shrimps etc dont add much to the bioload of the tank so you can add these with not impact on your fish etc. Yes a shrimp can be added but i suggest you go fora standard cleaner and not be temped by boxer shrimps as these can hunt and corner other inverts and fish.

Sounds like alot of cleanup crew when its on paprer but believe me when i say that once they are added they soon dissapear into the rockwork and you have to look hard to see them.

As for the fish in your system... well its your tank and you have to take care of it/look at it. I personally would opt for a dwarf angel as teh centerpiece of hte tank and supported with a dwarf wrasse, clowns, gobies and blennies. Perhaps a basslet or Royal gramma to give a splashof extra colouration.

Keep clear of anenomes even if you want clowns as this will complcate things greatly. if you want a host for any future clowns then add a sarcophyton mushroom as these arre far easier to take care of.

 

[maidenfan]

again many thanks your advice is a great help just to say this web site is brill and i have enjoyed reading the forams the last day or two until i plucked up courage to post myself anyway one last question today lighting at the momment i have red and white tubes fitted what do you suggest?

 

[Navarre]

it really depends what you want to keep. If you want fish only then the lights you have are fine but if you want inverts and simple corals then you will need to change the tubes at the very least to white/blue actinics. This may well not be enough and you may need to upgrade the lights to more powerful units. T5s are popular and with these you should be able to harbour most corals. However if you want anenomes (not recomended anyway) clams and hard corals then halides are the way to go.

 

[maidenfan]

thanks again, time for bed for me will answer any posts 2moz
nite all

 

[steelhealr]

SH

 

[maidenfan]

hi there
just put my first lot of live rock in my tank cant believe how alive it is lol anyway is there anything i need to do to keep it in good condition whilst the tank cycles?
note; i am using the live rock to cycle my tank for the first time

 

[SkiFletch]

Add light for 10 hours a day and toss in some infinite reserves of patience

 

[maidenfan]

cheers mate

 

[SkiFletch]

a little more expansive answer is to keep testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. once your ammonia and nitrites are 0 then your tank is cycled and your LR "cured". at this point, examine your nitrates. if they're pretty high, you might want to consider a very large water hange to get them down before you add fish.

 

[maidenfan]

thanks mate will do just sat here watching rock am i sad or what

 

[Aquascaper]

Beats trying to stick a Ricordea mushroom to a rock

Oh, and injecting aptasia and mojanoes with malt vinegar

 

[Navarre]

Nothing wrong with rock watching! I still do and i find it very entertaining and amazing what is still appearing in the tank after all this time!