New Tank Grocery List

[jmcpro2]

I am at the beginning of a long road to setting up my tank. My goal is to have a reef and fish tank with as many fish and colors possible in the tank size I have.

 

I have a 25 Gallon aquarium. I am going to be building a base and hood for it and have tons of questions. First things first: the setup. This is based off some information I have been given.

 

65 WATT SMARTLITE RETRO KIT (to mount to the hood I am building) & Exhaust fan

2 lbs per gallon. 70% sand, 20% crushed coral, 10% crushed shell

CPR Bak-Pak 2

Live Rock 1 lbs per gallon (what types/from where)

Instant Ocean

Reef Buffer

 

First Question:

What am I missing from this list (other than fish, invertabrates, and corals)?

 

Second Question:

How many fish, invertabrates, and corals can/should I have? (As a note, as fish outgrow tank size, I will trade them in so that I am not being too harmful to them. This is understanding that any aquarium in itself is not the most humane environment so let's leave that discussion aside. I just want to know how many.) Most the fish I am looking at are stated to grow to only be 1 to 3 inches in size.

 

Third Question:

How many invertabrates and corals should I have and what types to look at. I am going for as much color as possible. I am very accustomed to tropical tanks. In this, I am versed in providing balance from the substrate to the top of the tank. I am used to using plants in number but know that corals are not quite the same. New ground here, sort of. Any advice would help.

 

Last and not least, thanks for you help.

 

Here is a list of fish that I have interest in.

Neon Velvet Damsel Black & Blue

Disbar Anthias Multi-color Blue, orange, red, green

Ocellaris Clownfish Orange white stripes

Fiji Devil Damsel Blue & white

Yellow Watchman Goby

Rainfordi Goby (grey with rainbow stripes)

Diadema Pseudochromis, Purple stripe, Yellow body

Bicolor Pseudochromis Purple front body, Yellow rear body

Various Tank "teams" for cleaning

Coral Banded Shrimp

Hermit Crabs

Green Brittle Star

Emeral Crab

Redd Banded Snails

Cortez Cerith Snails

Cleaner Wrasse

Fire Shrimp

Yellow Cucumber

Cleaner Shrimp

[Joe_fro]

First things first, although you may already know, you'll definitely need a heater. Perhaps a powerhead or two for water flow. If you get enough LR you could go with more than a pound per gallon on the rock in the tank, you could even do away with the Bak Pak, this also depends on the corals you would like to keep and not to mention it will keep your cost down.

 

As far as substrate goes there are many different options, use the search tool on this site which is a great tool and learn from that. A popular substrate that I have come accross, time and again is South Down play sand which seems to be great from what I have read, I havent actually tried it because of my location cant seem to find it. It mainly comes down to preference.

 

And for fish it really depends on what type of fish you want to keep. Never had Damsels but I heard that they pester everything in the tank. The clowns are cool to watch and pretty docile. Gobies and blennies are pretty cool too. Read up on Wrasses too had one for a couple days. For crabs and such do a search on "cleaning crews"

 

Hope this helps, Hope I didnt miss anything.

joe

[Joe_fro]

Oh yeah go with the best lights for the amount of money you can spend. You will eventually want to upgrade for sure just like everyone else. Any other questions just ask.

joe

[harbingerofthefish]

adding to Joe _fros post:

 

 

fish list (from what I know...very little at that) :

 

don't put 2 psuedochromis in the same tank.

I'd put the damsel (if you go for one) in last.

 

just a note, after you cram i a sand bed and LR your probally looking at 15 gallons of water for the fish to live. Personally I would go with a dottyback and some blennys (1 or 2). Or a pair of clowns and a blenny.

 

As far as corals go, how many is limited to the type you want to keep. Unless this tank is shallow, 65 watts isn't a lot for a 25 gal. tank. You could possibly go for an all zoo or ricordia set up and get some fantastic colors, but if your like most of us, and want to get a wide variety of corals, then doubling or tripling your light might not be out of the question.

 

For starters I would skip the reef buffer and the CPR. Start filling the tank with LR. You might be suprised in the whole 1# per gallon thing. Depending on what rock you use this varies greatly. As far as what rock and from where (?) this needs some looking. Seeing as your in KY a online source might be best. There are a lot of threads on different vendor and rock types.

 

The CPR can probally be skipped all together as far as filtration goes. Of course patience is a virtue here. Let the tanks bio-filter establish with every new addition before going further.

 

I may have missed some of the questions, but I'll be back.

 

welcome to NR Allen!

 

-Alan

[jmcpro2]

Thanks to both of you. I do have a heater from the previous use of the tank. I had it set up with cichlids but an auratus took out the other inhabitants so we sold the last two cichlids and put the cleaning crew from that tank into the tropical tank I have.

 

Addressing the CPR, I have read alot about corals needing water flow and still needing a protien skimmer as well. How does that come into play. The CPR has a built in protein skimmer as well as a bio filter "media" section though not as detailed as what is seen in tropical filters. Are the power heads more or less just water blowers for circulation and that is what you are getting at?

 

As far as fish and others, does the number of fish include all animals or just fish? Basically, I would like to have a handful of fish, but also want to have a starl, a crab or two, and some snails. I take it corals are based on distance so that the tentacles do not damage each other? So I can have as many of those as I want given room for those that can harm each other???

 

Most of the stuff I am getting, will be from PetSolutions. They deliver in 2 days out of Ohio and have some of the lowest prices I have found. I am getting the CustomSeaLife PowerCompacts and they have told me to go with a 2 bulb setup instead of the 1 bulb setup. Costs more than twice the amount of the 1 bulb setup but has extra controls for time of day effects.

 

I guess I am just going to have to decrease the number of fish I was wanting considering the decrease in actual water. I often see lots of fish in a small tank. Does it just make it harder to manage or is it because they really need that much space?

[harbingerofthefish]

As for the CPR, I have no first hand experience with them. Corals son't really need skimming, just good water. The same can be done with regular water changes. Of course the bioload of the tank affects this. And yes, power heads are there for water movement. Good flow is good. Dead spots will happen in a tank and waste will settle. Having good flow (not neccesarrily strong flow) will help alliviate a tank of these spots.

 

Fish produce a lot of waste. And since you feed them reguraly, there is a lot of un eaten food floating in the tank. As for all animals pertaing to the fish "rule"...If you look around you will see most people have alot of crew in thier tanks. I have 3 crabs, 6 snails in my 7, but only 1 fish. Everything will contribute to the bio load of a tank, but your crew also helps this too. All the fish is gonna do is eat and crap. The crabs and snails will help clean up uneaten food and take care of waste. Corals do add to the vioload as well. How much so I can't say. I've seen my zoos and frogspawn doing thier buisness. But as in many member reefs, there a lot of packed tanks. I think adding one ting at a time is good. Let the tank and it's inhabitants adjust to the changes before going on. As for corals harming each other, all depends on the specific corals. Know what your putting in your tank. Might sound a little no duh...but there are always posts like "what is this and how do I care for it?"

 

lights:

 

weird how a dual setup costs 110% more isn't it? Why I don't know. Sonce your building your hood, if it's cheaper from your source to get 2 single setups, do it. Your going to get 2 wires to plug in, so you can get the same setup for less. 2 timers for the lights and you have the same setup.

 

A big factor on the fish thing is the type of fish. If you put 2 Damsels in the tank, odds are they are going to fight, of course chromis are on the "docile" side so...

 

More fish=more waste

 

having the CPR on there will ad to the total water volume of the tank, but not to the size of the living space. Having fish that are community types, or that live in different parts of the water column can help.

 

From you fish list:

 

having several types of gobies/blennys shouldn't be a problem. But I don't know how a clown and a damsel/pseudo would get along. Psuedos are notorius for being aggressive. Damsels territorial. Putting both in a small space might lead to trouble.

 

Personally I wouldn't rush the fish right now. When I first got into this hobby, I too was into the clown/anenome combo. After reading a lot, It wasn't for me. I cycled my tank added corals slowly, and after 8 months added my fish. I only have the 1 but in that tie I learned about the fish that I liked and made a decision. Since it is the only fish in the tank compatability wasn't a concern, but I am also planning a 20 gallon. I really want 3 fish, but 2 might do better. But I will take the 20 the same way I have my 7. Slowly. If all goes well this tank will be going for a long time. I buy frags and as of now only 15% +/- of my rock work is covered in corals. So I have plenty of room for that gotta have zoo frag, but the fish is there to stay. IMO if you don't have the larger tank yourself, moving a fish back to LFS is wrong. Altough I have a love hate relationship with my dog, I wouldn't trade him in. Think of the money your going to spend on this tank...shudder. It's an investment. Treat it like one and things will go well.

 

ramble ramble ramble