34g Solana

[G_Sanab922]

Hey FMAS ,

recently purchased this tank from a friend, it's a 34g Solana , as the title states. Using an LED from I have no idea where (I think from eBay) lol.
Also came with Tunze Osmolator, InTank Media rack , Eheim return pump, heater , stand and a few other little things.
Recently moved into a small apartment with my wife since we got married just over a month ago. The tank is Perfect for what we need and the stand goes great with our furniture.
Happy wife happy life
So after decorating most of the apartment I wanted to start the tank so I called Sanctuary Aquarium. I'm sure most here are not familiar with him since he's down here in key largo, but I called to get some live rock and water. I let him pick the rock for me and I couldn't have been happier. He got me some really nice and interesting pieces. Overall a great experience so I recommend anyone in this area to use him if you need to.
On top of the rock and water I didn't have to buy much, the only big thing I needed was another pump. After some research I decided to go with the Jebao RW-4. Haven't installed it yet but it looks great and it's very compact, which is something I was looking for.
As for livestock , not really sure what I'll be going with. Probably have my wife pick some to get her more involved.
Feel free to make any suggestions or ask any questions. Will post some pics soon. Let me know what you think of the aquascape.

 

[rovster]

Great tank! I almost bought one a while back when my build was stalled. You can do a LOT with those little tanks. Its good to plan out your livestock now. Personally, I'd be looking at some basslets, clowns, maybe some gobies. Possum wrasse is great for a tank like that. Maybe a royal gramma or an assessor (gold or black). If you chose wisely, you can get a good group of nano fish in there. I had 12 fish in my 30 gallon at one point, and every one did well together (aside from my chromis fighting, LOL!)

Careful with letting the wifey pick the fish, they gravitate to large colorful creatures.....ask me how I know?

 

[G_Sanab922]

Here's a few pics

 

[G_Sanab922]

:bounce3:

 

[G_Sanab922]

Great tank! I almost bought one a while back when my build was stalled. You can do a LOT with those little tanks. Its good to plan out your livestock now. Personally, I'd be looking at some basslets, clowns, maybe some gobies. Possum wrasse is great for a tank like that. Maybe a royal gramma or an assessor (gold or black). If you chose wisely, you can get a good group of nano fish in there. I had 12 fish in my 30 gallon at one point, and every one did well together (aside from my chromis fighting, LOL!)

Careful with letting the wifey pick the fish, they gravitate to large colorful creatures.....ask me how I know?

Yea I've always liked Solana's. Possum Wrasse is nice. I'm definitely leaning for small peaceful fish. As for the wife, she knows the rules. No yellow tangs haha. I'll push her to pick the ones I want lol. :fun2:

 

[roninmagik1]

Great tank! I almost bought one a while back when my build was stalled. You can do a LOT with those little tanks. Its good to plan out your livestock now. Personally, I'd be looking at some basslets, clowns, maybe some gobies. Possum wrasse is great for a tank like that. Maybe a royal gramma or an assessor (gold or black). If you chose wisely, you can get a good group of nano fish in there. I had 12 fish in my 30 gallon at one point, and every one did well together (aside from my chromis fighting, LOL!)

Careful with letting the wifey pick the fish, they gravitate to large colorful creatures.....ask me how I know?

LOL, my wife picked me, and i happen to be a large colorful creature!! it's not just fish! =)

 

[G_Sanab922]

LOL, my wife picked me, and i happen to be a large colorful creature!! it's not just fish! =)

:lolspin: I guess I could say the same...

 

[G_Sanab922]

So after thinking about what my livestock will be, I've decided on a Keys/Caribbean biotope.

For fish I'm thinking
Yellow head jawfish preferably juveniles
Peppermint Bass
Yellow face pike blenny ( anyone with experience on these? )
Maybe a Chromis
Flame Cardinal fish
Red Spotted Hawkfish

I don't plan to house all of these fish but just throwing some ideas out there.
Would also really like a file fish, but I'm not sure if there are any small species here in the Caribbean. Have to look it up.
Will try to maybe go out and collect when I can but most likely during the summer.

 

[G_Sanab922]

Update :

Cycle is finished. Have some algae right now but added a small clean up crew a few days ago and they've been going to work. Just the regular Astrea Snails , Blue Legged Hermitcrabs and I saw a nice Halloween hermit so I decided to get it. Pretty cool little fella. Also got a cleaner shrimp.
Did a trade the other day as well that was unexpected because I didn't want to put corals in my tank yet. But got a Blue Pinwheel Zoa , blue mushrooms, yellow palys and a small ricordia. They have all opened up nicely so that's good.
Also today I got a ReefKeeper elite . Thanks to Ricky for the smooth easy transaction.
Looking forward to setting it up.
I also need to purchase a skimmer, so I'll be doing that ASAP.
Then I'll put my first fish. Start with something peaceful. Maybe even a neon goby pair.

 

[G_Sanab922]

 

[G_Sanab922]

Update: Went to KP Aquatics got a mated pair of Neon Gobies. I highly recommend them to anyone, great people and great business. Very healthy livestock. Also got a Purple plume gorgonian, great polyp extension so far. Happy with my purchase.


Before this purchase I had a huge bloom of GHA, after maintenance and water changes 90% has receded.
Also purchased a skimmer but need to make some modifications to be able to put it in the first chamber.

Also got a chromis from a LFS close to my house. And found a small rock with 4 super saiyan polyps (they look like super saiyans), and 3 polyps of idk what but will try to post pics so that I can get an ID..

After extensive research on Caribbean Biotopes I came up with some ideas on more livestock.

Banded Coral Shrimp
Vase sponge ( please let me know if you have any experience with this, it's been difficult to research. And they are not for sale in many places)
Tube Sponge
Christmas Tree worms
Flame scallop
Millepora Alcicornis - This might be an odd choice but I'm up for the challenge. I might have to special order this somewhere. I've had no luck finding it anywhere online. Edit: just realized this is prohibited in FL to harvest, will probably be very difficult to find. Let's See
Lace coral ? maybe
Scolymia Cubensis/Wellsi - Not sure if this is even available, I think it's prohibited in many places in the Carribean but will look around and do more research.
Ricordeas

With Fish, this tank limits me so i'll stick to my first list I had earlier. Maybe get a deepwater curacao Basslet if I see one on Diver's den in the future.

Feel free to tell me what you think.