125 tank new to saltwater

[rssjsb]

A few thoughts.

1. Kudos for planning ahead. My guess is that your stock list will change as you read more. The important thing is to arm yourself with information so you can "improvise" when you see a great fish at your LFS without the consequences of a bad impulse buy.

2. The raccoon is a good hardy attractive fish for a FOWLR, but is not usually considered compatible with coral. Keep that in mind for your future reef ambitions.

3. There really isn't a fish that will school in an aquarium. As others have pointed out on here before, a group of fish hanging around five or six feet apart may consider itself shoaling, since large shoals in the wild extend across a larger "footprint." To us, it looks like they're ignoring each other and swimming around randomly, which I don't think is what you're looking for.

4. Third or fourth (lost count) the idea of a sump/refugium for a lot of reasons, especially if you're going to attempt a mandarin. They need to eat constantly and you cannot count on adding pods at a rate that will exceed consumption.

HTH

 

[Figment]

As for the schooling fish, the damsels and chromis I would recommend skipping, go with a type of anthias. They are beautiful fish and are very peaceful

I have taken a real liking to getting a Lamarck's angel. I have read they get territorial with anything that also eats its type of food (plankton), but all the different things I read just says "chase". So I am wondering if keeping one of these angels will mean I would have to pass in the anthias idea? I have also read that they get along well with other angels, so if I got the Lamarck's angel, what would you think is the likelihood of successfully housing it with a flame angel?

 

[Figment]

A few thoughts.

1. Kudos for planning ahead. My guess is that your stock list will change as you read more. The important thing is to arm yourself with information so you can "improvise" when you see a great fish at your LFS without the consequences of a bad impulse buy.

2. The raccoon is a good hardy attractive fish for a FOWLR, but is not usually considered compatible with coral. Keep that in mind for your future reef ambitions.

3. There really isn't a fish that will school in an aquarium. As others have pointed out on here before, a group of fish hanging around five or six feet apart may consider itself shoaling, since large shoals in the wild extend across a larger "footprint." To us, it looks like they're ignoring each other and swimming around randomly, which I don't think is what you're looking for.

4. Third or fourth (lost count) the idea of a sump/refugium for a lot of reasons, especially if you're going to attempt a mandarin. They need to eat constantly and you cannot count on adding pods at a rate that will exceed consumption.

HTH

I do try to learn as much as I can since I have made bad impulse buys in the early years of my freshwater keeping and now (with the aid of smart phones), I try very hard not to make those bad decisions.

The 125 will be a FOWLR tank and I will explore coral keeping later on after I get a good amount of experience with fish only. I think that will be easier than trying to learn proper fish care, general salt water tank care and coral care all at once. I could overload myself and my future fish could pay the price (not to mention I wallet too), so a baby steps kind of policy would yield better results. I jumped head first into freshwater and have killed my fair share of fish, so I am going to ease myself into this.

I had honestly not looked at schooling/shoaling fish in the way you described and it definitely alters my thoughts on the matter. In that case, I think I will forgo overloading my tank with a bunch of fish (even if they are very pretty) who aren't going to achieve what I was looking for. Thanks for bringing me into that light.

I was a little confused by point number three or four. Are you saying a refugium is or is not a good idea? And I might not have spoken my thought very clearly there. The reason I want to have a refugium is because many dragonette keepers use it as a place to get their pods to breed (at least if I am understand it correctly they are), but the vast majority if the population resides within the tank itself. I have done a lot of research on these fish because they are my number one most wanted fish. It seems 30 gallons is not enough to successfully cultivate enough pods to sustain the mandarin dragonettes. I have read posts from people with 90 gallon tank that also couldn't sustain two of these fish. I am hoping that I can sustain two of them in a 125 with the tank's own natural pod population, but also adding new pods into the tank every 2-4 weeks (in the beginning of their move in, I will have pods on standby to add in case they don't seem to have enough).

 

[RayL]

I have never kept a lamarcks but from what I know of the fish, you might have an issue keeping anthias with them. The lamarcks will most likely give the anthias a hard time which will either stress out the fish or limit how much food the anthias gets, and they do need to eat often. Personally I would skip the lamarcks and go with 2 dwarf angels instead

 

[RayL]

The sump/refugium is a very good idea, almost mandatory for the mandarin

 

[Figment]

I have never kept a lamarcks but from what I know of the fish, you might have an issue keeping anthias with them. The lamarcks will most likely give the anthias a hard time which will either stress out the fish or limit how much food the anthias gets, and they do need to eat often. Personally I would skip the lamarcks and go with 2 dwarf angels instead

I keep reading how super aggressive dwarf angels are with other dwarves. I didn't think my tank would be large enough for two. I still really want a Lamarck angel though. They caught my eye and look so very nice (I am a huge fan of blue LOL). You make a good point on the Lamarck out competing the anthias (and I know some wrasse would be in the same boat). I will have to decide what I want more because I know that Lamarck would take up 2-3 of the anthias as far as bio load is concerned.

If I removed the anthias from the list, could I house a Lamarck and a flame angel together?

 

[RayL]

The lamarcks and flame should have no problems together.

As for the multiple dwarfs, in a 4 foot 70 gallon tank, I would not recommend multiple but I have a 150 6foot tank and I had a flame, potters and lemon peel together that were all very peaceful together, I did recently take all three out as I am adding a pair of flamebacks, and then after I am going to try adding a flame again with them.

 

[Figment]

The lamarcks and flame should have no problems together.

As for the multiple dwarfs, in a 4 foot 70 gallon tank, I would not recommend multiple but I have a 150 6foot tank and I had a flame, potters and lemon peel together that were all very peaceful together, I did recently take all three out as I am adding a pair of flamebacks, and then after I am going to try adding a flame again with them.

Sweet. I think that may be the route I go then. I like both angels more than the anthias. Though of course my tank collection will continue to grow, so I will still have my fair share of anthias.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[CAPSLOK]

To point out also since I didn't see it mentioned (may have missed it) - you don't need all live rock. Especially for a larger tank, you can do mostly dry rock (shipped cheaply from various sources) and just a few pieces of nice LR. Buying all LR certainly works too, but it is MUCH more expensive and all rock will become live over time.

Same deal with live sand. Just a few cups of live sand from a local reefer will seed the entire sand bed with beneficial goodies.

 

[RayL]

You are sounding a lot like me now, I have told my wife that we should have 6 different tanks that are a minimum of a 100 gallons each that way I can have all the fish I want. She didnt go for that, so right now just have two, and soon will be adding one very large tank to the collection

 

[Figment]

To point out also since I didn't see it mentioned (may have missed it) - you don't need all live rock. Especially for a larger tank, you can do mostly dry rock (shipped cheaply from various sources) and just a few pieces of nice LR. Buying all LR certainly works too, but it is MUCH more expensive and all rock will become live over time.

Same deal with live sand. Just a few cups of live sand from a local reefer will seed the entire sand bed with beneficial goodies.

I have a couple threads in a couple different forums, so it can be a little hard to keep up with what has been said where. LOL Someone had recommended that to me and since I am working on a budget that seems to be the smartest thing for me financially.

I plan to buy regular aragonite sand and a bunch of cheap porous dead rock, then add a few pieces of the nicest live rock (cured/cultured) to seed it all with. Someone said to just drop 2-3 pieces of market shrimp into the tank and let them decay (I am assuming only for a few days, though they could have meant let them decay to nothing) before removing them and that should help the good organisms to spread to various areas of the sand and rock. Once my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels even out, I can slowly start to add fish. With my budget, I figure I will be adding 2 fish at most every four weeks, but it will probably be more like 1 every four weeks.

 

[Figment]

You are sounding a lot like me now, I have told my wife that we should have 6 different tanks that are a minimum of a 100 gallons each that way I can have all the fish I want. She didnt go for that, so right now just have two, and soon will be adding one very large tank to the collection

My girlfriend and I live together in a house she owns and I have tried to make the more tanks is better argument too. LOL Unfortunately she didn't buy it. I have a 125, a 55, and a 20 all freshwater. I toyed with the idea of turning the 125 into salt when I first started this thread, but there I no room for a sump underneath the stand, so that kind of kills the idea of keeping dragonettes, which I find unacceptable. LOL I may just try and sell the stand to get another one or build my own if the budget doesn't build as fast as I want. I have loved my freshwater tanks, but I have been wondering why I haven't been doing saltwater all along! The fish are so much more colorful and as a marine biologist, it just "speaks" to me more.

 

[rssjsb]

I was a little confused by point number three or four. Are you saying a refugium is or is not a good idea? [/QUOTE]

Sorry, that was not clear at all. I meant that I "thirded" what others are saying. A fuge is critical for a mandarin. I was responding to something above that seemed to suggest (I don't actually think that was the poster's intent) otherwise. You can't add enough pods manually to keep up with a mandarin's dietary demands. All of which you already seem to know.

As others have no doubt told you, the key is to let your tank mature and establish a sustainable pod population first.

Good luck. I made the transition from fw to sw about ten years ago. I still have a planted tank that I enjoy, but the diversity of life in a thriving reef tank is still amazing to me.

 

[anbosu]

I live in central Florida near Orlando.

I need to run a more thorough test on my tap water and see how it is with phosphates, nitrate and other info. If need be, I will definitely add an RO/DI unit.

I think I will hold off on corals for now. Get use to a fish only tank and once I am comfortable with its weekly or monthly operational needs, get a smaller tank to experiment with corals and see if its even something I would want to do.

I live in Tampa - unless you want a tank full of algae you probably need to get an RO/DI unit.

You could get a purple tang, scopas tang, kole tang, chevron tang, etc. If the mimic is your must have tang (it's one of my favorites personally) then just avoid any Acanthurus or Naso sp. tangs and you should be fine.

 

[Figment]

I live in Tampa - unless you want a tank full of algae you probably need to get an RO/DI unit.

You could get a purple tang, scopas tang, kole tang, chevron tang, etc. If the mimic is your must have tang (it's one of my favorites personally) then just avoid any Acanthurus or Naso sp. tangs and you should be fine.

I just got my freshwater test kit in and here are my water parameters:
- pH in tank after 24 hours is 7.4.....out of tap is 7.6
- GH is 9
- KH is 7

How do these stack up with keeping a salt water tank?

I know KH is one point below preferable parameters, but it should still be okay, right? I know my pH is a little low, but won't the live rock increase the pH?

Do I still need an RO/DI unit?

Thanks for the tang info. Will definitely keep that in mind. If I go with one tang it will be a powder blue, but if I go two tangs, I definitely want a Mimic.

 

[Figment]

I was a little confused by point number three or four. Are you saying a refugium is or is not a good idea?

Sorry, that was not clear at all. I meant that I "thirded" what others are saying. A fuge is critical for a mandarin. I was responding to something above that seemed to suggest (I don't actually think that was the poster's intent) otherwise. You can't add enough pods manually to keep up with a mandarin's dietary demands. All of which you already seem to know.

As others have no doubt told you, the key is to let your tank mature and establish a sustainable pod population first.

Good luck. I made the transition from fw to sw about ten years ago. I still have a planted tank that I enjoy, but the diversity of life in a thriving reef tank is still amazing to me.[/QUOTE]

Sweet. Thanks for clarifying. I am definitely really excited to make the switch over. I will still keep a freshwater tank or two, but saltwater will be my new love.

 

[anbosu]

Phosphate is the biggest problem in Florida, and that fuels algae growth. You can do without ro/di - it's not going to kill your fish if you don't get one, but it makes it very difficult to keep a reef down here due to all the algae growth.

 

[Figment]

Phosphate is the biggest problem in Florida, and that fuels algae growth. You can do without ro/di - it's not going to kill your fish if you don't get one, but it makes it very difficult to keep a reef down here due to all the algae growth.

Well copepods need algae to eat in order to breed, right? I need a strong pod population to house the dragonettes.

 

[greg1786]

Just wanted to comment on your tang dilema. I have a standard 6' 125gallon tank that i keep two tangs in. I really love the shape of acanthurus species but most get way to large for a 125. I did some searching and found a lavender tang, which is in the acanthurus species, and it stays relatively small at a max 8". When I got it, it was sorta dull grey with some yellowish spots covering its face back to the gill line. As its grown its become a beautiful purple color and the spots on its face have turned a deep flourecent orange, and the fins have become lined in a blue that really floureces under actinics. An extremely peaceful fish and gets along great with all tank mates including my yellow tang. Just wanted to share that because i very very rarely see lavender tangs for sale or in home aquariums so i figured id let you know. I can post a pic if youd like to see him. Good luck

 

[Figment]

Just wanted to comment on your tang dilema. I have a standard 6' 125gallon tank that i keep two tangs in. I really love the shape of acanthurus species but most get way to large for a 125. I did some searching and found a lavender tang, which is in the acanthurus species, and it stays relatively small at a max 8". When I got it, it was sorta dull grey with some yellowish spots covering its face back to the gill line. As its grown its become a beautiful purple color and the spots on its face have turned a deep flourecent orange, and the fins have become lined in a blue that really floureces under actinics. An extremely peaceful fish and gets along great with all tank mates including my yellow tang. Just wanted to share that because i very very rarely see lavender tangs for sale or in home aquariums so i figured id let you know. I can post a pic if youd like to see him. Good luck

Thanks. I looked up pictures and they are beautiful. Also pretty expensive (not like everything else in the hobby isn't expensive LOL). If I can come by one for a decent price, I will definitely add one.