making a 7g tank.

[Sunny]

Hey there all,

This is a long post, so please bear with me.

I've been reading all afternoon about all that you have had to say, & lets say, i'm certainly interested in this hobby.

I've had a small marine tank for a few years, it's one of those little 7g (i think) eclipse tank. In that period of time i've had the same 2 little clown fish (oscellaris?? i think) & they had their anemone too but that one ran into problems when it kept "walking" around the tank & climbing over the blockade to cook itself on the heater & then get sucked up in the filter! naturally, we didn't get a new anemone for the clowns.

Also for the last year i've had a blue-spot blenny (so he was called where i bought him), he was the best little fish that i've known, but sadly he passed away yesterday.

I also have one little snail, not sure what sort, he's got crosshatched markings on his shell, looks like a checkerboard.

After reading all the info around i thought that it may be nice to get a nanoreef set-up going. I've got access to live rock & worked out that i need to get about 7lbs of it, at the moment the bottom of the tank's covered with crushed coral, so i'll have to get about 3lb sand (is just beach sand ok? should i mix this with the coral or just change it all?)

I know that i should move the clowns as this is setting up, but we're the 3rd people that've owned these clowns, they used to belong to a school tank but the filter broke down over the holidays so they spent 6 weeks in unfiltered water, then my aunt got them & they lived in her small tank with some seahorses & tang & cardinals & stuff (not all at once) for a few years, now we've got to have had them for about 2-3 years, so i'd say that after all their moves & stuff that they could live in the toilet bowl without any problems! So i'm not too worried about them.

So, i get the rock & sand? & put it in, then what? Let that go for awhile then get some snails, crabs, shrimp etc?

I would also like another "Benny" blenny, would that be possible?

These clowns are pretty feral (they killed the original crash-test-dummy damsel when they first moved in years ago, will they be better with the living rock & more places to live or are they going to be unsociable for the rest of their lives? Poor "Benny" used to live in the pirate ship that we had in there or wrapped around the filter top.

Ok, i think that that's all the thoughts for now. Oh yeah, lighting? not sure what light this tank comes with, can i just bet a better tube or do i need a whole different thing?

Thanks for any answers that you can give me.

Happy fishing (not literally)

Sunny

[tinyreef]

bump

 

i'm not sure what the question(s) were specifically. you mentioned light requirements. that depends upon the livestock you have in the tank on intensity and spectrum.

 

what are the tanks parameters? filter, LR/LS, livestock? that would help everyone here suggest something. ???

[MKramer]

Leaving the clowns in while the tanks cycles? I'm sorry, but I don't care what they've been through, that's just plain irresponsible.

 

"My cat's fallen from a 5th story balcony, hit by two cars, and drank a gallon of antifreeze, but he's still alive. So I figure it's okay if I kick him in the head a few times, all that he's been through and all."

 

Sheesh.

[Sunny]

I'm not planning on being slack to the clowns, just thought that i'd give you a little history on them so that you didn't think that they were just "new" & that i'd gotten them & then changed my mind on what i wanted to do with the tank.

I've only got the one tank, so they'll have to stay in it while it does whatever it has to do, 'cause no-one from the lfs wants them & it would be even meaner to put them in my freshwater tank as that's the only other body of water available in the house!

So anyway...

I was wondering IF i could do that (leave them in their tank, not put them in the freshwater, i'm not that stupid), IF i can't then i won't & i'll just keep them with their pirate ship in their little house as they are without making a nice reef home for them to live in.

From what i've heard i'll need to seriously work on the lighting requirements to have live rock anyway, so i guess that i'll have to kiss this project goodbye as i'm not going to buy another tank just to get another light set-up (i bought this tank as the eclipse tank that i had previouslys light got all salted regardless of how much maintenance i did on it & blew up, that's why i've got the one that i have)

All i wanted to do was to make a little tank as they sound so cool & the right sort of size, i wanted to have a nice place for the clowns to live that was natural & to possibly have another blenny. i didn't want anything fancy, just whatever came in the live rock & live sand that i was going to put in. i thought that it might be better then the crushed coral/shells & the pirate ship in my sterile little tank.

At the moment that's all i have in there, 2 clowns, a couple of snails, crushed coral/shells as substrate, a pirate ship & 3 bits of plastic weed. the filter's whatever came with the tank, it's got those ceramic noodles & filter wool in it & the light's a 10W fluro tube that also came with the tank.

If anyone has any advice, questions, queries, snide remarks, you know where i am.