Hey everyone!
I've been doing planted FW tanks for round about 10 years now, At the moment all of my tanks are dry in the garage waiting for a cross country move after the first of the year, all livestock given to friends/sold, but I couldn't bear to part with the tanks, so I'm paying to ship them. (this will be the third out of state move for me, the first move I sold off a 37g corner bowfront that I had gotten for free off of craigslist [free!!] I've never been able to replace it, I loved that tank, it was in the bedroom for years... that loss still hurts.) I don't have anything as special now, just a 40b and 20b that I built stands for. I might sell the tanks off before the move and just take the stands... the tanks are easily replaced with the next petco $1/gallon sale. and the 40b stand will accommodate a 50 or 65, so I might upgrade that one. but I'm not here to talk about my freshwater tanks! Since I've had no running tanks to spend my time on I've been on research overdrive :) I want to start a simple low-ish maintenance reef once we get settled in next year, the tank itself will depend on what craigslist will yield, but I'll be looking for something between 75 and 125g I don't want to go much longer than 48" or much deeper than 20" or so (maybe up to 24). I don't want to get anything so huge it's a beast to maintain and I need ladders and such just to do stuff in the tank, but I want to have enough water for some stability and forgiveness for a beginner :) ~100 seems like a nice happy "medium" sized tank.
I'll have about 300 bucks set aside for tank/sump acquisition, planning on another 150 or so for LED's and another 100-150 for skimmer, another 150 set aside for a powerhead or two, heater, autofeeder for small suplimentart feedings, etc. and I'm going back and forth on a controller... looking at the Neptune Apex Jr's right now at $250 its at the top of my budget for a controller. The control through the cell phone and text alerts is a pretty big draw.
I live in Southern California right now, so I've got some access to some of the best supplies at pretty good prices, the owner of one of my LFS's suggested that I buy my live rock before leaving and ship it. I may very well do that as I'm not sure what the quality/cost is going to be like where I'm going in Georgia... For Coral's I'm going to start out with Zoa's and various Euphyllia... I may branch out from there to other easy to care for softies and LPS after 6 months or so. I've got a list of about 10 other types that I want to look into (but haven't yet), I want to do things in baby steps and build a solid foundation by focusing on two types rather than going in a zillion directions right off the bat. I'm not planning on doing SPS any time soon, but once I've got 6 months of success with the Zoa's and Euphyllia under my belt I will probably branch out into other softies and LPS.
I've got a fair idea of what I want to do with the fish, I actually like the smaller more 'nano' fish better, I'd actually probably be doing a nano tank if the small volumes of water didn't terrify me as a first timer... ;p and with only a few exceptions everything I am looking at is 3" or less. Obviously what I am able to stock will fluctuate quite a bit depending on what size tank I end up with, but because I was bored I plugged some things into aqadvisor at three sizes (75, 100, and 125) and was actually surprised as it allowed more stock than I was expecting. Here's what I've got so far at each level (this is still very up in the air and subject to change):
75g: 1 or mated pair ORA Bangaii Cardinals, 1 Firefish, 1 ORA Mandarin (the last fish I'll add, and only if I can get a captive bread one that'll take prepared food), 1 Algae Blenny, 1 Assessor (Haven't decided which yet), a pair or trio of flasher Wrasses (Leaning towards McCoskers, Blue, or Line-Spot in that order), 1 Exquisite Fairy Wrasse, 1 Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse, 1 Vrolik's Wrasse and finally a group of 5 Threadfin Cardinals. (I really like shoaling fish and always have them in my FW tanks, but the research I've done so far leads me to believe that shoaling might not be attainable in salt water, I am very curious to hear from people who've kept these cardinals.)
according to AqAdvisor that is 100% stocked for a 75 (and coincidentally for a 90 too) it seems like a little more than I would have expected to be honest. AqAdvisor's salt selection isn't great though, so I had to sub analogs for a lot of the fish. I used a similar sized angel to represent the Vrolik's and Fairy Wrasses to represent the flashers, Orange Lined Cardinals to represent the Threadfin Cardinals, etc. I am fairly confident of the Wrasse mix as I spent a lot of time researching them and went for the most peaceful, smallest varieties. This article was a huge help: http://ift.tt/1qF72Lh
The main concern I have is with the Wrasses gobbling up all of the food before it can get to the Firefish and Mandarin, I also found at least one source that suggested Wrasses were too much activity for firefish and may stress them. the first issue could probably be solved by putting some food directly into the bottom of the tank with a turkey baster each day, and I'm curious to hear what you guys think on the second one. it was a really general comment and "Wrasses" encompasses a huge variety of fish, and that comment may have been directed at the larger more boisterous Wrasses. As I said it kind of seems like a lot for that volume to me, so the fish that are likely 'on the bubble' to be left out are the Threadfins, especially if they're not going to shoal much. I would think the active Wrasses would be enough to keep them in at least a loose group, but maybe not. I might reduce this to a pair, or none at all.
If I get a 100 I'll add the following to the mix: 1 Sand Sifter goby (maybe a pink spotted?), A Red Lined Wrasse, maybe add 2 to the cardinal group (if I decide to get them) and a Kole Tang.
I do like tangs, but Zebrasomas are too boisterous for the other fish I want to keep and I cant commit to a system of sufficient size to house an Acanthurus. A Sohal would be my personal holy grail fish, but I've realized that for me they're better appreciated in professionally maintained systems. Kole's on the other hand seem to be small and peaceful enough that I would be able to successfully keep them in a system around 100 gallons with this mix of fish.
Going all the way up to a 125 I would probably add a second pair/trio or dissimilar flasher's (perhaps McCoskers and Blues) or a trio of small Anthias, as well as a few more Wrasses likely a Christmas, Pink Margain, and Orange Back.
Again I'm fairly confident with the Wrasse mix, though I'd love to hear from anyone with experience keeping any of these species together. I'm a little skeptical of two groups of flashers in the same tank, but the article I linked above asserts that the male's will be too busy chasing their respective females to bother with eachother, but part of me is not so sure.
I'm really just in the tossing around idea's phase right now, but I'm bored and impatiently waiting for the move to be done so I thought I'd put my very rough draft out there and see what kind of feedback I get from those more experienced than me. :)
I've been doing planted FW tanks for round about 10 years now, At the moment all of my tanks are dry in the garage waiting for a cross country move after the first of the year, all livestock given to friends/sold, but I couldn't bear to part with the tanks, so I'm paying to ship them. (this will be the third out of state move for me, the first move I sold off a 37g corner bowfront that I had gotten for free off of craigslist [free!!] I've never been able to replace it, I loved that tank, it was in the bedroom for years... that loss still hurts.) I don't have anything as special now, just a 40b and 20b that I built stands for. I might sell the tanks off before the move and just take the stands... the tanks are easily replaced with the next petco $1/gallon sale. and the 40b stand will accommodate a 50 or 65, so I might upgrade that one. but I'm not here to talk about my freshwater tanks! Since I've had no running tanks to spend my time on I've been on research overdrive :) I want to start a simple low-ish maintenance reef once we get settled in next year, the tank itself will depend on what craigslist will yield, but I'll be looking for something between 75 and 125g I don't want to go much longer than 48" or much deeper than 20" or so (maybe up to 24). I don't want to get anything so huge it's a beast to maintain and I need ladders and such just to do stuff in the tank, but I want to have enough water for some stability and forgiveness for a beginner :) ~100 seems like a nice happy "medium" sized tank.
I'll have about 300 bucks set aside for tank/sump acquisition, planning on another 150 or so for LED's and another 100-150 for skimmer, another 150 set aside for a powerhead or two, heater, autofeeder for small suplimentart feedings, etc. and I'm going back and forth on a controller... looking at the Neptune Apex Jr's right now at $250 its at the top of my budget for a controller. The control through the cell phone and text alerts is a pretty big draw.
I live in Southern California right now, so I've got some access to some of the best supplies at pretty good prices, the owner of one of my LFS's suggested that I buy my live rock before leaving and ship it. I may very well do that as I'm not sure what the quality/cost is going to be like where I'm going in Georgia... For Coral's I'm going to start out with Zoa's and various Euphyllia... I may branch out from there to other easy to care for softies and LPS after 6 months or so. I've got a list of about 10 other types that I want to look into (but haven't yet), I want to do things in baby steps and build a solid foundation by focusing on two types rather than going in a zillion directions right off the bat. I'm not planning on doing SPS any time soon, but once I've got 6 months of success with the Zoa's and Euphyllia under my belt I will probably branch out into other softies and LPS.
I've got a fair idea of what I want to do with the fish, I actually like the smaller more 'nano' fish better, I'd actually probably be doing a nano tank if the small volumes of water didn't terrify me as a first timer... ;p and with only a few exceptions everything I am looking at is 3" or less. Obviously what I am able to stock will fluctuate quite a bit depending on what size tank I end up with, but because I was bored I plugged some things into aqadvisor at three sizes (75, 100, and 125) and was actually surprised as it allowed more stock than I was expecting. Here's what I've got so far at each level (this is still very up in the air and subject to change):
75g: 1 or mated pair ORA Bangaii Cardinals, 1 Firefish, 1 ORA Mandarin (the last fish I'll add, and only if I can get a captive bread one that'll take prepared food), 1 Algae Blenny, 1 Assessor (Haven't decided which yet), a pair or trio of flasher Wrasses (Leaning towards McCoskers, Blue, or Line-Spot in that order), 1 Exquisite Fairy Wrasse, 1 Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse, 1 Vrolik's Wrasse and finally a group of 5 Threadfin Cardinals. (I really like shoaling fish and always have them in my FW tanks, but the research I've done so far leads me to believe that shoaling might not be attainable in salt water, I am very curious to hear from people who've kept these cardinals.)
according to AqAdvisor that is 100% stocked for a 75 (and coincidentally for a 90 too) it seems like a little more than I would have expected to be honest. AqAdvisor's salt selection isn't great though, so I had to sub analogs for a lot of the fish. I used a similar sized angel to represent the Vrolik's and Fairy Wrasses to represent the flashers, Orange Lined Cardinals to represent the Threadfin Cardinals, etc. I am fairly confident of the Wrasse mix as I spent a lot of time researching them and went for the most peaceful, smallest varieties. This article was a huge help: http://ift.tt/1qF72Lh
The main concern I have is with the Wrasses gobbling up all of the food before it can get to the Firefish and Mandarin, I also found at least one source that suggested Wrasses were too much activity for firefish and may stress them. the first issue could probably be solved by putting some food directly into the bottom of the tank with a turkey baster each day, and I'm curious to hear what you guys think on the second one. it was a really general comment and "Wrasses" encompasses a huge variety of fish, and that comment may have been directed at the larger more boisterous Wrasses. As I said it kind of seems like a lot for that volume to me, so the fish that are likely 'on the bubble' to be left out are the Threadfins, especially if they're not going to shoal much. I would think the active Wrasses would be enough to keep them in at least a loose group, but maybe not. I might reduce this to a pair, or none at all.
If I get a 100 I'll add the following to the mix: 1 Sand Sifter goby (maybe a pink spotted?), A Red Lined Wrasse, maybe add 2 to the cardinal group (if I decide to get them) and a Kole Tang.
I do like tangs, but Zebrasomas are too boisterous for the other fish I want to keep and I cant commit to a system of sufficient size to house an Acanthurus. A Sohal would be my personal holy grail fish, but I've realized that for me they're better appreciated in professionally maintained systems. Kole's on the other hand seem to be small and peaceful enough that I would be able to successfully keep them in a system around 100 gallons with this mix of fish.
Going all the way up to a 125 I would probably add a second pair/trio or dissimilar flasher's (perhaps McCoskers and Blues) or a trio of small Anthias, as well as a few more Wrasses likely a Christmas, Pink Margain, and Orange Back.
Again I'm fairly confident with the Wrasse mix, though I'd love to hear from anyone with experience keeping any of these species together. I'm a little skeptical of two groups of flashers in the same tank, but the article I linked above asserts that the male's will be too busy chasing their respective females to bother with eachother, but part of me is not so sure.
I'm really just in the tossing around idea's phase right now, but I'm bored and impatiently waiting for the move to be done so I thought I'd put my very rough draft out there and see what kind of feedback I get from those more experienced than me. :)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire