Setting up a near 5ft tank of marine aq.

[ho19829]

hi all,

am very new to marine aquarium setup. till now had spend about 600SGD. noe its gonna cost a lot more but would like to take it slowly. need expert advise what to do to add, where can i get more marine stuff to make this a success story

- close to 2nd hand 5ft tank - $200

- marco skimmer - $200

- blue + red lights

- beginer fishes

> pair of golden head goby : the male died and decompose in the rocks!! saw some red bruise on its tail initially thot the female bite him. Should i get the female another mate ? would it accept ?

> blue and yellow damsels

> some chromis

> common clown

> common zoos

> some live rocks

> big brown damsel imprisoned - donno whether to release in the tank or not

some pics to share, quite sparsly populated...

[Kalib]

Avoid the golden head goby for now, these fish require a matured sandbed(tanks that have been running for at least 1year with plenty of LR and a healthy population of pods) as they sift through the sandbed and consume the critters in them. Suggest you sell off the current fish unless its consuming the food you feed.

How many tubes of light you got? It may not be sufficient for the zoos. How deep is the tank?

[Achilles Tang]

Your tank does not have an overflow system to the sump?

If you want to go berlin style... I suggest you add in a LOT of liverocks. Your biological filtration base is very weak as I do not even see a inside filter used.

You should not put in the red lights... as these are meant for planted tanks... you will end up growing more nuisance algae instead.

Go with whiter/bluer lights and if you do intend to keep corals, softies even... go for more lighting... marine reef tanks need a lot of light as your corals are like plants... they need to photosynthesize their own food.

I suggest you go to the New to the Hobby forum and read the pinned up links to basic marine tips and information to get your foundations right as your current setup will become a big problem very soon!

Welcome to SRC and hope you'll be on your way to better reefkeeping soon!

[PentiumPc]

just curious,

the LFS told you that it is very easy to keep marine fishes and sold you all this?

cheers.

[diabolus]

your tank seems to be curve at one side?

is it those used for aros? will the tank thickness withstand the amount of water,sand and live rocks inside?

you need to have a filtration system too.

1) cannister filter

2) overflow box - with sump

3) sell your tank and get a new one

4) get lots of liverocks - abt 100kg

[iori_del]

just curious,

the LFS told you that it is very easy to keep marine fishes and sold you all this?

cheers.

this some of the lousy LFS doing..

keep telling ppl, keeping marine is simple..

[ho19829]

wow! Thanks for the advise!!

i started off rearing wierdo fishes i hooked up from labrador. now keeping reef fish also become a challenge

1) had thought abt sump.. but it will take up more space than i have in my storeroom. currently i got a huge overhead filter with (3columns x 4layers) each layered with filter materials, ceremic, filter material and lastly bio balls. is this sufficient ? the filter material gets browny after a while, are these dirt or baterial ?

hope its not baterial bcos i wash them often with tap water

2) Lights

I am using 2 lights with 1 tube each. 1 blue astinic and the other a normal aquarium light (comes as red). will hear your advice and have it change from red to white instead. yes indeed, the zoos is more sentitive to the blue lights and it readily opens up to absorb them

3) Fishes.

Actually the LFS didn't advise much on the fishes. i read about which fishes are hardy to keep and which are not compatible. bad choice about the goby. Thats the most ex$ fish in my tank for now. can recommend a good LFS around cck, bk panjang area?

abt "PODS", are the attached picture considered a pod? its got tenticles, i found it swimming like a jelly in the main tank attracting the common clown. can't be a anemone so took it out and put in my crab tank and immed got eaten up

4) had made the sand bed about average 2 cm thick(btw how thick should it be?). some crabs are shifting beneith the sand i think the live rocks "sink". thought of adding more sand. would this be advisabe?

5) yes, the tank was once used by prev owner for aros. the tank is quite thick as compares to my other japanise 2ft tanks. about 6mm thickness. but Live rocks need to have 100kg ? wa, donno if can it can hold .

Achilles Tang, this the correct thread to post this message ? if not, can help me move the thread to the correct location ? thanks in adv.

[livebait]

Nice big tank like this would have a lot of potential,where's the LRs?

After cycling,fishes & corals added slowly & after water tested with test kits.

Have fun with your new hobby & welcome to SRC dude

[pegasus1010]

it is advisable to have a sizable sump for a 5ft tank.

[ho19829]

hi all reefers

5 months into this hobby.. learn a lot about keeping marine fish and already enjoying it...

.. my tank can't have a sump so still making do with the overhead 3x3x3 wet/dry filter. think its doing a good job, water is crystal clear, amonia none, no2 dono. algae and air bubbles already growing in the filter system - good sign ?

had a bad incident. my hydrometer mulfunction. few weeks show ok (1.023) but later found out its 1.028-1.029. i think this causes my zoos to start getting transparent(like konyaku) then shrink n later.. moulded like paper. lost 3 colony

but very heng, my dory and clowfishes survive

guess blue tang are hardy once you get them to feed ? they do eat like pigs!

fish that dont eat really sian.. like clown tang.

also, I dont think i will get any more fishes that nip at stones such as butterfly, green wrasse,etc.

my current fishes :

- 5 clown fish ( would they propogate ? cose i see 1 pair doing RA moves)

- 1 blue tang

- doctor shrimp

- 1 crab (strange species..post the pics before)

- 1 goby

- 5 chromis

i m thinking of adding more fishes. pref tangs that are easy to maintain

any recommendations ?

[ho19829]

blue tang pick-a-boo

[Travy]

Bro, Trust the guys here u need more live rocks, much much more then what u have it should at least come up to about 2/3 of yur main tank to kick start the 'berlin' since u dont have a sump. ANd its also a good idea to invest in a protein skimmer esp if yur going FOWLR, prop u want alot of fishes. Esp tangs! They create ALOT of waste...

Try reading up on past threads we all have posted, will help alot! I learn from there too!

Great job for getting the fishes feeding. Most Tangs r rather easy after they adapt to the tank. U can try having a YT or PT they r pretty easy and common.

And the zoos i think they are melting away due to insufficent lights. U can either upgrade yur lights or give the zoos away la. Save u the trouble to change water like mad should their demise...

IMO overhead wet/dry systems r not really suitable for marine. Yes Ammonia nirites didnt appear but it'll contribute to rising NO3 (Nirates) in the future. Its a heap load of headaches trust me.

[LoReNsIa]

Bro.. better to get a sump lor.. it better for ur tank.. u can buy a over-flow pipe as u are not able to have hole drilled in ur tank.. you can place ur sump outside or beside ur tank.. but it on the floor lah.. tt wad i think.. and my 2 Cents.. haha.. if i sae anything wrong.. Bro plz admend mi worx.. ya.. haha.. Cheers..

God Bless..

Lorenzo...