Stocking a weekday only tank?

[mrsgoose]

Hi - we're getting ready to put some fish into our 29g in our office. The tank will be alone over the weekends, and for now I only have lr, some hermits and snails and 1 peppermint shrimp (I have a few aiptasia I'm hoping he'll eat.)
I'm considering adding a pair of perc clowns, a watchman goby and possibly a royal gramma or chromis. I've heard the chromis like to eat a lot and often, so they wouldn't do well left alone for 2 days. Any thoughts on the other fish or opinions in general on what would do well in this tank? Thanks! For now I don't have any coral, but would like to upgrade lighting and add some eventually. Thanks...

 

[mrsgoose]

anyone? I know, I know... I don't want to leave my tank alone, either! Problem is, we decided to do SW (have done FW for years) and now I'm totally obsessed! But, the tank is there and the staff/patients are very into it!
So, help please??

 

[mrsgoose]

bump

 

[psusocr1]

pair of percs would be neat and should be fine over weekends but theyd ont have an anemone so i wouldnt get them.. watchman is cool,, royal gammas IMO are MEAN...what i would od in a 29 gallon would be maybe a watchman, clown goby's are awesome so iw ould get one or two of those and they are really cute..blue/green reef chromis are neat and you can do maybe a mini school of 3( mine school of 6 eat every 2-3 days and they are fine) and a purple firefish would be cool as well in there although im not sure if a 29gallon is large enough buit i dont see why not..you can get a cleaner shrimp.. they are very neat as well
anyway just some opinions to get you started

 

[hatessushi]

You might also look into an aquarium controller so you can monitor some of the aquariums parameters over the weekends. Or at least set it up to notify you if something is wrong. For example the Lighthouse Controller (there are also others) can email you if you temp, pH, Orp, go out or a range you set or you can monitor it from a webpage. The reason I bring that up is that a 29 gallon tank is small for salt water and water parameters can change easily in a day or 2. You wouldn't want to come to work on monday and find everything dead. Probably not from starvation because the fish aren't like people, they don't need to eat everyday. Feed good on friday and they will be fine until Monday or Tuesday.
One other thing you should think about is water top offs. Since it's only a 29 gallon your evaporation for a weekend can really affect your salinity and you will get some good size swings that are not good for the fish or inverts. You might want to look into an automatic top off system.

 

[ophiura]

You may already be sure, but also check that the things like the A/C aren't turned off over the weekends, and that and cleaning crew does not use various cleaning agents around the tank
(...from trying to solve mystery deaths in office tanks in the past....)

 

[hatessushi]

What she said for sure

 

[psusocr1]

hateSushi One other thing you should think about is water top offs. Since it's only a 29 gallon your evaporation for a weekend can really affect your salinity and you will get some good size swings that are not good for the fish or inverts.
how would evaporation effect salinity? when water evaporates from a tank the salt doesnt,, so you will always have the same salinity level no matter what??? all you owuld have to do is top-off

 

[bloke]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
how would evaporation effect salinity? when water evaporates from a tank the salt doesnt,, so you will always have the same salinity level no matter what??? all you owuld have to do is top-off
When water evaporates, freshwater leaves and salt stays making the concentration of salt greater and thereby raises your salinity.
Therefore, when you top off, use freshwater to dilute the increased salinity bringing it back into acceptable ranges.

 

[fbm]

Simple solution here...
Just open up on Saturday and Sundays you could do it under better patient relationships when in actuallity it will be to spend more time with your tank. Win/win situation. More money, more time with tank, happier patients. How can you go wrong with thoughts like this?

 

[mrsgoose]

Originally Posted by fbm
Simple solution here...
Just open up on Saturday and Sundays you could do it under better patient relationships when in actuallity it will be to spend more time with your tank. Win/win situation. More money, more time with tank, happier patients. How can you go wrong with thoughts like this?

Hey - thanks for all the input, everyone! This forum is so helpful! As for opening on weekends, I don't think my two toddlers would appreciate it... and our staff certainly wouldn't lol.