Soft Coral Dominated Tanks... Let's See 'em
- Thread starter reefnewbie54321
- Start date
reefnewbie54321
In Memoriam
I kind of ignored this for awhile becuase I personaly do not like the whole tang police mumbo jumbo ... although I do feel that tangs need to be housed in a 100g and up tank when I had a 55 I purchased a yellow tang and a hippo tang a 18 months later I bought a 120. Tangs are one of the most popular fish ... people are going to keep buying them wether or not they have room. BUT I suggest you sell/give them away when they get to cramped or get a bigger tank, its not right to keep them in such a small tank. I dfont know if yours are fully grown but when they are I suggest you upgrade or replace them.
Sumps/Fuges just make your tank more stable and lessen the biolopad by spreading it over a bigger volume. Tangs still need so much space to move ... I see people with 120gallon tanks that are so cramed with sps that there tangs still dont have enouugh room.
I'm not saying its wrong to buy tangs for a 65 tank but there going to outgrow it fast ... and 4 tangs is a little bit overboard I was pretty nervous about a hippo and a yellow in a 55 and I made sure that I bought them at about 1 1/2"-2" each
Hehe. I have many.. In almost as many tanks.. For starters:
Feather Caulerpa - Hippo, Desjardinii, Purple, Powder Blue, Hawaiian Sailfin, Vlamingi, Sohal and even the Chevron from time to time
Grape Caulerpa - Hippo, Desjardinii, Purple, Powder Blue, Hawaiian Sailfin, Vlamingi, Sohal, Chevron, even my French Angel and Emperor Angels love this stuff
Razor Caulerpa - Hippo, Desjardinii, Purple, Vlamingi, Sohal
Cup Caulerpa - Purple, Vlamingi, Sohal
This is what I have / and have watched them eat. The Vlamingi's are caulerpa-eating machines. The Hippo will eat lots of it, but never seems to fatten up, in comparison to the Sohal which is a fat pig. The Chevron only picks at it, I wouldn't say he loves it as much as the others do.
My comment is more for the tangs rather then the # of fish. Trust me, I know the benefits of volume (my system is over 1000 gallons and includes 11 tanks). The purple tang is about all I would keep in Bradleyj's tank. I have a 14" hippo here, and in the past I had a 16" Blonde Naso (traded it in because it developed a taste for soft corals.) The Sailfin could easily get to 10" - 12" in diameter, so again, not the best choice for a 65.
Volume for a number of fish is one thing, say a large school of chromis or anthias, but system volume is no substitute for a large tank with swimming room for large tangs.
In other words, my Vlamingi's (I have 2) will one day outgrow even my 300. I have plans to donate them to some local public aquariums when they reach 16" (still plenty of room for them to swim in a 96Lx24Wx30T tank, but my conscience gets the better of me). And yes, I have already worked out the details with the aquariums (MOST will NOT accept fish like this, do NOT buy with the intention of giving them to a local public aquarium unless you have talked with the curator and worked out the specifics beforehand!)
reefnewbie54321
In Memoriam
Lets see some more! I know there out there
FindingNemo- One thing came to mind last night ... I remeber reading something by Calfo saying even if your caulerpa doesnt go sexual everytime you pull it out of yoursand/rocks it releases toxins in the water. Any comments on that?
FindingNemo- One thing came to mind last night ... I remeber reading something by Calfo saying even if your caulerpa doesnt go sexual everytime you pull it out of yoursand/rocks it releases toxins in the water. Any comments on that?
finding nemo
In Memoriam
HI Reef, I have never heard of that.
I have some growing all over the sand and rock and I pull it often and hav'nt had a problem at all with the tank after doing so.
I have been doing it for many years with no losses of fish or stock so just don't know if that is true or not.
But then again, now much caulerpa is he saying to pull out at one time to create that problem?
I do about 2 sandwich bags at a time is all I have done.
Do you have the article or thread where he talked about that?
I have some growing all over the sand and rock and I pull it often and hav'nt had a problem at all with the tank after doing so.
I have been doing it for many years with no losses of fish or stock so just don't know if that is true or not.
But then again, now much caulerpa is he saying to pull out at one time to create that problem?
I do about 2 sandwich bags at a time is all I have done.
Do you have the article or thread where he talked about that?
reefnewbie54321
In Memoriam
I will try to find it ... I think it was on wetwebmedia and it was about why caulerpa wasnt a good refugium macro. It talked about it going sexual ect. and also that when pruning it released toxins.
reefnewbie54321
In Memoriam
nice, you dont see bare bottom softies very often ... or atleast I dont
clkwrk
Active member
Thanks and your right there aren't many I know of either! My softie tank has been barebottom for 2 years now . Before that was a SSb, before that DSB before that crushed coral and before that yes BB berlin 
For me running this setup has been the easiest since I went BB....Also I didn't cook the rock at all as that method wasn't even around at that point..
For me running this setup has been the easiest since I went BB....Also I didn't cook the rock at all as that method wasn't even around at that point..
finding nemo
In Memoriam
Chris, your tank is to die for.
What do you use to attach all of the corals to the rock crevases?
They look like they just picked a spot and grew there.
Just beautiful
What do you use to attach all of the corals to the rock crevases?
They look like they just picked a spot and grew there.
Just beautiful
Ken-21
New member
Bradleyj.......I love the way your tank looks! You've got four big Tangs, a Rabbit and a Coral Beauty Angel in a 65 gal. tank? I would think that's way too much......Guess I was wrong. What and how much do you feed your Tangs? I've never had any luck with Zoos, for some reason they don't spread in my tank. Anyway, great looking softie Tank!
Brooks_McClary
New member
Here is my softie tank. They are growing and growing. They keep making gift frags so I am not overrun by them. 
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