[y2sba]

Hey guys tell me what you think?
Equipment:
75 gallon tank 55 gallon sump/refugium
Mag-Drive 9.5 800-750gph at 4-5' head as the return pump
2 maxi-jets 1200 about 230gph each on opposite side of the return
(Is that good current? Too much, too little?)
Remora Protien skimmer
Live rock and live sand (DSB)
Refugium to propagate pods for Goby and algae, sea weed for tang
2x 65watts 50/50pc + on 40watt 20,000k normal florecsent
2x 40watt (one actinic one daylight) on the sump
small power filter for use of chemi-pure (Carbon)
Fish:
Bicolor angel 6" max
Blue green Chromis 3"max
Percula clown 4" max
Purple DottyBack 3" max
Citron Clown Goby 2"max
Golden Butterfly 9"max
Blue Tang 12" max
Inverts:
1xCleaner shrimp
Detrivores.....hermits, snails, worms, pods.
No coral

Is there any thing wrong with the fish selction or any opinion on the equipment please feel free to let me know. I just finished reading "The Natural Reef Aquarium" and have some experience with salt and fresh water. Thqnks for the help.

[tendar]

Is this going to be a reef system or just a Fish system?
Reason asking is the butterfly is not reef safe and will munch on corals either way I would probably stay away for the golden they are pretty sensitive if I rember right.
With a sump you should use a in sump skimmer instead of a remora unless you are getting the insump skimmer then you may want to upgrade to a bigger skimmer.
The only other though is on the purple dottyback I am assuming that is a Fridmanti your talking about if so cool they are great.
Get 2 clowns if your going to get one they look alot better with a pair.

[dougchambers]

I second the suggestion for an in-sump skimmer. The Mag9.5 will work fine. We use one for our 75RR return. The 1200 power heads should be fine.

Based on your lighting scheme, it looks like you are going to focus on fish only? If that's the case, you should be fine. If you are planning on anything greater than a few mushrooms and softies, you may want to rethink your lighting.

Let us know where you end up...

Doug

[y2sba]

Yeah this will be a fish only. I dont want coral just yet. With the remora, i own one already and i really like it's performance. It comes with a maxi-jet 1200 that attaches to the input of the skimmer. Since these skimmers originally came with a rio they have to use the tupe adapter to hook up the maxi to the input on the skimmer. (Hope i'm not losing ya) So what i was thinking is actually using the remora in the sump and buying a tube just like the one they supply only longer. That way the powerhead will be way below the water line and i dont have to waste another $150 on the urchin style skimmer from Aqua C. (I'm also using a mag-drive 3 instead of the maxi-jet 1200. In hopes of making up for the gph that i loose buy adding 2' of head from the sump bottom to the sump top.) Do you guys think this'll work.
Do you guys think i need more current in the sump. I'm gonna have 750-800gph return and a protien skimmer. Would i need another power head or is this enough. Thanks for the help.

[Bughead]

Bi-color angels are on the "difficult" list, many seem to just up and die after 3 or 4 months. But if you decide to go ahead with it, don't add it until your tank is aged and stable, about 6 months. Do keep at least 6 green chromis. These are very nice schooling fish but don't do well in smaller groups. I agree about a pair of clowns. Any clowns of the Amphiprion genus are easily paired, just dump two in the tank together and there you go. (Don't try this with maroons). Have fun.

[y2sba]

I was thinking of both a pair of clowns and a school of 7 chromis'. But i was worried about my tank being overstocked. I figure 75g and about 40g in 55g sump. Will i be able to do it without having to take any fish out? Also, about the pair of clowns, i have always been interested in an anemone. I happen to like the bubble tipped which appears to be the most successful anemone in the aquarium hobby. (Atleast from what i read) But this brings up alot of questions. First off i will wait many months before i try to bring the BTA into my aquarium. Can i keep my lighting? If not i dont mind removing the 40watt NO fixture and dubbling the PC 2x65watt 50/50 fixture giving me 260watts for 75g tank. Do the percs host this kind of anemone? If they do, can i keep a pair with one BTA? THANKS GUYS AND SORRY FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS

[kevinpo]

IMO you have too many fish for a 75 gal tank.
The minimum tank size for a Golden butterfly (Chaetodon semillarvatus) is 100 gals.
The Blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) also requires a 100 gal tank.

If you want a butterfly I would recomend a Chaetodon collare. They are pretty hardy, peaceful, colorful and best of all 55 gal is the minimum tank size

For a tang I would advise a gold eye or gold ring tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus) or a scopas (Zebrasoma scopas).

All the other fish are OK except I would drop the bi-color angel they are very difficult to keep long term. If you must have it then eliminate either the tang or the butterfly.

The lighting is a little marginal for an anemone but may be doable a bubble tip will move up the rockwork to get to more light. Just be careful it doesn't get caught in the intake of your powerheads (not a pretty result). Wait 9 months to 1 yr before adding the anemone. If it is from a captive bred one you might get away adding it at 6 months.

Your skimmer modification will work just fine (I've done the same with 2 different skimmers, one of which worked much better after adding the larger pump).

One note: IMO/IME you cannot put 3-4 fish that all require a 100 gal tank in a 100 gal tank even if they are the only fish in there. Some exceptions might be if you bought all of them when they were a few inches long and they all grew up together but as a general rule of thumb once you have multiple fish that all are at the their minimum tank size you need to take this into account and make provisions for it.
I see posts all the time that the power went out, pump stopped. etc. and the owner came home to find all their prized inhabitants dead. It can be heartbreaking if you've had the fish 5+ years. I lost power in my 80 gal for 28 hours and didn't lose a single fish. I'm certain this was due to allowing an extra buffer in sizing the tank for the fish. (OK I'll get off my soapbox now ).

Everything else as far as flow and equipment looks very good to me.

Best regards,
Kevin
PS: The minimum tanks sizes were taken from "Marine Fishes" by Scott W. Michael

[y2sba]

Yeah i was afraid someone would bring this up. Thanks though. All of my web sites say that a 75 and 80 gallon tank would be enough for each of these fish. I gave it some thought and i'm gonna drop the golden butterfly (expensive anyway) and go with just the tang (especially since i'm very excited about growing my own nori and caulerpa for nutrient export). And in place of the golden butterfly i'll guess i'll add the school of chromis' and the pair of clowns to keep them happy.

The bicolor angel is a must. Believe it or not, in my opinion, the bicolor is going to be my centerpiece fish. And even if he does'nt last long, i'm up for the task. Me not buying them wont stop my LFS from selling them. So I might as well pick one up and give it my best shot.

Do you guys have any advice on keeping these guys alive (or better yet happy) for as long as possible. Any little comment will help. Thank you!

[Bughead]

Sounds like you're well on your way to a successful tank. On the bi-color angel, it might not be the care you give at all, but on the collection and care given by the collectors and suppliers when it comes out of the ocean. Bob Fenner said back in the 60's these fish were as "good as gold", but not any more. Anyway, my suggestion would be for you to have the lfs hold your fish for a week, watch it eat and make sure it's healthy. And like I said before, wait 6 months and introduce it to a mature tank. ( Your tang should come into a mature tank also and you might want to add it last, after the angel). Sounds like you have a handle on the plan of adding caulerpa to their diet. Angels do eat greens, altho it's not a mainstay as with tangs, but an important supplemental. Ocean Nutrition makes Dwarf Angel Formula in frozen cubes, but if you can't find it Angel Formula would be a good food to give once a week or so. Dwarf angels don't need the large amount of sponge in their diet as do big angels, but I believe in hitting all the bases. Home made food is also a good choice (I make my own and freeze it). Remember to add vitamin C, in a preperation like Zoe and Omega 3 fatty acids in Zoecon and Selcon.

I have rather controversial opinions on pre-quaranteen and dipping so I won't go into that. But there's my suggestions for keeping your bi-color angel, or any fish, easy or difficult. Good Luck.

[y2sba]

Hey thanks alot BugHead. That was alot of help. I was thinking the same thing about paying a little extra to leave the bicolor in the lfs' tank for an extra week or two. I dont think i will prequarentee the bicolor. (As bad as that might sound.) I'm afraid of putting him through double the stress. MORE BAD HANDLING. Also, it does'nt make any sense to hold him in a seperate tank for two weeks when the lfs is going to do that for me. Hey i would actually like to hear about your controversial opinions on pre-quaranteen and dipping if you dont mind dropping me a line. Again thanks.

[Bughead]

That was it. I don't believe in pre-q because as you said, it just stresses the fish again. It has the stress of being moved from the lfs to a tank that's probably too small for it, then after 2 or 3 weeks put into the main tank where it's stressed again and breaks out with ich anyway. Same goes for FW or medical dipping. There's no point in treating for ich or whatever if it's still on the inside of the fish. All you will succeed in doing is stressing it to a full blown outbreak.

When I first set up a tank, I put in the first hardier fishes and leave the tank alone for a month or so. Then each time I'm ready to add a new fish, I start a cycle of Kick-ich or No-ich. Often the fish will break out in ich, but it's usually no big deal and the outbreak is over in a week. The Kick-ich is a water treatment that prevents the ich from attaching to a fish after it becomes free floating, so once the fish finishes breaking out the ich can't complete its life cycle. I've been doing it this way for the past 2 years very successfully.

[y2sba]

does this contain copper? I DONT LIKE COPPER

[Bughead]

Kick-ich and No-ich has NO COPPER. The active ingredient is 5-Nitroimidazoles. The lable says:" Eliminates parasites while not affecting corals, anemones or other invertebrates. Biodegrades in 4-5 days leaving no harmful residue. Does not harm fish, invertebrates or nitrifying bacteria, and unlike copper treatments can be used in FISH ONLY and/or REEF TANKS with equal results. Needs no costly test kit in order to provide effective results."

Like I said, I've always had good results, both in treating active outbreaks and prophylactally. One time I had to use a second treatment cycle for a particularly virulant strain of ich.

[y2sba]

Wow this is news to me. Although i still would'nt mess around with meds in my tank. Even as a preventative. I'll consider this if i get the breakout i'm expecting from the tang. I'll if the cleaner shrimp will take care of it. But if it does'nt and it starts spreading than i might think of using this. Thanks.

[Penguin]

FWIW, I've used Kick Ich in the past and I agree that it can be used safely in a reef. Does it help in the treatment of ich? Possibly, but I'm not convinced yet. In my cases, I thought that the fish could have fought off the infestation naturally, and that visual improvement merely coincided with the end of treatment. I just couldn't tell if it really worked or not. It shouldn't do any harm though.

[Bughead]

I, too have had variable results. I believe it's due in part to the type of ich you're dealing with. Some strains are more hardy than others. I had one situation that took 2 full cycles of Kick-ich to get the disease under control. But I think that if I hadn't used it, my fish would have become sicker and I may have had losses. I hate putting "stuff" into my tanks too. I will be adding more green chromis and won't bother with any preventive treatment, but if I add another tang or butterfly sometime, I will use the product again.