What do you think of my BB tank?

If you dont mind im following along and setting up something simaliar, but i do have some questions for you.

Was/is supplemental lightning required or planned for this setup?Is it even needed for these lumenarcs?

Where did you order your starborad from?

What is your livestock list going to look like?
 
Hey thanks for bumping my thread up. :thumbsup:

To be honest I'm not sure if supplemental lighting is needed yet, the only reason I can see getting it is for florescence. The color coming out of the bulbs I have is great and the Lumenarc minis spread the light perfect. I have been to every LFS in Connecticut, a bunch in Mass and a bunch in NY and have never seen brightness and crisp color like this.

With that being said I am trying to find an actinic lighting scheme that will look alright on my tank. It is an open top setup and mounting them in the reflectors is not option. Also I'm going for a particular look and lights hanging off my reflectors don't fit the idea. I'm actually trying to find clip on VHO's or T5's or something until LED technology advances a little.

also I will be adding moon lights this week.

I got the starboard from the guy I purchased the tank from. He has a vary successful BB tank and I'm copying his setup. On a side note I wish I purchased his skimmer when I had the chance.

For stocking I am still deciding. As of right now I have a Xenia and a little clownfish (blame my girl) a cat's paw coral and a cleaner shrimp. I plan on:

A fire shrimp
Yellow Tang
Mandarin Goby (maybe, still researching)
Dragon Face Pipe Fish
Some sort of Angel Fish
Small school (3 or 4) of Cardinalfish
1 or 2 impulse buy fishes

I'm still not 100% on the stocking list. If anyone has any info that I might need to know about any of these fish, please let me know.



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dsc025501fw.jpg
 
Also something else about my setup..

I hooked a airpump to my penductors by snaking the airline tubing down the loc-line. It's set on a timer so that every few hours, for a minute, my tank gets fogged with bubbles. It looks hot when all the bubbles shoot down the back of the tank, under the rocks, and up in the front. It's real seaworldesque.

I have a small video if anyone wants to host it.
 
NoSchwag said:
For stocking I am still deciding. As of right now I have a Xenia and a little clownfish (blame my girl) a cat's paw coral and a cleaner shrimp. I plan on:

A fire shrimp
Yellow Tang
Mandarin Goby (maybe, still researching)
Dragon Face Pipe Fish
Some sort of Angel Fish
Small school (3 or 4) of Cardinalfish
1 or 2 impulse buy fishes

I'm still not 100% on the stocking list. If anyone has any info that I might need to know about any of these fish, please let me know.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the snails!

Regarding the fish...

Pipefish are neat, but not easy to keep with other fast, agressive feeders. A pipefish will not get anough to eat if it's competing with tangs and angels and cardinals.

I'd hold off on the mandarin for quite a while. A bare-bottom tank, like you've set up from scratch, may not be "dirty" enough to support a large pod population. I have one, tiny spotted mandarin in my 180 and she's just barely getting enough to eat. That's only because I didn't cook my rocks when I removed my sand. I would never consider adding a mandarin to my 120. It's just too clean, so there isn't enough to eat.
 
The snails are in the mail, should be getting them Tuesday. :) I would have had them sooner but Rita prevented www.keyscritters.com from getting them out to me. I have to say that their customer service is top notch. :thumbsup:

Yeah, the guy at the LFS said the same thing about the mandarin, I just thought it was the most beautiful fish. I am trying to figure out if I can import pods for it, but to be honest I don't know If I'm up for all that work.

As of yesterday I am also fond of Heniochus diphreutes after seeing them at Mohegan sun casino in the tank they have there. I am trying to find a spot that carries them. What do you think about these fish?
 
NoSchwag said:
As of yesterday I am also fond of Heniochus diphreutes after seeing them at Mohegan sun casino in the tank they have there. I am trying to find a spot that carries them. What do you think about these fish?
Click to expand...

Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve never had one, but Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve read that if you make sure you get a diphreutes, rather than any of the other species in the Heniochus genus, youââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢re ok.

http://www.edge-of-reef.com/Chetodontidi/CHEHeniochus diphreutesen.htm

If you want to get a tang, also, be sure to put the diphreutes in first. This will give the fish a chance to settle in before it has to compete with the tang.
 
I have 3 mini lumenarcs sitting here waiting for me to mount them up in the canopy. Im still undecided between 250 or 400. My tank is a 5'x2'x2' so i know 250 will be plenty, im just not finding that many 250's that have that crisp white with a small tint of blue look to em hehe.

Im noticing theres a better selection with the 400's as compared to the 250's. Im tempted to go 400 with hqi ballast and radium 20k's and just forget about supplements altogether. My electric bill supports the 250's :).
 
NoSchwag said:
As of yesterday I am also fond of Heniochus diphreutes after seeing them at Mohegan sun casino in the tank they have there. I am trying to find a spot that carries them. What do you think about these fish?
Click to expand...

There were four or five at the Puppy Center yesterday, only one looked good though. Might have them next month when our meeting is there.
 
I just ordered one from Vividaquariums. It's the only site I found that has 2 kinds of heniouchus, and explained the difference between the both of them. That and the guy Dave there seemed like he knew his stuff.
 
Helinski, thank you :) It feels good that people like what I'm trying to do.

Fishy I plan on taking a ton of groth shots.

Blue my alk was way too high, but it's actually perfect now. It's not cloudy at all. People have actually said "Is there even water in there?" The problem is in the White Balance of my camera. I think I figured it out last night.
 
Mandarin -pod import. The previous posters are right you will take a long time to get a large enough population in such a clean tank. If you really want to have a mandarin:

You can just set up a 10 or 20 gallon with a something like a bak-pak skimmer/filter to grow out pods in. I recommend sand and cheato in there and maybe some ministars. Don't plumb it into your main tank. I have a couple of sponges that I leave in the pod growing tank and just throw one in the main tank every once in a while. If necessary bait a sponge for a day to get the pods into it.
 
For all of the starboard users..

What does it look like when Coraline starts on the starboard?

Just curious.
 
Just took a picture tonight Noschwag. 2.5 months. Try some zoas on the starboard as well.

P9260111.jpg


Ignore the crappy picture, but you get the idea.

P9260114.jpg


Chris
 
Chris I have some cheeto dust/rust smudge looking stuff starting to grow on it. I thought it was dirt, but after pointing the penductor at it, I realize it's growing on it.

Not sure what it is.
 
NoSchwag said:
Chris I have some cheeto dust/rust smudge looking stuff starting to grow on it. I thought it was dirt, but after pointing the penductor at it, I realize it's growing on it.

Not sure what it is.
Click to expand...

Sounds like reddish/brown coralline to me. I have pink, red, brown and green in my tank.
 
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