30 FO tank

[Melfy77]

Hello !! 

So I used to have 2 nano reef tank (one IM 10 and one evo 13.5) and things were good. I moved last december so decided to sell everything. Well of course I miss having saltwater tanks. Sure the 5g guppy tank in my kids room is cute but just won't do it😉 I also set up a 10g goby/shrimp tank.

Thing is I want a FO tank!!! So got myself a 30g tank fully equiped. I plan on running the tank with very little base rock, just enough for the shrimp. No LR. Just good filtration and water changes.

Equipement:

30g (30x12x18)

Fluval c3 filter (planning on adding an AC 50 too)

100w heater

24 Inch Fluval sea LED 

TUNZE 6015 powerhead

 

For sand I have a mix of medium sized grain aragonite (1-2mm) and crushed coral. About 30 lbs.

Tank will be cycled with biospira (worked for my 10g)

 

Now for stocking, I was thinking

Yellow watchman goby/randall pistol shrimp (currently in my 10g)

Valentini puffer

Pair of pink skunk clownfish (my girls wanna have pink clownfish lol)

One last fish, but dont know which one. Dwarf angel fish are nice but tank is too small. Hawkfish maybe ? I won't get attached to my CUC because of the puffer so it would be a logical choice, plus they look cool !

Or a wrasse?

Ideas?😁

 

[jservedio]

For a small FO tank, you should get a decent amount of rock - or at least make some tall islands or something to give more hiding spaces and break up line of sight. Valentinis are "peaceful" but they can get territorial and rip the face off your other fish.

 

If you are really careful with picking individual fish - you could get a Haliocheres wrasse. Melanurus, Mystery Wrasse, Christmas Wrasse, etc. could be fine if you find the right one. If you were able to find a full-grown terminal phase male wrasse that is very, very small for it's species, it'd work in a 30g.

 

For reference - I've got a nearing-end-of-life Melanurus in a standard 20g. I didn't purchase it and it was only supposed to be a temporary home, but that was more than 4 years ago and my guy is at least 6-7 years old, however, he is well under 4" long and my female clown is significantly bigger than he is. Sometimes you just get a tiny fish.

 

You may also want to reconsider your cycling method when using just dead rock and go with a more traditional cycle. Everything else sounds fine.

 

My little guy:

[Melfy77]

Forgot to say I was gonna put the rocks I have in my 10g as well as the filter to seed the rest of the rocks. Wait and test. I'm guessing clowns should go first ? (Goby/pistol shrimp will already be in the tank)

[jservedio]

8 minutes ago, Melfy77 said:

Forgot to say I was gonna put the rocks I have in my 10g as well as the filter to seed the rest of the rocks. Wait and test. I'm guessing clowns should go first ? (Goby/pistol shrimp will already be in the tank)

Oh - as long as you've got older rocks going in, you will have a pre-cycled tank so you are all good. Since you are heavily increasing the bioload, just do it over a few weeks to allow the bacteria to catch up and establish in your base rock.

 

I did clowns first. If you are getting smaller clowns to start with and larger peaceful fish this will work out just fine. Clowns can be little assholes, but the smaller they are the less aggressive they are toward bigger fish. They also grow fast and live forever and you save money getting them as juveniles - so I'd get babies. Other than feeding time, mine don't move out of about a 3-4" radius - so once they've got a spot they will stick to it and give your other fish plenty of room.

[Melfy77]

Perfect ! That wrasse is gorgeous!!!!! Will def look into one !!!

[Melfy77]

Tank is now up and running!! The rock structure is actually ceramic. Didn't have to glue anything. My LES doesn't carry LR or base rock, trying to help the environment as much as possible 🙂 I love it ! It's also pretty light!

Yes the plants are plastic😁 I am hoping to get some cool macro algae (I do have a little bit of dragon breath).

Yellow watchman goby and shrimp were transferred tonight. 

For the wrasse how about the carpenter's?

[Melfy77]

This was their "house" in the 10g. Sure enough they were back in it within 30 seconds 

[r2_.d2]

I have a 6 line wrase super pretty little fish. 

[Melfy77]

On 4/16/2019 at 4:43 PM, r2_.d2 said:

I have a 6 line wrase super pretty little fish. 

Yes they are!! I had one years ago...beautiful little devil hahaha. He was mean. I'm worried he might be a bit fast for my lazy puffer lol

[r2_.d2]

Really? Mine is super nice with a clown, chocolate chip starfish and blue damsel. They all sleep in the same decoration. Have had them all together for a yr.

[Naekuh]

I think for a 30gal and rockwork, you could possibly a pygmy/cherub angel.  

 

They do not grow as big as dwarf's and they have a ton of personality.  

[Melfy77]

10 hours ago, Naekuh said:

I think for a 30gal and rockwork, you could possibly a pygmy/cherub angel.  

 

They do not grow as big as dwarf's and they have a ton of personality.  

I actually had this fish on my list. Love it!! I've seen 20g, 30g and 55g for tank size so not sure what to think lol

[Naekuh]

4 hours ago, Melfy77 said:

not sure what to think lol

Hehe... well i love mine...

It seems to like to hang out with the 6 line a lot. 

So you will see them together picking on copods on my rock.

Then i think my 6 line will get annoyed of it and tell it to shoo by picking on the side, which then my angel being an angel will fight back with a "oh no you just didn't"

And then repeat...

 

You can see how small they are... its about as long as my male clown, and about as long as my 6 line. 

Mine is i think the Yellow Fin Pygmy Angel.  

 

I had to feed the tank to get it to not be so shy with my camera.... so you got the whole party looking for food. 

 

 

[Melfy77]

20 minutes ago, Naekuh said:

Hehe... well i love mine...

It seems to like to hang out with the 6 line a lot. 

So you will see them together picking on copods on my rock.

Then i think my 6 line will get annoyed of it and tell it to shoo by picking on the side, which then my angel being an angel will fight back with a "oh no you just didn't"

And then repeat...

 

You can see how small they are... its about as long as my male clown, and about as long as my 6 line. 

Mine is i think the Yellow Fin Pygmy Angel.  

 

I had to feed the tank to get it to not be so shy with my camera.... so you got the whole party looking for food. 

 

 

Very nice fish! Pretty sure it would go well with the pink skunk clownfish and Mr Puffer 😁

[Melfy77]

Pretty sure me yellow watchman died 😞 nowhere to be found and i have a small spike of nitrite (0.5ppm). No ammonia though. The puffer is doing great

[Melfy77]

Nevernind found him:) not sure what's going on with the nitrites. I had a 10g that I transferred into the 30g. Added more rocks and some biospira. Never saw ammonia but for some nitrites (0.25ppm). Disappeared and stayed like this for 2 weeks...my pistol shrimp died though maybe that explains it...anyway 1ppm isn't toxic for fish. I'll test daily and won't add anything until it reads 0 for a few days.