Your tanks look amazing. What size tank is the other one?
Originally Posted by
Stanlalee http:///forum/post/3104835
the basic parameters you'll want to monitor with a reef tank are calcium and alkalinity (I do dKH testing myself. simpler) and nitrate and phophates for indicators of excess nutrients. Down the road you can worry about magnesium and other stuff. If lighting and flow are adequate most soft and LPS corals arent difficult to keep. the biggest issue is accumilation of excess nutrients usually caused by overstocking or poor maintenence. the saddles and sixline would be fine although they will eventually get large and irritable enough to max out a 30g. if they dont pair up they wont tolerate each other at full adult size. diamond goby and seahorse pose compatibility issues. seahorses like low flow, slow feeders and wont match well with most reef fish or reef typle flow (there are some fish like clown gobies that match well). diamond gobies feeding requirements favor larger tanks if they dont take to prepared although those that eat prepared would probably live in a 30g for a while. they still are marginal for a 30g due to their eventual size.
fish I'd consider (or have) are:
percula or false perc clowns
royal gramma or other small basslets
smaller species watchman (and other) gobies
sixline wrasse
many blennies
many cardinal species
many dartfish (fire fish)
3 or 4 small fish is about all you want to put in there. the first thing your going to need to determine is what sort of lighting you want and then filtration. 30lbs of rock is fine. thats about what I have/had in both the 30g I've had.
here are some of the trials and tribulations of my current 30g build (thread in need of major updating) if it helps with any ideas
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/323840/30g-considered-nano-new-start-up
one year mark from a few months ago though I've replaced the powerhead with a pair of nano tunze. not much else has changed
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/359797/the-required-1yr-mark-thread
and my first 30g reef of most basic design (no sump, just a seaclone skimmer and all easy corals)
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/221186/reaquascaped-photos-10-800x600-if-56k-still-exist
while I'm at it my (well son's) two black and white saddle clowns currently in a biocube since your interested in having saddle clowns (yet another badly outdated thread. this tank has had several things added and matured a bit since I last updated this thread)
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/355168/josiahs-biocube-14-thread
