Best Fish/coral For My Tank?

[mattrock]

tank set up so far its been running for 3half-4months


140L
LIVE SAND
LIVEROCK (22K)

heater
floval 205filter
aquaclear 70
t5s lights (thin bulbs)

jus put in 4snails and 5red hurmt crabs for a clean up crew

2x mushroom coral

im thinking of

1xflame angelfish
2x black or orange clown fish
2 or 3 x pacific blue tang
2x yellow tang
3x green chromis

is this to many fish for my tank if i get them all?? and whats the best coral 2 use? iv been told i cant use hard corals becuse of got thin t5 lights....is this right?

 

[Colin_T]

way too many fish for that size tank. Only 1 small tang in a 140litre tank, probably a yellow rather than a blue because they don't get as big.
You could have a flame angel, a pr of ocellaris clownfish and a small yellow tang.

T5s are thinner than normal fluoros. If you have High Output (HO) T5s then they produce even more light again.
Depending on how many T5s you have on the tank, and whether or not they are HO or normal output will determine what corals you can keep. It also depends on how high the tank is. Tall tanks need more light than shallow ones.
Leather corals, coral morphs are pretty good to start with. They can be placed on rocks near the surface so they get more light

 

[mattrock]

the t5s are the h0 ones (39w) and the tank is near a window for light as well the lights are about 5-6inch from the water surface

i dont want2 rush the tank and get it wrong i love marine fish when there done propley

 

[Colin_T]

how many T5s have you got on the tank and how tall is the tank?

 

[mattrock]

ello colin

thanks for ur help

iv got 2 t5s a blue bulb and a white build thats what i was told i needed 4 this size tank ....maybe i need more??

the tank is 1meter long...........40cm tall................40cm...front 2 back

 

[Colin_T]

2 x 39w lights over that tank is adequate for most low light corals. If you add another 1 or 2 globes then you could keep a much wider selection including some acroporas (4 globes for acros).

currently with 2 lights you could try
leather coral and most soft corals
coral morphs
xenia coral
button coral
daisy star coral
torch, anchor/hammer corals (Euphillias) - feed
cataphillias - feed
fungias/ heliofungias - feed

The last 3 corals listed with feed next to them, should be fed every few days with some small pieces of frozen fish food, either prawn, fish or something along those lines. They don't need much but a little bit every few days will make a big difference to their overall health.

Avoid buying Dendronephthia or Goniopora corals. They won't survive unless kept in a specialised tank where they can catch plankton every day. The exception to this is the red goniopora that will be fine in most normal coral tanks.

Have your lights on for about 12 hours a day and watch the corals. If they start to fade or look pale then increase the lighting period by a few hours. You can have the lights on for up to 16 hours per day.

Have plenty of water movement in the tank but not aimed directly at a coral. Variable water movement is better than a constant stream in the same spot. Too much water movement around Euphillias will encourage them to send out sweeper tentacles (long predatory tentacles) at night. In calmer water they are less inclined to doing this.

 

[Musho3210]

i agree with colin except many true leather softies would definately like more light, the ephillias dont need to be fed daily or at all, and i keep my lights on for 8 hours a day and its too much (algae wise, by the 7th hour the corals are "tired" and start to close, ready for the night.

 

[mattrock]

ok cool iv had the some coral in for a week or so im gona get a yellow tank and 2 clown fish today
i think everything should b fine i tested my levels agian last night and its between 0 and slit 0.1 all my other levels are fine at 0

thanks for your help boys

 

[Musho3210]

so your tank is running on pure hydrochloric acid (if your ph is 0 that is)

whats your exact numbers?

 

[mattrock]

nitrate 0

nitrite 0

amioina went 0 then 0.1 then 0 then 0.1 again iv gota test it again 2night

iv jus done my amonia test again and its still 0.1 but iv put in hurmit crabs and snails 4 a clean up crew.... is there anyway 2 get it down to 0? iv also been told the reading is at its higest 4hrs after feeding...is this right?

i was told these were the 3 main tests to do... iv got some coral and there all ok all pollops are open etc and flowing good with the water flow..


i never got the fish well i got a 2 clown fish and 2 green chromis there eating etc all good im not getting any more fish for a while is there any signs with these fish if theres any probs? spots? swimming on there sides etc?

im also getting alot of salt creep on the outside of the tank is that normal?

 

[SkiFletch]

sounds like you're having trouble discerning the color scheme on your test kit, ammonia shouldn't cycle up and down like that...

im also getting alot of salt creep on the outside of the tank is that normal?

Depends, where? Could be normal, could be horrible too...

 

[@ombomb]

way too small for a tang of any king unless you have a much larger tank to move it to, yellows grow to 8 inches+ eventually and personally I think putting a fish that gets that big in a small tank is very bad fish keeping

 

[Musho3210]

way too small for a tang of any king unless you have a much larger tank to move it to, yellows grow to 8 inches+ eventually and personally I think putting a fish that gets that big in a small tank is very bad fish keeping

agree 100%

 

[Colin_T]

yellow tangs don't hit 8inches. They only get to 6inches max and I have never seen one bigger than 5 inches. Most that turn up are 3-4inches

 

[mattrock]

so is there away to get the levels down so that the amonia is 0???

iv jus come home and 1 of the clown fish had died on me and iv noticed that 1 of the corals seems 2 close early or 1/2 closes ..... the other 2 are fine the one that closed done it the other day when a crab walked over it which is fine...am i doin something wrong?? when i brought it tho it went straight 2 the back of the tank and its colour wasnt as bright as the other 1

the salt creep ............. on my tank lid theres a hole for the filter pipe to go in to and it seems to b coming from there down 1 corner


im not sure if im doin anything wrong.......the tank was new and the fillters i ran thought a bucket with clean water everyday for a month then put my live sand and water in for 2months on there own then 2months with jus the rock so its been running awhile b4 i put fish in it......

thanks for ur help