wildechild_01
Fish Crazy
Okay, here we go.
This journal may be a little slow moving for the first little while here while final decisions are made and equipment arrives and gets set up. But figured it was time to start the journal.
The plan here is a 90g Display tank with sump to house skimmer, heater and a small refugium.. i am hoping i can use this to increase copeapods in the system as eventually i definitely want to put a mandarin in this tank.. note i say eventually.. as in a good 8-12 months down the road if i think they tank is suitable at that point. Originally the plan was for a FOWLR tank, but it quickly became apparent while browsing forums and LFS's that the real draw to salt water for me is not the Fish so much as the Corals, so i have been doing a lot of reading on corals and will be keeping mostly Soft and LPS corals.
i did a lot of looking at tanks and finally settled on a 90g at 48x18x24. (LxWxH) i realize that this tank is a little tall for the coral keeping as i plan on running T5's rather than Halides but figure with proper aqua scaping it will be relatively easy to keep some of the more light hungry corals up a little higher, but some of this may be a bit of a learning experience.
I am building the stand for the Tank myself, using 2x4's for framing and 5/8" MDF for sheeting. A lot of people freak out with MDF around water but with proper preparation and treatment it is perfectly fine, I will be priming and Sealing the MDF before paint to provide protection from anything other than a catastrophic tank failure in which case stand stability will be least of my worries. The tank i am getting is drilled with an overflow in the back left corner, so i will need to aquire the tank and drill the stand before finishing it.
Ok so here is Equipment list so far.
90g Drilled Tank (picking up this week)
Stand (is built but not finnished will post some pics)
20L/29g Sump (looking for a used one locally but if not will purchase one new) will be adding baffles myself.
i am also looking into a diy top off... really its just picking a container for water cause float switch and pump is easy
Reef Octopus NW-110 Skimmer
VorTech MP40 Propeller Pump This is kinda pricey but after discussion with my partner we are getting this and if there are dead spots (which i know there will be) we will get another smaller one to help with flow. I will admit this is a pretty cool piece of equipment though with lots of settings
Refractometer - i haven't decided on which one yet.. any recomendations?
Reefmaster Test Kit - picking up at LFS any other water tests not in the Reefmaster kit i will just buy from LFS's
Potential Stocking
A lot of these i have 1-2 cause i would like pairs if possible but don't want aggression issues
2 - Tank Bred Clowns (seriously i couldn't go salt and not have clowns)
1/2 - Fire fish.. i would love 2 but reading suggests they may not get along.. any input here?
1-2 Gobies - haven't decided on specific here.. again though not sure if aggression will be an issue
1-2 Bicolor Dottyback
1 Kaudern's Cardinal
I had really wanted a tang of some kind for a larger center piece fish but since i ended up under 100g and with a 4 foot tank (6 foot just wouldn't fit) i've decided that in fairness to the Fish this may not be the best choice for me.. so looking into dwarf Angel fish maybe, or foxface??
at this point thats really all i am looking at for fish... and possibly not even all of that, depends on how things go.
and as for Corals... oh my i dont really know... I like Zoas.. and some of the softies.. but am hoping to get a "longer" LPS that my Clowns will decide to host.
Okay, i think thats about all for now. Any input would be greatly appreciated.. also any questions... things maybe i haven't thought about.. I want to make sure i do this up right.
This journal may be a little slow moving for the first little while here while final decisions are made and equipment arrives and gets set up. But figured it was time to start the journal.
The plan here is a 90g Display tank with sump to house skimmer, heater and a small refugium.. i am hoping i can use this to increase copeapods in the system as eventually i definitely want to put a mandarin in this tank.. note i say eventually.. as in a good 8-12 months down the road if i think they tank is suitable at that point. Originally the plan was for a FOWLR tank, but it quickly became apparent while browsing forums and LFS's that the real draw to salt water for me is not the Fish so much as the Corals, so i have been doing a lot of reading on corals and will be keeping mostly Soft and LPS corals.
i did a lot of looking at tanks and finally settled on a 90g at 48x18x24. (LxWxH) i realize that this tank is a little tall for the coral keeping as i plan on running T5's rather than Halides but figure with proper aqua scaping it will be relatively easy to keep some of the more light hungry corals up a little higher, but some of this may be a bit of a learning experience.
I am building the stand for the Tank myself, using 2x4's for framing and 5/8" MDF for sheeting. A lot of people freak out with MDF around water but with proper preparation and treatment it is perfectly fine, I will be priming and Sealing the MDF before paint to provide protection from anything other than a catastrophic tank failure in which case stand stability will be least of my worries. The tank i am getting is drilled with an overflow in the back left corner, so i will need to aquire the tank and drill the stand before finishing it.
Ok so here is Equipment list so far.
90g Drilled Tank (picking up this week)
Stand (is built but not finnished will post some pics)
20L/29g Sump (looking for a used one locally but if not will purchase one new) will be adding baffles myself.
i am also looking into a diy top off... really its just picking a container for water cause float switch and pump is easy
Reef Octopus NW-110 Skimmer
VorTech MP40 Propeller Pump This is kinda pricey but after discussion with my partner we are getting this and if there are dead spots (which i know there will be) we will get another smaller one to help with flow. I will admit this is a pretty cool piece of equipment though with lots of settings
Refractometer - i haven't decided on which one yet.. any recomendations?
Reefmaster Test Kit - picking up at LFS any other water tests not in the Reefmaster kit i will just buy from LFS's
Potential Stocking
A lot of these i have 1-2 cause i would like pairs if possible but don't want aggression issues
2 - Tank Bred Clowns (seriously i couldn't go salt and not have clowns)
1/2 - Fire fish.. i would love 2 but reading suggests they may not get along.. any input here?
1-2 Gobies - haven't decided on specific here.. again though not sure if aggression will be an issue
1-2 Bicolor Dottyback
1 Kaudern's Cardinal
I had really wanted a tang of some kind for a larger center piece fish but since i ended up under 100g and with a 4 foot tank (6 foot just wouldn't fit) i've decided that in fairness to the Fish this may not be the best choice for me.. so looking into dwarf Angel fish maybe, or foxface??
at this point thats really all i am looking at for fish... and possibly not even all of that, depends on how things go.
and as for Corals... oh my i dont really know... I like Zoas.. and some of the softies.. but am hoping to get a "longer" LPS that my Clowns will decide to host.
Okay, i think thats about all for now. Any input would be greatly appreciated.. also any questions... things maybe i haven't thought about.. I want to make sure i do this up right.