Alright let the questions commence!

[Aquareefer776]

Heya folks!

For those who read my post know I am in the process of getting my tank which will be my first ever SW tank. Yay! I have been lurking around and reading online and in books, Barnes and Noble gets a little agitated when you sit there all day read an entire book, take notes, and don't buy the book just a little side note :D Anywho! Through out my reading and research I have decided to start with a FOWLR tank which once its established will most likely turn into a full blown reef. The tank I am buying is 112 gal. per the little calculator thing here on the site it measures: 5'Lx24"Hx18"W. Now for the questions I know that a FOWLR is a tank with fish, LR, and substrate of some sort. But don't some of the LR have corals on it or will they all die in shipment or on the way home from the LFS? If so wouldn't that really be making it a reef tank? Well minus things like sponges, Anemones, and the like? Or Am I way off base? Also if memory serves me right which probably won't happen, isn't the general rule of thumb for stocking the tank 1" of fish per gallon? But does that include things like snails, shrimp etc.? Ok that's that part..lol a few more comments and questions. Sorry folks. But with my set up I am going to go with a 4-5" Live sand bed and around 100lbs of live rock. I also have a 10 gal that I want to set up as my Sump/refug, which hopefully be big enough to house all my equipment. If worse comes to worse I can use a standalone Skimmer instead of a submersible. As for size of pumps and skimmer I'm not sure I can't recall the rate of flow or anything I think I remember reading 10x tank capacity. So for me that would mean about 1200gph right? With the Tank and sump/refug. Sorry for long post just want to start getting the essentials down before I have to start setting up. As for lighting I haven't really thought too much into as I want clarification on the "fish limit" question. I also haven't decided if I want to have corals in the tank yet or not, but knowing me I probably will! lol Ok thanks for your patience in reading my blabbing!

Tommy

[Reefugee]

But don't some of the LR have corals on it or will they all die in shipment or on the way home from the LFS? If so wouldn't that really be making it a reef tank? Well minus things like sponges, Anemones, and the like? Or Am I way off base?
Most live rock that you purchase will not have any corals on it. The only exception is if you buy live rock from someone who is exiting the hobby, and the rock has some corals (usually softies) attached to it. All the live rock I have seen at LFS do not have corals. They may have die off on them though.


Also if memory serves me right which probably won't happen, isn't the general rule of thumb for stocking the tank 1" of fish per gallon?
I have heard of that rule before, but I don't know if I like it. I bet you that a 5" tang will put more bioload on your tank than five 1" chromis. What I would do is post what you want to put in the tank, and one of the experts here might be able to make some recommendations.

I also have a 10 gal that I want to set up as my Sump/refug, which hopefully be big enough to house all my equipment.
In my opinion, that is kinda small for a 110G tank. I have a 40 gallon sump/refugium for my 120G. My fuge is about 15 gallon - so I have about 25 gallon for just for the sump area (skimmer, heater, return pump) . Make sure that whatever sump you buy, you have enough "error" room for when you lose power.


So for me that would mean about 1200gph right?
10x turn over is fine for fish tank. If your reef tank is going to be a softie tank, 10x might be fine. On my tank (mixed SPS, LPS, and softie) - I have about a 30x turn over on just my closed loop system. Just reminder - you don't need a very high turn over on your sump system. Actually - if you have too high of a turn over, you're may have a microbubble problem and noise problem. Also - when you purchase a pump for your tank, remember to take into account the head pressure. So for example, the pump may be advertise at 900 GPH. But once you pump the water up 3 ft, and all the bends and curve on your piping, you really only have 600 GPH. You will need to actually look at each pump flow chart to figure this out. BTW - on my 120G, my turnover from sump to tank is only 4.5x (roughly). Oh - don't foget that a 1" overflow pipe can handle about 600 gph. So if you have only one 1" overflow, you don't want to large of a pump.

BTW - if you are planning on eventually going to a reef tank, I would suggest that you invest in some nice lights as well.

Minh

[Aquareefer776]

Hey folks!
Thanks for all the input! I'll try and go down the line I do have what equates to be a 45 gal tanks that i suppose i can use as my sump/refug. However i do have to see if it will fit under my new stand and all first. Will the 10 gal work as a qt or is it too small as well? As for fish, well i got a long list of what i would like and i used a compatibility chart from liveaquaria.com according to their descriptions of the fish online none really gave me an "area of territory" just what they can grow up to approx. I will put a list of what ones i liked the most all of them according to the chart are compatible with each other, reef friendly and all are peaceful to semi-aggressive (guess which ones those are. lol) as well.

Royal Gramma Basslet*
Kaudern Cardinal
Limbaughi Chromis*
Ocellaris clown (down the road when i get Anemones set up)
Blue Sapphire damsel
Green Mandarin (another down the road selection)*
Firefish
Neon Goby*
Yellowhead Jawfish*
Scott's Fairy Wrasse*
Filamented Wrasse*
6 line Wrasse*

I put stars next to the ones i REALLY like..lol any info on these fish would be great like how many i can have in my tank of each or what would be the best mix.

Thanks,
Tommy

[Bdimas]

I agree that a ten gallon sump would be way to small. Your going to need a good sized skimmer especially if your going to do a fowler.
Also if you think that you might want to do a reef in the future you might want to only purchase reef safe fish.

[Bdimas]

LOL you posted right before i did. Your list sounds good.

[Aquareefer776]

So i could get all the fish on my list like one of each? would i be able to pair them up? minus the ones that like to attack their own species of course. And How would the clowns be w/o a anemone in the tank? Thanks

[Bdimas]

Anemones require good lighting. You would probably need metal halide. As far as one a peice on the others that should be cool. Most Mandarins only eat pods, so there would probably be a lot of competition for pods with a six line, fairy and a mandarin. I would probably pick two out of the three. JMO

[mothra]

Rock
My next tank will be started with base rock (dry/dead). This is really a personal preference but with baserock you eliminate about 99% of the life in the rock - which as an upside and downside.

Upside: No unexpected bad algae, pests, etc..., and much less expensive than LR.

Downside: Less biodiversity than LR, takes some time for it to become live again.

Basically if you have a little patience up front (as in waiting a few months to add anything to your tank, then adding very slowly) it's an insurance policy to keep your tank 'clean' for the future. Of course you also have to be careful about adding other pieces of rock and what not along the way.

Fish
Rule of thumb is more like 1" per 5 gallons, but there are a lot of exceptions.
The wrasse(s) will probably out compete the mandarin for food, I think the responsible thing to do there is decide if you want a wrasse(s) OR a mandarin.
The clowns will be fine w/o anemone - even if you have an anemone they may not host in it.

Sump
I agree with the others - you want a much bigger sump. Get somthing that is big enough for you to work in/around since that is where you'll be doing water changes, tinkering with equipment, etc... if it is small and cramped it will only make maintaining it that much more of a hassle.


Although it is only a rough draft I attempted to cover many of these topics here: http://www.nvreefers.org/newtosalt.php

[Aquareefer776]

Ok so would 6 filamented wrasse, 3 firefish, neon goby pair, a trio of cardinals and a pair clowns be too much for the tank?

[mothra]

I think that would be ok, those fish are all fairly small. It'll probably be hard to find a harem of wrasses though.

[Aquareefer776]

Well i could maybe get 2 of three differnt species or 2 trios maybe? would that be easier?

Ps please forgive any typos beenup for almost 20 hours..lol damn this addicting board! lol

[mothra]

been up for 20 hours
:eek:

You'll just have to look around and see what you can find when you're ready to add them.