Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Fish Only Tanks › Fixing tank back up
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Fixing tank back up

post #1 of 47
12/28/11 at 2:47am
Thread Starter 

i have a 5 ft tank. about 115 gallons. has been up and running for over five years now. an over aggressive snow flake eel has take over for a few years. finally decided to give him away. opening up my options.

 

ill be honest. ive neglected the tank for a while so it needs a little bit of work.

 

main tank has about inch and a half of sand and live rock. 

 

water goes though overflow and down underneath tank.

 

goes though a filter sock.

 

and approximatelly 15 gallon refuge with two inch sand bed and about 5 lbs or lr rubble. and softball size of chaeto.

 

SHOULD I FILL THE ENTIRE REFUGE PART WITH RUBBLE. HOW MANY LBS SHOULD BE IN THERE?

 

i would like to add my inverts and clean up crew to the display tank and refuge first.

 

WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD COMBINATION AND QUANTITY OF COOL INVERTS?

 

HOW MANY SMALL/MEDIUM COMMUNITY FISH WOULD FIT IN MY TANK?

 

also have a canister filter with chemi pure bags inside.

 

thanks.

Reply
post #2 of 47
12/28/11 at 9:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by martinc909 View Post

i have a 5 ft tank. about 115 gallons. has been up and running for over five years now. an over aggressive snow flake eel has take over for a few years. finally decided to give him away. opening up my options.

 

ill be honest. ive neglected the tank for a while so it needs a little bit of work.

 

main tank has about inch and a half of sand and live rock. 

 

water goes though overflow and down underneath tank.

 

goes though a filter sock.

 

and approximatelly 15 gallon refuge with two inch sand bed and about 5 lbs or lr rubble. and softball size of chaeto.

 

SHOULD I FILL THE ENTIRE REFUGE PART WITH RUBBLE. YES HOW MANY LBS SHOULD BE IN THERE? As much as you can fit

 

i would like to add my inverts and clean up crew to the display tank and refuge first.

 

WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD COMBINATION AND QUANTITY OF COOL INVERTS? Hermits or snails but not both (hermits will kill snails) 

 

HOW MANY SMALL/MEDIUM COMMUNITY FISH WOULD FIT IN MY TANK? depends on type, best to give a list and people will respond

 

also have a canister filter with chemi pure bags inside.

 

thanks.



 

Reply
post #3 of 47
12/28/11 at 6:34pm
Thread Starter 

why on  the swf.com website they have reef packages with snails crabs  and shrimp?

Reply
post #4 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:28pm

different CUC's for options...

 

so what all is in your tank right now? no fish, no inverts, no cuc?

how much rock? (a photo would help :)   )

what kind of fish are you thinking about?

 

and personally i dont think 2 inches of sand in your fuge is doing anything positive for you... I would take that out and just fill it with live rock rubble or some other kind of biological filtration??? the chaeto is good though....

 

what are your readings as of late?

Reply
post #5 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 

IMG_20111228_193507.jpg

Reply
post #6 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:42pm
Thread Starter 

IMG_20111228_193523.jpgIMG_20111228_193551.jpg

Reply
post #7 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 

IMG_20111228_193536.jpgIMG_20111228_193603.jpg

Reply
post #8 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:45pm
Thread Starter 

IMG_20111228_193620.jpg

Reply
post #9 of 47
12/28/11 at 7:47pm
Thread Starter 

had to take all the rocks out to get the eel out and were just put in. havent fixed them yet and everything is all cloudy. no animals are inside.

Reply
post #10 of 47
12/29/11 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
What would be a good list of inverts to get..?

Also..would inverts go in fuge?
Reply
post #11 of 47
12/29/11 at 5:45pm

well we need to know what fish you are wanting... that determines if you can have shrimp/crabs or not normally..

though a good assortment of snails is always good...and you CAN put inverts in the fuge.. but unless you are doing a Deep Sand Bed you really have no need to..(unless they are detritus eater and you want a really clean fuge, lol)

(i usually end up putting fish or inverts that I had to excommunicate from the Display Tank down there till I can find them a new home, lol)

Reply
post #12 of 47
12/29/11 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
I want the safest fish I can find. Tired of seeing them eating each other.. But I want to start w inverts first.
Reply
post #13 of 47
12/29/11 at 7:33pm

well... i get your point.. but to know if you can have shrimp and crabs you have to know what kind of fish you want to have,,,, even some reef safe 'nice' fish like to munch on them...

with that said I guess just get what you want and then pick your fish based on if it eats them or not?

I prefer to make a list of what I like, then narrow down to what will work with one another (just because they dont eat each other doesnt mean they wont fight)

and then I make my list of what inverts and corals I could house with them.... 

Reply
post #14 of 47
12/29/11 at 7:46pm
Thread Starter 
I honestly haven't sat down and thought about what fish I want. Like anthias. Cardinals. Small angel. Blennys. Gobys.

Could I start with some cleaner shrimp and small hermit crab?

I want as community as a tank can get
Reply
post #15 of 47
12/30/11 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 

i added 

 

2 firefish gobys

 

2 cleaner shrimp

 

1 orange starfish.. linkia?

 

1 feather duster

 

 

 

what other shrimp can i get?

Reply
post #16 of 47
12/30/11 at 8:28am

Firefish are jumpers so watchout for them trying to carpet surf.

 

You can have a variety of Cleaner Shrimp species but I suggest getting them at least in pairs.  What species did you start with? (not that it matters)

 

Linckia are NOT an easy animal to care for.  I would have advised against that one.  I corrected your spelling only to make web searches easier.

Reply
post #17 of 47
12/31/11 at 12:28am
Thread Starter 

they're two skunk cleaner shrimp.

 

 

today i picked up 4 peppermint shrimp and 5 small hermit crabs.

 

 

fish dont really interest me asmuch as the small stuff does.

 

 

id like to get a few fire shrimp. and that would be it for the shrimp.

 

how many snails and hermit crabs be put in to my tank.

 

 

 

what other inverts would be recommended. id like to in the near future start settng up corals

 

Reply
post #18 of 47
12/31/11 at 7:16am

Fire Shrimp are also a species of Cleaner Shrimp.  They all get along.  I failed to mention earlier that all of the Shrimp should be similar in size though as they are cannibals and will eat a molting shrimp if it's not large enough to put up a fight.

 

I'm not a fan of Hermit crabs at all so I'm the wrong person to ask about quantity.

 

For Snails I suggest a variety but the quantity depends on food availability which can vary greatly from tank to tank.

 

Serpent Srafish can be entertaining.  Avoid any that have spikes on their arms.

 

Go slow.

Reply
post #19 of 47
12/31/11 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 

All the shrimp are small. I avoided the bigger ones... Will hermits kill snails? I had a chocolate starfish years ago and won't do those guys anymore if that's what you mean by spikes. I'm thinking of getting a reef package from swf.com. Which would work best. I have a hole in my tank about 8 inches from the bottom of the tank right in the middle thats running to a canister filter. It has a sort of cover so nothing can go through. I'm wanting to remove the canister filter and replace it with something esle. It has the return hose as well running through a hole at the top of the tank. What would be a good idea to replace it with.? Thanks for the advice.

Reply
post #20 of 47
12/31/11 at 12:21pm

Yes, Hermit Crabs are opportunistic omnivores and will eat anything they can catch that can't protect itself including algae (good) and snails (bad).

 

If you're looking for more waterflow, you could easily add a nice sized external water pump for a closed loop.  Keep the canister and run GAC a couple days a month to polish the water.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Fish Only Tanks
Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Fish Only Tanks › Fixing tank back up