Questions before I jump in... ;)

[Kurt_Nelson]

Probably not the Coral Beauty or Flame Angel. Any of the drawf angels want a 50-60 gallon or so, minimum. They're also touch and go with reefs, depending on the individual fish - from what I've heard. I was originally thinking a Flame Angel with my 46g bowfront, but have finally come to grips that a 46g is just too small. :-(

 

[MSU Fan]

Probably not the Coral Beauty or Flame Angel.

Darn - oh well. So we're back to the False Percula (Occelaris), a firefish and/or royal gramma, and maybe something else? What about a neon goby?

And I guess once we get the list done, which ones and when should I add them? Ooohh - and how many inverts and when? Thanks so much for the help!

 

[roka64]

A neon goby would be cool. They can be cleaners. As for inverts, you can add them when your cycle is finished. Personally, I like fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp. Snails, I like nassarius and cerith snails. In your new tank, you should probably get 5-10 of each snails. Keep in mind, a newer tank doesn't have enough food to feed a large clean up crew, so fewer are better, you can always add to them.

 

[MSU Fan]

Perfect - so 5 of each snail type (turbos, ceriths, fighting conchs, and nassarius snails), plus a fire shrimp to start (once the cycle is completed that is).

Any particular order that the fish should be added in (False Percula, Neon Goby, Royal Gramma, maybe Purple firefish), and when should they be added - meaning - should I add the Royal Gramma and goby, then maybe 1.5 months later, a firefish, and then later the false percula?

 

[roka64]

I would do only one fighting conch. If you plan on a conch, make sure your rockwork is on firmly seated on the bottom of the tank, they like to burrow and my get under a pile of rock and cause it to topple. 5 of the others will be good.
To be honest, I think you could add them in just about any order. If anything, maybe the clown last.

 

[MSU Fan]

I'm a little confused on the quarantining part - Do I need to quarantine the first fish I put in, or is the tank the quarantine?

 

[roka64]

You should QT all new fish.

 

[MSU Fan]

With that in mind, I will set up a QT tank:
1. Is 10g ok for that?
2. Do I need to put any decor in the tank (I have some gaudy pieces that I can put in there if you feel the fish should have somewhere to hide

I have an AC20 that I can use for the filtration on the qt. How long would I need to run this on the 29g to acquire the bacteria to "instant cycle" the qt?

 

[roka64]

1 Yes, 10G is good for one fishand other small fish.
2 Most people use PVC piping, for the fish to hide in.
3 I'm not sure on new filter media, but from an established tank, depending on the size of the filter sponge/media, around 2-3 weeks, for the bacteria to build up on the sponge/media. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[schmilnik]

Probably not the Coral Beauty or Flame Angel. Any of the drawf angels want a 50-60 gallon or so, minimum. They're also touch and go with reefs, depending on the individual fish - from what I've heard. I was originally thinking a Flame Angel with my 46g bowfront, but have finally come to grips that a 46g is just too small. :-(

Both only need minimum 30 gallon.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=444&N=0

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=438&N=0

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Hmm. Thanks for pointing that out! I usually consider DrFosterSmith spot on when it comes to recommendations, but that seems small considering what I've read and also heard from some of my better LFS.

Great... now you got me thinkin' about it again!

 

[MSU Fan]

Good discussion - probably moot at this point since I am going to convert that 29g into a reef before long, and I don't want to prematurely endanger my precious corals - once I can afford the equipment that is... ...by the way, 65w of CF over a 29g would be able to grow most any zoos, polyps, and shrooms and some lps, right?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hmmm...probaby, yeah. 2 x 65 would be a lot better.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with DT on this one...if you can manage it go ahead and get a double 65w. Then you can go with a 10k or 15k and then an actinic bulb and get good spectrum for your corals.

 

[MSU Fan]

An update - testing has shown my 29g tank is cycled as of Saturday! Yay! We are noticing some things on the LR, so that's a very good sign to me! How soon until I could/should be adding inverts to this tank?

We are going to be setting up our QT tonight for the tank (10g) tonight. I think that tomorrow we are going to look at False Percs to put in there.

I am starting to design the plumbing for the sump (my first design), so there are some challenges to the design that I haven't anticipated. Can anyone point me to a calculator to determine overflow rate, so I can determine which return pump will work? :?

I did pick up over the weekend a 1x65w CF fixture, and will be supplementing that with the Current USA NOVA T5 Retrofit kits (1x14w each, 2-3 total). I am thinking of replacing the 10k bulb in the CF fixture, and replacing with a 6700k bulb, then the T5s will have 1-10k, 1 Actinic. So that would give me a total of 65w+2x14w = 93w (or 107w if I add another T5). Of course, I have to build a canopy to house this all.

Oh, and we picked up the 125g last weekend. 8O Came with 4x96w coralife CF fixtures (yippee! ), and a CPR3000 sump/CPR CR-202 Overflow, but I have to plumb the sump still and buy a return. I think that we are going to start a fowlr with this guy for now. I will post some pics later tonight of the 29g and 125g.

EDIT:
Hey, question: When purchasing a heater to put in a sump for a tank (say 40g sump for 125g tank, what size heater do you get? One sized for the tank, or one sized for the sump?

 

[Ziggy953]

For the overflow...what ever your overflow is rated at 300gph, 600gph ect...you need to have a pump that will match but no exceed that at the height you have to pump it to. For example....300gph overflow....a pump that moves 300gph at 4' (assuming your sump is 4 feet below your tank) would be a good match.

Heaters....I would get more then one heater for a tank that size...IF you need 400w to heat your tank then I would get 2 250w heaters....don't rely on one heater to do the job as one can fail and if you have 2 then you always have a backup!

 

[roka64]

I agree, I have two heaters in each of my tanks.

 

[MSU Fan]

Thanks - so the heaters should be rated for the entire water volume.

Another question - is an Aqua Medic TurboFlotor Multi SL protein skimmer too much for a 29g? Should I buy a smaller rated skimmer for this tank?

 

[Devilishturtles]

I like two heaters rated for the entire water volume.

I had the Aqua-C Remora on my 29 gallon and it was rated for 100 gph. IMO, it would take a lot to overskim a tank.

 

[MSU Fan]

Sweet - thanks for the info. I need to get a second heater when I install my sump - anyone got links to doing the plumbing? Also, is there a chart for determining gph v. pipe size?