Starting a salt aquarium- fowlr for now

[Hypancistrus]

We're in the process of starting a salt aquarium. For now it will be a fowlr tank, but we may look into adding corals once we get water changes down. We don't want to overextend ourself, as we've tried nano reefs in the past and had very bad luck.

It's a 29 gallon, and I have just now gotten the sand and water in. I've added a little over half the salt I think I will need to get the salinity up. Hopefully salinity will be stable enough by tomorrow for us to add our liverock and begin the cycling process.

Fish we are considering:
-False Percula Clown*
-Firefish
-Dottyback of some type
-Six-line Wrasse
-Flame Angel

We're not sure yet what we'll end up choosing, except the clown-- that's a must have, and pretty much the whole reason we're attempting this again!

[deftones2015]

Nano tanks are a pain because things can go from good to bad REALLY quick. In my opinion, the quality of live rock will determine how frequent water changes are needed. I bought top quality live rock from a friend, who had a well established tank, and I rarely had to do water changes, but I also had the tank under stocked and fed lightly. Good luck with the tank, post some pictures once you get it set up

[Hypancistrus]

Nano tanks are a pain because things can go from good to bad REALLY quick. In my opinion, the quality of live rock will determine how frequent water changes are needed. I bought top quality live rock from a friend, who had a well established tank, and I rarely had to do water changes, but I also had the tank under stocked and fed lightly. Good luck with the tank, post some pictures once you get it set up

Yes, that was the issue I had... my 5.5 gallon reef was GORGEOUS for months, absolutely stunning. Then one day, POOF. Dead.

That's why we're going to stick with fish this time. I don't think the addition of live rock can hurt our fish interests, so I'll add some.

[deftones2015]

Live rock will help your fish. It gives them more natural of an enviroment as well as serves as a biological filter. The live rock contains bacteria that helps break down waste. It also has mini stars, bristle worms, pods, etc. They all help break down waste like extra food, fish waste, etc. If the live rock doesn't already contain this microfauna I would highly suggest seeding your tank with it. Some people hate bristle worms because they hurt like hell if you touch one, but they help eat any left over food and dying matter. Also, if you like corals, go with something easy like mushrooms or pulsing xenia or other soft corals.

[Hypancistrus]

I had some pulsing xenia, shrooms and zooanthids in my 5.5 gallon mini-reef I tried back in 2008. That tank looked GREAT for about 6 months or so and then one day it just melted down. Our last attempt at a reef, about a year later, we never got past liverock because those damn anemone's took over the rock. It was a pain in the @$$!!

Hence why we are starting with fish this time and not worrying about corals.

[deftones2015]

Yeah aptasia are a huge pain, I used to use to nuke them with pickling lime. I'd turn off the power heads, use a syringe with no needle to put the paste on them, then use a syphon to suck them out after 5 mins or so. FOWLR are nice tanks too.

[Hypancistrus]

So went to the LFS today and got our rock. We got a total of 40 pounds. 25 of liverock and 15 of baserock. It looks pretty good, but it's a bit cloudy at the moment so I am waiting to take pics.

We are pretty psyched! It's in our bedroom at the foot of our bed, and it'll make nice viewing, day and night.

So far as shrimp go, we really liked the look of the coral banded shrimp but I remember reading that they are not reef safe. Is this true? The LFS had them in some of their coral tanks. Would these shrimp be compatible with the fire or skunk cleaner shrimp??

[deftones2015]

They are reef safe. I would be careful keeping the 2 shrimp in a 29 gallon though. They may be fine given enough hiding spots though. Personally I would go with either or. Coral banded shrimp can get aggressive. I have kept a skunk cleaner and fire shrimp together in a 29 when I first started with no issues. I say try what you want and see if it works, sometimes things will work out sometimes they wont.

The only shrimp I know of that is not reef safe is camel shrimp. They have been known to eat coral.

A neat combo you might look into since you like the clown fish, is getting a nice anemone and some sexy shrimp. They're small and will live on the anemone but are really neat.

[Hypancistrus]

Not sure how I feel about nems. I've heard they are practically immortal in the wild but live very short lives in our tanks. I'd feel bad doing that.

We will have to consider the shrimps then. We really like the look of the coral banded shrimp and they seem so sturdy compared to the other shrimps. The guy at the LFS told us the peppermint shrimp are good too because they eat the aptasia??

What's your opinion on crabs in the tank? My fiance likes the sallylightfoots and I think they look cool, too, but I've heard mixed reviews on crabs in the tank.

[deftones2015]

Crabs are alright, but don't mix snails and crabs. In my tank (after I watched the crabs kill the snails for their shells) I kept either or. I went through a crab phase for a while, but the snails seemed to live longer for me, so I kept snails, nassarius for the detritus and turbos and various others for algae. As for shrimp, go with what you like. I have kept all three in a 75 with no issues. The fire and skunk cleaner stayed up in the rock, and the coral banded stayed in the rock caves on the floor. Peppermint shrimp MAY eat aptasia. I had probably 4 or 5 and seen one possibly eating aptasia. That is a hit or miss on those shrimp. I wouldn't buy the shrimp in hopes in aptasia control because you may be disappointed. I love the other 3 shrimp. Personally I like the fire shrimp because of the bright red. The coral banded are nice too though but can get aggressive. The skunks are neat because if your fish will allow it, it will pick dead scales etc. off of the fish, I mostly saw that on my tang though.

As for anemones, they do need high quality water. Clowns will host quite a few diff coral though. I had a pair that hosted a wall hammer for a long time. Sometimes that can cause issues with the coral being irritated, but the wall hammer seemed fine with it. I would def. wait a while if you decide to do a nem though. You may try going over to http://reefcentral.com/ and look around on there. There are a lot of reef clubs on there by state, you may be able to find a club near you and be able to get some sand or a really good piece of live rock from one of them cheap and be able to seed your tank a lot better than the lfs live rock. You can also get used equipment cheap and corals as well as fish sometimes (if you can find a club near by). They also have tons of forums to look through to answer any questions that may come up.