Starting reef

benztech

benztech

Member
i wanna start making a reef tank Can these fish stay in there
im buying 400$ on live rock next week i plan on removing the decor and replacing with liverock and coral any suggestions
Tank 55
2 fluval 304 filters
1 wisper 60
2 powerhead 201
1 protien skimmer
48" satelite lamp
Fish
3"lion
3"yellow tang
5"snowflake eel
5 damsels
1 banded coral shrimp
1 arrow crab
i know a few fish will outgrow the tank but later on i hope its not the end of world
should i wait to add live rock or not i need input please
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
well IMO, you are already at you bio-load. In your other thread i didnt know that you had 5 damsels in there. That is a lot of fish.
some suggestions:
-as stated, get rid of the lion and the tank, the eel would be good too. They can go in a reef, but are big waste producers and many will eat crustaceans. I was going to put mine in my reef, but he unexpectedly died (i think he got his head caught under a rock)
-wait for your tank to establish even more. I believe your tank is like 75 days old or something right? You will want a more established tank
-and if you dont get rid of the lion, he will most likely eat smaller fish and crustaceans and some have been known to pick at polyps and other corals.
-get some more flow in your tank
 
benztech

benztech

Member
will get more flow but cant i just restock for lion kills?if he eats them im fine with that
and im waiting for the eel to eat some damsels up
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
you can, but if you REALY have that much money then just buy a tank of suitible size for all your fish. cause you realy should start looking for a place to relocate them.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
your lion gets big...... like.... 125-150 gallons big...... and your tang swims a lot. the snowflake is a good size for that tank, as long as you dont ahve too many fish. and your damsels all swim around and get 5-6 inches! Id recomend getting rid of some of your fish or doing a huge upgrade.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
a panther grouper: like a 210
and IMO, if you want corals too, you cant have any other fish, cause the lion will most likely eat everything, not that you will have a lot of room anyways. And if you want corals, you will probably need a bigger tank because they are so sensitive to waste, something that agressive fish produce a lot of. A bigger tank or a large sump would be necessary IMO. It is usualy good not to get the best of both worlds in the same tank in this hobby. it often leads to deaths, disaster, and money down the drain.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
Originally Posted by BENZTECH
So fish or coral
well no, most reefs have fish. The thing i was getting at is ARESSIVE fish or coral. the agressive fish are usualy not reef safe, they produce a lot of waste, and will eat most smaller fish or inverts and may even snack on corals. not unless you ahve a very big tank and a sump. This, however, is my opinion. I was going to put my snowflake in my reef as i believe i mentioned. But i am not a total hypocryt because the only other fish that was going to be in the tank was a moroon clownfish. so a smaller bioload, and also im going to make a 30 gallon sump which will do wonders to my little tank.
but my snowflake passed away, so now im jsut going to stick to small fish.
 
harndog

harndog

Member
make the 55 a nice little reef and get a 125 or 150 for the lion tang eel and what ever other aggressive fish you want. The tang needs 6 feet swimming room anyway. The 55 will make a nice reef and stock it with a few small basslets or reef safe wrasse. thats what I did. the 75 is a full blown reef with shrimp snails crabs corals gsm clown 2 damsels a spotted mandrian (don't get one until you have been up for at least a year) and just added the last fish a royal gramma. when you have thousands tied up in coral and LR you don't want a hevy bioload killing all your corals.
 
harndog

harndog

Member
forgot to add my aggressive is a 175 BF all it has att is two tangs but will have a lion and an eel within a month or two
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
Originally Posted by BENZTECH
whats a sump?
it is almost like a seperate tank. It is connected with a syphon called an overflow box and water is returned with a return pump. It adds to your water volume and also you can put in live rock which will be more surface area for bacteria to grow.
 
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