Please help me

A

AmberFL03

New member
I tried posting in the Nano Reefs section but nobody seems to want to help as nobody replied. Maybe my fellow Tampa Bay(ers?) are willing to help:

I'm trying to make a list of everything I need to start my tank. It's a 55 gallon and I plan on having a Snowflake Eel and/or White Ribbon or Spotted Snake Eel. I know I need live sand and lots of caves/hiding places but beyond that I'm lost. I've been trying to figure this out for weeks and I feel like I'm going in circles, plus there are SO many different options I just don't know what to get. I need help with an equipment list/supply list, and also compatible starfish to help clean perhaps? Websites just link to more links and since there are so many different tank combos I figure it's best to ask this community. I don't need top of the line stuff, just what's necessary for a healthy tank. Thank you so much!
 
Research is key, read the forums here and you will find a lot of the answers as I am sure there have been many people with the same ordeal. most eels are not reef safe, so if your going that route think about other fish. Once again check here for answers, such as reef parameters, stocking options, filtration, etc.

GL with your reef...
 
What's your name on Nano? Anyways, yeah lots of caves for them to hide in, you can even make tunnels out of PVC pipe, there is a user on here name Travis who has an eel and make and undersand tunnel with PVC, pretty cool. I would say, whatever lights you want that look good is all that matters since you don't plan on using them for photosynthetic purposes. I would also imagine a decent skimmer would be wanted due to feeding eels meaty foods. Also, I dont think Snowflakes are very aggressive so generally if you keep the eel well fed it shouldn't mess with anything else but, they are wild animals essentially so I think that would be hard to determine. Also going to depend on the size of the eel and starfish. Some decent powerheads for water flow is going to help keep $hit from building up, nothing crazy but just something to help move the water around.
 
Lots of Live rock will help process waste as well as provide plenty of hiding space.
Eels are messy animals.
A good Protein Skimmer with help a lot too. I had a Zebra eel in a 180. My nitrates would get up around 40-50. Thats with a huge skimmer and about 250# of Live rock.
I would invest in having a sump.
Whether you drill the tank or go the HOB Overflow route a sump to hold a large skimmer. You can NEVER over skim.
I would get a skimmer rated for at least 125 gallons conservatively. You will thank yourself later once you see what the skimmer pulls out.

So for a sump you will need:
-A sump, prebuilt are fine. DIY with an old fish tank is cheapest. At least a 20 Long
-A quality skimmer. No HOB crap, Euro Reef and Reef Octopus are a good comparison starting point. Bigger is better. I had Euro Reef RS-135 on my 55. Bigger is better.
IMO best investment for water quality you can buy hands down.
-A return Pump. Millions of choices. I would start with the Quiet One series of returns. Somewhere near 700-1000 GPH. I have a Mag 12 on my 55 its not too big.
 
Just wanted to point this out because she said 55g, please please make sure it's not tempered. I'd be willing to bet it is though.
 
I would do tons of research before drilling yourself. Glass breaks haha Temper is impossible to drill for a hobbyist.
HOB overflow is an alternative. I had a HOB overflow on my 55. Never lost siphon never failed. They work just stay away from the CPR line of HOB overflows.
 
You don't need live sand if your going to put live rock in your tank. it will soon become live from the bacteria from the rock.
You can get really nice sand at reefrocks .com for 40 pounds for $24.95 delivered to your door.I purchased some last month and I'm very happy with it. He sell 50 pound boxes of very nice dry rock,very porous for I think 80 dollars + free 40 pounds of dry sand you just pay $14.99 for the shipping. reefrocks is a sponsor of RC look under the sponsor list on main page and read the reviews .
Good luck with your tank. and yes,the TBRC guys will definitely help you with any ? you have. Good bunch of people !!.
Russ.
 
Thank you, this is all great information. I've tried looking around on this forum for info but I noticed there isn't much talk about eel tanks. Even googling setting up saltwater eel tanks isn't giving me the kind of info I'm needing. I really appreciate any tidbits to help. I don't plan on trying to drill holes into the 55, that just seems like a bad idea for me lol. I do also have a 125 gal tank if necessity arose but I'm trying to wait on setting that big boy up until I've gotten a grasp on the 55.

I did read about the PVC for them and I think I'll implement that into the sand. Should I look into bigger starfish so the eel doesn't mess with it? Are the kinds of eels I listed compatible with each other? I looked at fish compatibility charts and they are so vague, it says eels get along with eels but I think there are just so many factors to take into account.

I also have a 20 gal long that I could look into some youtube videos on how to turn it into a sump if I need to.
 
Rustafar said:
You don't need live sand if your going to put live rock in your tank. it will soon become live from the bacteria from the rock.
You can get really nice sand at reefrocks .com for 40 pounds for $24.95 delivered to your door.I purchased some last month and I'm very happy with it. He sell 50 pound boxes of very nice dry rock,very porous for I think 80 dollars + free 40 pounds of dry sand you just pay $14.99 for the shipping. reefrocks is a sponsor of RC look under the sponsor list on main page and read the reviews .
Good luck with your tank. and yes,the TBRC guys will definitely help you with any ? you have. Good bunch of people !!.
Russ.
Click to expand...

That's great to know! I have 10 gallons of (what used to be) live sand...now it's just sand in buckets, so I can reuse that with the live rock and it'll be good? I'll need to buy a pound of sand per gallon?
 
Aslong as you have enough LR in the tank there is no need for sand. People run sand for, aesthetics, filter(but as stated with enough LR you wont need sand) and because they have livestock that like to bury themselves in the sand. I think you'd be fine without sand.
 
Best piece of advice I can give you if you are going to keep eels. Make sure the tank is covered!!!!!!

Other than that, I would recommend a decent wet/dry sump and a decent protein skimmer, for those high amounts of ammonia that the eels are going to produce. A decent sand bed, and a decent amount of live rock. Look into kregslist. There is plenty of used equipment out there that you can attain relatively inexpensively.
 
Yeah, I've read about how much eels are escape artists.

Does anyone have experience with more than one smaller scale eel kept together in a tank, and how it works out?
 
Straight_Chaos said:
Lots of Live rock will help process waste as well as provide plenty of hiding space.
Eels are messy animals.
A good Protein Skimmer with help a lot too. I had a Zebra eel in a 180. My nitrates would get up around 40-50. Thats with a huge skimmer and about 250# of Live rock.
I would invest in having a sump.
Whether you drill the tank or go the HOB Overflow route a sump to hold a large skimmer. You can NEVER over skim.
I would get a skimmer rated for at least 125 gallons conservatively. You will thank yourself later once you see what the skimmer pulls out.

So for a sump you will need:
-A sump, prebuilt are fine. DIY with an old fish tank is cheapest. At least a 20 Long
-A quality skimmer. No HOB crap, Euro Reef and Reef Octopus are a good comparison starting point. Bigger is better. I had Euro Reef RS-135 on my 55. Bigger is better.
IMO best investment for water quality you can buy hands down.
-A return Pump. Millions of choices. I would start with the Quiet One series of returns. Somewhere near 700-1000 GPH. I have a Mag 12 on my 55 its not too big.
Click to expand...

+1. A tight fitting cover is your best bet to keep those guys in. Also a T5 light that runs about $100 should be fine if you arent keeping coral.
Look into getting a piece of Starboard instead of sand. I had a HOB overflow and will NEVER do it again. if the 125 is drilled I would set that up and use the 55 as a sump. if you have any questions feel free to PM
 
none of my tanks are drilled unfortunately. Why do you suggest starboard over sand? What happened with your HOB overflow?
 
HOB's you need to siphon to restart, they clog ..they are awful.
I had 1 and swore it off. The BEST thing you can do in this hobby is get a drilled tank ( IMO )

Sand blws all over the place and is a nitrate trap. Starboard is clean and you can scrub any algae growth with a scotch brite pad.
 
A drilled 125g with a 55g sump, starboard, lots of caves would make a very happy eel. I myself have never used a HOB overflow and I never will. Too many stories about them losing their syphon and not restarting, a gravity overflow will NEVER not restart(unless it's clogged but just use big drains).
 
I've used a HOB overflow for 7 yrs and never had a incident (knock on wood) but see why other don't like them.
 
Not to be rude, but if you need that much help in determining the basics for your setup , then you should probably stay away from ribbons and other sensitive eels until you have more experience. Snowflakes are pretty hardy, but as others pointed out, eels are master escape artists and usually meet their demise when they escape from the tank.
Good luck and keep plugging away at your research.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Aggressive fish competition
Replies
2
Views
109
AidanCfish
A
Z
Plumbing to shower head question
Replies
2
Views
135
zeebies
Z
S
Re: bean animal help!
Replies
2
Views
173
wvned
wvned
M
Choosing Between Innovative Marine and Waterbox for a 200-Gallon Mixed Reef – Your Input Wanted!
Replies
6
Views
4K
griss
griss
slathrum
Where to buy a reef ready aquarium these days
Replies
8
Views
347
wvned
wvned
Back
Top