Quote:
Originally Posted by
ocd1130 http:///t/394712/55gallon-tank-need-advice#post_3518200
So confused! I am starting up with a clown fish mated pair. I am looking to breed clownfish to pay for my new obsession
the owner of the pet store told me to not bother w all that mess your talking about. No need to cycle the tank he has a bottle of magic that will do it for me.. Well let me say if my 250.00 clown pair die its his gain and my loss... What do you think do i need to cycle? Will two over the tank filters work and thats it with the exception of the flower pot? Please help me out
Hi there,
Yes, it is all very confusing... But kind of necessarily so, there are a lot of ways to set up a tank and be successful. If you are planning starting out in the hobby and you want to keep a mated pair of clowns to breed, I would want a pretty decent filtration setup. But that's just me...
I would not risk a pair of $250.00 fish on a tank cycled with a bottle of magic. I would set up a tank with whatever filtration I feel good about, and let it cycle with live rock and live sand (you can use base rock and sand seeded with the live stuff to keep things more cost effective). Either using a raw table shrimp or some pure ammonia. After adding the shrimp or ammonia, I would wait a day or two, then test the parameters (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) until I see the spikes, and then everything coming down to a zero level. Then the tank is cycled. I would then ghost feed the tank for a week or two and keep testing the parameters to make sure everything stays at zero. Then I would add fish. But again, that's just me. Everyone does it different (some with greater success then others).
As far as filtration goes, I think along the same lines as Flower does (for the most part). A sump would be my first choice (so many benefits: Hides equipment, adds extra water volume, extra space to expand equipment later). Next would be a couple of big HOB power filters paired with a good HOB skimmer (or better yet a skimmer/ refugium combo HOB style). Last a canister filter paired with HOB skimmer.
If you are going the sump route, I am a big fan of DIY and keeping it basic (at least to start). You can pick up a tank for cheap, add one or two pieces of glass (baffles) to make two or three compartments. I like a skimmer section, refugium section, return pump section, with a little mechanical filtration for the water being drained into the sump (filter sock, or the like). In the refugium, I like plenty of macro algae's.
Here is a pic of a 29g sump I made for a future frag tank build I have going. The parts and material to make it cost under $100.00. It is pretty basic. but can work very well. It took about an hour to put it all together. I purchased a few things at a LFS/tank manufacturer (silicon, glass cut to size, and that gray media box {used for mechanical filtration, like a filter sock}).
500/height/1000" />
Here is another pic of one just like it all done.
The drawings show a skimmer and return pump (very crude drawings BTW, lol).
Here is a pic of my big 67g sump for my 125g system with all the bells and whistles.
