Calling all saltwater aquarium expert for filter and changing water question. I need your idea please.?

onefinesacaman

2008-04-23 14:20:39 UTC

Fluval is better than Eheim in my opinion. My suggestion since you haven't started yet is to go with a fish and live rock set up. I say this because its a easy to setup a reef this way. You wont need so many power filters. One will be all you need, reguardless of the size of the tank. What you will need is a ton of tank cleaners (ie turbo snail, hermit crabs so forth and so on). Keep in mind that your live rock and sand will act as a filter. You will also need a protien skimmer that will be able to handle a tank that size. I'm using a motorized 150 on my 100 gal, it does a great job, but will cost about 150.00. Also your will need power heads to circulate the water and to also provider current for your corals. Another question, have you thought about the lighting you'll need to provided. That much tank (espesically with coral) the lighting alone is going to set you back about 400.00. Water changes should be done atleast once a month. I change mine one a month and I only take out 10%. I haven't had any probs. I never used any plants because some fish will eat them, and they can also release toxins when stressed. Email me with what you have (equipment wise)...and I will help you out. I'd hate to see you spend tons of money and things don't go as planned. fbh11201@yahoo.com

tranto

2008-04-23 20:18:08 UTC

Questions:

1.) How long do I need to change 20% - 25% of the saltwater?

Answer: I would probably do 5%-10% water changes once a week or once every other week. Some people prefer to do big water changes, but thats not needed. I do a 10% water change every 2 weeks or so.

2.) Can you please give me 10-12 compatible fishes from Finding Nemo movie as tankmates? Quantity is important and also getting along with each other.

Answer: First off, are you going for a reef tank or just fish tank? "Nemo" is a clown fish, True perc, or false perc. clownfish. The blue fish (forgot the name) is a blue hippo tang. Don't get it until you're tank is ready! It range from $40 - $90.

The other fish in the aquarium that nemo was in are not recommended. The puffer is NOT reef-safe and will eat invertabrates. The one with the scar is a morish idol, they do not survive well in tank and will eventuall die.

3.) Are couple of live plants and corals good?

Answer: To keep plants and corals, you must have Good lighting or they will died. Do some research before you get into corals, it'll save you tons of money in the long run.

ALSO:

You're tank must be setup and running for AT LEAST 3 weeks before you put anything other than liverock and livesand in there. Many people would say that 2 -3 months would even be better. Do research! research! research!!!! Saltwater aquariums are alot harder to keep that freshwater! Read and read before you start buying, you'll save so much money.

For your setup, you do NOT need;

1 Penguin 350 Power Filter

1 Emperor 400 Power FIlter

1 Eheim 2080 Pro III

You DO need:

Powerheads (at least 3 for water movement)

protein skimmer (filter out liquid waste)

test kits

heater

Lighting: MH, T5, VHO, PC (if you want corals)

2008-04-24 23:58:19 UTC

I think I told you before but just incase you will need a powerhead that turns the water over 7 times in an hour so for my 65 gallon I have a powerhead that has a rate of 455G/H. When maturing the tank I wouldn't add any live rock Because it dies off because of the high nitrites (present in the water) and because it dies it increases the nitrites in the water.

Only start with two fish.

I use an 'eheim ecco 2236 comfort' It keeps the water crystal clear and I only change 10% once a month to keep the nitrates below 20ppm. (my corals are doing fine)

For Q.1 Do you mean after or before it has matured? When the tank is maturing/cycling you don't do any water changes.

And corals and live plants are definately good but can't stand high nitrates so regularly test the water. And don't add anything when maturing the tank.

Before you start planning too extravagently though I would try keeping a pair of clowns and see if you can keep them happy. Then when you start buying corals and fish add them one by one. Also, with the coral, keep just one or two and see if you can keep them happy. Because if you buy a $1000 worth of coral and it dies it sucks.

I learned that from someone else's experience.

Go to a good petstore not a chain/frencies and see if all their fish look happy then you know they know what their doing and you can get their advice and personal experience to help you get started and build the best tank in town.

Good luck

2008-04-23 20:14:47 UTC

never heard of eheim but i know that fluval filters are the way to go!!!

and some live rock? i hope you get at least 60 pounds of it.

you need tons of hiding places for fish to make them feel safe and not be so stressed.

and remember--cycle the tank for about a month in order to get everything ready--i.e. no adding fish..add live rock and sand and let that settle with the water while cyceling.

question 1.

you really dont need to do water changes. the water evaporates so you want to ADD fresh water to top off the tank. the salinity will end up equaling out in the end because once it evaporates the salinity rises so by adding the water it will bring it back down to normal. so really if you want you can do it after about 5 months of having it set up but by all the fish and a live rock you will have they will do the work for you.

question 2.

do you really want a "finding nemo" tank. ok

clown fish are damsels and you dont really want to mix multiple fish of the same species. they will become territorial and agressive if you do end up getting multiples of the same fish. because you have 135 gallon you may be able to get 2 clown fish--as long as theres hiding places for them.

-if you want a blue hippo tang (please dont call it a dory, go by what the real names are because it gets annoying) but anyways. blue hippo tangs are good. just know if you are going to want to get another tang--say a yellow tang or a powder blue or brown tang---you will want to make sure that they have different shape bodies...(and that combination works-you can combine a blue hippo and a powder brown)

-with tangs like i said, i am going to emphasize that make sure that you find tangs with different bodies.. if they look alike that is bad news. we made the mistake of combining a powder brown tang and an atlantic blue tang together and about 6 days lader the atlantic tang died because the powder brown picked on it so much. so just be warned about that.

-i dont remember all of the fish in "finding nemo" but i am going to mention other fish.

-getting a goby or blenny would be great! my boyfriend has a mandarin-kind of shy but a great fish! a gold face sleeper goby are fun and entertaining!! they filter out the sand and its really cool to watch!!

-also go for something different, you can try a lion fish. i have one and my boyfriend has one. you just have to be careful and NOT touch it, it is deadly so if you arent worried about it then you can try that out.

-fire fish goby. they are really cool!!!

question 3:

-you can only get corals if you have the proper lighting. you will need actinic/medal halide lighting...its to copy the sunlight in nature. so if you get the correct and propper lighting then you can get corals/anemones. but just know you also need to look for fish that REEF SAFE!!! there are fish that will eat corals, for example angel fish. they will tear them up!

**EDIT:**

You will want two powerheads because one will flow the water in that part of the tank but not all threw the tank. Put one on each side of the tank in order to get really good air flow!

hope this helps and ill add more if i think of anything or if you have more questions!