Restarting an Aquarium

[kljerris10]

Hi, I am an undergraduate marine biologist at my school and a couple of other students and I decided to start up this old ~250 gallon aquarium at the school. We did a whole bunch of research before starting it out but i wanted to know if we were missing out anything. We use saltwater liverock (really porous) and sand straight from the beach. We have a wet/dry overflow system. We let it run for a week or so checking parameters and what not making sure they match the ocean. (We use a colorimeter with really old reagents so I'd also like to know if they go bad). We had some lion fish we caught a good while back that we got to food off a stick. We put them in Monday and they seem happy. We were thinking of getting a hamlet (bigger than its mouth) and maybe some sergeant majors. Any suggestions?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Beach sand isn't a good idea as if you notice the brownish foam that is usually around a beach that's from dissolved organics in the water, it's natures way of a skimmer. Lots of waste and who knows what in the beach sand. If you collect sand go a ways offshore before collecting it.

Wet/dry aren't really used anymore, all you need for filtration is enough rock roughly 1.5-2 lbs per gal and its highly recommended to have a sump.

Is there any reason you're picking those particular fish? Or are you just going for locally caught fish. Where are you located? For instance in Florida lion fish are a nuisance and hunted by spear fishermen. They even have local derby's where you go kill all of the lion fish you can and winner takes all of the money in the pot type thing.

I guess my big question is what's the theme of the tank

 

[kljerris10]

We don't really have a set theme yet. We were just think to get what ever we can catch without killing it. Yeah we are catching the fish ourselves with hand nets n such. We are in the Virgin Islands.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Oh Cool, but I would think you can catch a lot of much nicer fish than those named. Just remember if you're going to keep the lion fish that you can't keep small fish as they will become dinner.

 

[kljerris10]

Thanks