need advice on what to buy...

[lehien]

I am a new member, I got a 40 gallon glass AGA (Long) and a free Aquaclear HOB filter rated for a 25-50 gallon tank. Just had some questions as to would this make a good size tank for sea horses and sea slugs?

A mermaid too, haha, just kidding.

Also before that, what would I need to buy additionally to be successful. Your advice here will greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sadielynn]

Welcome .
I would start off by saying live sand , live rock .
As for the sea slugs becareful with them because if they die in your tank it can nuke your tank . I am not real versed in sea horses but there are a few here that keep them sucessfully . A good site would be www.seahorses.com . Good luck I am sure that others will be more knowlegable about these than I am , again welcome to nanotank

 

[dragon79]

welcome as well lehien. As you read on here, you'll see and find a lot of different things that may answer your questions.

I think a mermaid would be perfect...one like Ariel, right? haha. J/k.

To be serious though, you'll have to get some LR and LS as Sadie has mentioned. Try and get LR 1lb for every gallon you got, so yep, 40lbs should be a good start, as when you start adding live stock in the future will add in the additional pieces of LR you'd need. As for the filtration system, I can't say much other than always go with one that's rated more powerful than the tank you are putting it on, and if you can fit another one on there, add it in.

I am also sure you you'll want to add in a protein skimmer to help filter out the impurities and waste from your system, but (something you can get later) Your main concern is getting your tank going with the essentials to get your tank cycling as the curing process for the LR you add in there will take like 1 to 2 months.

You'll need to invest in test kits. The basics of course are Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH.

The members here with the bigger systems can assist you better as they are the pros on that one. If you ever come across setting up a 12 or 6 gallon, I could be more help to you. At any rate, welcome to the site, and keep reading up. You'll get off to a good start

 

[incysor]

Most slugs won't make it. They tend to have very specialized diets, and nanos simply won't have enough for them to eat. Sea horses are a possiblity but they are difficult to keep, and have a lot of specialized requirements. Check out this site for more info on what you'd need to do to keep them.

www.seahorse.org

Sand, and about 40lbs of liverock would be a good place to start no matter what you decide to do.

Welcome to the site.

Brian

 

[lehien]

What about lighting needs? I was at the store and saw 2 96 watts JBJ formosa mounted lights. Would that be a good start for me? I'd like to grow some good plants I see here on the site. Not sure the name, but they look like green plants, but do well for filtering out the bad nitrates. I'd like to keep nice corals too, so that's why I am thinking this lighting setup, so I can go with better things in the future.

You also mentioned that the sea slugs ont make it in nanos, but do you consider my 40 gallon tank a nano? Or you mean something else by that? Just curious, because if with my size tank, it's better survival for them, that would be comforting to know. Thank you.

 

[skipm]

The lighting you choose will depend on the type of corals you want to keep. The fixture you mention will do fine for most LPS corals, softies, polyps, etc. and some of the lower light SPS corals. If you just want things like mushrooms, gorgonians, sun corals, etc. then you could use NO flourescent lighting. Decide which corals you want first and then match the light with their needs.
This tank wouldn't be a very good choice for seahorses because as a general rule seahorses need 3x their fully extended length in vertical swimming space.
Keep the questions coming and we'll do what we can to answer them for you. Skip

 

[lehien]

some mushrooms would be nice, zoos, some LPS (candy canes, frogspawn, etc) Also I am wondering with the lighting setup I mentioned, would be it be enough for clams or scallops? Any ideas of good starter corals are welcome to be recommended to me. I do realize clams have a high lighting need, and not starters, especially in my case, but I was just thinking ahead in the future of what things can live and thrive under my lighting and what things can't live under that lighting. I guess that's my real question for now.

 

[sadielynn]

No you couldnt keep clams , frogspawn, candy canes , scallops under that lighting....your best bet would be a few mushrooms , green star polyp, and perhaps a few zoas but they also need decent lighting to survive , sorry this is probably not what you want to hear . Hope this helps you some . Just my .02

 

[Anonymous]

reread skipm's post. it is very important that you decide on a theme for your tank before you purchase any equipment. a 40 is a very nice tank size but no on this sight it is not a "nano" - but it is still a very small tank as far as reefers are concerned in general. I believe the tank your looking at is 4' long right, 16" deep and 12" wide. I really like this tank if that is the case. It is shallow so lighting can be left a little lower but yes I agree with saddie that 2 x 96 is bottom line. 96W are three feet long so would have to be centered on your tank and therefor not get full coverage. IMO this is what you should do - buy a bag of caribsea reef grade sand and put it in your tank without lights for now. I would then get about 4 really nice rocks (only about 20 lbs for now) - spend as much as you can afford to get the best rock. Don't worry about life on it but rather shape because this is what makes your reefscape. Run this tank with the filter you have (which really is inadequete) and a maxijet power head for the next month, and let it cycle, while you search the archives of this sight for pics. Start thinking about what catches your eye the most -whether it is zoas, shrooms, softies, lps's, sps's, clams, inverts (like scallops, shrimps, and slugs), and what fish, whatever....... Some things are compateable others are not. Once you decide on a theme then start looking at the equipment you will need as far as lighting, filtration, water flow, skimmer ect that will meet the needs of those critters. Your on the right track here - preplanning will save money in the long run cause you will buy the right equipment the first time instead of having to replace or mod it down the road.

 

[skipm]

You may want to forget about the scallop. I think you are talking about flame scallops and from personal experience they don't do well in captivity. They are filter feeders and need to bed target fed very frequently, as if this isn't enough of a chore to keep them they also tend to move all over the place and often end up in places where you would have to tear your tank down to get to them for feeding. They are quite attractive but IMO they just aren't a good choice for a reeftank. Skip

 

[dragon79]

No you couldnt keep clams , frogspawn, candy canes , scallops under that lighting....your best bet would be a few mushrooms , green star polyp, and perhaps a few zoas but they also need decent lighting to survive , sorry this is probably not what you want to hear . Hope this helps you some . Just my .02

what's best recommended for him then? If he wanted to keep frogspawn, candy canes, hammer coral, and other cool LPS, what would his lighting needs be for then? I'm asking too, as I really dont know being I'm part of the nano world of 6 gallons.

I guess from watching this user post, I am thinking he's asking advice on how much lighting total would he need in order to successul hold most LPS, and softies. From what I have read so far, I guess he can only hold softies. How much higher would he need to go in order to accomplish successfully having LPS in his tank? Also another thing to consider is, how much is "overkill" as I dont think the member would want to get too much lighting either.

I'll be taking notes too lehien, as I may consider going bigger in the future whenever I move You can count on these guys/gals. They know their stuff. Interesting post to learn from, that's for sure....

 

[incysor]

2x 96w over a 40g would be fine for the corals mentioned. (frogspawn, candycane, mushrooms, zoos), But not good enough for clams.

Scallops are just a bad idea. They don't do well in ANY tanks.

I don't consider a 40g tank a nano. However other than sea hares, and berghia nudibranches, there aren't many that survive for more than a few weeks in aquariums. Berghia eat aiptasia, so if you have a large (150g+) tank, that has a lot of aiptasia, or a steady supply of aiptasia covered rock then you could probably keep them for longer than a few months. Sea hares are good hair algae eaters, but again, once that's gone, they tend to starve in a relatively short period of time.

B

 

[sadielynn]

Dragon when I got the candy cane it came from a tank with normal output lights at I think 24 watts it was there for a few weeks maybe even a couple months I never saw it expanded I placed it high in my tank (7gallon) with 72.3 watts pc lighting , now it very rarely deflates , my frog spawn that I had before I dropped it on its head was in the same situation with in a few weeks of being here I could tell it grew. I guess I am not trying to say that they couldnt or wouldnt grow , but I would think that they are a higer light group.... I certianly do NOT want to mislead any one but I am of the opinion that more is better in the lighting (yes you will still need to becareful of burning the corals) this way as tastes change you are equiped for that change ,I would say that the least that you would want is 200 watts or greater .....we kind hit on this with the watts per gallon being out dated in this link http://nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... hlight=par

http://nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... hlight=par
I feel that these will guide you and will be of far more help than I could it is just my opinion that with higher wattage lights you will be able to keep more , there are others on here that are far better suited to answer this than I am ....

 

[dragon79]

so lehien, basically from what I get out of this is that Incysor says you can get LPS under that lighting but not the clams and the scallops. As for the sea slugs, they eventually starve. I hope this give you time to think about your options as to what you'll want in your tank.

Sadie, thanks for offering your help. He may be find for LPS after all. You say 200 watts or greater, and his setup is just barely under 200. Probably right on. And with the space dimensions, I bet you could always add another 96 watter in there should it need.

I guess it'll have to be setup, go through the cycle and see how the corals react to the lighting. I'll be following this post closely now, it's caught my eye in interest. ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

ok dragon my 2 cents worth - I have a 40 long that I'm thinking about setting up because the 10 gal I've been using for a frag tank is way over full but I don't have the money at this time. Bottom line: if I were setting up a basic mixed reef 40 gal aquarium I would look at these three options in this order

1) 2 110 VHO - reason only 2 bulbs to replace so cost effective in the long run

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113174

2) 4 T5's reason I want to try T5's to see what all the rave is about and they are on sale now for 200$

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 13175+2032


3) 4 65W PC's I like the coralife fixtures - very clean and nice and this will give the 4' of coverage that the 2 96W would not do.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113345

If SPS or clams are on the agenda then I think I would go with two 150W pendents????? or maybe 1 pendent and some PC's or T5 in a DIY retro

and as far as the apparent discrepency between sadie and incysors opinion I think that some LPS would do fine under the 2 96W system but they would have to be high and as I said in the first post you only get three feet out of them - a nice choice for a 30 gal tank but not a 4' tank. My LPS's I like to place low in the aquarium because of there expantion and they just are more "natural" in the sand (trachy's, bubbles and fungia) Candies, hammers and torches can be placed on the rock high of course and candies can fare quite well under less lighting then the others but mine love their indirest MH light. All of my LPS get indirect MH and are low in the tank and love it! the candies I got 3 months ago all now have 2 mouths and are ready to divide already.
hope this helps..........

 

[dragon79]

VHO is the stuff huh? I dont know much about that, but I'm glad you said something. It gives great perspective here. I know more about the 50/50 PC's and the T5's from what I have heard from my brother when he used to rig up some in his nanocube back in the day.

This is all good information. I'm sure everybody can benefit from this information on a setup for mixed reef 40 gallon tank.

 

[skipm]

I think that one of the best options mentioned so far would be the 4x65 watt PC fixture. The 2x96 might do okay but IMO it will be on the weak side. With the 4x65 you have an additional 34 watts on each side of the tank, though not alot more it could mean the difference between a coral barely surviving and a coral growing. Another thing that I didn't see mentioned is that most corals loose their color and turn brown if they don't have sufficient light. So IMO for a 4 foot tank the 4x65 PC is the minimum and the 4x96 though more expensive is more of a standard for the 4 feet of tankspace. HTH, Skip

 

[reefman23]

Dont forget that lighting is the one purchase that you could end up really regretting, or end up really pleased. Spend a little more than you can afford, and you should be pleased!

 

[lehien]

ok dragon my 2 cents worth - I have a 40 long that I'm thinking about setting up because the 10 gal I've been using for a frag tank is way over full but I don't have the money at this time. Bottom line: if I were setting up a basic mixed reef 40 gal aquarium I would look at these three options in this order

1) 2 110 VHO - reason only 2 bulbs to replace so cost effective in the long run

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113174

2) 4 T5's reason I want to try T5's to see what all the rave is about and they are on sale now for 200$

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 13175+2032


3) 4 65W PC's I like the coralife fixtures - very clean and nice and this will give the 4' of coverage that the 2 96W would not do.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113345

If SPS or clams are on the agenda then I think I would go with two 150W pendents????? or maybe 1 pendent and some PC's or T5 in a DIY retro

and as far as the apparent discrepency between sadie and incysors opinion I think that some LPS would do fine under the 2 96W system but they would have to be high and as I said in the first post you only get three feet out of them - a nice choice for a 30 gal tank but not a 4' tank. My LPS's I like to place low in the aquarium because of there expantion and they just are more "natural" in the sand (trachy's, bubbles and fungia) Candies, hammers and torches can be placed on the rock high of course and candies can fare quite well under less lighting then the others but mine love their indirest MH light. All of my LPS get indirect MH and are low in the tank and love it! the candies I got 3 months ago all now have 2 mouths and are ready to divide already.
hope this helps..........

Thanks for information. Sorry for the delay, I was on vacation for this Thanksgiving. Anyway, I was looking at option 3, but wanted to know if this setup would work...

The 2x96 Formosa JBJ lighting, but buy 2 of them. I'd have 96x4...would that be too much? If so, can I skate away with 2x96 and 1 96x1??

 

[reefman23]

Sure, two 2x96 may work, but that would take up quite a bit a space and also you are looking at spending as much as you would on a MH fixture, at least $500. If you are going to, or are willing to spend that kind of money, why not just get a MH fixture? Drsfostersmith.com is selling the 36" outer orbit which comes with a 150 watt DE MH and two 96 watt PCs for $400...that would rock.

anyways, here is the link ----> http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113345