My 15 Gallon Tank

[Lord_Dante]

Greetings all. I've spent many months reading through this message board looking up all the needed information and just nosing around at the world of fish keeping. Seeing the great feedback people get here about their tanks I wanted to post mine and make sure everything was being done right.

Above is a photo of my first ever aquarium. It's a small 15 Gallon tank (15x12x24 inches) given to me as a wonderful present from my girlfriend..

My two little common clowns.

So for my set up I have 5lbs of live rock. I got as much as I could afford for the time being. I know it's a bit low but I was only thinking about just having the two clowns. I installed a huge skimmer I bought of eBay really cheap just a day or two ago so I'm still waiting to see that kick in hopefully.

As for stocking at the moment all I have are two common clowns, a turbo snail and a hermit crab. I think my cleanup crew is a bit light but what suggestions would people have for me and how many? Also from my research I found that two clowns would be all that the system could support. Is this true? It looks really empty with just the two little guys (Though I know they'll grow ).

Another problem I've got is that I don't like the look inside the tank. Anyone have ideas of what I could do? I think I need a background to hide the wires and stuff but I hate the picture ones. They seem tacky to me. Any ideas?

Any comments or suggestions appreciated. Thanks for looking.

 

[Navarre]

looks like a good start. my comments would be.. (and these are purely from my own point of view and doesnt mean im right or wrong). I would put a backing onthe tank to give it s nicer look. i also see you need more liverock.. am i mistaken or is some of hte rock in there oceanrock? give it more rock for better filtration and add a skimmer if you dont have one.

You are doing well though, keep up the good work

 

[sianeds]

I would also put a background on. You can buy them with blue on one side and black on the other. They are the most common colours used. See which you like best and then you could paint it in the future

 

[Lord_Dante]

@sianeds - I'm thinking of a light blue background if I can find one. I don't like the coral picture ones. Spent so much time getting the water right I never looked at the tank too much before. Hehe.
@Navarre - I bought a large piece of live rock and several normal pieces for display and hopefully to let it turn to live rock later on. The hitchikers have already moved in on the new pieces. I have a large skimmer which according to the manufacturer can handle tanks of up to 200 gallons. Lol. It was cheap so I figured I'd give it ago. In the future I may upgrade to a larger tank I'm not sure yet.

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

[Mr.September15]

OT: lol @ Stargate Atlantis

Nice tankie

 

[rhysiboy]

can you take some pics of the tank without the flash? will make the tank look 10000000 x better in photos.. providing you do have a light on there. Plus the tank does looks like a really gd start.

rhysiboy

 

[Lord_Dante]

Been a while since my first post, but I went to the LFS on the weekend and got some more things for my tank.

This is my skimmer which I had in the earlier photos but it was out of view. Had to get a new pump for it too, since it's so big.

I added a background (The tank looks so much better). Also got some more nice ocean rock on the cheap. I picked up a cleaner shrimp too and got two more hermit crabs.

Anything I've missed I appreciate it being pointed out. Thanks for the replies so far

 

[Ehudd]

dude.... u do have lighting dont u?

 

[Mr.September15]

dude.... u do have lighting dont u?

Maybe it was lights out when he took the picture. I too tend not to wake or disturb the fish while its lights off.

Nice skimmer, I hated mine because it was huge and was stupid looking.

 

[Lord_Dante]

Yeah, I do. It's set to a timer so I don't put it on or off unless I really have too. It's mounted in the hood.

Yeah skimmer is a bit too big. Hehe.

 

[ValerieM]

Looks good so far. What kind of lighting do you have? Just curious, planning on stocking any coral?

 

[Lord_Dante]

At the moment it's a display only light (Box said for goldfish ), so I'd need to upgrade before I get some corals. At the moment I'm sticking with what I've got maybe a few fish or so extra. I'm going to wait and see how everything goes for now.

 

[Ehudd]

You will find your LR to slowly turn not so alive without your lighting.
Most algeas and so forth require it. As do fish.
not having a go or ne thing, never seen someone set up a marine tank with not much lighting that all.

 

[Lord_Dante]

Can anyone confirm that the light isn't going to be good enough? I've not read that a tank without Corals requires a special lighting set up? My one piece of live rock has slowly started growing back after initital die off too, and spreading to the other rocks?

Thanks

 

[brittlestar]

What kind of light is it? Is it something like a Power Glo flourescent meant for tropicals or coldwater? It's not so much the intensity its the spectrum that needs to be right as far as I'm aware. Red light is filtered out in the first few feet of seawater so most things grow under light towards the blue end of the spectrum. Depending on how deep in the water a coral is, the only light that gets through might be blue light, hence the actinic bulb.