Inspiration Wanted!

[Miss Wiggle]

Wel we've been keeping tropicals for about 5 yrs now and have been toying with the idea of marine for a good few months, we decided a month or so ago that it's just too expensive and we didn't have room for it as we've already got 7 tanks in a very small house. Well we were chatting to our mate in the lfs today and he said he knows a guy who's selling a perfect marine set up for 150 quid!!! 36x18x12 tank which i make to be about 30g, with a miracle mud sump, skimmer, uv stuff and loads of other gadgets i don't really understand (don't worry, not going into this blind, Ian's been swotting up, just I don't know all about the technical side of things). We really trust the bloke in the lfs and he say's it's perfect and he was gonna buy it himself but he's skint. Sooooooo anyway we've been toying with the idea of it and we think the only way we could have it is to close down 2 other tanks and put it in they're place. But I've had some of the fish for 5 yrs and I'm in two minds if we should or not. I just think I need to get myself all enthusiastic about marine then I'll be able to do it. So really I just wanted some inspiration, some ideas what sort of stocking etc, some pics would also be good, of what to do with that size set up.

 

[Matthew5664]

Hi Miss Wiggle my tanks that size so you could go for what I did my thred may helpclick here

I have a dwarf Angle 2 clowns a fire fish 2 neon gobys and a hifin banded goby with pistol shrip Plus loads of corals.

 

[Chac]

Some Pics of my Livestock (90g Reef)

I calculate the volume to be 27(UK) G

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, allthough its way larger than your tank, I love to dream. So check out reefkeeping magazine's Tank of the Month for some beautiful shots of a home-grown reef.

You might also want to check out Matthew5664's Diary, Aquascaper's Diary, steelhealr's diary, Navarre's Diary, or even my own for some inspiration and trials that people went through with their reef tanks. I know a lot of these other members' tanks have been inspiration for me and I'd hope they would be for you too.

As for some stocking options, start looking over say liveaquaria.com through the "nano" fish section. There are lots of choices really. You could consider clownfish, blennies, gobies, fairy wrasses, dwarf angelfish, and many others. Not to mention that the saltwater world has so many more "decoration" options with keeping a wide range of corals. Not to mention all the different inverts, shrimps, snails, carbs, sea slugs, etc. There's tons of options out there and frankly, you'll never find a deal better than a fully setup 30g with sump for a mere 150 quid. I'd jump on that in a heart beat if I lived on your side of the pond

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Sounds like a good deal and i'd diffently trade out the 2 FW for 1 SW (I've kept FW aswell so i'm not totally biased )

As Chac says it's 27U gal or 33 US if you want to cheat abit (I do) which means you can comfortably keep most dwarf angels, small wrasses, clowns, blennies and gobies.


Goodluck

 

[Miss Wiggle]

wow thanks for all the pics guys, some really beautiful tanks there can only dream of one day having one like that. we agreed to sleep on it and make a descision today but I think were gonna go for it (obviously providing there's no some reason for it being so cheap... i.e it's a pile of poop!). The 2 stacked tanks are a major ball ache to maintain and the living room's looking really crowded and cluttered with so many tanks. Downsizing a bit is really the logical solution. We had a proper look at our stocking last night and if we upgrade one of the upstairs tanks from a 25 to one of the 30's we'd be closing down then we can keep the fish I really want and we'd just have about 15 fish to rehome so it wouldn't be too bad. Also we'd then have a 5, 25 & 30g tanks 'spare' in the basement and equipment to run them all so if we need hospital/quarantine tanks they're there, or if anyone starts breeding we've grow out room etc so we'd be much better prepared for fishy emergencies.

It'd mean we've a much better nicer combination of tanks too I think, would be the reef and 2 big FW tanks in the living room, one with angels and the other big cichlids. Then a really nice slightly rare community tank and the 2 betta's in the bedroom. Something for everyone!!

can you tell I'm really trying to convince myself!

so anyway we're off to the lfs tonight to have a word witht he bloke and sort out going to see the tank.

Don't think we'd take the fish from the tank, just swap them in the lfs for what we want.... I don't really know a lot about marine fish (...yet) but they seem like too big for the tank. Like a yellow tang, seen loads of them and they do get to a pretty decent size, can't help thinking they'd be a bit squashed in a 30g.

What we were thinking stocking wise is lots of small vibrantly coloured little fish, clowns, wrasses, gobys, blennie's... that sort of thing, then maybe 1/2 more 'feature' fish, like the dwarf angels, that sort of thing. I'm leaving the coral's up to Ian, he's the tank gardener but he can't wait to get stuck into it.

first question off the top of my head.... sure there will be loads more to follow! How do you work out stocking levels, for FW there's the inch per gallon rule that gets bandied about and although there's a million exceptions it's not a bad guideline. Is it the same for SW, is there another rule?? anything that can help really

 

[Mr Miagi]

Well, its a good thing your buying it, cause that means the Yellow tang wont have to stay in it! As you already figured, a real open water swimmer that a 30gallon tank just cant offer.

Stocking isnt done buy inch per gallon in SW, its mainly done via general filtration capacity (IE how much LR you have etc.) and relationships between species and their own individual requirements.

Id say your first step is wait until youve got it going, see what fish/coral it comes with, What you might like to keep, etc, and once its settled back in, and running smoothly, then think about who would suit.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Well, its a good thing your buying it, cause that means the Yellow tang wont have to stay in it! As you already figured, a real open water swimmer that a 30gallon tank just cant offer.

Stocking isnt done buy inch per gallon in SW, its mainly done via general filtration capacity (IE how much LR you have etc.) and relationships between species and their own individual requirements.

Id say your first step is wait until youve got it going, see what fish/coral it comes with, What you might like to keep, etc, and once its settled back in, and running smoothly, then think about who would suit.

well were not definately buing it, but were definately interested! gonna go back to the lfs tonight and have a good chat to our mate there, he keeps marines at home and in the shop so will be able to give us some good advice and get us in touch with the guy who's got the tank so we can go see it, decide if we want it.

right, well apparently he's around £250 worth of live rock in it, i'll try and ask how many kg's of rock it is, should give a better idea right?? When we go see it I'm gonna try and get some pics, can post them and see what you lot think of the set up and what needs changing.

Yeah definately gonna see what comes with it. As it's already mature, been running for ages with no problems (apparently) so all we'd do is move it to ours at first, run it with whatever stocks there (unless it's gonna be completely unsuitable to the tank like the tang in which case we'd re-home straight away and just keep enough stock to keep it running and mature) let it settle down so it's completely (ha ha) stable and then start switching round the livestock to what we want.

been having a good old nosey round this morning (hard at work ) jeez i'll be glad if we get to miss out the whole cycling thing, i thought it was bad enough with FW!!! scary stuff but then again probably better to do it for yourself, really helps you to learn how it all works together and it's always nice to be able to look at something and have that 'i did that' smug feeling when it's your own work and looks stunning

some of my initial thoughts stocking wise are

turbo snails
cleaner shrimps
.... need to look into clean up crew a bit more, hopefully he's got plenty and we'd just keep them

anthius
flame angel ..... dunno if it might be a bit big... bit i've always loved them
royal gramma
firefish goby
cardinals
clown fish
coral beauty.. again not sure on size, seen them in much smaller tanks but only at an lfs and everything's always crowded
Ian's been eyeing up a clown trigger fish in the lfs for weeks, just told him how much it costs and how big it gets though so I think that's out of the question!!

sure i'll add to that list, but any stocking suggestions based around that would be good

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

If i had a 33 i would do something like this:

'Normal' & B & W clown pair

Coral beauty or Flame Angel

Firefish

Midas Blenny

Everything on your list seems fine but leave out the Anthias and clown trigger as they need a bigger tank

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah we were just dreaming over the clown trigger, we know we can't have him................. yet

I've always loved the flame angel's, if we can get one I'd love to have them. Been reading a little and it seems they're quite agressive, anyone got any comments on this, how agressive exactly? We've plenty of agressive FW fish so we know a little of how to handle them, is it similar with SW?

Think that's a different firefish to the one I wanted.......... or I've got the name wrong. The ones I like have the big white fin sticking up at the top.

how big do the anthius get then?

 

[SkiFletch]

There are purple and red firefish and I think a couple others. My flame angel is not very aggressive at all and I'd actually think that would be a perfect fish for a tank that size. Sometimes he gets into "fin flare" displays with my fairy wrasse, but it never comes to more than that with him. The only downside to flame angels is that SOME individuals will be coral nippers (10% or less). If you get one and he seems to be a nipper, you can probably exchange him for a different one.

Oh, and anthias get about 5" and usually need to be in schoold of 6+ fish which wouldnt really be suitable for a mere 30g . Think 90-125 gallons.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

There are purple and red firefish and I think a couple others. My flame angel is not very aggressive at all and I'd actually think that would be a perfect fish for a tank that size. Sometimes he gets into "fin flare" displays with my fairy wrasse, but it never comes to more than that with him. The only downside to flame angels is that SOME individuals will be coral nippers (10% or less). If you get one and he seems to be a nipper, you can probably exchange him for a different one.

Oh, and anthias get about 5" and usually need to be in schoold of 6+ fish which wouldnt really be suitable for a mere 30g . Think 90-125 gallons.

aah OK, didn't think they got massive, just didn't realise they were schooling fish which obviously add's a whole different dimension to your stocking!

mmmmmmm adding fairy wrasse to the list too, just googled it for some pics

will keep an eye on the coral nipping, I'll warn Ian.

Ooh that's the other question... crabs... Ian say's they eat corals........ is this right? do all of them do it?

 

[SkiFletch]

Crabs really dont eat corals in my experience. They eat each other, detritus, algae, uneaten food, snails, or sometimes fish depending on the species. Most crabs sold in stores as additions to your tank tend to be reef-safe. You usually only run into problems with liverock hitch-hikers. What crabs were you considering?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Crabs really dont eat corals in my experience. They eat each other, detritus, algae, uneaten food, snails, or sometimes fish depending on the species. Most crabs sold in stores as additions to your tank tend to be reef-safe. You usually only run into problems with liverock hitch-hikers. What crabs were you considering?

dunno i hadn't really looked into it as Ian said they were a no no cos of the corals.... if that's not the case I shall commence looking into it..... mmmmmmmmmm giant japanese spider crabs lol just kidding. saw some red legged hermit crabs in the lfs tonight that looked pretty cool 8)

also we spoke to the bloke about closing down our tanks he say's anything we want re-homing we can swap for whatever marine fish/equipment etc we'll need.

and what's incredibly sad we got excited about.... he has a list of his favoured customers who he'll call if he gets anything special in.... we're on that list now how very sad, but also useful.... and we got some free plants. we have a new best friend

off to see the tank in an hr or so, I'm all excited gonna tell him if we want it we'll have to wait at least a fortnight, better a month before we take it. Give us a chance to sort things out and do some serious swotting up.

 

[SkiFletch]

Nice, cant wait to hear your reactions. As far as hermits go, try and stay away from the plain old bluelegged hermits or the "zebra" hermits. They're pretty predatory and will kill each other and snails given the chance. Electric blue hermits and scarlet reef hermits are much better hermit options IMO