Upgrading Tank - Suggestions Please!

[Ahoy89]

Ok I've finally been sucked into the dark side of setting up a reef tank! Every time I go into my lfs I can't help looking at all their coral, their set ups and .. their much better tanks - with tangs which I really want! I really like my 18g nano, I'm actually surprised they're all still alive seeing how a few weeks before setting up I thought marine fish could squeeze into goldfish-sized bowls and knew nothing about LR etc etc... I only made one stocking mistake (humbug fish) at the start, apart from that everything has gone smoothly!

I'm currently saving up money for upgrading equipment and will probably need a bit of advice when it comes to sumps, skimmers etc later on but I think I have enough to be able to get the tank for now which i'll store until I have all I need to transfer.


I'm not looking for a huge tank (even though some look amazing!) because I know I'll be setting myself up for too much than I'm capble of, plus I'm a student and don't have a huge bank account
I'm looking for something ideally in the 200-300L range, to have something along the lines of x2 perculas, 1x fire fish, 1x coral beauty, 1x hippo tang, 1x yellow tang. May change stocking options later on but for now that's what my mind is set on!

Anyone have any good suggestions for aquariums? I'm looking at the juwel 260 bow front in black at the moment, it looks like a really nice tank size, not too big but big enough to house a manageable (for me!) reef. What do you guys think? Anyone have this or anything similar or have any suggestions for tanks around this size I can have a look at?

I'm in no rush, I just want to be organised with this tank and set it out how I want it to look!

 

[Anguilla82]

i'd look at what size tank you can accomodate into a particular space. for instance if you've got a 4 foot alcove in a wall then go for a four foot tank, rather than thinking about litreage.
a good plan would be to get a tank with a resonable front to back depth.
Mine is 2 foot front to back and it makes a huge difference to the volume and the space to place rocks/corals etc...

have you got a particular budget in mind? new/second hand.....

on the classifieds sections of forums (UR in particular) you can pick up some great deals as people upgrade/downgrade.

Rob

also if you're going for a resonable sized tank, look at getting one with a sump to hide all the equipment etc. in it.
Some tanks/cabinets are easier to add a sump to than others.

 

[ben1987]

200-300L is not big enough for a hippo tang. 200L isnt big enough for any tang. 300 is boarder line depending on the fish and tank dimensions. You ideally want 4' length as a minimum. Then the other two dimensions as big as possible. I go for 4x2x2 if you have your heart set on a tang/

 

[Ahoy89]

i'd look at what size tank you can accomodate into a particular space. for instance if you've got a 4 foot alcove in a wall then go for a four foot tank, rather than thinking about litreage.
a good plan would be to get a tank with a resonable front to back depth.
Mine is 2 foot front to back and it makes a huge difference to the volume and the space to place rocks/corals etc...

have you got a particular budget in mind? new/second hand.....

on the classifieds sections of forums (UR in particular) you can pick up some great deals as people upgrade/downgrade.

Rob

also if you're going for a resonable sized tank, look at getting one with a sump to hide all the equipment etc. in it.
Some tanks/cabinets are easier to add a sump to than others.

The area I'm going to put it would be ok for 4 or 5 foot, I would prefer to go for a taller or wider 4 foot tank. Budget is around £300 for the tank, would like to get a second hand bargain if possible. Thanks for the advice, I'll check that out at the moment I've just had a look at a few on ebay.

200-300L is not big enough for a hippo tang. 200L isnt big enough for any tang. 300 is boarder line depending on the fish and tank dimensions. You ideally want 4' length as a minimum. Then the other two dimensions as big as possible. I go for 4x2x2 if you have your heart set on a tang/

That's interesting, the juwel 260 is much bigger than the reef set up they have in my lfs and they have a hippo, yellow, pair of clowns, wrasse and a gamma! They all seem pretty chilled out. Do you mean it would actually be cruel to keep 2 tangs in the 260 or it's just not ideal for them? I don't want to be cramming them in but from what i've seen in the shop there doesn't seem to be a problem. What type of behaviour would they show if they were in a tank that was too small?
Thanks!

 

[ben1987]

Well they maybe ok for a while as small juvies. But an adult hippo tang will be near 12"
Then theres the possible aggression between two tangs. Theres also the fact that they are very messy fish.

You could probably keep a single yellow tang, bristlettoth, kole, chevron happy in that sized tank long term

 

[Ahoy89]

Oh wow I had no idea they could go so big! It's my mum that really likes the hippo tang, I like the yellow guys better

Never heard of a chevron before now or kole, they're lovely, chevron has similar looks to a coral beauty
I think I'll get a decent tank first, 4 footish then make a stock list and check for advice later on, as long as there's no massacre in the tank and they're all happy then so am I

 

[ben1987]

i like these guys, white cheek tang

 

[bagu]

i like these guys, white cheek tang

now that catches my eye...

looks fabulous!

 

[Ahoy89]

ooo wow looks like he's wearing make up