what do you think of my set up?

[cjm033]

heres what im gonna have in my 28 gal bow front tell me what ya think of it.

LIVESTOCK

1 fire fish

1 bangaii cardinal

1 bicolor blennie

1 long nose hawkfish

 

CORALS

mushrooms

xiena

polyps

leathers

sponges

 

INVERTS

12 hermits

12 snails

tube worms

feather dusters

 

SUBSTRAIGHT AND STUFF

live rock-20 lbs

base rock-10lbs

live sand-4 lbs

dead fine grain sand  2.5 in(not including live sand)

salt 50 gal bag of red sea

 

FILTERIZATION

fluval 204 canister filter

berlin 60 skimmer

 

LIGHTING

23in hood with 55 watt 50/50 bulb with retrofit kit and a 24 in hood with 15 watt 18 in bulb (just for extra lighting).

thanks and all comments are welcome,Chris:)

P.S. what would be some more soft corals that would do good under the lighting im getting?

 

 

 

 

(Edited by cjm033 at 11:03 pm on May 4, 2002)

 

 

(Edited by cjm033 at 7:56 pm on May 5, 2002)

 

 

(Edited by cjm033 at 7:17 pm on May 6, 2002)

[Fant]

Too many fish, and hawkfish eat shrimp so both your shrimp would be at risk, and coral banded shrimp dont get along with others. So you gotta pick between the coral banded or the cleaner

[Treble]

The longnose hawk fish will eat both your shrimp, in most cases thats what happens. Olny one type of shrimp is recommended. I had a yellow coral banded shrimp a while back and a pair of cleaner shrimp, they YCBS was dead by morning or it might be the other way around with a CBS. Other then that, your set-up looks very full-prof, good luck

[cjm033]

i mmade a minor adjustment on the shrimp issue i picked 2 coral band shrimp because they are bigger shrimp and there is a lesser chanse the hawk will attack it:) ,Chris:)

[Treble]

If you decided to get to make sure there of the same size and a mated pair. Even then they are still vonerable to attack.

[cjm033]

im gonna risk it the first time and hope i feed my fish enough and get a good hawkfish that wont eat my shrimp and if it does ill just get no shrimp till it dies which will be a coouple years lol ,Chris:)

[Mr Spam]

hawk fish should live 18+ years if its maintained propperly

[cjm033]

cool i guess ill have no shrimp if he eats the first batch for 18 years but by then i hope to have at least 2 more salt tanks so that would be awsome one of my first fish will be one of my oldest fishif i care for it right sweet thanks for the info keep the comments comming,Chris

[Fant]

For you have 2 coral banded it MUST be a mated pair. And they wont be compatible with the hawkfish. Its not a question of IF the hawk will eat the shrimp its a question of WHEN, you cant even consider maintaing an ornamental shrimp with a species of fish that live on shrimp in the wild.

[cjm033]

ok i readjusted it again so now there is only one coral band shrimp im gonna try the coral band with the hawkk and if the coral band shrimp gets eatn ill get a peppermint because they are cheap and if they get eatn i wont get shrimp anymore thanks and keep the comments comming thanks,Chris:)

[quiksilver5768]

Hey chris....

 Dont just throw away their lives and your money like that. With the 15 bucks of the combined price of your most likely going to be eatin shrimp could get you a coral frag. Choose one...the shrimp or the fish...dont just try and see how it works unless you have a back up tank or something to use as a refuge for the beatin up shrimp if it doesnt work out. Or one of those breeding/isolation tanks. But dont just wait until it dies...or dont do it at all. Whatever it is...i wouldnt waste my money just to see something die...

[Nishant3789]

ditto, dude, if everypone ele is telling you not to do it, why do u insist? hawkfish EAT shrimp in the wild, thats what is part of their natural diet, so they will eat it indefinetly unless its a really sick hawkfish mentally or phsically. i was also gonna say, too many fish, that is if u wanna have any corals, i would say mayb round 3. so ure research on the fish and make sure they get along iwth the other fish. also , i dunno how much those fish are there, but here they are pretty d*mn expe$ive, so for a beginner like you, i wouldnt suggest blowing all your money on fish like that, get a nice precula or occelaris clown. also, remeber waht i said about the carbon in the canister filter. o and make sure that u get more salt, u will more because u will be doing about a 5 gallon watter change every week . and make sure u get the RO water. well hth,

nishant

[gabe3eb]

You keep saying you are readjusting... well ditch the shrimp or hawk, it is that simple. I personally think the hawks are ugly. But if you like them, skip the shrimp. It is stupid to waste money like that, but it is wrong to do so knowing that you are just going to kill the shrimp.

gaber

[quiksilver5768]

Actually, nishant...the fish bio-load wont be much even when it is a reef. He can really have about 4-5 small fish in there without having a problem. I have kept 3 small fish healthy for about 7 months now in my 10 gal tank....his is a 28. But still...pick one, hawk or shrimp...

[cjm033]

ok i made the final adjustment (drumroll) the hawkfish will be chosen above the shrimp ok and nishant about the fish being too pricy they really arent the firefish,and bicolor blennie are both less than a clown and the bangaii cardinal is only 16 and the hawk is only 20 but the hawk lives upto 18+ years too im gonna stay with the corals i have and about the carbon im gonna use floss and bioballs that came with it also i will have 2 sponges that are manual to the canister filter i got i will run the carbon 1 week every month to get rid of whatever amonia,nitrites ect. i think the bioload will be under control because #1 all the fish are small and #2 the filtration will be good altho i am not going to set the tankup until summer because im moving closer to my new school i will have time to get the lighting and stuff while i wait and i will have everything ready at the time for now i plan on useing distilled water and mixing it with salt ok and i am planning on getting an ro unit because i also have a 35 gal fresh so how much do those cost? i bought a 50 gal bag of sand so i should be set long enough till i get the tank up and runniing for a while and also to cut the cost i have started breeding freshwater fish and when i trade those in ill get store credit and then that means my cost of corals and live stock will go down and another question i am planning on culturing brineshrimp i saw a kit that comees with the eggs and all it was only $8 and came with 2 packs of eggs and salt and a culturing thing that the eggs hatch in and then you just feed them to your fish has anyone ever had one of these? and if you did did they work good? and i know brine shrimp arent nutricious enough but i am also gonna feed my fish other things and how often should o feed when the tank has everything i want in it? thanks keep the comments and questions comming,Chirs:)

[Nishant3789]

wow , crap u have cheap fish stores! ok well thankyou wuick for correcting me, i was wrong. now about the carbon, unless  im mistaken, it doesnt remove ammonia and nitrites and nitrates, they remove trace elements. now about all the other stuff u are planning on buying, with the $250 taht you have, your not gonna have enogh money for the breedoing thing and this, and dont forget, it takes time for the cichlids to grow, the store wont just take the fry. lol, wow i am really surprised how much patice u have gained though. So waht have u decided to do bout the shrimp and hawkfish? well gtg,

nishant

[cjm033]

ok about the breeding im gonna use my 35 gal thats already steup with the parameters for rams im gonna setup a 10g and if i need a 5 g too for the fry i have a filter for both and i will put a sponge thing i found at the lps for $5 thats a sponge for around pwr fltrs intake tube and i will culture the brine shrimp for the babies i know they have to grow too lol ok and i will have enough money for the lighting and lr and ls because i am graduating 8th grde this year and i getmoney from my parents and relatives as i said i am NOT  going to set the tank up until begining to mid summer so i have to wait longer and by then as i said before ill have all the stuff i need to set it up hopefully thanks keep the questions and comments comming,Chris:)

[Kryptonite123]

I have a flame hawk with a peppermint and coral banded shrimp.  They get along great in my 15g tall.  Just thought I'd let you know.  My flame hawk can tear up some ghost shrimp though.  Just make sure your shrimp are way way bigger than its mouth.

[cjm033]

ok if i get one ill make sure of that thanks keeps the ?'s and comments comming ,Chris:)

[cjm033]

can someone please comment or soething i wanna know how my tank will turn out any suggestions will be welcome same with questions and commentsthanks,Chris:)

[koiman6]

Get a Racoon Butterfly and A Clown trigger

 

 

Just kidding, Hawks are way cooler then any shrimp so get the hawk

[krusty]

Just seeing some of the things you listed...I belive you will need alot more light than 55w...  Also Look into some smaller wetdrys for filtration other than a fluval... all those are good for is a sponge filter and media room....try growing macro algea to bring down your nitrates...good choice on the skimmer thou...anyways good luck!

[cjm033]

ok on the lighting its good enough for the corals i am getting i am getting another 55watt of the same thing later after i get that so then i have a total of 110 watts so lighting isnt a problem am the fluval i already bought so im not gonna get any other filters for it thanks and keep the questions and comments comming ,Chris:)

[Strife]

YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT I THINK?

 

i think you should take a picture of your tank and post it up...

[printerdown01]

I agree with quicksilver, your fish load won't be that bad... Not to mention that the bangi and firefish won't be extreamly active (minimizing food intake, and waste production). Nishant, GAC (activated carbon) absorbs all kinds of organic compounds, cutting down your nitrates and nitrites (don't know about the NH3, have to look that one up). While doing this it is not specific in which compounds it absorbs, so it will also take nutrients out of the water. If it only removed the good stuff from the water, and had no benifits of use, there wouldn't be guys like me out there, who use GAC. This is the same for skimming (*note, I don't skim on my 12 gallon) -it removes good stuff and bad stuff. The question is, is it worth using additives (or water changes) to keep the GAC or skimmer...