Originally Posted by
mquintanar
Hi Im planning to set up a new tank and I have a lot of questions I hope you can help me Im new on this
1.- Size of the tank (I like one between 50gal and 100 gal) dimensions? suggested
2.- Type of substrate (sand or CC)
3.- Type of filtraton (Im planning yo have some fish, shrimp and if possible son anemona for a clownfish)
4 Equipement recomended (Brand, capacity, use, etc.)
Thanks in advanced
1.
Hi Ive bin doing this for a while from what Ive read and exp.the larger the tank the EZer it is to take care of as fare as the larger the water valume the EZr it can be to take care of keeping in mind that 50gal. tank is not exactally small so 50gal, or 100gal, are both just fine. Just try to keep in mind that you will probly want to put (1 pound of cured live rock per each gal. of water in the tank like 50.gal tank would have 50 pounds of cured live rock cured live rock is about $7.00 a pound make shure U use cured live rock not uncured live rock if U use cured live rock U will have a lot less prob's and cured LR is only $1.00 more than uncured LR. :happyfish
Dimensions of tank the only seg. I can make is the larger the surface the more oxg. the tank gets this helps with every thing like filtration,oxgenashion, this helps to get rid of pesky nitrates thru the nitrogen cyl. oxg. being the key fule for nitrofication or the nitrogen cyl. other than that enless the top of the tank is really small like some really tall tanks that usally stand 5, to 6 foot tall get the tank that looks good to U!!! :cheer:
2. As fare as substrate goes Live Sand LS or Crushed Coral CC there R a lot of ideas and reserch on this I will say CC is the old school way and that LS is more the newr way of salt water keeping either way done corectly can b very binaficl LS has a lot more strong points like its softer so fish like blennys can dig down in the sand for fun and safty this is something they do in the ocean aswell and Mandarin fish use the LS as a extra source of food haveing a LS bed is very inportant in keeping Mandarin fish, Gobbis, Blennys and clown fish and really all my fish tend to make littel hole like homes in the sand to sleep in at night they sleep in the same hole in the sand evey night this can cute down on your fish's stress leval a lot Ive found long term aswell LS helps to filter the tank massavly as does CC studdy's from many Marianbiologist have found the binafits of LS are great for salt water fish breeding and fish life.
3. Filtraton a really good protein skimmer is all you should need as long as U have 1 pound of live rock per. gal. off tank water U can buy the rock slowly if needed and put it in the tank as U buy it if U decide to do this just dont over stock Ur tank with fish to fast because with out anuff live rock to filter the tank and haveing to many fish your nitrates can climb to fast do water changes when Ur nitrates climb to unsafe levels so fish will not stress and get sick!!! I use test strips to test my water test strips R more accurat than liuqid test and with test strips U can get the 1s that test nitrate, nitrite,PH,KH, and water hardness all on 1 test strip there EZr & faster and cheaper that haveing to buy 5 diffrent tests. and LS or CC as your substrate I use LS I love the # of binnafits it has for my fish, coral, anemoni, and tank...
4. Equipement / brands I use Rio, and powerhead brand power head pumps to push water from my sump tank to my top tank this is so there is nothing sucking water in my top tank for animonis to get stuck to this can kill them I would recomend a sump if for this reason alone and sumps have many other binafits!!! U can make a sump out of a 10,18,20,29,30 gal. or whatever tank for not to much $ brands use what ever U can get a good deal on most of the time is fine exept for your tank (Heater I would get 2 name brand Marianland or better heaters the reason to use 2 heaters is so if 1 of the heaters burns out breaks stops working so on you fish and all in the tank will not die like at night or when at work when you would not B at home to notice!!!) GOOD LUCK I hope I helped U a little Have lodes of fun!!!
:happyfish :happyfish
