Tank setup

[luckyc1423]

I bought a 90 gallon tank last week from petco...I went to my local exotic store and get 60 pounds of live sand and 30 pounds of regular sand....I had a magnum 350 filter but I didnt like it so I took it back and bought a cascade 1000...I really like this filter much better as it seems to run better...not that it cleans the water better just seems more user friendly...the magnum did like 350 gph and cascade does 265 gph so I lost a little bit of power....I let the tank run for two days and without really reading much into saltwater I wanted to get fish...I went to the store and they told me to just get three damsils while im cycling...im 5 days in so far and everything seems to be going good....I only have 30 pounds of live rock as I cannot currently afford to go ahead and get another 60 pounds right now...since it is live rock can I add after my cycle? The fish have been in there three days and seem to be doing well......as far as filtering does anyone have any advice as im sure it wont go as well when I have alot of fish....I dont want a sump as im to close to the wall for overflow and I dont want to drill into my aquarium so im stuck having to stick with canisters......advice? concerns? tips?

sorry if I sound uneducated on this subject I am just really new to salt water and I have actually learned alot reading from this forum and various other websites

 

[melosu58]

advice? concerns? tips?

I do have concerns for the fish. My advice would be maybe you could return them and do a humane cycle for your tank. As far as not having enough LR maybe you could fill out the rest of the rock with BR. Much cheaper and your current LR will seed the BR.

 

[roka64]

Canisters are a personal preference, some use them and others use skimmers. I use canisters for adding purigen and a little additional flow and put some LR rubble for a little more biofiltration.
If you shoot for 1-2Lbs of nice porous LR per gallon, that should take care of the biofiltration.
To save $$ you can mix about 75% base rock with 25% LR.

 

[melosu58]

So now to get back on topic. What are your plans for this tank Lucky. FOWLR or Reef??? What kind of fish are you looking at? These are some of the things you can be looking at and researching. If you have any other questions then ask away.

 

[luckyc1423]

It is gonig to be fish only....as far as fish i like all the angel fish and would like to have an eel....

 

[pat8you]

One thing that helped me out a lot when i was first getting started was this handy compatibility chart from liveaquaria.com. Gives you a general idea of what will play nice and what wouldn't. Then you can put together a list of wants and bring it back to the forums. People here will jump in and give you their thoughts on the list as many of them have probably owned or have experience with the fish you would like.

 

[melosu58]

It is gonig to be fish only....as far as fish i like all the angel fish and would like to have an eel....

I used to have a snowflake eel. They are pretty cool creatures. You need to have a top on the tank because they are escape artists. I would suggest instead of a glass top that would cause low PH due to poor gas exchange at the surface that you cover your top with a widow screen type material. BTW here is mine when I had him.

 

[luckyc1423]

thats pretty cool...did you always hand feed him?

 

[melosu58]

Yes I always hand fed him. I liked watching him come out for the food. That would be a really nice addition to your 90 gallon tank.

 

[luckyc1423]

Will they eat other fish or is there only certain ones I could match him up wiht?

 

[melosu58]

I never had a problem with him eating other fish. I guess it could be possible with very small fish.