MY 40gl plan!!

[toastiireefs]

ok i just read it- and im very confused-- HAHA well not VERY confused just i dont know much background and then the person is just jumping into it- and i guess it makes sense i just dont why it is...

 

:(

[toastiireefs]

so my tank is being delivered tomorrow

very excitedbut i cant do anything with it till we get a space cleared for it--

 

 

 

with the lighting im planning can i do an anemone? a BTA? or something else

that and the clowns would be the last thing i add to the tank-

 

and here is my couple of mini polls cuz i cant decide

 

1st mini poll

Should I get an Dwarf Angel Fish: What Type?

 

Midnight angel fish

Lemon Peel

Flame Angel

None at all

 

2nd Mini Poll

Onyx or Orange Clown Fish?

 

B&W

Ocsellarius (sp?)/Percula

Tomato

 

3rd mini Poll

If no Dwarf Angel Fish; what fish should i get instead?

 

Open response

 

 

 

i wonder how many ppl will respond to those polls- normally if i do that hardly anyone responds :(

If

[lanman]

<3

 

Sara - you can keep most any coral under those T5's. I have T5's on two tanks, and everything does fine. I have noticed one coral that can't seem to keep its color under the T5's - it's supposed to be lavender, and it's been staying brown. But it's growing very well.

 

To start with, regular water changes will keep your alk and calc high enough to keep things alive. Then you should either start dosing with 2 or 3-part chemicals, or mix up kalk, or get a kalk-stirrer. 2-part (B-ionic) is kind of expensive, but you can make your own from recipes available on the internet MUCH cheaper. I mean like 1/10 the cost. Less.

 

When you're ready, just speak up - a lot of us have corals that you could have, or buy cheap, that will do well even in a pretty new tank. And some corals that may or may not - but a little frag would be worth trying. I'm just glad I put the monti capricornis in my nano early on; it's done great, and is way ahead of anything else growing in there now. From a tiny frag to 5" in diameter since January. Don't be afraid to take chances with cheap frags of common corals.

 

Good luck!

 

bob

[toastiireefs]

<3

 

Sara - you can keep most any coral under those T5's. I have T5's on two tanks, and everything does fine. I have noticed one coral that can't seem to keep its color under the T5's - it's supposed to be lavender, and it's been staying brown. But it's growing very well.

 

To start with, regular water changes will keep your alk and calc high enough to keep things alive. Then you should either start dosing with 2 or 3-part chemicals, or mix up kalk, or get a kalk-stirrer. 2-part (B-ionic) is kind of expensive, but you can make your own from recipes available on the internet MUCH cheaper. I mean like 1/10 the cost. Less.

 

When you're ready, just speak up - a lot of us have corals that you could have, or buy cheap, that will do well even in a pretty new tank. And some corals that may or may not - but a little frag would be worth trying. I'm just glad I put the monti capricornis in my nano early on; it's done great, and is way ahead of anything else growing in there now. From a tiny frag to 5" in diameter since January. Don't be afraid to take chances with cheap frags of common corals.

 

Good luck!

 

bob

 

thanks!!! im soo excited for getting my tank!! i will figure the supplementing out and get the appropriate test kits for what i supplement with-

 

i have to keep telling myself that i can buy a 5$ frag from someone here than the 24$ candy cane coral frag (3" i think) at Congressional- sometime this weekend maybe im making some new fish store trips-

 

two main ones Scales and Aquarium one - (whats the adress to A1)

i would love to go to BRK one day it looks beautiful from the website- haha but thats not untill i can drive there myself- OMG Driving will be amazing- i dont have to bug my dad to take me to the "aquarium store" anymore!!!!

 

wow im rambling now- im trying to stay awake so i can clean my room- i have been organizng my seahorse area-

 

oh btw i have GREAT footage of my seahorse giving birth - its incredible- but i dont know how to load it as a video- only as stills which is still cool- just not as cool

 

like where do i load it too? youtube doesnt work... neither does photobucket

[Guest chipz]

Hi, Sara! Wow, you sound a LOT like me at your age. 4 years ago I set up my first reef (2nd salt tank), a 46 gal. bowfront. My current project has been preparing a 55 for H. erectus along with some small peaceful fish and corals, which I've been working on for about a year now because I'm only home for a little over 3 months per year.

 

As to your mini poll: Personally, I'd go with a flame angel, for the dazzling color, and the pair of onyx ocellaris clowns because they are a little different than the run of the mill orange clowns. And because I tend to end up with a lot of fish that are the same colors and wish for more color once I've maxed out on capacity. Which inevitably has led to setting up a new tank.

 

Are you still planning to have the gobies? I'm a complete sucker for gobies/blennies/jawfish/dragonettes, and in fact any personable, pugnacious little animals. And mated pairs of gobies/clownfish/jawfish are much more fascinating than a single individual.

The pride of my 46 gal. bowfront is my mated pair of yellow watchman gobies & pistol shrimp combo. The pistol (one of the red and white striped ones) is a model tank member and although he's been in the tank for three years, he has maintained a very modest size (about 1 1/4 inch at most I'd say). I would NOT reccomend the larger pistol shrimps because I recently had a very nasty incident with a pistol shrimp coming out of the TBS live rock (the rock had been in the tank a full year!) in my 55 and evicting my pearly jawfish, who subsequently jumped out of a TINY hole in the lid to his death. I just replaced the jawfish two days ago with two adorable little pearly jawfish. If you have a deep enough sad bed, definately check these little guys out. A couple of other personal favorites of mine are royal grammas (again the wow factor and fun personality) and bi-color/midas blennies. And ocellaris/percula clownfish.

 

LPS should be perfectly fine with t-5s. I have a candy cane and an open brain in my 46 under power compacts and both are doing great. I imagine t-5s would be even better.

 

A couple of tips for working around the reluctant parents/college/aquarium dilemna: If possible, set your tank up in a shared space rather than your bedroom so that the whole family can enjoy watching the tank and become very very attached to the personable little fish and mesmerized by watching the tank. In the 3 years or so that you have before college, they will become accustomed to having guests absolutely blown away by the gorgeous centerpiece tank. And you can get them involved in assisting you with water changes and feeding. So then when you are ready to go to college, they won't even pause to think that breaking the tank down is an option, and will hopefully be interested in taking over the maintenance themselves. This is what worked for me, and my parents haven't batted an eye at taking care of my 4 tanks for the last 2 years (ok, I'm gonna be a dork and say it: I REALLY appreciate them). sure, they're not as rigorous about checking the parameters and changing water as I was before college and there's a bit of hair algae because they use tapwater rather than D/I, but the tanks are THRIVING, the corals have grown and have a natural, overgrown quality that is beautiful and shows that the tank is mature and well established, and the fish are vibrant, plump, and content. In fact, when I set up a nano tank (intending to take it to school at the end of my summer) my mother told me I was going to have to leave it at home with her instead.

 

Goodluck and have fun!!!

 

Lisa

 

p.s. do tammie and donna still work at the invert exhibit? I used to work there, too.

[toastiireefs]

Hi, Sara! Wow, you sound a LOT like me at your age. 4 years ago I set up my first reef (2nd salt tank), a 46 gal. bowfront. My current project has been preparing a 55 for H. erectus along with some small peaceful fish and corals, which I've been working on for about a year now because I'm only home for a little over 3 months per year.

 

Haha- yea thats me..

 

As to your mini poll: Personally, I'd go with a flame angel, for the dazzling color, and the pair of onyx ocellaris clowns because they are a little different than the run of the mill orange clowns. And because I tend to end up with a lot of fish that are the same colors and wish for more color once I've maxed out on capacity. Which inevitably has led to setting up a new tank.

 

yea.. hmm im just a little worried cuz those are both the most expensive fish on the list!! HAHA

other wise im gonna get just the regular old CB clowns (i had some issues with WC so i know everything i get will not be CB but i will QT them and etc) and the lemon peel-

 

Are you still planning to have the gobies? I'm a complete sucker for gobies/blennies/jawfish/dragonettes, and in fact any personable, pugnacious little animals. And mated pairs of gobies/clownfish/jawfish are much more fascinating than a single individual.

 

yup im getting a neon cleaner gobie and 2 firefish and a perly jawfish- maybe i should get purple fire fish to balance out the warm and cool factors in my tank-

 

The pride of my 46 gal. bowfront is my mated pair of yellow watchman gobies & pistol shrimp combo. The pistol (one of the red and white striped ones) is a model tank member and although he's been in the tank for three years, he has maintained a very modest size (about 1 1/4 inch at most I'd say). I would NOT reccomend the larger pistol shrimps because I recently had a very nasty incident with a pistol shrimp coming out of the TBS live rock (the rock had been in the tank a full year!) in my 55 and evicting my pearly jawfish, who subsequently jumped out of a TINY hole in the lid to his death. I just replaced the jawfish two days ago with two adorable little pearly jawfish. If you have a deep enough sad bed, definately check these little guys out. A couple of other personal favorites of mine are royal grammas (again the wow factor and fun personality) and bi-color/midas blennies. And ocellaris/percula clownfish

.

 

i wish i could have those aquariums that are like HUGE and i mean like takes up en entire room top to bottom lef to right and have like tons of fish

 

LPS should be perfectly fine with t-5s. I have a candy cane and an open brain in my 46 under power compacts and both are doing great. I imagine t-5s would be even better.

nice! and i did some reading and the concensous (spelling is awful) was that BTAs can be under and are good under HOT-5

 

A couple of tips for working around the reluctant parents/college/aquarium dilemna: If possible, set your tank up in a shared space rather than your bedroom so that the whole family can enjoy watching the tank and become very very attached to the personable little fish and mesmerized by watching the tank. In the 3 years or so that you have before college, they will become accustomed to having guests absolutely blown away by the gorgeous centerpiece tank. And you can get them involved in assisting you with water changes and feeding. So then when you are ready to go to college, they won't even pause to think that breaking the tank down is an option, and will hopefully be interested in taking over the maintenance themselves. This is what worked for me, and my parents haven't batted an eye at taking care of my 4 tanks for the last 2 years (ok, I'm gonna be a dork and say it: I REALLY appreciate them). sure, they're not as rigorous about checking the parameters and changing water as I was before college and there's a bit of hair algae because they use tapwater rather than D/I, but the tanks are THRIVING, the corals have grown and have a natural, overgrown quality that is beautiful and shows that the tank is mature and well established, and the fish are vibrant, plump, and content. In fact, when I set up a nano tank (intending to take it to school at the end of my summer) my mother told me I was going to have to leave it at home with her instead.

 

my plan exactly!!!

no i got my tank this morning- i love it- the guy came and delivered it to me with bunches of bonus parts- and my mom doesnt fully understand ALL the components of a tank- so i was having a hard time thinking of ways to tell her that i would need ANOTHER 10gltank as a sump for this one- and the guy who sold it to me BROUGHT me an old 10gl to go with!!

 

my room being clean was also just showing my mom i deserve something- now i have to get As in summer school for the 1st semester before i can do anything with it- so thats 12 more days!

And my dad does not want the tank in my room! hes so angry now that my seahorses are in my room (which you before tonight could not walk into) and no o ne could see them and he wanted to show them off- so i have a feeling hes going to like this tank (hes a secret fish lover)

Goodluck and have fun!!!

 

Lisa

THANK YOU!

 

p.s. do tammie and donna still work at the invert exhibit? I used to work there, too.

 

yes they do!!! tammie has worked there FOREVER- i have known her since i wwas like old enough to go to the zoo with my dad- and the invert exibit was the first place on my must go to list

 

 

 

so it came with the stand tank- a mini canopy type thing (adorable), glass top, pcv (right?) pumbing parts that he showed my how to set up and work

AND he gave me an old ten gl

 

 

 

my beautiful is sitting in the garage right now.. MY DOG IS VICIOUS NOBODY TAKE IT!!!!!-- ok seriously my dog is a sweet heart but - if there are any tank nappers out there leave mine alone!! <3

 

 

and thats my seahorse giving birth- its a still from amazing video i cant seem to be able to post it

[toastiireefs]

so the 18th is the day i think i can start setting up!! woohoo

[toastiireefs]

anybody else

[toastiireefs]

ok so i jus read somewhere that someone had HUGE Ca readings and what not- and bad bad bad experience with oceanic salt mix

 

and i was just wondering if anyone else had that experience because... well thats the salt i use and i have 200gls worth of it in my room...

[toastiireefs]

so my tank is IN the house!

thats an improvement- im hoping to make some orders for equiptment in a short while--

 

im getting my skimmer shortly-

for 90$ +s&h

 

then im ordering from That Pet Place and Pet solutions and Premium Aquatics for various things- because they have the most competative prices-

and then i have my rock im getting from TBS and i think i might get some rock from some ppl here if there is any spare or just put some dead rock depending on how my tank looks with 30lbs in

 

then for live stock im gonna look around the area-- at some LFS before i order offline for LIve stock--

 

but this will tank by end of august prolly-- maybe not? idk?

 

i just know im gonna have fun!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Be aware that TBS rock tends to come with ALOT of life on it....meaning, lots of hitch hikers. Be on the look out for matis shrimp and any invasive caulerpa. Give the tank a good 6-8 weeks of cycling with all the rock in, before you add any clean up crew. I may have missed this, but what test kits do you have?

 

BTW...Petsolutions and Premium Aquatics are ecxellent vendors, use them myself from time to time, and their customer service is top notch.

[toastiireefs]

9im ordering safilert

[toastiireefs]

I LOVE Petsolutions i practcally only order from them

haha

 

anyways

so i feel kinda stupid because

 

i thought that white was a color variation of anemones- and i thought it was absolutely gorgeous to have a bright white nem- someone had a white nem with an orange base (a LTA) -- anways it was pretty but i just read that that means its unhealthy or released its zoaxthella algea (sp?) SOO

 

i waas just wondering when the time comes as im doing my nem research-

basically white=bad and they will die if they arenot white

 

are there any pretty colored nems that are on the easy spectrum- what are the LTA color variations- their base is pretty- but i dont like the brownish tan look i like the greens and like the RBTA

but id prefer a LTA- if i have enough light

and at the moment i think i might change my lighting to MH depending on how the Nova Extreme HOT5 light verdict goes-

only issue with a MH is that i dont have a place to hang a pendant- and i like the moon lights the t5s come with...

 

so many decisions!!!

also are condys generally not accepted by clowns? cuz i think they are pretty but i want my clownies to host

 

ok i think thats it with my realization- i gots to go to bed

[toastiireefs]

????

[treesprite]

Sara, what kind of lighting do you have for your horses?

[Connor]

you also need to know what kind of clowns you are planning to get becuase certain types of clowns prefer certain types of anemones.

 

Connor

[toastiireefs]

lighting for my horses is normal flourescent lighting-

and my tank over heats way too much! so i generally do not have the lights on for more than a couple hours untill i get my fan

 

for this tank im doing the Currents right? the Nova Extreme

and i wanted a BTA but they roam around a lot- and i kinda wanted to do corals-

 

i wanted ocellaris CB clowns or tomato clowns- but supposedly tomatos are meaner :(

I also wanted a LTA but i am not too thrilled with their color-

we have a really pretty anemone in the commnity tank at the zoo but i dont know what it is.. i should PROBABLY ask haha

 

umm what other anemones? i think those are really like the only 2 i could maybe have-

maybe i will just get frogspawn and pray they will host in that haha- but its not as cool if its not a nem... :(

 

oh and in our cold pacific tank at the zoo we have white nems that are supposed to be whit ei think.. anyways they h ave been there for years- there is only one green nem thats nmouth looks bad but i think thats the one where one of the interpreters tried to pull food out of... stupidly... gr

[treesprite]

I can atest to female tomato clowns in a mated pair being very aggressive, killers in fact!

[toastiireefs]

ouch haha

 

well what type of anemone should i get? BTA?

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'd suggest a BTA. I've had an LTA before and it grew very large, very fast. It was getting much too large for my 30 gallon cube. As far as aggresiveness in clown species, the false perc (ocellaris) tends to be the least aggresive of the species. Maroons, tomatoes, clarkii's all tend to be pretty aggresive as they mature. After getting rid of my very large LTA and vicious attack clarkii a few years ago I recently decided to add a misbarred percula and a BTA. They seem to be quite happy together.

[toastiireefs]

cool thanks

 

i really want a misbared or teardrop but they are almost as expensive as B&W

 

who knows maybe i'll get it they are pretty

[toastiireefs]

so i could be mistaken- but idk..

 

i think i have a pregnant seahorse!!! woohoo! i will have to check this afternoon to see if his pouch is still puffy but if it is- FRY TANK! yea!

 

one side of me is like YES!!!! the other side of me is like- another 3months of care and heartbreak.. :(

[treesprite]

Flame angels are not reef safe.

I gave up my flame years ago thinking that I was going to start coals, then never started them.

[toastiireefs]

i know- i have given up on my flame angel idea

 

BUT IM GETTING SEAHORSE FRY!!!

[treesprite]

your seahorse babies are doing ok?