New to the hobby

[jimjam35]

Hey guys, have been reading behind the scenes for sometime now and just want to introduce myself.....

name is Jim and I Hail from long island NY, recently just purchased a RSM 130D in working order. this will be my first personal salt water tank, as i used to help my brother with his 72 gallon bow front when he lived at home.....always wanted a RSM and finally found a used one for 75$ holds water with no leaks and seamed to be in pretty good shape

i upgraded to a Tunze 9001 skimmer, media basket, installing new t5 lights, upgrade pump kit from RS, new thermo, new power center since i didn't trust the original and cabinet system as my tank didn't come with one. wanted to start new with being my first tank and didn't want to run into any problems with hardware (hopefully i don't with new) also picked up a ATO system and an RO/DI system for water changes and fills..... if anyone has any must have for this tank please let me know

hoping to do a simple Clown and anemone tank with some other fish and crabs mixed in but haven't gotten that far yet......


hope to make some good contacts of this forum as everyone seems knowledgable and nice enough to lend a hand.....Thanks in advance for any help

 

[ryeguyy84]

Maybe a flipper algae scraper?

https://clearchoiceaquatics.com/col...r-nano-2-in-1-magnetic-aquarium-algae-cleaner

Are you thinking of any powerheads? What are your plans for the tank?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Uncle99]

Use caution with any crabs.
Can catch a sleeping clown by the belly.
Stick with snails, Nars for the sand, Mexican Turbo for Red/Brown, ninja astreas for the green

If you love crabs then go ahead, if your getting as part of a clean up crew don't, they don't really take up much algae, but do enjoy escargot!

 

[jimjam35]

yes i am going to get a power head once i place rock and seascape and see what water movement is and where and how i want to approach......

would like to keep simple Clowns, shrimp, maybe pass on the crabs, would like to do a Pistol shrimp and gobby pair as i love watching Niche animals work together....

 

[j.falk]

If you want anemones, you might want to focus your build around providing for them as the main goal. Research the type of anemone(s) you want and what you will need to have / do to provide for them. It is strongly recommended that you wait 6 - 12 months after you set up your aquarium for it to stabilize before adding your first anemone. You will have a greater chance at success if you follow that advice.

Tip: Some shrimp will steal food from the anemones and / or constantly pick at them enough to kill them. I had a banded coral shrimp that ripped the tentacles off of my long tentacle anemone when it was first introduced and I've tried 3 different skunk cleaner shrimp recently with my bubble tip anemones. All 3 shrimp constantly picked at the anemones so they wouldn't open up and all 3 shrimp got taken back to the local fish store. I'm definitely not making that mistake again.

 

[Uncle99]

yes i am going to get a power head once i place rock and seascape and see what water movement is and where and how i want to approach......

would like to keep simple Clowns, shrimp, maybe pass on the crabs, would like to do a Pistol shrimp and gobby pair as i love watching Niche animals work together....

Sounds good, keep a lid on that DT, gobies are notorious jumpers.

 

[Small Heavens]

Sounds great, I hope you get zero hardware bumps and max time to enjoy the hobby

Clownfishes and anemones are really worth the trouble if you ask me, but I recommend species tanks for them, as they don't flourish easily in community tanks. Clowns get very subdued in their behaviour when put together with competition, people constantly providing anecdotes about clowns standing still in a corner all day etc. I do not experience that issue with clowns because I let them have their own territory actually, so they just hunt zooplankton all day and keep constantly active

Try getting medium clowns like Amphiprion Polymnus and let them have the space to themselves with only a few dither fishes to help fill up your tank. They aren't as aggressive as the tomatoes but the smaller clowns are some really tiny fingerfishes and the Polymnus have somewhat more of a hand sized fish. If you get the black and white type (they also come in some coffee-orange colour mixes), the black eyes of the males will change to gold when the female "plays" with them.

The reason I actually recommend the Polymnus is because it is extremely harmonious compared to the other clowns. Their bodies are drop shaped, they move up and down, instead of side to side like the other species and their dorsal spikes aren't as flappy and rubbery as the other species giving it a very different energy to its looks - less flamboyant flappery - more fish.

When planting an Anemone, remember that although they move on their own, they mostly move where the current takes them. Plan ahead and try to create some kind of water flow 'trap' for it. It does not want to feel a flow pass by, it want to feel a flow that takes everything to the Nem. A flow that passes the Nem will make the Nem go follow the flow to find the best food spot.

Also, remember neither clowns nor Anemones comes from reefs, but from the shore.
Nems can handle steady swings, as long as the swings are steady - Nems lives in lagoons, close to freshwater river outlets, and all kinds of other places that is no good for corals.
The Nems need some amount of nitrates available, which makes it a bad mix with anything that needs water with close to zero nutrients. Also Nems are very receptive to the allelopathy of the reef corals, so make super super sure to study how toxic specific corals are before choosing them to mix with anything anemone wise.

For compatibility between species I strongly suggest reading up on WetWeb media.com, they have a huge question-and-answer folder about compatibility that can help prevent bad mixes causing 'mysterious' losses later on.

As already said, keep a lid on, clowns will chase around after eachother when they feel no food is around, or otherwise test their strength which they do constantly, and this often makes the smaller male jump the tank eventually...

- enjoy and good luck with everything

 

[jimjam35]

Amazing info here thank you, deff read about the year for anemone to be introduced so not looking to jump straight in. Want to cycle and steady the tank first for a while before adding big money things to it.....deff have patience to do this, and want to do it right.