My 40 gallon tall FOWLR

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Chris J

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
308
My first Saltwater tank, let me know what you guys think.

http://youtu.be/_PZ_uPZqRVE

Be honest. And my equipment is as follows: tetra75 hob, tetra45 hob, Berlin airlift skimmer, 150w heater, 30" t-8 white light, 12" t-8 actinic light. I would like to change to a 40 breeder and get a BTA but I don't know how much lighting to put on for it, I was thinking 200w of t-5's but really would like a knowledgeable suggestion since I'm still very new. It's been up 3 months now and seems very healthy.
 
I have plans to get some more rock, unexpected car trouble delayed that, and now a hurricane has delayed it some more, I'm at about 10-15 lbs of live rock, want to buy 20lbs at least when I get to the LFS after this hurricane business, probably this weekend, thanks though.
 
How did your cycling go?

How did you add your live stock?
 
Cycle went fine, I cycled with cured LR, about 4-5 weeks in my nitrites finally zeroed out and after a pwc my nitrates were about 15, added the damsel along with 4 turbos 2 Astreas and 6 hermits, started my skimmer and at the time had just a top fin 40 filter. I added my Ocelaris and six-line wrasse about a week later, then a week or two after that the Coral Beauty and a week after that the Snowflake Moray. I have no turbo snails left, 1 hermit literally killed everyone, one at a time, would take their shell and then return to his original and move on to slaughter another, this process was repeated for all 4 turbo snails until he stayed in the last shell, the two Astraeas were killed by my smaller blue legged hermits. It's been about a month or since I've added anything, I do 10-15% weekly water changes.
 
I honestly am not sure if you need a lot more rock, but I personally would re-work the rock so that there are more crevices and a couple of decent sized caves. Maybe spread it out a little more and add some caves? I did see there are a couple of small crevices. Hope I'm not coming across as rude, but that's what I would do, but really it's your tank and you're the one who looks at it every day. So, if you like it, it's all good!! :)
 
Nice thanks man

Just be careful when adding new rock, make sure its completely cured and even then add it slow.

I think I lost two fish from adding too much dead rock.
 
Thank you Beengirl and lakaiguy. @Beengirl your not coming across as rude, just very helpful, The interior is fairly hollow mainly for my snowflake eel, but I will try to rework it some to add some crevasses, the rock I have though is mainly rounder pieces and can be a pain sometimes. I may not need more LR but I definitely think it would help both my aquascaping and it wouldn't hurt my bio filtration either, since the snowflake can be a bit messy. @lakaiguy I will only be using fully cured live rock (I can get it for like $3/lb at my LFS for their cheap stuff, still very live just not as aesthetically pleasing), and I will make sure to add it slowly, do you think 5lbs at a time would be good?
 
@Beengirl I took your suggestion and reworked my rock work to give it some more openings, caves, and crevasses. I would like to know what you think, and be brutally honest, I can take it.


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http://youtu.be/6uPsFqTNvmU
 
I keep from feeding him live food and he has yet to get aggressive with anyone but is this just false hope? I read that they can be kept with smaller fish with caution so long as they are kept well fed, and not with live food. They eat mainly crustaceans in the wild so I thought this sounded accurate and believable. I would like to move everything into a 40 Breeder, upgrade lighting and get a BTA, if my clown was to host the anemone would he be safer?
 
Chris J said:
@Beengirl I took your suggestion and reworked my rock work to give it some more openings, caves, and crevasses. I would like to know what you think, and be brutally honest, I can take it.

http://youtu.be/6uPsFqTNvmU

I love it!! You did a great job making some good sized caves, and it looks like your eel likes it too- he was that the top cave, then the bottom, then the one on the left. Haha. Really great job! :)
 
@lakaiguy, I don't know why it's so white, my eel likes to dig in it a lot so that maybe part of it, I think it's carribsea live sand. Is it bad that its that white?

@beengirl Thanks, he does seem to like it a lot, and I added a PVC tunnel under the sand but he didn't seem too interested in it until this morning when I found him in it.
 
Your tank, and the eel look awesome! Nice rock scaping too. :)
 
@gman42 Thanks, I'm glad that it seems like I'm doing this right, since this is my first saltwater tank.

Thanks for everyone's input and advice.
 
The sand being too white? It should be white! Lol unless you have Fiji pink or Tahitian moon sand. When you but substrate it should always look that color. If it doesn't, you probably have algae issues. Get a sand sifter of some sort.
 
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