[wozza]

While there is not a lot of point in me asking this question for another 3 years, i can’t just as most people in this "hobby" can’t stop thinking about it.
So while im doing my degree i shall plan and plan and plan how and what i shall keep in my 55g tank when i eventually set it up again.

For now what i would really like is a species tank for a pair of Premnas biaculeatus, with a nice huge bubble-tip anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor.

What i want to know is, will this tank be big enough to house them for there entire life?
How much live rock would i need in order to perform denitirfication at a rate fast enough to keep my nitrate at 0ppm.

My other filtration equipment will be a skimmer rated 3x the tank size and chaetomorphia under 2x 55w PC T5 in the sump.



thanks james

[wozza]

anyone??

[reefbeginner]

I have a GSM, but I don't think she is full grown. I'd like to maybe try getting her a mat someday, but she seems ok for now. She could definitely be happy being in her own species tank with a mate. I have heard of a female 5" long, so I think without competition, a 55 would be tight but ok. I have a 60 that is 48" and she doesn't dart across it like tangs do- rather she skims her dorsal fin out of the top and plays in the current and checks out all floating detritus to see if it's food, etc. She does keep a BB corner as a nest- funny to watch her sweep up the sand. I've even seen her move little rocks away with her nose.

Right now I have a FOWLR with a crappy trickle down, had a fish with ich in the DT, and she is still doing marvelous. She is super hardy, only slightly aggressive for now (never charges or bites me, but seemed a little pushy with the new dwarf angel- may have been what caused the angel to get ich)

She does not seem to have any problem even though my nitrates stay over 10 and under 30 with crappy trickle down. (I am planning an upgrade)

as I understand it, BTA will need pristine water conditions, which aren't too hard to keep with the right equip on a 55.

[reefbeginner]

oh- I have 80lbs of live rock for bio filtration :-)
(and my trickle down thing has a crappy airstone skimmer)

[leebca]

Sorry James. I wrote a lengthy reply but somehow I didn't post it. It wouldn't be the first. . .

I won't go the length this time. The short of it is that the female can get as long as 7 inches whereas the male stays at 3 inches or less. To accommodate these 10 inches of fish you need the 45 gallon or over. But since you want near or always 0 nitrates, then you need to use a 55 with a deep sand bed OR the 45 gallon with a 10 gallon refugium. The refugium will need to have a DSB and macro algae (e.g., Chaetomorpha).

The above assumes:
no additional nitrogen waste producers
skimmer properly sized
sump
over 50 gallons in the system
mechanical filtration
carbon

It's great that you're planning. I wish everyone would do this.

[wozza]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Well i have a 55gal DT with a 15gal sump, i will have aprox 4" sand bed in the DT and with about 25kg of live rock, i am also planning on a tiger tail cucumber in there as well to keep the sand bed clean, as well as the usual algavorous/detrivorous snails.
In the sump I will have the first section with a skimmer; the second section will have chaetomorphia and a fluidized carbon/phosphate remover.
Im not planning on sand in the sump.
For flow I am going to have 2 closed loop system as well as my return pump.
My return pump with the head took in to account will be about 2500lt/h
And the 2 x closed loops will be 3000lt/h each for a total of 11500lt/h
So about 57 x tank volume per hour MAX, I think I will have to turn the pumps down as it may be too much for the BTA to handle

Also the overflow pipes will be directed in to filter bags for mechanical filtration.
The skimmer is a similar to the euro reef design and is rated for a tank of 500lt.

How does that sound?

Also I have a 150W MH for the BTA but I already know from keeping one for the last 9 months that it will be ok under that.

Thanks james

[leebca]

Sounds good to me. The skimmer rating can be deceiving. If it processes at least 1.25 times the volume of water in the system every hour or more, then it is properly sized.

[wozza]

the pump is a 1000lt/h pump so i guess if you take the fact it draws in air as well maybe 200-300lt/h then i would say its good to go.
cheers for the help lee

P.S. no doubt ill change my mind in a couple of months time and be asking more questions , for me half the fun of having a fish tank/reef tank is the planing of the system i get so excited about the planing, haha im such a child