Questions on Care for Clownfish

[steve r]

the prefered and much more humane way to cycle your tank is with out a fish. think about living in a garage with a running car for a week or two. you might live, you might die but its sure gonna be really miserable either way. live sand is a nice way to help jump start you cycle. there has been debate if it helps or not. i used it and i like the look of it. a piece or two of live rock from your LFS or orderd online on top of some dry ( and much cheaper ) base rock would give you a nice start. the base rock will eventually become live and all the surface of the rock will provide a place for good bacteria to grow and filter your tank. good luck.

steve r

 

[MarkW19]

Dont cycle your tank with a fish - to say you think it'll be more interesting by watching a fish DIE or affect it's long-term health in there is very irresponsible...

Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Be patient - the raw shrimp (or uncured liverock etc.) is a much better way to cycle your tank.

 

[piggybank2005]

as long as you to a 10 percent water change every week while its cycling its perfectly fine to cycle with a live fish

i would not do a water change during cycling. i would do it after. you slow down the process when you perform water changes.

 

[piggybank2005]

and this is my 12g. it has built in wet-dry filtration in the back so you won't see it.

and the pic was taken before i added live rocks.

 

[blorkiemom]

jordyt123, can I recommend that you pick up a book or two before buying anything else? As you can see from just this thread, there are many different (and often contradictory) ideas about how to run a saltwater tank. A couple of great books that were (are!) really helpful to me:

Paletta's New Marine Aquarium
Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist

There are many more good books out there, but just these two will give you the basics you need to understand a SW setup. Don't scrimp on the research--the time and patience you put in now will save you much frustration and $ later!

 

[jordyt123]

Ok so I would only need lighting if I had an anemone in the tank? Does live rock need lighting? Also what Protein Skimmer do you guys reccomend if I am on a tight budget?

 

[steve-s]

Does live rock need lighting?

The filtration benefits of the rock are not dependant on lighting. It will work just as well one way or the other. Lighting comes into when you want to cultivate and grow coralline algae (purple/pink rock). Generally speaking, 1-2 watt/gal will typically be enough if just for that. Most NO lighting will support it just fine or at least maintain it.

Also what Protein Skimmer do you guys reccomend if I am on a tight budget?

Don't skimp on a skimmer. They are great to have when they work well and cut down on regular maintenance. Cheaper models will do more to frustrate you and rarely work efficiently. That said, on a 30 gal tank I would suggest either a CPR BakPak 2 or an Aqua C Remora.
Save until you can afford the right skimmer. Until then just be diligent with water changes.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jordyt123]

So...I can just use a regular flourescent lighting on the live rock? Meaning I can just use a 60 watt flourescent bulb that you can buy like at Home Depot on my 30 gal aquarium? Would this bulb http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=29485;category_id=1849;pcid1=1843;pcid2= work? Another thing I don't understand is the water changes am I suppose to take out all of the water in the tank or just a percentage?[/url]

 

[theatrus]

I'm not familiar with a 60W bulb. Do you mean a screw in type compact flourescent? The "60W" is only an equivilent to a similar incandescent, its actually a ~10W bulb (hence the power savings).

I'd go with a 36" flourescent light (assuming it fits over a 30, don't know the dimensions off hand). Use a '10,000k' bulb and an actinic bulb (or 2 '50/50' bulbs). A 36" bulb is around 30W, so 2 would get you 60.

Water changes are done in small incremements, like 10-20%. I'd do 3-4 gallons on a 30 (which is about an average home bucket). Depending on your tank, you can do them weekly to monthly. Not having live rock puts you in the weekly to every other week range.

 

[steve-s]

So...I can just use a regular flourescent lighting on the live rock? Meaning I can just use a 60 watt flourescent bulb that you can buy like at Home Depot on my 30 gal aquarium?

As long as it's just for simple LR and not sessile inverts yes, NO flourescents would work just fine. Only caution is to be careful of the light spectrum of the bulbs used. The lower the kelvin rating (color temp) the more likely you get nuisance algaes. Try to stick with bulbs that are above 6500K minimum. Coralline algae also does best with actinic lighting in the 420nm spectrum.

You could DIY the electronics for the NO fluorescents from HD but I would get the bulbs from the LFS or online.

Another thing I don't understand is the water changes am I suppose to take out all of the water in the tank or just a percentage?

It's based on a percentage of water volume not the entire tank. Typically for relpenishment of trace elements 10-15% weekly is enough.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jordyt123]

OK Now I understand the lighting so a 50/50 55/65 Watt bulb would be all I would need right? Or do I need to separate bulbs to get the full effect? Also I'm still not sure what substrate to get...crushed coral seems like it would take a lot to maintain. What do you recommend? Also how many GPH would a powerhead for a 30 gal tank need to be?

 

[theatrus]

If you got for the CF, a 55/65W 50/50 bulb would work just fine.

I like sand. But if all you are keeping is fish, then CC is easier to vacuum out. If you plan on having any critters, such as hermits or snails, I'd go sand.

Reef setups do 10x turnover, but you could probably get away with less. Maybe two smaller (100-150gph) powerheads to create more random flow?

 

[jordyt123]

Ok...So here is a final list of everything I am going to buy or already have:
30 Gallon Aquarium
Filter
Two Powerheads
25lbs of Live Rock
Carib-Sea Reef Sand- 40 Lbs
Protein Skimmer
Inverts that Clean
Clownfish
50/50 55/65 Watt CF Bulb
Light Fixture
Water Test Kit
Heater
Hydrometer
Aquarium Salt Mix


Is there anything I am missing? Also what do the clownfish eat? Also could I still have the clownfish if I didn't want to buy the live rock and lighting? Basically what is the minimum I would need to have clownfish, inverts that clean, starfish, and other small fish that are compatible with clownfish.

 

[Fishfood]

That should do it. I just recently started a 30g SW reef tank and got two clowns who have paired up. Very cute. I love them. Currently, I have a AquaClear 200 HOB filter, protein skimmer (removed and to be replaced with a HOB fuge), 40# LS/ 30# LR, 5 turbo/20 nassarius (love these guys) snails, 10 blue legged hermits, banded coral shrimp, no corals yet. I check my water almost daily (pretty paranoid with my clowns ), and do weekly 10% water changes. Feed them a mixed diet of frozen and flake food. Brine shrimp is like candy to them but not very nutritional. Stick with mysis shrimp, blood worms, spirulina flakes. Check out this FAQ on feeding clowns. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288782
Here's a pic of my tank