55 gal system

[adamthe55galreefer]

Hi all
I have one of those aqua reef 200's and I like it a lot

55gal of water 40gal display

55lbs of live rock

Protein skimmer

Two white t5s and one blue t8

Heater and chillier

1 main pump from refugium and pump for chillier

4 bags of bio media standard with tank

Stoking

Fish
1 flame angle
1 yellow tang
2 clownfish
4 cardinal fish
1 lawnmower blenny
1 mandarin fish

Coral
3 medium sized torches
1 elegance coral
1 Dendronephthya
1 long tentacle plate coral
1 full rock of purple mushrooms

Invertebrates
1 starfish
2 sea cucumbers1 sea sponge
Looking at getting a shrimp or two any suggestions

[cutietwo]

have any pics? sounds great, although i'm sure you know your yellow tang will need a bigger home when it gets bigger I have a lawnmower blenney too, i just love their personalities!

[Loverotties]

+1

[adamthe55galreefer]

sorry no pics but i am most likley getting a bigger tank in the next 2 years so the tang will have lots of room to swim but it takes 10 years for them to fully grow

[Loverotties]

Never herd 10 yrs.but without the right room for exercise for two yrs,he mite not make it to 10 anyway.Like if you were in a small jail cell and never let out of it your health would go down too!Kinda like POWs.

[adamthe55galreefer]

if he is to unhappy i will move him next spetember or maby christmas 2010

[adamthe55galreefer]

lost a cardinal and a flame angel any ideas for two new additions

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by adamthe55galreefer

lost a cardinal and a flame angel any ideas for two new additions

Ok two,a bigger tank and # 2 a bigger sump.

[JoshD]

How old is this tank? Was it set up recently?

[adamthe55galreefer]

tank is 4 months old get the picture of not adding any more fish but cardinal got builled to death and as soon as i put the flame in the tank he never seemed happy

no new tank by the way

[adamthe55galreefer]

the flame looked he had not been eating at the local aquarium because i had him for 1 week and you know how you get that white shinny colour on the tip of the scales and they just look dull and skinney

[adamthe55galreefer]

apart from that everyting doing well

[adamthe55galreefer]

the cardinal story

orignaly i got 3 cardinals 2 maited off 1 female and 1 male the 3rd party member was attacked and chased by the male i talked to the local aquarium and said

INTRODUCE 1 MORE

so i did and the new addition number 4 went off by himself aswell and got chased by the other male

number three dies and number four keeps well away from the pair but he eats normal and he has his own cave that the others dont know about so hs is fine.

is there a way to get the three to work togeather

[JoshD]

If the remaining loner cardinal is male, that could be the problem. I haven't had cardinals, but when I asked at the lfs they said more than one male in the tank can lead to fighting.

In your first post, you mentioned that you were considering a shrimp or two. Have you looked at cleaner shrimp? They provide a valuable service to your fish, cleaning off parasites and stuff. And they're extremely friendly and curious. Any time I try to move something in my tank, I have to do so with a cleaner shrimp climbing on me. Coral banded shrimp are popular too, but I hear they don't play nice with peppermint shrimp, which are awesome to have as part of the cleanup crew.

[cutietwo]

With your flame angel dying I have only one theory, and that's cyonide poisoning. Do you check with your lfs to make sure they don't deal with importers who use cyonide? I am guessing this b/c if he was eating but still skinny, that would explain it. I once purchased a pygmy angel from a store I shouldn't have (petco) and it had cyonide poisoning. It would eat food like a pig like he was starving (how ironic) but kept getting skinnier and skinnier...it was so sad