Advice For A New Tank

[overfishy]

I have been doing alot of reading over the past few months and am getting ready to start filling my 110 gallon tank. i plan on having around 100 to 130 pounds of live rock. i plan to have 2 clarki clown fish and two pink skunk clowns. a yellow tang blue tang some shrimp a coral beauty angel fish and flame hawkfish and a small school of chromis. for corals i want a brain, anoname and some small others. i have lights and a heater i need help with a design for a sump and what else the tank might need i also have a proten skimer the tank measures 60 inches long by 18 inches wide and 24 inches deep. any good help would be nice

 

[petpirate]

I have been doing alot of reading over the past few months and am getting ready to start filling my 110 gallon tank. i plan on having around 100 to 130 pounds of live rock. i plan to have 2 clarki clown fish and two pink skunk clowns. a yellow tang blue tang some shrimp a coral beauty angel fish and flame hawkfish and a small school of chromis. for corals i want a brain, anoname and some small others. i have lights and a heater i need help with a design for a sump and what else the tank might need i also have a proten skimer the tank measures 60 inches long by 18 inches wide and 24 inches deep. any good help would be nice

You might need to review your stocking choices. While some people have been able to get away with different species of clownfish in one tank, it is not recommended. They will most likely fight.

Secondly, a flame hawkfish will not co-exist with shrimp. Not unless you intent the shrimp to be its food!

Thirdly, I would just stick with one tang in a tank that size. If you're starting out, the yellow would be the safer and more sensible choice.

Fourthly... ditch the anemone. I implore you not to add your name to the list of aquarists who have killed these creatures within a few months to a year. If you insist on the anemone, then make sure you have intense MH lighting that can punch down through those 24 inches, and plan on not keeping any sessile invertebrates that might sting it (i.e., no corals). Also, the key is to wait at least 6 months before purchasing the anemone. The clowns will be fine without a dying anemone in their tank.

Sorry for all this - but I hope that the advice steers you away from the misery and heartache you'll get from throwing all these things together.

As for the sump design, it could be as simple or as complex as you like. How much space do you have to play with? Is your tank drilled? Do you want to incorporate a refugium.

 

[overfishy]

As for the sump design, it could be as simple or as complex as you like. How much space do you have to play with? Is your tank drilled? Do you want to incorporate a refugium.
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other than the tangs which i read you have to add at the same time all of this stuff will take place over a long period of time not just droped in on the first day. the clowns will come early but the anenome will be later your advice on the flame hawk was and is very helpful i probly will not add that because i like the shrimp

as far as the tank goes it is drilled with two corner overflows and a have a 30 gallon tank that sits under it inside the stand how would i use my proten skimmer and turn this into a refugium

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, lets start with the clown issue. That tank is large enough at 110gal to have 4 clownfish (2 of 2 species) but you'll HAVE to add them all at once. I've heard a lot of stories around my reef club of owners with large tanks, some even larger than yours, where adding a pair of different species clowns after a resident pair had allready established a territory go horribly wrong. Gotta add all 4 simultaneously and cross your fingers for the next 48 hours. Hopefully they'll square off and be ok. Even then, you might not luck out. Tangs should also be introduced in the same manner if possible.

As for the sump/skimmer/filtration... A 30g is pretty small of a sump for a 110 but I dont know how much room you have in your stand. The easiest method for sump design IMO is to have your two overflows drain into a chamber that houses your skimmer (want that dirty water into the skimmer). Then, overflow into a refugium with LR and macroalgae, and finally drain into a chamber that houses your pump. Room should be left in the pump chamber if possible for the addition or a calcium react or perhaps some other advanced hardware, should you get the itch. Then, the pump should push up through solid PVC tubing back to the tank. A swing gate check valve, and holes drilled in the return tube at the water line should be used to combat back-flow siphoning in the event of power loss.

Have a look at melevsreef.comfor some sump tips and guidelines.

Also, what type of skimmer do you have? Manufacturer? Model? HOB, in-sump?