Help With New tank

[LiteEmUpGood]

Ok everyone, after more research I have more questions :confused:

I wanted to have fish with inverts. Was just about to buy a system like this and owuld appreciate your feed back on it.

The tank I want is a 43 -55L x 18-20W X 20-24 depth taht puts it in the range of a 75-90 gallon size. Reef ready, that means i will not need to buy an over flow right?

Berlin Protein skimmer

The pump i looked at is called a Pond Mag Drive 950gph is that good?

2 stealth 150w heaters

3 Penguin 660R powerhead, is that fine?

The sump is where i get confused. Do I need a wet dry sump or an eco system? Any input here is appreciated.

I got freaked out today after talking to my LFS operator. Like I said I wanted a FWLR tank, i also wanted a couple of shrimp and snails and hermit crabs. he told me that its hard to keep fish and inverts. Mainly it was about that the fish would not be able to be treated if they got sick. The fish get ick and copper is used to treat it. The copper would then kill my inverts. Then he said get a wet dry with bio balls, i always thought hat wasnt as good as live rock. Im confused here, can someone help me out? See, I wanted to have a longer size tank to looka t the fish swim, with satggerd amounts of live rock here and there, not as much as a reef tank, i wanted 1 or 2 anemone, but now all i have is confusion.

[bement14]

The pump is good, I hate my Penguin powerheads just to warn you. You need an ecosystem insted of a wet/dry. Also about the ick, quarantine fish and keep the tank ready to be set up if a fish gets ick. Then you can do hyposalinity or use copper in the QT/HT.

[LiteEmUpGood]

Just curious... why eco-system over wet dry? How do i set the tank up for sick fish? How do i set up a QT/HT tank?

[bement14]

Ecosystem will be a larger wet/dry I believe but im not sure. You will want to remove the bioballs anyway so why not just get an ecosystem. To set up a hospital tank, get a tank between 5 and 20 gallons and fill it without live rock or anything just a filter, heater, and optional lights. Dose whatever you need to and make sure the water quality stays good. A QT is a Quarantine tank and an HT is a hospital tank. QT EVERYTHING that is wet for AT LEAST 2 weeks. Most people will say 4 or 6 and you start over the countdown if it gets sick after the sickness goes away.

[LiteEmUpGood]

QT Eveything that is wet? Also, why do you want to remove bio-balls?

[turbodiesel01]

Originally posted by LiteEmUpGood
Ok everyone, after more research I have more questions :confused:

I wanted to have fish with inverts. Was just about to buy a system like this and owuld appreciate your feed back on it.

The tank I want is a 43 -55L x 18-20W X 20-24 depth taht puts it in the range of a 75-90 gallon size. Reef ready, that means i will not need to buy an over flow right?

Berlin Protein skimmer - generally has a bad reputation

The pump i looked at is called a Pond Mag Drive 950gph is that good? - good pump if used internally. Has a history of leaking if used externally

2 stealth 150w heaters - good heaters may be enough if you have central heat.

3 Penguin 660R powerhead, is that fine? - wouldn't go there

The sump is where i get confused. Do I need a wet dry sump or an eco system? Any input here is appreciated. Wet/drys have a history of being nitrate accumulators. Heavy skimming, DSB's and LR seem to work better for nitrogen cycling

I got freaked out today after talking to my LFS operator. Like I said I wanted a FWLR tank, i also wanted a couple of shrimp and snails and hermit crabs. he told me that its hard to keep fish and inverts. Mainly it was about that the fish would not be able to be treated if they got sick. The fish get ick and copper is used to treat it. The copper would then kill my inverts. Then he said get a wet dry with bio balls, i always thought hat wasnt as good as live rock. Im confused here, can someone help me out? See, I wanted to have a longer size tank to looka t the fish swim, with satggerd amounts of live rock here and there, not as much as a reef tank, i wanted 1 or 2 anemone, but now all i have is confusion.

As have been said all things should be QT'd. You connot treat LR systems and inverts with copper but if youu QT there should not be any worries

[turbodiesel01]

QT = Quarentine - seperate tank with established filter system that can be treated (ie copper)
There is a good article in last months (i think) Reefkeeping

[LiteEmUpGood]

so a rubbermaid container with a power head, heater, and a "basic" filter could be a make shift quarantine tank? Should i treat everything with copper? How do i go about puttign a fish with copper back in the tank?

As far as my tank set up, any other suggestions or comments? So what besides the penguin should i use for a powerhead?

[turbodiesel01]

Originally posted by LiteEmUpGood
so a rubbermaid container with a power head, heater, and a "basic" filter could be a make shift quarantine tank? Should i treat everything with copper? How do i go about puttign a fish with copper back in the tank?

Yep. I like to use one of the cheap overflow style filters (Aqua tec from wal mart) This works good in my 15g QT. Provides circulation and filtration. I also use an airstone because i worry about disolved oxygen with larger fish in a 15g. I leave the filter pads in the sump of the main tank to seed them and then put them in the overflow filter. I would mainly treat with copper is needed. Keep fish in QT for 3-5 weeks and observe closely. Only treat fish with copper - NOT inverts. If you do use copper clean everthing and throw away the old filter pads before QT ing LR, corals, or inverts. LR should be Qt'ed to find/ remove unwanted hitchikers.

As far as my tank set up, any other suggestions or comments? So what besides the penguin should i use for a powerhead?

For powerhead style pups i like Maxijets They are cheap and have a good service life.

[turbodiesel01]

I transfer fish from copper treated waters by dipping them out. Pour off the water and add some SW from the main tank. (salinity, temp and ph must be matched) Pour that off and add the fish only to the main tank.

[masson]

Bio balls are "nitrate factories"

[LiteEmUpGood]

lmao good way to put it and it was pretty funny..like the "spawn of satan"

Thanks guys

The way the guy at my LFS made it sound was as if i could only have a fish tank with no inverts ever and using a quarntine is bad. He was also telling me to use bio-balls.

Do I have to make the sump myself or can you just buy it? If you can just buy it where and how much?

[masson]

If you want to make one you can use a fish tank or use a rubbermaid container. Many people have had suscess with the rubermaid sumps. Do a search for them. If you want to just buy one try ebay or a local forum for the best price. HTH
Masson

[HalMurray]

I used a 29 g tank as a sump/refugium. Very simple and cheap.

[Ehydo]

The Big question is what do you want to have now and in the future.

Your main post said FOWL.

That means that you do not want any corals and a BIO Ball filter is fine.

A refugium is for Reef tanks. It removes NitrAtes from the water so that the corals can thrive.

[LiteEmUpGood]

im not really into corals right now at the moment. In my tank i want to have an anemone. Do you know what species is the one that the clownfish live in? Well that kind, live rock, not too much, some dead coral, crushed coral substrate.


As far as fish... thats another issue. Do they keep on growing, or will they grow as big as the tank permits. I was interested in a Goby or 2, a blenny, Clown trigger, a coral beauty. I would also like a clean up crew, and a clown shrimp (harlequin shrimp). Has anyone had any experience with a clown shrimp? Is that a good amount of fish? How big will they get.

[Ehydo]

Each type of fish will grow as big as they can. The myth that they will only grow to the size of the tank is one of the most horrible ones.

If you are going to have an anemone you need to have pristine water conditions.

Clown fish are known to host in many types of anemones and some corals. Do a search on google. One of the most common ones is a bubble tip.