Questions to jump to a 90Gal tank?

[djryan2000]

I am new to the hobby and have a few questions that I'm having trouble finding on Google / forums. Currently I have a 20Gal tank with 5 Red leg Cortez hermit crabs, 3 emerald crabs, 1 decorator crab, A sally lightfoot crab, a dotty neonback, and a clownfish. I have 3 pieces of live rock (petco medium sized) and I believe 20 pounds of organic substrate... and I'm LOVING it. So much that I found a 90 gallon tank I can purchase from my brother who moved out. I've had my 20 gal for a little over a month so far.

Now that I'm looking to set up the 90 gal tank I have questions about what I need to do - he only has run freshwater tanks.

My vision is to add another (slightly smaller) clownfish, a pair of octopus Joubini, and.. a (captive bred) seahorse. I'd obviously add snails and more emeralds as cleanup.. and any other crabs I can find that won't try to clip my fish/seahorse. I want to add some type of plants to the bottom and something that I can grow from the top of the tank to assist with filtration.

This is a very ambitious setup considering I need to make a reliable way to ensure my seahorse is fed considering their passive feeding.

But now my questions..
How many pounds of live / dry rock should I add? I want to be able to see a lot of the animals in there but need adequate habitats for the octopi and crabs.

What should I use for organic substrate? I have ideas but more importantly how much?

What are your filter recommendations for the tank? I know seahorses have terrible digestive tracks.

What heater should I use?

Any other ideas of fish or crabs I can add?

 

[Alex114]

I highly advise against an octopus unless you are very experienced. This is because they are great at escaping and there is a good chance they will go after your fish and/or crabs for food. Also I would advise against a seahorse for a little while as well. As for fish In the tank, you could absolutely do another clown, and still have plenty more room for other fish and crabs. A tang, angelfish, or even an anthias should have enough room in that size tank if you wanted a more colorful fish.

For substrate, rock and filtration, 80-100 pounds of live sand is a good option, more or less depending on the area on the bottom of the tank. 80 pounds of rock should be sufficient, and a sump underneath the tank would be the best option for filtration

 

[Oldreeferman]

To original poster,
My advice is if i was you id not do anything ATM and read all the presented stickys in the newbee section & anything else that interests you that may be contemplated as the learning curve is steep & everything to do with this hobby requires careful research & a mountain of patience especially if its a Reef tank or requires live foods, nothing good happens fast sorry to sound blunt just trying to be honest to you & hopefully save you a LOT of grief & some money & work.

 

[j.falk]

I am new to the hobby and have a few questions that I’m having trouble finding on Google / forums. Currently I have a 20Gal tank with 5 Red leg Cortez hermit crabs, 3 emerald crabs, 1 decorator crab, A sally lightfoot crab, a dotty neonback, and a clownfish. I have 3 pieces of live rock (petco medium sized) and I believe 20 pounds of organic substrate... and I’m LOVING it. So much that I found a 90 gallon tank I can purchase from my brother who moved out. I’ve had my 20 gal for a little over a month so far.

Now that I’m looking to set up the 90 gal tank I have questions about what I need to do - he only has run freshwater tanks.

My vision is to add another (slightly smaller) clownfish, a pair of octopus Joubini, and.. a (captive bred) seahorse. I’d obviously add snails and more emeralds as cleanup.. and any other crabs I can find that won’t try to clip my fish/seahorse. I want to add some type of plants to the bottom and something that I can grow from the top of the tank to assist with filtration.

This is a very ambitious setup considering I need to make a reliable way to ensure my seahorse is fed considering their passive feeding.

But now my questions..
How many pounds of live / dry rock should I add? I want to be able to see a lot of the animals in there but need adequate habitats for the octopi and crabs.

What should I use for organic substrate? I have ideas but more importantly how much?

What are your filter recommendations for the tank? I know seahorses have terrible digestive tracks.

What heater should I use?

Any other ideas of fish or crabs I can add?

You do realize that the octopus will eat the crabs and snails? That's a natural food source for them.

Seahorses cannot compete with regular fish for food and they will usually starve to death because of this. Seahorses are best kept in species only tanks.

You really need to do your research before throwing a bunch of different things together and realizing your mistake after the fact.

 

[djryan2000]

You do realize that the octopus will eat the crabs and snails? That's a natural food source for them.

Seahorses cannot compete with regular fish for food and they will usually starve to death because of this. Seahorses are best kept in species only tanks.

You really need to do your research before throwing a bunch of different things together and realizing your mistake after the fact.

Hm. An associate at my LFS said the octopus should leave the crabs alone as long as it's fed because they're around the same size. Guess not.
As for the seahorses I was under the impression you could use a feeding station for them and put them with some other fish from the guides I read online .


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[djryan2000]

Edit -
As for the seahorse feeding I meant if you put them in the tank alone first and then train them to use the feeding station before introducing the clown fish into the 90 gal tank. I thought that would be okay considering I could feee the clown different food at the same time and the seahorse would have its station and how few fish there are in that giant tank.


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[djryan2000]

Anthias

Would an Anthias fight with my neon dottyback?

http://www.marinecompatibilityguide.com/fatheadsunburstanthias/neondottyback

I see this site says they're compatible together but everywhere else says Anthias should be in a tank with all peaceful fish.


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[hopkinsta69]

Upgrading size

Upgrading size

Really think it over before going up in size. Maintenance effort may have to increase too. If you love working the tank, go for it. I went from 90gal to 150 and maintenance went up quite a bit.