My first tank (is being prepared)!

Phish the fish · 03-13-2007, 07:49 AM

Hey everyone! Well this is my first post on the forums. I've been lurking and watching all of you for a while now in the hopes of gaining as much knowledge as I can before I start up my tank. I've got lots to talk about here so please bear with me and feel free to ask questions or offer advice.

I've got a bit of a blessing in that I have about four months before I can begin setting up my tank, since I am waiting until my two friends and I move into a new house in July. So I am fortunate enough to have plenty of time to invest in research for my future set-up. Another advantage I have is my girlfriend Rachel - until about 8 months ago she kept marine fish for about three years very successfully (she managed to keep a mandarin for a year until the livestock was sold on), so shes guiding my hand. Anyway heres a little info:

About two weeks ago I picked up a tank system from ebay for about £100. Including:

1mm thick glass 70 gallon 54" x 18" x 18" main tank with a drilled overflow hole in the back edge,

10 gallon 30" 15" 15" sump + 5 gallon sump

Two 54w white lights and one 54w blue light

Pine bass unit with two hinged doors and removable central strut for access to Sump and auto top up sump unit,

The base unit has a built in electrics 3 x 6 way plugs + 3 240 volt cooling fans (this is from the ebay description so I'm not quite sure what this means, but I'm assuming its for cooling the equipment down).

The seller told me he had used this particular system for around nine years before he sold all the livestock and equipment, so it sounds to me that this is a decent set-up. I am planning on (carefully) using paint thinner to get rid of the blue background as I'm not fond of them, plus it opens the door for the tank to be used as a room divider. Also thinking about sanding down the unit and staining it a darker colour, though this isn't a priority right now.

Ok so heres some livestock ideas:

I am going to purchase dry rock and let the bacteria from the sand do it's job on them, then stick to soft corals and a single anenome for a pair of yellow stripe maroon clownfish I hope to breed.

Not sure what kind of corals I want to go for, apart from a hardy leather, so any suggestions for a novice are welcome.

Hoping to get a tang and a cleaner shrimp, and I've been toying with the idea of either a porcupine fish or a small lionfish as a "pride of the tank" kinda thing. Once toyed with idea of a zebra moray, but I don't think my tank would be suitable.

Ah yes one last thing. Whilst I'm waiting to set up my big tank I've considered setting up an 18 inch cube to practice on with a couple of small fish and a coral, that could later serve as frag/breeding tank. What do you reckon?

So there we are. Some rough ideas I'm putting some thought into - feel free to e-slap me round the face and shout "YOU FOOL!" if theres anything amiss here.

Cheers!

Phish the fish · 03-13-2007, 08:00 AM

Forgot to mention my personal favourite detail of the tank - the door handles!

ScruffyRubicon · 03-13-2007, 08:18 AM

Welcome to TRT! Looking forward to seeing your build!

TheReefer12 · 03-13-2007, 08:38 AM

Welcome to TRT. Congrats on the tank build. Keep us informed.

crvz · 03-13-2007, 08:56 AM

Welcome to TRT.

The only thing amiss I found is that your glass is listaed at only 1mm thick. I do hope thats a typo. Other than that, you're wise to research before pulling the trigger on anything, and you seem to be on the right track. Looking forward to seeing a fully stocked tank! Good luck.

Phish the fish · 03-13-2007, 09:36 AM

Woops.

10mm

betamed · 03-13-2007, 10:00 AM

Its great that you are willing to take the time to set the tank up properly. You might want to add a skimmer to the set up. since you have a sump it is best to get the biggest one that will fit into because tangs and loinfish make a big mess. As far as corals the lights you have should be OK for many soft corals but not enough for most stoney corals. Good luck looks like a good start!

betamed · 03-13-2007, 10:03 AM

PS.

Loin fish might eat the cleaner shrimp. lights maybe not powerful enough for anenome. you could put a clown pair in your 18g breeder if you chose to set that up.

mcliffy2 · 03-13-2007, 01:15 PM

Sounds great (and you got a great deal on the tank).

The one thing I'm not sure about is the idea of using only dry rock and seeding it from sand (I assume you mean live sand?). This might be more trouble than its worth...getting live rock would be worth the money IMO, I don't think sand brings in the same variety of organisms you'll find with the rock.

dobejazz · 03-13-2007, 05:24 PM

Welcome to TRT and Congrats on the set up

Phish the fish · 03-13-2007, 08:06 PM

Cheers everyone - nice to read the responses after a long day. I may invest in some more powerful lights if I can manage to sell on the ones that came with the tank at a decent price, and the only stoney coral thats catching my interest is a brain, but if I can't include that its no great loss for a first set-up.

And yes that set-up was a steal. I think I checked that auction for any scamming for about half an hour.

Hmmm not so sure about a lionfish now, since I hear cleaner shrimps are a great help in maintaining a tank... Any thoughts on a porcupinefish?

And what drawbacks are there to 'seeding' dry rock? I'm guessing 'pod colonies are out of the question?

dobejazz · 03-13-2007, 09:12 PM

Brains don't require much light

So you are ok there
The puffer fish will go after the shrimps also

betamed · 03-13-2007, 09:17 PM

yeah, brains can do OK in low light, but they like to be fed.

betamed · 03-13-2007, 09:20 PM

Even one or two small pieces of live rock will help seed dry rock as the live sand won't have any coraline algae and some other cool stuff that you only get with live rock.

Phish the fish · 03-13-2007, 09:26 PM

Ah I may have to give the puffer a miss too then

Thats good news about the live rock though as that will save me a lot of money! Thanks