SW Newbie

[malawi4me2]

I have kept FW tanks for many years, and I am now thinking about trying my first SW set-up. I have a spare 30g (20"x22"x21") tank (formerly housed my Tanganyika cichlids), Eheim 2213 Canister Filter, and a 20" Coralife Aqualight 4-tube 96watt 50/50 lighting.
I have been advised to ditch the Eheim, and purchase a quality protein skimmer (the skimmer would provide enough filtration). (I thought skimmers were usually used in conjunction with a filter... )
Is the lighting that I currently have sufficient for a few not-too-demanding sessile inverts? Would the same fixture with 4-tube 10,000K lighting be better?
I will use live aragonite sand and live rock. I also would like to keep a few soft corals, some motile inverts, a bottow-dwelling fish (some type of goby or blenny), and another small fish, for a total of 2 fish. Would this be overstocked considering inverts.? How much LR should a tanks with those dimensions have? What type of LR is the best (Florida, Fiji, etc)?
I want this to be a fairly basic set-up. I'm not prepared for metal-halide lighting, UV-sterlizers, calcium-reactors, and all of that equipment! Does this sound possible? I understand that a tank this small would be harder to keep stable than a larger one. I'd appreciate any input regarding my ideas! It'll be at least a month or more before I even start working on this.

[redpaulhus]

That sounds like a perfect setup - I think you could do an awesome tank with those inhabitants and that lighting.

That shape tank should work really well with that light - you wouldn't be able to keep really light-hungry inverts like tridacnid clams, but you should easily be able to keep most soft corals (ie leathers, toadstool leather, 'tree corals', xenia, green star polyps, zoanthids, shrooms, ricordia, etc) happy. Some may do better higher up on the liverock, some lower, but there shouldn't be any real problems.

Personally, I prefer the liverock, sand, skimmer approach without a classic filter (ie no HOB or canister) - the liverock will handle the biological filtration, and the skimmer is essentially chemical filtration. By avoiding mechanical filtration you can keep nitrates and other dissolved organics low(er).

If by motile inverts your thinking shrimps, snails, hermits, and maybe a brittle star, you should be golden.

A lawnmower blenny would do great in there, or some neon gobies. A percula or false-percula clown would work as a second fish, or a royal gramma.
or... if you really give the tank a little time to settle first (maybe 6 months), you could even try a dwarf angel - they are usually ok with soft corals, although an occasional one will decide to 'nip' at them.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fi...pyge/index.htm

Other ideas for a second fish include cardinalfish, firefish, and one of my fav - chalk bass.

As for liverock - whats best depends alot on your area. I can get really good (primo!) liverock from a LFS here for about $5.50 a lb - he buys in bulk and cures it in a greenhouse before bringing it to his shop (as needed). Its full of interesting shapes, nice coraline algae, etc. And since its local, I can hand pick just the pieces I want.
If there are no shops like that near you, mail order pacific rock will generally have nice shapes, low density, few hitchhikers, and nice coraline algae.
On the other hand, cultured Florida rock will have lots of encrusting goodies (sponges, algae, corals, etc) on it that wouldn't survive shipping from the pacific, but it will often be less interesting looking and more dense.

If your gonna add alot of corals, you'll probably never see the goodies from the florida rock (I've seen quite a few tanks were I couldn't even see the liverock under the corals).
If your gonna go lite on the corals, it may be worth getting the florida rock - especially if you don't live far from FL.

You may want to check out Dale at www.gulf-view.com --- he has deals on 30lbs of FL rock with shipping...

or someplace like www.liveaquaria.com - where they have some liverock packages, but shipping isn't usually included in the list price.

I'd look for about 30-40 lbs - it may be hard to get a shipment of less, and you'll be able to do some neat aquascaping (especially if you have interesting shapes).

I'm with you in terms of low-tech - I don't use a UV or a calcium reactor (my reef is mostly soft corals).
I'd stick with the 50/50 bulb (at least at first - if you decide its not enough, you can always try the 10,000k bulb, but then you might end up adding a 15w actinic bulb to get the nice colors back...)

HTH
Red

[malawi4me2]

Thanks so much for your reply! I'm glad to hear that my lighting should be sufficient for most soft corals. If I have a lot of success with this, I may upgrade my lighting to something more suitable for Tridacna maxima because they really are beautiful!
By motile inverts, I did mean shrimp (I really like the Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp), Red and Blue Legged Hermits, and snails (Hadn't thought about a brittle star...).
Would a Catilina Goby be okay in the tank that I'm considering? I've read that even though they're generally found in temperate environments, they will thrive in a tropical setting... As for the other fish, I was thinking about either a Flame Angel or a Banghai Cardinalfish. (I have read about the angel nipping at corals, though...)
There's about 20 LFS within 40 miles from me, and most of them have a large selection of cured LR. It usually ranges from $5.99-7.99 per pound, depending on the type. Fiji usually seems to be the most expensive.
Thanks again for all the advice!

[hail_sniper]

i would really reccommend that it is a cold water fish and wont do so well in tropical water temperature although you can keep both types together at maybe around 76, but they do prosper so much better in their environment, but in the end its your choiceif you can keep it at that temp all year including summer, you should be fine

boy, clams are beautiful arent they? i want to get one soon my self, but i just dont have the moolah the particular type im eyeing costs atleast 108$ in my lfs and now that i have upgraded to 580W of lighting i can get it

usually angels can go either way, if fed well they can be a good citezen for months before they decide to munch down on a coral, or go right away when first added its just a risk that you have to take to have such a beautiful specimen in your tank

if that were my tank i would probably my self stock it with a percula clown pair, royal gramma, a flame angel or coral beauty angel and maybe a banggai cardinal (just a suggestion )

[malawi4me2]

Thanks Sam! ****I could definately keep the tank 76F year round... ****My house stays pretty cool inside. ****If they'd really do better at lower temps, I'll just get a different type though. ****I wouldn't want to keep it stressed all the time or anything. ****Would 76F still be a good temp. for the other inhabitants? ****Are titanium heaters okay, or would it be better to get a quality glass heater (like a Jager)? ****

if that were my tank i would probably my self stock it with a percula clown pair, royal gramma, a flame angel or coral beauty angel and maybe a banggai cardinal (just a suggestion)

Wow! ****I didn't know a 30g could support that many fish (along with the corals and other inverts). ****What about a pair of Tomato Clowns (or maybe Clark's Clowns?), a Royal Gramma, a Banghai Cardinal, and a Midas Blenny? ****Would all of those fish still be compatible, and not overstocked? ****I'm definately going to have to start paying closer attention to the SW section of my LFS!

[redpaulhus]

I like to go with lighter stocking myself - I find it makes everything less stressful for me and my fish - my 40g breeder reef (36x18) has one bangai, one lawnmower blenny, and two neon gobies. I'm thinking about maybe adding one more fish - either another bangai, or a small wrasse (6 line) or a gramma - but that would be the last fish.

If you go with a pair of clowns, especially those, I'd try maybe one other fish - probably the blenny or gramma - the tomatoes and clarkiis get pretty big and are much nippier than the perculas or ocellaris (IMO). My Bangai is sweet, but he's fairly reclusive and I think a big female tomato or Clark's would bully it.

Keep in mind that more fish means more food/waste which means more maint, and possibly more stress on any corals.

[malawi4me2]

I'll probably keep the stocking lower than that, then... And leave out the clowns. Can Bangai Cardinals be kept together, or are they aggressive towards their own species?

[hail_sniper]

really only if they are a male and female or in a school you can tell, because when you see them the top fin of the fish will eitehr be almost 90 degree angle, and the female around 45degree angle when they are swimming about

[malawi4me2]

Thanks again, Sam! I'm sure I'll have many, many more questions as I get this thing started!

[hail_sniper]

this link may help identify them better http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...iCardinal.html