starting a FO tank

[AnnnetteM]

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I used to only go onto the reef board, but 9 mos ago I broke down my reef tank to move and never set it up again. I gave away all my stock and rock. Now I want to set it up again, but in my 7 yr old daughters room and I want to know if I can do fish only with no LR only a sand bottom and the dead coral branches. If so what can I put in the tank? It's 110 gal and I have a wet dry/bioballs, chiller, uv ster, skimmer. Is my idea ok? I want to put LS or should I not? Do I need a cleanup crew of snails and crabs? What about shrimp? What kind of fish? Can I do any tangs with veggie clips or do they need LR? This way of set up is totally new for me. And what levels do I need to watch if not doing LR or coral? And how often are water changes usually? I will set up a reef in about 6 months when this tank is stable, but the reef will be over 200 gal so this I want to keep lower maint. than the reef. My daughter LOVES to watch the fish. It is very relaxing for her so any ideas would be great! Thanks in advance

 

[electrikat]

You can use your equipment(heater?) but I would get rid of the bioballs and replace with lr rubble. Sand is fine for substrate. Tangs are fine with veggie clips. Cleanup crew yes, just don't get fish that eat them(puffers, triggers, etc). Water changes weekly or bi-weekly with consistency being the key factor. Tests are just like for a reef(PH, nitrite, ammonia, nitrate). I suggest reef safe fish even without the reef because some of the others are live food eaters. You won't be able to have a mandarin without live rock so please don't buy one no matter how pretty they are. Pj cardinals, clownfish, green chromis,yellow watchman goby,yellow tang,bi-color blenny, pretty much any goby or blenny, coral beauty angels(all good choices). The green chromis and cardinals can be bought in schools of 5 or more and make a pretty display of schooling behavior. Good luck and congrats to the lucky daughter who gets a 110g in her bedroom(Jealousy sets in )

 

[AR15 guy]

You should get some baserock from hirocks.com. It is cheap and looks ok. And will help give you some biological filtration. I only run a few pounds of LR in my tanks. And I run biowheels 8O

 

[seaham358]

I would suggest some cheap base rock also. Your fish are going to need some place to hide and will make them more relaxed.
I would pick up the Marine Fishes book by Scott Michael and read up on all the fish and make a choice. Show the pictures to your kid and let them pick them out.
Everything you have sounds good the only thing I would add is the base rock.

good luck

 

[AnnnetteM]

starting FO tank

Can I do like Kat suggested trading the bioballs for LR rubble? This really sounds like a plan. Will it provide enough bio filtration for the tank? As far as the sand is concerned, I was thinking Tahitian black sand and should I maybe seed it with something or not? And if so, seed it with what? If I use the LR rubble should I use the floss in the wet dry before it hits the LR or forego the floss? Also should I have the sponge that comes after the LR before it hits the tap off section or maybe turn that into a refuge? Its about 5 gal if not filled all the way. I think I could stick some kind of imitation rock display in the tank for hiding purposes for the fish. Oh, can I put 1 regular angel fish in the tank? I was hoping I could put some non-reef safe fish in this tank in hopes to have something more colorful for my daughter because it won't have the beautiful colors of the corals and LR

 

[electrikat]

The reason I mentioned the reef safe is that some non reef safes eat snails and crabs. I don't think angels eat those. The ones that are only coral eaters should be fine.

 

[AnnnetteM]

starting FO tank

If I do the LR in the wet/dry in place of bioballs though and no LR in the tank then what would be the purpose of snails and crabs? This may sound dumb, but I would think I would only need to worry about fish poop. Ok, what if I did a UGF in the tank to take care of the fish poop and the wet/dry w/ LR? Can you over filter a tank? Then again why would I need crabs and snails? They never seemed to keep up with anything in the reef either.