Took The Plunge! New Tank

[alexktz]

Hi everyone,

Found a really good deal on aquarist classifieds that meant I have picked up a jewel rio 400 + all marine equipment + some livestock and cabinet for only £400.

i would like some advice on adding further livestock please.

Currrently in the tank there is following livestock and equipment to support it...

fluvals fx5 filter
25kg live rock
20kg base rock
tmc v2 800 protein skimmer
deep sand bed
300 watt heater
koralia 4 powerhead

2x 54watt T5 lights one actinic blue and one white
2x 40watt T8 lights one actinic blue and one white

livestock includes

1 linkia star orange
1 long spine urchin
1 white spine urchin
1 chalk goby
1 flame angel
1 dragon wrasse
2 striped damsels
2 blue and yellow damsels
1 chromis
1 sandsifting starfish
1 skunk cleaner shrimp


What I would like to know is can I fit in a couple of clown fish, a yellow and regal tang?

Is it a no no to mix regal and yellow??

Also if anyone would like to advise on another powerhead that would be great. Looking at Korailas...

 

[ben1987]

Its not a no to mix a regal and a yellow but i wouldnt in that tank. You may be able to keep a yellow in 400L but regals get really big.
If i were you i would.

Take out the damsels all four, and get your clowns. Damsels are aggressive fish and are usually more hasstle than they are worth.
Look at adding another powerhad. You will get more flow around the tank from having two smaller poweheads compared to one big one. Make sure the rock is open enough to allow the flow. As live rock and the flow performs most of the filteration

 

[Crazy fishes]

Welcome to the salty side . That is a really nice tank to work with and I am sure that it will eventually look the business!! Are we going reef or staying fish only? Tunze or Hydor koralia are generally considered to be the most reliable and frequently used. Is it just the koralia 4 and FX5 return producing flow at the moment? I would possible look at maybe adding either three koralia 2 or two koralia 3. Ideally 20x tank volume is the minimum flow rate you want. With those suggested pumps you will be around 25x (that includes the koralia 4 and return from external) which is probably better. If you are going reef then externals are a contentious area; most think they are nitrate factories because of nutrient and debris trapping. Also lighting may need upgrading for a reef setup. Do you have reflectors on the tubes? The type of system you want dictates the setup needed.

Hope this jubble of information and questions helps

Regards

 

[jeasko]

Wlecome to the salty side

IMO (not that its probably worth much ) if you add clowns a yellow and regal tang you would be looking for trouble as that would be seriously overstocked, as mentioned above i would get rid of damsels and add a yellow tang and your clowns even then id consider that a heavily stocked tank, whilst regals look great they do grow to a large size (as mentioned) but they do also suffer heavily with stress more so than any other tangs, if your hell bent on getting a regal do some research and before you make to many alterations (other than loosing the damsels) let the tank settle for a bit before adding anything.

I take it this is going to stay a FOWLR setup?

 

[alexktz]

I need a good site for checking out species and their habits i think. I cant find one though...

I want to gradually add as much life as possible whether it be in fish or coral form. Got a couple of tube worms and i like the whole wavy effect. Thanks for the advice, think ill forget the regal and add a couple of clowns then see how it goes for a month before adding (if at all the yellow tang)

Im going to accumlate as much live rock as possible as a first priority, so i can remove the cannister bio media and use it as a big powerhead with some live rock in it. As im finding these things all require patiwnce and such a lot of money!! So live rock first, then powerheada then more creatures.

 

[rabbut]

I'd get the powerheads before the live rock. With too little flow, the new live rock will become dead rock The few of those fish I recognise get quite large, so that tank is heavily stocked as mentioned... This would be Ok for soft corals, but keeping things "clean" enough for hard corals would be tricky... Most hard corals would require more light also...

Do you have a test kit? For corals, you need to keep nitrAte fairly low or they tend to close up

All the best
Rabbut

 

[alexktz]

I'd get the powerheads before the live rock. With too little flow, the new live rock will become dead rock The few of those fish I recognise get quite large, so that tank is heavily stocked as mentioned... This would be Ok for soft corals, but keeping things "clean" enough for hard corals would be tricky... Most hard corals would require more light also...

Do you have a test kit? For corals, you need to keep nitrAte fairly low or they tend to close up

All the best
Rabbut

I've added up the flow rate of the power head + fx5 flow rate (at manufacturers specs) and i'm at rouhgly roughly 7500lph (want to be 8000 in a 400l tank??). From reading here I believe ideally I want 20x tank volume = optimum lph throughput. That said, does too much flow have a negative impact? I'm going to purchase another Koralia 4 I think, only £40 on fleabay (unless it's going to have a negative impact, will wait for your advice first).

 

[ben1987]

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquariu...pplies.cfm?c=15

Ignore the minumum tank sizes on most of the tangs though. As that site is a business so they just want to sell fish. Ask on here before you buy then people who have experience may be able to help you

 

[ben1987]

IMO if your going to move the damsels on then do that now. But dont buy a new fish for a while. You need to asses th health of the tank first been as it wasnt started or ran by you. It was also give the currant occupant time to get over the move.

 

[rabbut]

20X an hour is a recomended Minimum not a target optimal value . Mine goes at arround 72X an hour and many on here go for 30-50X an hour...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[alexktz]

20X an hour is a recomended Minimum not a target optimal value . Mine goes at arround 72X an hour and many on here go for 30-50X an hour...

All the best
Rabbut

72x!!!

jeeses!! well tomorrow we're going to buy a koralia 2 off ebay, 25kg of base rock, £20 worth live rock + ich treatment that has just decided to show itself. post move stress; i hope it is nothing more.

 

[rabbut]

If you have corals, snails, crabs, starfish or shrimp in there, you are unlikely going to be able to use an Ich med. Most are copper based and will kill all invertibrates. Others are malachite green based and dangerous to the bacteria on the live rock. Some are Formalin based and are dodgy to inverts again... With Ich in a marine tank, you usualy loose less £ worth of live stock if you install a UV and just hope for the best, allowing the Ich to run it's caurse, over treating with a medication... This is unless you are running FOWLR or FO, and can use copper. Using copper may prevent you from being able to keep corals or other inverts later though